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Essential areas of equilibrium in the context of sustainable development in tourism

Michelle DEMESSINE - Secretary of State for Tourism, Paris, France

 

Mister President,
Honoured guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would first of all like to thank the Mayor, Monsieur Michel CHARLET, for welcoming us to Chamonix, the mountaineering capital of the Alps situated at the foot of one of the world's most magnificent mountains, Mont Blanc.

And it is therefore not surprising that Chamonix, in association with the local communes, the Mont-Blanc-Leman Observatory, Geneva Tourist Office, is for three days host to political decision makers, economic players, researchers and associations from around the world.

I would especially like to greet our friends, specialists and representatives from the French speaking countries, who joined us yesterday.

Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world come here, for both short and long stays, to visit this fabulous, though vulnerable, site.

Chamonix is thus confronted with the problem, which has brought us all here today: the question of knowing how to combine tourist development with the preservation of the environment and how to promote a balanced and sustainable tourism.

As you know, the 20th century will have brought many changes and upheavals in the way we live, communicate and travel. Following outstanding advances in transport and new technologies, we will be entering the third millennium conscious that this progress has created inequality between northern and southern countries and often put our ecosystem at risk.

The tourist sector has also been affected by these developments and now finds itself confronted by growth problems bringing new concerns for the environment and mankind, namely favouring development which is able to meet present requirements whilst preserving the future.

Furthermore, their system of selling package holidays has not encouraged them to invest directly in the host countries and consequently they do not understand the problems emanating from the mass arrival of tourists, namely those concerning amenities, local development and the preservation of the environment.

It is through the awareness of the dangers that such tourist growth may bring that the notion of sustainable development has gradually developed. It was initially officially recognised during the Rio Conference in June 1992, followed by the tourist sector in 1995 with the Charter of sustainable tourism initiated by the World Tourism Organisation and the United Nations Programme for the Environment.

Last April in New York the 7th session of the Commission for sustainable development was held. It was followed by the drafting of a world Code of ethics that was approved by the World Tourism Organisation at their general meeting in Santiago, Chilli last October.

This world code of tourist ethics, which was drawn up by 139 member countries of the WTO, is designed to protect against unethical behaviour in light of the projected three-fold increase in tourism in years to come. This code endorses tourism that is respectful of mankind, local cultures and the environment. This document is accompanied by a protocol for application that envisages, within two years, to create a world "tourist ethics" committee whose members may be asked, should a dispute arise, to make a ruling.

These problems have worsened over the last 20 years, with the emergence of large international companies.

Indeed, the high concentration of tour operators in northern Europe, together with the mass tourist demand for the sunnier southern countries as well as Asia, has provided these large groups with the technical and economic power to impose their tourist requirements, especially in terms of accommodation.

This code is made up of 10 articles

• Respecting the host communities
• Protecting tourism and human values : tourism must be carried out with the aim of providing fulfilment and contribute to the defence of the rights of man and reject sexual exploitation
• Protecting the natural habitat
• Protecting culture : tourist resources belong to humanity. Tourism must contribute to the preservation of our heritage.
• Guaranteeing benefits for the local communities : tourism must contribute to improving standards of living.
• Consumer rights : tourist professionals must provide clients with all information relative to their stay
• Worker rights : tourist employees must be able to work under normal conditions
• Tourism for everybody : the right to have a holiday is just as much a right as that for good health
• And the right to circulate freely : security and freedom of travel for tourists.

Public and private players promise to respect and apply this code.

In this way the movement has begun with the acknowledgement that the principles of sustainable tourism are common international policy criteria.

However it is true that although the notion of sustainable tourism is increasingly integrated in issues concerning the tourist economy, its true implications are only just coming to light and it often needs defining.

Allow me, in the light of French experience, to present the major elements of sustainable development.

In France, as in many other industrialised countries, tourism at the beginning concerned the more affluent social classes that had the means and the necessary time to benefit from and to experience the delights of enchanting sites such as Chamonix.

Tourism only really developed with the arrival of paid holiday entitlement in 1936 and the acceptance that people had a right to holidays. It was not until after the war and the period of relative prosperity that it truly concerned the masses.

In answer to the surge in demand for leisure time and tourism, the State introduced highly ambitious tourist development programmes in those areas with a high potential for development. I am naturally thinking about mountain regions but also about regions such as the Languedoc-Roussillon or Aquitaine.

This tourist development with the resources it mobilised and the facilities and infrastructures that arose, has greatly changed the economic and social balance of the regions concerned. The State thus found itself forced to change its policy, which it now conducts with the local authorities whose competencies have been enlarged by decentralisation.

So at the beginning of the 1980's, following the period when considerable facilities were installed, planning policy aimed to control the growth and concentration of tourism by regulating its development in strong tourist zones. At the same time, efforts were made to diversify and adapt the tourist offer.

Since I have been appointed, I have aimed to revive and revitalise the planning policy so that it encourages local and harmonious development whilst respecting the environment, culture and mankind, which I consider to be the very essence of sustainable tourism.

This means meeting the expectations and requirements of the population with medium and long-term economic development in mind.

How better can we claim to do so than by committing ourselves to promoting sustainable tourism: tourism which combines the quality of life and the environment, the preservation of resources and the redistribution of wealth in favour of greater social justice. This sort of tourism encourages and involves everybody whilst enhancing employment.

These are indeed the fundamental principles of sustainable tourism as recalled by the French law "Orientation pour l'Aménagement et le Développement durable du Territoire" voted on 25 June by the French parliament.

Human beings must be the most important aspect in an environmental friendly development. This is ensured by protecting and enhancing the natural and patrimonial resources, by not causing any damage and also by complying with ethical standards, which means involving all the players.

Diversifying activities and allowing redistribution of wealth to the local population must ensure the economic viability of tourist projects, through social integration, professional qualification, the creation of jobs and the education of tourists.

At a time when new trade negotiations are taking place at the Word Trade Organisation in Seattle and it is feared that globalisation is upsetting the economic and territorial balance, I would like to emphasis here how much I consider it essential to recognise the diversity, specificity and the local and regional identities of each situation and to point out how dangerous it would be to consider sustainable tourism as a universal system which could apply immediately.

In my view, it is more appropriate to think of this notion as an ethical standard and a working method that gradually provides an approach to local problems and tries out concerted solutions between all the players involved. Far from being a standard or a quality label reserved for a few, it is a process open to all.

The example of the Balearic Islands seems hopeful to me. A huge policy has been started to redefine their coastal areas, which aims to remove certain constructions and to transform "artificial" Balearic resorts into more authentic destinations where the local and tourist lifestyles can be better combined.

This involves substituting an often short-sighted vision with a policy for the future, thus enabling the tourist sector to provide the local population with prosperity and hope.

Henceforth, ensuring the economic viability of tourist projects also means encouraging local populations to take part in the tourist development projects, to allow them to monitor them, to assume various levels of responsibility and to benefit from the resulting economic advantages.

Without this precaution, not only would the population not benefit from the tourist activity, but worse still, it may also damage and cause destructive behaviour to the natural, cultural or social environment, leading to the rejection of the tourists themselves.

This is why it is right that the principles of sustainable development, together with a code for world ethics, firmly excludes strategy which deliberately aim to exploit the host country's resources without taking into account the concerns of the local population.

Another fundamental principle of sustainable tourism, recognised by international bodies and upheld by France, is the protection and enhancement of the natural and patrimonial resources.

Indeed, how can the economic sustainable development of tourism take place if the conditions making it last are not united and how can we talk of a tourism for the future if the riches upon which it is founded and which it thrives on, are threatened ?

Paradoxically, by damaging the natural habitat, its main resource, the tourist industry is capable of being a threat to itself; a case of "cutting off the hand that feeds you".

Thus practices such as the intensive extraction of sand for construction tourist work, common to many coastal regions, has been responsible for the destruction of beaches. In coastal zones where coral reefs have been destroyed by sewage and other forms of pollution, there is little chance of the destroyed beaches growing back naturally and thus attracting tourists.

However, on the other hand, tourism may also play an important role in protecting the environment by providing the finance to set up the infrastructures that respect the environment and thus guaranteeing its preservation.

Correctly calculated tourism can also help incite local populations, who would benefit from the development of a tourist economy, to recognise the value of their natural and cultural heritage and to promote it.

However, these principles, as generous as they may be, have become even more essential as it has been announced that world tourist flows, as Monsieur Francesco FRANGIALLI will probably confirm, will triple in the next twenty years. However these principles will remain just principles if players and decision-makers do not place them at the centre of their policies and decisions in terms of development.

As you know, for more than two decades France has been behind an inter-ministerial policy uniting the Ministers of the Environment, Agriculture and Tourism to ensure the protection of areas and the control of urbanisation.

I would like at this point to remind you of the actions undertaken by France.

The "Littoral" act which protects our coasts from unlawful development and which enhances its value and the "Montagne" act which aims at enhancing the value of the mountain economy whilst protecting the vulnerable natural habitat, have been drawn up with the desire to regulate and organise the planning of areas.

A few minutes ago I talked about the new law which lays down major planning principles, the extent of which will become apparent in the contractual policies between the State and the regions.

But other tools have also been set up mobilising players around territorial development projects. For example, in rural tourist sites permanent centres providing an introduction to the environment or regional nature parks were very early on able to carry out a sort of sustainable tourism on the principles of local development enhancing the value of their natural resources.

The regional nature parks have moreover elaborated a European Charter for sustainable development, the signing of which I had the honour of presiding over on 9 April at Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. Moreover there are many small communes in France, condemned to economic decline because of specialised and under-productive activity, which have been able to evolve towards an economy of diversified activity. They have done so by making a few judicious choices in which tourism plays an important role and where the will of all the local players to work together has endorsed these choices.

In the same way, the rehabilitation programmes for the listed natural sites aim to restore the natural quality which has so often been degraded by excess frequentation, whilst continuing to welcome the public and mange the flow of tourists.

The Pointe du Raz and the Pont du Gard are among the 25 operations currently in progress.

As part of the contracts being made between the French State and the regions, we also propose the renovation and the redefinition of the mountain and coastal resorts.

All this helps in making tourist activity no longer aggressive or even destructive for the environment, but on the contrary, a tool for social development to be used by the populations concerned.

Of course the protection of areas is important, but what is even more important is to provide the local population with the means of being able to continue to live there by welcoming both visitors from afar as well as by developing local tourism.

Opening up nature areas to everyone does not mean that all kinds of behaviour have to be tolerated.

This is why I believe that it is vital to set up training and public education schemes in these vulnerable areas.

You will have understood that as a result of the experiences undertaken in France, the State and local authorities are anxious to conduct a policy of sustainable tourist development, a policy for tourism that creates employment and enhances the value of an area. A policy which at last suitably meets the expectations of consumers who are increasingly looking for a more authentic style of tourism, in contact with and respecting the values and traditions of the local populations.

For such a policy to be successful, it seems essential that it adhere to the following principles :

• a systematic analysis of the actions and projects in relation to a global territorial approach;
• identifying and involving the various players; I am especially thinking of tradesmen and artisans and the countless number of small companies which make up the wealth of our tourist economy;
• by being able to mobilise observation tools and relevant measures;
• by making sure that decisions be jointly authorised using clear, easy and accepted modalities.
• by working towards a true policy for tourist employment which rejects precarious jobs and which provides long term career prospects thus accumulating experience.

In fact the decision to establish important tourist amenities is all too often still taken away from local democracy and therefore the citizen.

It is a hard task and the road ahead is still long, but we have entered a new period in the history of French tourist economy.

And I am pleased that these attitudes are shared by many players and decision-makers in both France and in the world.

It is a sign of social justice as well as economic success that tourists are increasingly seeking authentic destinations and looking for a meaning to their travels.

You can rely on the commitment of the French government to continue with its European partners in this direction, to encourage reflection at the heart of international bodies and to conduct policy for a more balanced tourism that respects both man and territories.

On this point, I would like to remind you that France and the other Alpine countries have, with the "Alpine Convention" signed on October 1991 in Salzburg and ratified by France in 1996, taken part in drawing up the conditions of sustainable tourism which respects the natural heritage.

In the same vein France has also strongly supported the setting up of a tourist Code of ethics at the last General Meeting of the WTO. This is also why France takes part in and supports initiatives fighting against sexual tourism and child labour.

This is finally why, on the eve of the Portuguese and French presidencies of the European Union, I have taken the initiative of bringing together a certain number of my European colleagues to jointly define a programme of actions concerning this notion of sustainable tourist development.

And I must say that the fact that a local authority in partnership with regional and departmental councils, several international organisations, as well as personalities from the tourist and research industries, has decided to embrace this sustainable tourism issue, encourages us in our action to make this notion a reality.

I am also pleased that you have expressed the desire to continue the work undertaken by these Summits of Tourism through the network that you are setting up which, by exchanging information and experiences, aims for a global reflection of tourism in the 20th century, with a particular emphasis on the ecological, economic and social aspects of sustainable tourist development.

It is largely significant that throughout the world, energy is being put into placing man at the heart of development policies and, by so doing, contributing to the building of a more tolerant, just and fraternal world.

Thank you for your attention and I hope the first of these Summits of Tourism will be a great success.