Spend any time examining tour industry trends and you’ll no doubt see sustainability appear on lists and articles. It’s a good thing for it to be on everyone’s minds, but it’s also easy to think about sustainability purely in terms of environmental concerns, and think that you’re doing your part by using reusable water bottles and buying carbon offsets.
Enter the United Nations. Back in 2016 it enacted its 17 Sustainability Development Goals as a way to broaden the conversation around sustainability, and help sectors across the board understand the impact they have on the world.
Today, the role of tour guides is no longer just about showing off beautiful views and sharing historical information. It’s also about connecting the stories, landscapes, and cultural insights we share with the collective responsibility we all have to our planet and its inhabitants. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are basically a blueprint for us to confront global challenges by helping us all understand the breadth of the sustainability challenge, and how we can play a part.
So let’s take a look at some of the SDGs, and how we as guides and tour leaders can live up to their ideals with practical and concrete actions. Together they help create a 10-point blueprint for crafting meaningful, deep and responsible experiences for ourselves and our guests. Of course, there’s always more we could all do!
1. No Poverty & Zero Hunger (Goals 1 & 2)
Sometimes it’s easy to look around and think that if poverty isn’t readily apparent, that our tours don’t really matter. But addressing global poverty means understanding how and where money gets spent on a tour.
- Offer recommendations and tour stops that promote local restaurants. Make sure that when you recommend guests eat somewhere, that it’s supporting the local economy, and not part of “leakage” that takes money away from the local community.
- See if your restaurant vendors participate in community programs, such as New York Common Pantry’s food rescue program that partners with restaurants to redistribute unused ingredients from restaurants.
- Offer travelers the option to buy local produce or handmade goods as souvenirs. Don’t just point out the popular “junk” that tourists seem to consume. Instead, educate them on the ways a higher-quality item benefits the maker. Don’t participate in black or gray-market endeavors, such as the sale of counterfeit purses that may be part of a harmful global supply chain.
- Share stories or information on how communities have overcome challenges related to poverty or hunger, which can inspire tourists to support initiatives back home.
Are you sensing a theme? A lot of what we can do as guides is make sure that the way we represent our community benefits the community financially, and that we’re sharing a positive educational message with our groups that they can take home into their lives.
2. Good Health and Well-being (Goal 3)
Sometimes we look at our tour guests as just a set of ears ready to listen to us. But their whole bodies go on tour with us, which means thinking holistically about how we engage on a tour can make a big difference.
- Encourage tourists to participate in local wellness or healing traditions. Even the simplicity of recommending a good massage place could make a personal difference! On a larger level, understand and telling the story of
- Design tours that incorporate wellness activities, like yoga, meditation, or local exercise routines. Or just a simple moment to be quiet.
- Engage the senses. Wellness isn’t just about yoga. Taking a tour is a chance to feel alive, and be engaged in the environment. Crafting activities that make a tour multi-sensory can make someone feel better.
3. Quality Education (Goal 4)
I’m sure many guides out there will agree that education is at the heart of what we do with our guests. It’s not only a great chance to inform our guests, but also to change their hearts and minds, and a responsibility we have as part of our craft.
- Make sure your storytelling tells a complete story. It’s easy to give the “great person” accounting of a place—who are the most famous and influential politicians, architects, rich patrons, who have placed their name and mark on a place? But our work as educators should also be to share the story of the Indigenous peoples whose mark is often less apparent, as well as the workers and marginalized groups who form an integral part of the collective experience of a place.
- Share the “why” behind how your city or region works. Often we take for granted how or that something works in a certain way where we live. But sharing the why is an opportunity to explain principles and thinking that help others comprehend that the world can work differently. Often it’s the basic things that can create the best connections with guests: why housing or sanitation or traffic works in a certain way.
- Make sure locals would appreciate the way you share the story of a place. Whether it’s a neighborhood or park, there are stakeholders of that place beyond yourself and tourists. Make a good steward of the place you’re in, respecting the lives of locals getting on with their daily lives, and making sure you don’t make stereotypes or caricatures of an ethnic neighborhood. For example, tell the whole story of New York’s Little Italy, of how the community supported itself over a hundred years, instead of just telling tales of
- Invite locals whenever possible. As guides we sometimes try to be the expert on everything, when it’s someone who’s local who is better positioned—because of their perspective and first-person experience. Can you integrate a shopowner into the tour, who tells the story of how a neighborhood has changed?
4. Gender Equality (Goal 5)
- Highlight historical and current achievements and stories of local women in the areas you tour. Thanks to the excellent work of many new professional and amateur historians, finding these stories are easier than ever, and help correct the “Great Man” narrative of history.
- Use inclusive language. It’s as easy as saying “Hey everyone!” instead of “Hey guys!” or humankind instead of mankind. These changes are small, become easy after some practice, and can make a difference on a small level to making sure your group feels welcomed and included.
- Understand that women and transgender people can sometimes feel reticent in sharing their voice with a group. Create different ways to allow people to share, including asking open-ended questions that allow people to share their experience, and making sure everyone has a chance to talk, not just the loudest or those who feel the most at ease.
- Use women-owned vendor partners, such as restaurants and local guides (if you’re a tour leader).
5. Clean Water and Sanitation (Goal 6)
- Weave statistics and stories about local water conservation efforts and challenges into your tour. The city of Paris is known for so much incredible history and architecture, but the story of recent water conservation efforts and how it distributes free water (they even have 17 sparkling water fountains!).
- Point out and build in time at water refill stations. Sometimes a traveler just needs prompting, and the more you point these out, the more guests will become aware, and hopefully use them instead of buying disposable plastic bottles in the future.
6. Affordable and Clean Energy (Goal 7)
- Organize tours to visit renewable energy projects in the area, such as solar farms or wind turbines.
- Provide information on how local communities are transitioning to clean energy.
- Advocate for local accommodations and attractions that employ sustainable energy practices.
7. Decent Work and Economic Growth (Goal 8)
- Share stories of local entrepreneurs or artisans and their journey.
- Organize workshops where tourists can learn a local craft or trade.
- Advocate for the rights and welfare of workers in the tourism industry and ensure tourists are aware of their impact.
8. Sustainable Cities and Communities (Goal 11)
- Highlight sustainable architecture or community designs during your tours.
- Collaborate with local urban planners or community leaders for specialized tours focusing on sustainable city initiatives.
- Encourage use of public transport or carpooling among tourists.
9. Responsible Consumption and Production (Goal 12)
- Offer tourists a list of recommended sustainable products or brands available locally.
- Educate about the impact of fast fashion and encourage purchasing from local artisans or sustainable brands.
- Promote zero-waste practices during tours, like bringing reusable cutlery or containers for food.
10. Life on Land & Below Water (Goals 15 & 14)
- Organize clean-up activities as part of the tour, whether in natural parks, forests, or beaches.
- Educate tourists on responsible wildlife viewing – keeping a safe distance, not feeding animals, etc.
- Collaborate with local conservationists to provide insights or talks on local biodiversity and conservation efforts.
