Feel like there’s nothing left to learn? Here is a collection of refreshing ideas from around the world from communities tapping into tourism, improving it as well as enriching their own quality of life. Tourism translates to change and growth, which can either overwhelm a destination, or provide new opportunities for those able to innovate, through hi tech or low tech solutions.
As you’ll notice, half of the examples stem from my personal travel experiences, while the rest were discovered through research.
The employed disabled, Cambodia
An unassuming café in the coastal town of Kampot, Cambodia, is the first example to mind when I think of positive ideas. Between the English/Khmer language barrier and the polite greeting being a gesture (the Sampeah, similar to a praying gesture) rather than speaking, it took a minute to even notice… that all the employees were deaf.
Placemats explained the restaurant concept and showed visitors how to order and ask questions, through a combination of sign language and pointing to items where needed. The initiative, set up as most things in Cambodia are, by a charitable non-governmental organisation (NGO), put a smile on my face for more reasons than one.
There was no difficulty at all, it was probably clearer than some other interactions my travel mates and I had had on the same trip. But mostly, disabled people are often horribly neglected and barred from the working world. In Cambodia in particular, there is no safety net for the disabled, let alone the country’s poor majority.
Cambodia is cripplingly poor, not just in money but in knowledge, skills and often family bonds, as a result of its 1970s genocide. It’s hard to describe how far behind it is in any facet of development like education, sanitation, health care, cultural knowledge or industry.
Problems compound in larger cities where corruption runs amok, the country is overly dependent on NGOs, and the economy is completely unbalanced and over half the population is under 25. Direct neighbours Thailand and Vietnam are decades ahead in terms of development.
After seeing the crime, gangs and organised begging common in busier towns, it was nice to see the quieter Kampot with two small-but-healthy industries offering employment: tourism and pepper production. Local pepper was also sold in the café, of course, the two industries fuelling each other to some extent.
Free services, Australia
Melbourne, Australia, is not dependent on tourism, but is a great place to visit and has a blooming educational tourism sector. Two simple ideas are great for new-comers, tourists and residents exploring their own city.
One is a free tram, taking a simple looped route within the city centre on a limited schedule. It may seem counter-intuitive for government to pay for that, but the limited route is hardly competition for the transport sector, it benefits businesses by making a larger part of the centre more accessible, and it alleviates traffic and congestion.
For context, I would compare it to some mode of free transportation running along Front Street or the Boardwalk, end to end. Most people would not bother to use public transport, but free transport would provide more access to Philipsburg in general.
The other was having easily recognisable volunteers who give directions and friendly advice to visitors. These were spread in and around the tourism information office, as well as neighbouring public spaces. They were usually older or still in school, and found it to be a nice volunteering option, letting them meet new people, and learn customer service or language skills.
Japan, where else?
The Sunshine Aquarium in Tokyo, Japan, had been experiencing lower customer volumes, presumably because of an increase in competition, as well as becoming harder to find. However, it reported a 152 percent increase in traffic after taking a hi-tech leap.
The aquarium had a unique augmented reality (AR) app created, using its own penguins and motion capture technology through 10 cameras.
On the app, a group of cute, life-like penguins lead customers to the facility through their smartphone’s GPS system. Visitors simply log onto the Penguin Navi website, or read a QR (Quick Response) code at the nearest train station, and follow the waddling penguins on their screens.
Rooftop superfood, Thailand
Pricy Spirulina, hailed as a superfood, is being harvested in barrels on the rooftop of Hotel Novotel Bangkok, in Thailand. Using what are essentially free by-products of the hotel’s ventilation system, namely carbon dioxide and perfect temperature, Saumil Shah manages to harvest the algae three to four times a week.
Drying and packing it at another facility, it is sold at the hotel as well as other stores. According to the Guardian, 300-500kg of fresh spirulina is produced on-site over the course of a year, and it retails for around $40/kg. Dried powder and spirulina pasta are also sold by the same company, and offered at the hotel.
Choking on plastic, Indonesia
If you think St. Maarten has a waste disposal problem, you’re right; but you’re not ready for Indonesia. Plastic abounds, much of it from single-use packets, and rural areas in particular do not have proper waste management systems.
In Bali, I was amazed to see layers of plastic bags and other trash caked into hills, backyards, and bobbing around in the sea.
Globalisation came to Bali and its neighbouring islands late, and garbage until then had been biodegradable. The old practice of throwing garbage into the river, or almost anywhere on land, did not change quickly enough to deal with the onset of everlasting plastic.
In some areas, hotels and other private sector players set up garbage truck services, which had been a new concept at the time. After all, it was untouched natural beauty and culture that attracted them in the first place.
In more recent years, small groups of women in particular have refined the art of using disposed goods, such as packets, string and sacks, to craft bags, hats, visors, baskets, shoes and other goods sold at boutique stores. Traditional Batik clothing is also reused for hand fans and dolls sold as souvenirs.
In fact, most souvenirs are made locally, which visitors see more value in. This goes especially for Ubud, where tourism and art have long been each other’s bloodlines.
Zero waste, England
Finally, the most complex and full-circle example! Silo, a restaurant, bakery and coffee house in seaside Brighton, England, is taking the “zero-waste” concept to an extreme level. Zero waste is a growing movement normally based in metropolitan cities, which tend to be large producers of trash and carbon emissions.
It entails sending nothing, or as little as possible to the landfill. Hardcore “zero-wasters” manage to fit two to three years of trash into a small glass food container.
Silo began by creating food on site, rolling its own oats, churning butter, culturing cream, milling flour, brewing drinks and growing mushrooms on used coffee grounds. Most produce is delivered directly from farmers and what still needs to be shipped, is shipped in biodegradable packaging which admittedly took a lot of assertion on Silo’s part.
If anything really needs to be delivered by cargo, the company focuses on so-called “zero emission” transportation.
Receipts are emailed rather than printed, and besides the predictably reusable tableware, the company had special plates and coasters made by a local designer from used plastic bags. The hard surface and marble-like scattering of colours do not give away their basic material.
While more restaurants embrace the low-impact and local produce style of doing business, two big differences are the company’s indoor composting machine and cleaning methods.
The composting machine converts 60kg of food scraps and biodegradable material per day, with the resulting compost going back to farmers, and to a few other restaurants.
There is also an electrolysed, oxidised water system which creates water “more hygienic than hand soap,” according to Chef and Founder Douglas McMaster. It’s used to clean the whole restaurant, with no chemicals, packaging, or waste.
McMaster described the restaurant to the Guardian as “a whole bunch of connected ideas under one roof,” and changing the system from the ground up as “bloody hard… like swimming upstream.” However, they’ve managed to find solutions to even the smallest details, he added.
He also praised social media and the Internet, major factors in the spread of knowledge surrounding the movement, as empowering people and prompting them to change the status quo.
contributed by Darlene Hodge
