Get Involved

You've read the benefits, why we set up the Responsible Tourism Reporting Initiative and what it means to be part of it and you are now ready to get started. Here is how to do it.

Policy

To be part of this scheme your business must have a written responsible tourism policy or documented good practices. If you do not or you feel you need to expand your existing documentation, the impacts section of this website includes suggestions of what you could include in your policy and also how these points could then be reported and verified. It may seem daunting but no business would be expected to cover all the areas we highlight - many may not even be applicable to you. The possible issues that we have included are by no means a definitive list of what you could consider and we suggest you start with whatever you feel is important to you and whatever is possible within your business, sector or destination.

The policy should state your aims for the year and, if you want, briefly outline how you plan to achieve these aims. You can find examples of what and how to write each area of your policy in the impacts section.

For a business to be included in the Responsible Tourism Reporting Initiative their responsible tourism policy must be publicly available.

Measure

If your business is to take responsible tourism seriously, there needs to be a systematic approach in considering each aspect of your business' operations and the ways in which your impacts can be minimised. You cannot claim success in responsibility terms unless you have achieved clearly defined goals and objectives.

Setting realistic annual goals which can be measured against your achievements at the end of the year will allow you to objectively monitor your business' progression towards responsibility. Without such goals and evidence of success, claims cannot be verified, often resulting in green-washing.

If you haven't been measuring your actions you will need to set up methods to collect the information to prove these actions are taking place. Once you have decided to join the scheme we will be able to send you hints and tips on the best ways to do this for your business, including Excel spreadsheets to help you collect your data and calculate your business' impacts. With some data, you will find you are able to back date; for example, electricity consumption can be calculated using last year's utility bills. If there are elements that you are not able to back date - just start collecting them now and you will be able to include this data in the next years report.

It is understood that sometimes a business will not be able to collect data without incurring additional costs – we don't expect you to do this, just work out other methods that can prove you are working towards your goals. For example, measuring water consumption usually incurs the cost of installing a meter – instead you can measure the flow rates of your taps, showers and toilets to prove they are all low flow.

Report

Once your responsible tourism policy is in place and you are confident you have been implementing the points long enough to produce your responsible tourism report, it's time to move on to the next stage - writing the report.

Each Responsible Tourism Report should comprise of achievements that are:

quantifiable and are therefore possible to verify (which is done by us)
qualitative and are therefore not possible to verify but give a flavour of what you are doing and which your clients will experience

The Quantifiable Achievements

These should be based on measurements which are feasible and can be collected at little or no additional cost. Also wherever possible they should be reported in ways that permit comparison between businesses – as more companies join the initiative we will encourage the development of standardised reporting methodologies.

The Qualitative Achievements

These non-verifiable achievements, when reported, take the form of short stories where the business can describe in as much detail the initiatives and efforts they have made, the successes, the failures and the accompanying reasons. This more personalised section allows you to give your business and your responsible tourism report a 'face' making it more likely to be retold which, in turn, will assist with your marketing through repeats and referrals. The story form is particularly applicable to staff progression and community development.

The categories you include in your responsible tourism report should correspond with the categories you have included in your policy. See the Impacts section for details on suggested categories along with how we suggest you measure your impacts and how we will verify your claims. As mentioned these are only suggestions – we assume you will adopt a "pick and mix" approach depending on your aspirations, your business, the place(s) your work in and resources available.

Verify

Once you are happy with your report and you are confident you've covered all your business' achievements over the year, it's time to get your report independently verified. Our external verifier will come to your business and audit all the quantifiable measures – make sure all calculations and any supporting documents are made available to the verifier. Additional qualitative points you may have included in your report will be audited at the verifier’s discretion. All claims, regardless of how small they may be, must be supported with the relevant evidence.

Publishing the Results

All verified reports will be published on this website. This will create a central pool allowing easy comparison between companies involved in the Responsible Tourism Reporting Initiative.