Stephen Chapman, Founder of Make Travel Fair joined the exclusive members only network of 'Couvoisier The Future 500' this week as One-to-Watch in Travel & Leisure.

Read and watch an interview with Stephen at http://observer.guardian.co.uk/cvtf500/story/0,,2215248,00.html

A personal press release is available for download at http://www.courvoisierthefuture500.com/admin/guestEntry.php

Have attempts to categorise and define a 'new' type of tourism over recent years simply led to confusion amongst tourists and travellers? As a niche enters the mainstream is it really necessary anymore to speak about the social, environmental and economical concerns of travel from a platform called responsible travel?

The terms responsible tourism, responsible travel, pro-poor tourism, green-travel, eco-tourism have all been used in recent years to reference growing concerns over the impact of the travel industry. This year saw the first World Responsible Tourism Day coincide with the World Travel Market on 14th November 2007. The day featured some interesting, thought provoking seminars and the responsibletravel.com award ceremony. Unfortunately it felt a lot like an attempt by the ICRT (International Centre for Responsible Tourism) and its related projects to dominate and act as custodians of the responsible tourism movement. It would have been great to see more grass-roots initiatives being offered the spotlight, and less of an attempt to control and dominate a movement that is ultimately about small scale projects and about celebrating initiatives around the world.

It seems that conflicts of interest and some people with fingers in a lot of pies mean that it feels as though the Responsible Travel movement has been branded and nutured by a small group of people, making it difficult to use the phrase to describe a form of travel anymore.

Grass roots initiatives being led all over the world are the future of travel, they aren't talking about responsible travel but simply working with the right concerns in mind. Conservation organisations are working worldwide in the travel industry without referencing responsible tourism, they are responsible tourism. It seems to be definition for the sake of definition. Wild Asia run their own Responsible Tourism Awards in Malaysia but award them on the basis of scores achieved on an extensive, painstakingly devised checklist of requirements. They don't brand a winner as 'responsible' based on a nomination and the judgements of a panel, they geniunely work to promote best practice, determined by these guidelines devised and distributed by them.

Let's put some meat back on the bones of travel, celebrate progression and all of those passionate people making it happen around the world without a spotlight on their efforts.

I was surprised to discover recently that Rough Guides directly refer to Vang Vieng, Laos as a centre for narco-tourism in their 'First Time Around the World' book. A comment that seems grossly irresponsible for such a mainstream publisher.

"This hangout, a modern-day Manali, is one of the budding centres of narco-tourism. Discount opium and weed beckon travellers (over 35 guesthouses full of them) to this otherwise easily missed hideaway. Muang Sing, another Laotian centre for delirium, gets plenty of narco-traffic as well."

Although this may be true, is it helpful in anyway to the development of tourism in Laos to refer to it in this way?

I visited Vang Vieng back in 2000 and remember it as a small, quiet, laid back town of two streets with a sprinkling of guesthouses. The Nam Song river borders the town, separating it from small rice fields backed by towering limestone karsts on the otherside. For a few dollars you can hire an inflatable tube and float down river through the countryside surrounded by tranquility and nature. Across the river from the town a small tractor and trailer carries groups of backpackers along a dusty dirt road to the fabled turquoise stream, and the entrance to some of the many cave systems that extend beneath the karstic landscape are guarded by locals, requesting money for a guided tour through the limestone labyrinths. Provison of a leaking wet cell battery powered headlamp was indicative of the amateur nature of business and the embryonic stage of tourism development. Places and activities not yet scarred by disaster or subject to external scrutiny have no reason to implement health and safety measures. This apparent lawlessness is perhaps the greatest attraction of places like Vang Vieng for western backpackers who are stiffled back home by endless restrictions and legislation.

Inevitably perhaps, with all its charms Vang Vieng may have spiralled into another 'backpacker utopia', much like many other destinations that have come before it. Impressively enterprising residents eager to profit from a growing market open cafes that screen back-to-back Friends episodes, serve refreshments laced with narcotics and fill the air with Bob Marley tunes, creating a liberal travellers' nirvana. A nirvana with no sense of place. Unfortunately such unmanaged, consumer driven development often dominates any commitment to conservation, and the eradication of another once sleepy backwater ensues. The darker side of tourism also always manages to find its way in, be it sex-tourism, human trafficking, environmental exploitation, or in the case of Vang Vieng narco-tourism. Opium production and distribution in Laos has a long history. It is part of the Golden Triangle, and is the world's third largest producer of opium - the parent product of the heroin sold on streets worldwide.

The ethnic Hmong people are the largest producers of opium in Laos. They became an integral part of the CIA-trained militia during the Vietnam War in the fight against communism, helping rescue downed US pilots and disrupting North Vietnamese use of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The huge importance of opium trade to the Hmong economy was recognised by the US and they took advantage of this by paying them for their work as mercenaries by purchasing opium. Air America aircraft would set-down on local landing sites, buy the opium for cash and fly off to distribute it.

The Americans weren't the first though to exploit the opium economy of the Hmong. In the last few years of the First Indochina War (1946-1954) the French were desperate for a way to finance their clandestine operations and decided to use military aircraft to link Laotian poppy fields with opium dens in Saigon, Vietnam. The mountainous landscape makes the transport of opium through the country extremely difficult, and once the war ended in 1954 the French withdrew, the aircraft stopped flying and Lao's opium trade fell away.

There is a strong drive by the Laotian and U.S. government to eradicate opium production. The Lao Government often accuses the Hmong of being the cause of the country's problems, with the high levels of deforestation their slash and burn lifestyle causes, and the widespread cultivation of opium. Narco-tourism contributes to an already complex problem, encourages the spread of opium addiction amongst villagers, and a whole range of social problems.

Since the end of the Vietnam War the Hmong have been subjected to a campaign of genocide by communist Laos and Vietnam. The Hmong general (Vang Pao), who led the secret army in 1961 against the communists fled to the US at the end of the war and now resides in California where he leads the United Lao Liberation Front (ULLF), demanding democracy and a reinstatement of the monarchy in Laos. Plans for a coup in Laos organised by the ULLF were recently uncovered by the US Government. The charge being brought against them is laudable - conspiracy to violate the federal Neutrality Act by planning a military invasion of Laos, a nation at peace with the United States. They're also charged with conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim and injure people in a foreign country.

An article in the Herald Tribune, March 1999 - Drug Tourism/In Laos, English Menus and Opium Dens: Westerners Flock East for an 'Asian Trip' - however says:

"The venues catering to foreigners are concentrated in a handful of towns and the amount of opium smoked by foreigners is still very small compared with total national production and export, but international drug control officials say they fear a serious drug-tourism problem has taken root."

An article in Time magazine, July 2001 - 'Pipe Dreams' - tells the story.

"...in a little bar where two Vietnamese men sit drinking bottled Bia Lao beer, smoking A-daeng cigarettes and spitting onto the concrete floor, there is plenty of opium. Several foreigners are already in the back-room den, crashed out on dank mattresses having puffed their way through half a dozen pipes each."

South East Asia online guide specialist Travelfish say this about Vang Vieng:

"Every other property in the town is undergoing some kind of building work, and the development is now starting to take its toll on the special environment which has created the tourism. Rocks are quarried from the limestone mountain range and gravel extracted by the truckload from the Nam Song river bed to feed the demand for building materials. Unscrupulous or ignorant -- take your pick."

Wikitravel says:

"Be prepared to listen to a lot of Bob Marley (it's as if someone bought the complete Friends box set and Bob Marley Legend and burnt copies of them for the entire town)! If you get sick of it there is a "Jack Johnson" bar which plays something else."

At article in the New York Times, March 2006 - Laos: Out From Under an Opium Cloud - however says:

"Just four years ago, a stop in this tranquil town was de rigueur for drug-touring trekkers. Local weed and Burmese speed were sold openly on the street, and by some accounts the opium dens outnumbered the guesthouses. The backpackers flocked, and haughty fans of the writer Paul Theroux, whose travels are held up by purists as the "right" way to do it, announced that Vang Vieng was over...with development moving ahead — six new guesthouses are opening this year, bringing the total to nearly 70 — hotel operators and tour guides see a brighter future in inner-tube rentals than in opium dens."

A rebuttal to this article was posted by The Akha Heritage Foundation - New York Times Prints Pure Stupidity About Opium in Laos.

An Article by The World Rainforest Movement - Laos: US War on drugs is leading to increased Poverty.

"Opium can have devastating effects on communities, families and individuals, especially when opium use becomes widespread in a village. But when opium addicts lose their home-grown supply, they are forced to buy it from neighbouring villages. They are often tempted to buy cheaper and more dangerous alternatives such as methamphetamine derivatives. "This has had consequences far worse for local communities than opium has ever had and is leading to severe impoverishment and cultural disruption," says the anonymous development worker."

A paper written in the Journal of Third World Studies - Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the Americans, and the Secret Wars for Laos, 1942-1992.

An article written by the Media Awareness Project - Laos Becoming Druggie Tourist Stop.

Make Travel Fair is launching a brand new research service designed to help you maxmise the time you spend planning a trip away and gathering up-to-date travel information. 

The last thing any traveller needs is another guidebook on the shelf to choose from, another travel forum to sift through, another commission based travel agent, or a single dominating authorative travel resource; we need a way to quickly pull specific information from across all of these sources and give us the best chance of being a well informed traveller.

Our dedicated team of researchers are familiar with the best places to gather travel information on the internet and are surrounded by an extensive library of travel books.  We leave no stone unturned when meeting your requirements, even utilising an extensive network of international travel industry contacts and people on the ground. 

The best and most reliable travel information is taken from a wide range of sources - authorative and amateur. We don't just deliver homegrown material resulting from our research and experience but provide extensive links and suggestions for other material so that you know exactly where to turn to find out more on your own. We'll let you know which books you can read that might be of interest, which films to watch and what music to listen to.

We are waiting to harvest your information and deliver it to you fresh from the vine.

We are not aiming to remove the novelty and excitement of planning a trip abroad.  The learning and research involved in the weeks/months leading up to a trip away is extremely important and needs to be carried out by the traveller themselves. Don't waste your time trawling through travel forums and blogs, hopping backwards and forwards from bookshops, let us do that for you but still with a human touch. 

Do you need to know about border crossings, the route travellers are taking through specific countries, the historical importance of a place, why a volcano exists where it does, the best time of year to travel, events occurring when you want to visit.  All of our information is designed to give you a sense of place and emphasises the social, environmental and economical aspects of a destination.

Whether you already have a detailed itinerary or simply a destination in mind, provide us with some questions and areas you'd like to find out more on and we will get to work harvesting exactly what you need.

We are not interested in booking your flights, accommodation or tours.  We want to give you direct access to the information you need and provide you with a sense of place, making it easier for you to plan your travels and understand the bigger picture.

Leaving school is a milestone in all our lives, a time of liberation from structured days and a temporary end to intensive learning.  Finally we are left to walk unsupported, bestowed with the burden of unrelenting decision making. 

Travelling the world was never presented as an alternative when I left school, just before the idea of gap-years had really taken off; everything had to have structure and a clearly defined purpose whether it was university, a placement on an overseas program or a proper job.  I left the UK five months after my final A-level exam bound for Australia with a working holiday visa, the sense of adventure and rebellion I felt was a real inspiration to me.

Independent travel is not something we all feel comfortable with but it was my salvation, a leap towards greater understanding of the world and the development of a healthy cynicism towards the media and politics.  Often slated purely as an opportunity for hedonism and debauchery, it is not always the case and the eventual outcome is often an experience incredibly rich in life lessons, and an important period of time spent forming personal opinions and world views that can hold-fast for a lifetime.  An education in the western world may provide strong academic credentials but it does not provide an alternative point of view on the world.  It does not teach us the politics of Latin America from the point of view of a Guatemalan.  It does not teach us about the stolen generation of Australian aborigines, and it does not teach us about the lasting impact of the Vietnam War over 30 years later.  To really get away from it all and learn about history and politics from a new angle we must severe ties with all that is familiar, break new ground for ourselves and experience the world. 

I spent two years travelling around Australia, South East Asia and South America, sometimes I'd be alone, sometimes I'd make friends and travel for extended periods with others, having different experiences as a result.  The flexibility and freedom of being alone in foreign lands is a heady cocktail of possibility and opportunity, a fantastic asset to anyone's development.  It is often a direct result of extended periods away from home that we return and decide to make changes to our lives.  The recent rise in social enterprise is a likely outcome of the early 'gap-year generation' translating their travel experiences into ethical employment opportunites.  

It was only after I started to travel that I began to eat better food, that I became interested in social and political affairs, and that I really learnt how best to deal with the multitude of decisions we have to make every single day.  Travelling is far from an escape, and may even be the most challenging of options facing a school leaver but it is certainly jam-packed with rewards and lessons to last a lifetime.  Despite the competition for employment opportunities that we all face; being able to impress on paper by qualifying all of our days with relevant experience isn't what we should be striving for.  Self fulfilment and worldly wisdom will shine through on every occasion.

International development charity VSO recently cautioned young people taking a gap year abroad that it may be better to travel rather than to take up spurious voluntary work in developing countries.

The escape from structure and routine that travelling provides is such an important breath of fresh air for young people who have just left the education system. There are so many life skills to be developed and experiences to be had from the independence that travelling provides. We all need time to develop ourselves and our skills before we attempt to help others develop, so is volunteering really the best option for school leavers? Is it perhaps better suited to a more mature demographic with more skills to share?

Has volunteering become a means for young people to spend time away from education and work, without the feeling of compromising their employability? Every job is so competitive these days that many would class a year spent travelling as a literal gap in their CV or resume. In an effort to maintain their 'edge', a period of time spent 'doing the right thing' has become more favourable for young people than simply travelling and seeing the world for what it is. As a result, volunteering has risen in popularity and led to an explosion of companies looking to capitalise on the consumer, tainting the sector with some poorly established programs, and requiring the more responsible organisations to draw up guidelines to assist people with choosing a worthy company.

Perhaps volunteering has come to be seen too much as a rite of passage, and not enough for what it actually is. Similar neglect on utilising the skills of volunteers effectively has contributed to the almost devaluing of volunteer placements.

The term 'binge flying' stems from when Mark Ellingham of Rough Guides spoke out recently about our need to fly less. He says that "binge flying" constitutes a huge threat to the global environment" and calls for a UK£100 tax on all flights to Europe and Africa, and UK£250 on flights to the rest of the world. A huge increase in the frequency with which we take to the air suggests that environmental concerns are not always at the top of our personal agenda. The growth of low-cost airlines such as Easyjet over recent years has opened up Europe like never before, anyone with a spare weekend and access to an airport can now fly to virtually any European airport for very little cost. Some say that we will fly less only when it hurts our pockets too much to fly more. Discovering a way to deter 'binge flying' domestically and within Europe is crucial to our quest for reducing carbon emissions in the aviation sector. Mark Ellingham readily admits that he has no intention to stop flying, and his idea of limiting flights is 1 long haul and 2/3 short haul flights a year. To many of us this will sound quite normal, perhaps indicating the kind of frequency that he is refering as 'binge flying'.

"I'm the worst example of it. I'm not going to stop but every time I jump on a plane I think 'oh no, i'm doing it again'."
 
- Tony Wheeler, Co-Founder, Lonely Planet

Ryan Air, Easyjet and BA all say that they are struggling to fill their planes so maybe the answer therefore is to cut the number of flights they operate. If demand isn't there then why keep flying half empty planes or give seats away like Ryan have done. Ryan Air admit there's no point to flying empty planes, so why not stop flying them rather than giving away seats and trying to drain people's pockets with overpriced onboard food, insurance and other hidden charges. Perhaps the best way to reduce the frequency with which people travel is a reduction in the supply of flights so that demand increases, raising the price naturally.

Collaboration between individuals, private companies and the government is the only surefire way for us to implement effective environmental measures to reduce carbon emissions. It is therefore extremely frustrating to see British Airways recently reinstate their route from London, Gatwick to Newquay. A 140-seat Boeing 737 flights now flies the route with seats from £69 return - they previously flew the route until 2003 before dropping the service, saying it was making a loss. BA have said that the increasing popularity of Cornwall prompted a rethink.

Environmental concerns can be addressed throughout our daily lives, at home, at work and on our journey to work. Aviation accounts for just 5.5% of CO2 generated in the UK, and only 2% globally. You can read about the carbon offsetting at  Make Travel Fair.

Famous internationally as the world's biggest monolith, Uluru is also a highly sacred site violated every year by 400,000 visitors that continue to defy and disrespect aboriginal wishes by climbing to the summit.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta reassumed their traditional names in 1993, eight years after the area finally returned to the hands of its traditional owners - the local Pitjantjatjara people. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1987, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is in Australia's Northern Territory approximately 450km South West of Alice Springs. Although owned by local Aborigines, a condition of the land transfer from the australian government in 1985 was that it be leased back to the National Parks and Wildlife Service for a period of 99 years.

Despite the prevalence of literature and even a sign erected at the foot of Uluru by the local Pitjantjatjara people, requesting tourists not to climb the rock, a steady stream of minga tjuta - 'ants' as they are referred to by the Pitjantjatjara people - navigate their route to the summit via the safety chain put in place by the Australian National Park Service. As I look towards the shoulder of the rock it's easy to understand the local terminology - a long line of tourists parade up the side of the mound towards the summit, silhouetted against the deep blue outback sky.

Climbing the rock has never been formally outlawed, and although promised by Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1983, it was made a condition of the transfer two years later that it be allowed. The Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre is located about 1km from Uluru and is packed with multilingual displays, videos, and exhibitions. There is excellent information and resources of the surrounding area's geology and history. It is a must before exploring the rock. When I visited Uluru back in 2000 it was as part of a small group tour that I picked up in Alice Springs. After spending several days exploring the MacDonnell ranges and the area around Alice Springs I became increasingly fascinated by Aboriginal culture and the struggles that exist in modern times, with two very different cultures living side by side. Nowhere more than here was it possible to empathise with the Aborigine's sense of invasion and subjugation by another culture, and to witness the frustration of an older generation watching their traditions fade. Following my experiences in Alice Springs the tour I took made stops at Watarrka and Kata Tjuta before arriving at Uluru, and it was this background experience and growing empathy that encouraged me to take a more spiritual and considerate approach to Uluru when I finally arrived. As a result I wonder whether another precious piece of cultural heritage has moved on too far in the tourist development lifecycle. The nearby development of Ayers Rock Resort in Yulara and the neighbouring airport has undoubtedly removed the necessity to make the educational journey to Uluru over land. In a lifecycle played out all over the world that pushes towards access for the mass market gradually destroys the very essence of an attraction. (Machu Picchu in Peru is another example that I will write more about my experiences of next). Do we push the development of these tourist attractions so far that they eventually lose their sanctity and appeal?

"Surveys conducted by geographer Richard Baker from the Australian National University showed that the number of people who climbed or intended to climb Uluru, had fallen from 43% of park visitors in 2003 to 35.5% in 2004. Four or five years ago, the proportion of climbers was estimated to be about half of all visitors. Interestingly, Baker found that Australians and the Japanese were the most keen to climb the ancient rock, while Europeans were the least likely."

Linda Popic, The Guardian. Saturday, December 17 2005

"Among the hundreds of historically distinctive indigenous societies within Australia, mass tourism has transformed the Pitjantjatjara into an antipodean equivalent of the Navajo—a culture that is celebrated and romanticized by the same public consciousness that threatens to dilute it."

Rolf Potts, Slate. Monday, March 5th 2007

The rise in popularity of locally sourced products has been a huge step in a very positive direction by UK consumers recently. This renaissance of local markets seems to be occurring as people consciously seek to minimise their carbon footprint, and demand greater quality from products they buy. No longer are consumers concerned solely with aesthetics and functionality but also moral values and production processes.

Important as it is to champion local, domestic products; it is also vital to maintain a balanced, global view of the world in which we live. There are times when environmental concerns need to be curtailed in order to accommodate the bigger picture.

Estimates suggest that the UK spends £57 million a week on cocaine, of which 10-15% goes back into financing illegal armies and terrorism. No matter how much we try to distance ourselves from the global market, international trade is always present. We must practice our consumer concern globally as well as locally if we are to combat the negative effects of a global economy.  Whenever a bottle of Colombian liquid fruit is bought through the Aficionados Program run by Fruto del Espiritu the purchase finances 20 minutes of Micro-Enterprise Education or equivalent, opening up new opportunities for Colombians with very few options. This program is reactivating economies in rural areas of Colombia, creating a financial basis for displaced people to return to areas, which are now safe to go back to. There are an increasing number of companies offering similar profit sharing schemes to this. These are the types of companies and policies we need to be supporting when spending our money on imported goods.

Issues concerning the environmental impact of international travel are also addressed here - international trade, travel and consumerism are all powerful interlinked tools that if used properly, can help to address the same world issues. The currency used to bring about change is not restricted to finance. Through travel the direct exchange of culture, knowledge, skills and experience can also contribute towards positive development.

In our small well connected world should environmental concerns always be at the top of our agenda?