Is Responsible Tourism the same as Sustainable Tourism or is it the other way round?
All forms of tourism can be more responsible. The goals of Responsible Tourism are very similar to Sustainable tourism (which are environmental integrity, social justice and maximising local economic benefit)with the exception that Responsible Tourism requires that individuals, organisations and businesses are asked to take responsibility for their actions and the impacts of their actions. This shift in emphasis has taken place because not much progress has been made on realising sustainable tourism since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. This is partly because everyone has been expecting others to behave in a sustainable way. The emphasis on responsibility in responsible tourism means that everyone involved in tourism – government, product owners and operators, transport operators, community services, NGO's and CBO's, tourists, local communities, industry associations – are responsible for achieving the goals of responsible tourism
