Gap Adventures promotes ‘green travel’ by focusing on minimising environmental impact and protecting the destinations his travellers go into, integrating with the local people and cultures and bringing economic benefit to local communities.
Poon Tip has been invited to explain his concept of ‘green travel’ as a keynote speaker at World Green Tourism Abu Dhabi. The UAE does not currently feature on the Gap Adventures itinerary, except as a stopover for those flying into other Middle Eastern destinations such as Oman, Jordan, Syria or even Iran.
But with Abu Dhabi now looking to position itself as a ‘sustainability champion’ – will Gap Adventures seek to bring more tour groups here in the future?
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At this, Poon Tip looks somewhat dubious, admitting, the “Middle East has a lot of challenges when it comes to green travel.”
“On the environmental side of green tourism – I don’t think that at any time in the near future that kind of traveller will be attracted to a country like Abu Dhabi because of how it’s viewed by the outside world as being a resource intensive destination,” he says.
However, he is keen to underline the point that, ‘green travel’ does not just have to mean eco-friendly – it also refers to cultural experiences, or “meeting local people and having authentic travel experiences.”
“Sustainability is defined in many, many ways. Yes, the lack of resources here and the mass development and construction could lead people to be highly critical of the destination in terms of its environmental status. But the ‘green traveller’ goes beyond that – 90% of green travel is about experiencing different cultures. And this region has culture in spades.”
But surely opening up the local culture to tourists is another aspect that could prove extremely challenging in the Gulf where locals traditionally live quite private lives.
“The local culture here is extremely hidden,” agrees Poon Tip. “And it’s not something people here think tourists would be interested in.”
“I think the people of the Middle East are generally quite private people, but in order to allow tourists in you have to expose and give some of your cultural secrets away, and truly realise the benefits and greater understanding people have of your country if they can have that kind of cultural experience.”
Poon Tip suggest that such cultural experiences could “start with small, local experiences – local markets or home stay programes or having local guides give an insider’s view on city tours as oppose to hitting shopping spots.”
Speaking of Abu Dhabi’s commitment to become a ‘green tourism’ destination, Poon Tip says: “I think the challenge will be for the tourist boards to really commit to this form of travel. It’s very easy to bring in the luxury travellers and the spa traveller – that’s obviously low hanging fruit, but tourism boards have to be pretty committed to the concept of sustainable travel and have to invest in it over a long period of time.”
Once travellers can experience something “authentic” in the destination, demand from green travellers will build. “We just need a bit of commitment on the government’s side to share cultural experiences with us, and the market will come,” he insists. “It’s a fascinating country to a lot of travellers from around the world.”
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