Three Practical Tips for Responsible Travel & Meeting Local People from My Trip to Guatemala

I’ve been planning to write a book about responsible travel for some time (I first wrote about “responsible expatting” years ago), and when I came across the RISE Travel Institute’s Flagship Program, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to educate myself more on the topic and connect with other like-minded travelers, so I signed up right away. (RISE stands for responsible, impactful, sustainable, and ethical.) The certificate program takes a systems-thinking approach to address the intersection of social justice, community development, animal welfare, and environmental sustainability in travel.

Students who completed this program earned the Certificate in Sustainability and Anti-Oppression in Travel and were eligible to sign up for the very first RISE Experiential Journey to Guatemala. I learned so much in the course, so was more than happy to become one of the first Experiential Journey customers!

RISE partnered with Etnica Travel, a Guatemalan-owned and operated travel company who organized all the details of our trip. Much of the learning from the course came to life on this Guatemala holiday.

Do you ever stop to consider the impact of your travel on the communities you visit? Do you want to make responsible travel a routine practice in your holiday trips? Do you want to help preserve nature, the cultural heritage, and develop friendships with the locals when you go abroad?

I’ll share a few takeaways from my tour to Guatemala and how your trips around the world can not only help support communities, but be more enjoyable and fulfilling than the average vacation.

First, here is a talk I gave for Kansas City Oasis about this Guatemala trip, in which I share photos and experiences and takeaways.

Want to learn more about responsible travel? Read on!

What Is Responsible Travel?

What exactly are we talking about when we say “responsible travel”?

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council defines responsible travel as “the behavior of travelers aspiring to make choices on their trip according to sustainable tourism practices.”

So then, what is sustainable tourism?

The UN World Tourism Organization defines sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”

In other words, responsible tourism has a net positive impact on the destinations it visits and the people who live there. It is about promoting and supporting sustainable development in local communities, while also respecting the environment.

Some key principles include supporting local businesses and economies, respecting local cultures and traditions, and minimizing negative environmental impacts.

By choosing to travel responsibly, visitors can help make a positive difference in the places they visit and promote sustainable tourism initiatives that benefit both local communities and the environment.

How to Identify Sustainable Travel Companies

I often travel independently, organizing my own lodging, meals, and activities, and I’ll get to some tips for those in a bit. But what if another company is organizing the trip for you? How do you know these companies will be mindful of the conservation and betterment of world’s people and places, biodiversity, and economy?

I lucked out with my Guatemala trip in that RISE Travel Institute had already done a lot of the homework for me in their selection of Etnica Travel as a phenomenal responsible travel partner to organize our trip.

However, here are some tips I recommend and use for selecting companies that will reduce your negative impact and actively consider not only your safety and enjoyment but also the long-term impact you’ll have on our beautiful and fragile planet.

Look for companies that are certified by a credible organization such as the Global Sustainable Tourism Council or the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (which I used to find the company we hired for our Kilimanjaro trek).

Look for indicators in their reviews and descriptions of whether they support local communities, use local guides, and source locally produced food and goods, and compensate those local sources fairly (and side note, if you find a company doing a good job of this, mention this in a nice review for them—I did it for RISE Travel and Etnica Travel and Gladys Adventure, to name some!).

Ask other mindful travelers for recommendations of sustainable tour operators, and ask what makes them sustainable (there is a lot of greenwashing out there!). For example, do they offset their carbon emissions, use hotels that are environmentally friendly, and support local businesses? Are they respectful of indigenous culture? Do they fairly compensate the people who work for them?

I could go into a lot more depth on some of these topics, but these practices are a good place to start. The tourism industry abounds with companies that only care about selling tour packages that will pad their bottom line. Being mindful and asking a few questions while selecting your tour company can make the difference between making the world a better place, or causing unintended damage by funding these already wealthy corporations.

How to Be a Responsible Traveler

Whether you’re traveling with a tour company or organizing your own activities and lodging as an individual or independent traveler, you can help make sure that your travel experiences are positive for both you and the local communities you visit by being mindful of a few key principles:

Respect local laws, cultures and customs; be aware of your impact on the environment (e.g. be conscious of your water and energy usage, minimize waste and dispose of it responsibly); support sustainable and ethical venues and tourism initiatives (e.g. activities that avoid cruelty to animals, or that support local artisans); and avoid purchasing mass-produced (i.e. “made in China”) souvenirs or souvenirs made from endangered animals or from protected resources.

Remember that your choices as a traveler can have a positive or negative impact on the planet, the local economy, the local culture, and more. Our collective choices as travelers can make the difference between a destination that thrives or one that is ruined.

Here are three tips for responsible travel in more detail, especially for those organizing their own itineraries:

1. Patronize Locally Owned Hotels and Restaurants

Buy locally owned or made products and services whenever possible. One of the best ways for travelers to do this is in being mindful of where they eat and sleep. Every traveler will need to find food and accommodations.

When you stay in a locally owned hotel or home, eat at a locally owned restaurant, or purchase groceries from a locally owned shop, you’re supporting the local economy. That’s good for the community because it means more jobs and money staying in the community. Plus, locally owned businesses are usually more attuned to the needs of their communities. So when you patronize them, you’re not only likely to get a better experience yourself, you’re providing a better experience for the community as a whole.

While at first glance large foreign-owned chain hotels, restaurants, and all-inclusive resorts may seem like a great way to support a country (after all, they are providing lots of local jobs!), they actually take most of the money you spend and send it back to the wealthy countries and into the pockets of the wealthy corporations who own them.

According to UN Atlas of the Oceans, “on average, of each US$100 spent on a vacation tour by a tourist from a developed country, only around US$5 actually stays in a developing-country destination’s economy.”

Why is this? “In most all-inclusive package tours, about 80% of travellers’ expenditures go to the airlines, hotels and other international companies (who often have their headquarters in the travellers’ home countries), and not to local businesses or workers.” Not only that, these large businesses also usually import equipment and products from suppliers outside the country and send a large percentage of the profits to wealthy foreign investors.

Plus, these large properties also consume huge amounts of water and energy and generate large volumes of waste, which is obviously not good for the communities in which they are built, especially in island destinations where resources are very limited and the environment can be much more fragile.

On my recent trip to Guatemala, we supported local owners by eating in local restaurants and staying in local hotels, eco hotels, and even in a home with an indigenous family, which was a unique and rewarding experience.

2. Support Community Tourism Initiatives

Community tourism is a type of tourism that involves the local community in the planning and operation of tourist activities. The goal of community tourism is to support communities and preserve their cultural heritage. Local crafts, artisans, and souvenirs are often a big part of community tourism. By supporting local people and businesses, community tourism can contribute to the preservation of cultural heritage.

Community tourism allows you to discover a country and its people on their terms. It allows them to practice their skills and crafts and earn an honest living from them, which helps the destination not only economically, but culturally.

While in Guatemala, we visited a number of local weavers, a farmer-owned local coffee plantation, learned about local chocolate production, honey and other bee products produced locally, native plant medicine, and much more. Local guides showed us the nature and culture of their areas. By joining these tours and buying their locally produced products, we learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and helped preserve the native culture which might otherwise be lost to big corporations seeking to make a profit from tourism in the area.

When seeking guides, look for local guides who genuinely know the area and can provide deeper insights.

When shopping for souvenirs, look for items that are made sustainably and connect with locals to learn about traditional crafts.

One of the biggest threats to the culture and economy of the indigenous textile traditions in Guatemala is the arrival of Chinese companies who have stolen their textile designs and mass produced clothing that looks similar but is far inferior in quality. The much cheaper price tag lures many tourists away from the authentic crafts and is ruining the traditional art. Make it your personal policy to avoid buying mass-produced ‘made in China’ souvenirs, and learn from and support genuine local artisans whenever you can.

3. Engage in Human Connection

Once you’re on your trip, be respectful of the people and places you’re visiting. Many cultures have different customs than what you’re used to, so it’s important to research these before you travel. If you’re unsure about something, always err on the side of caution and ask permission before taking photos or participating in activities.

When you travel, one of the best ways to connect with the local people is to stay in a homestay. This is where you live with a family in their home and often includes meals. It’s a great way to learn about the culture and get to know people.

Even if there is a language barrier, you can communicate with gestures and try to learn some words in the local language. Vincie, the founder of RISE Travel Institute, originally from Hong Kong, brought chopsticks as a gift for her Guatemalan host family and they had so many laughs together as she taught them how to use the chopsticks, even though she could not speak Spanish and they could not speak English.

I believe that the more of an effort we make to connect with individuals in places where we travel, the more fun we will have. Most travelers, when looking back on their fondest memories of a trip, often think back to the connections they made and the people they met along the way. If you hole up in an all-inclusive resort and never venture out to meet the people, you may never know what you missed out on. When you travel, try to break out of that little tourist bubble and represent your country well by connecting with the people in your host country.

This is where, in my opinion, the biggest benefit of travel lies… for everyone. This is the needle-mover for empathy, understanding, and, ultimately, more peace in the world. After making genuine friendships, if you hear a blanket statement about people from a certain country, you go, “Wait a minute. I have friends from there. I know better. My experience shows me that there’s more to the story than that.”

By the same token, hopefully you’ll leave the people in the country you visited with a better impression of your country by the way you represented it. If we multiply these positive experiences between cultures by many travelers in many countries, we can’t help but make the world a better place.

Maybe it’s not the solution to every problem in the world…but I do think it will make a difference.

What do you think?