Sustainable tourism is a way of travelling and exploring a destination while respecting its culture, environment and people. It is about managing all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity, and life support systems. It’s also about protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future.
Western Isles Tour Guide Association understands sustainable tourism to be an economically viable activity that prioritizes local traditions and way of life, natural resources and residents, so that both the physical environment and social fabric of our communities are preserved. Sustainable tourism helps maintain the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and thrive both economically and culturally.
Western Isles Tour Guide Association is committed to:
Advocacy: taking part in industry-wide discussions with the aim of promoting and championing sustainable tourism in the Western Isles.
Visitor engagement: actively engaging with visitors to ensure their experiences are enhanced by our services while also promoting sustainability.
Community engagement: listening to our communities and partners to better protect the environment of the islands and promote best practices within the association as well as within the tourism industry and beyond.
We support:
Investment in guiding training. We do not charge trainee-guides for training purposes (or for anything else. Get in touch if you fancy giving guiding a go!).
Creating new tours with a focus on interaction with local populations around traditions, culture & way of life.
Charging a fair price for our services to ensure guiding is economically viable and offers financially attractive employment opportunities locally.
Advocating for better infrastructure, maintenance and protection of all sites visited.
Engaging with stakeholders to champion sustainability tourism over mass tourism.
Promoting best practices in guiding as established in the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations’ Code of Guiding Practice (http://wftga.org/tourist-guiding/code-guiding-practice).
