The Rebellious Tourist Manifesto launched.

At first, I figured the "Manifesto" had been posted on April 1st and was offered with tongue-in-cheek. But the RTNews blog posting from Justin was dated 6 April and your posting it here makes me think it's supposed to be taken seriously. Have I missed the punch line?

The language of rebellion and revolution is hyperbolic when one actually reads the 'manifesto', such that one wonders whether this hacking story isn't a creative PR stunt - the alignment with what RT.com wants and what the hacker provided is just too clean, and it all just seems too clever. And Rt.com has over-played this (I assume you've re-posted their marketing copy in your post here, hence your inverted commas after the first sentence): "Hit the reset button"? "A mantra for today's responsible traveller?" Do you really support those statements? Really?

Secondly, even if a legitimate 'white hat' hack, what's called for by the hacker is only a 'rebellion' for people so embalmed by their comfortable lives that they need encouragement to go wild and "let the kids stay up late" when travelling. Is the RT movement so weak that this passes for rebellion? Is this the fulfillment of Krippendorf's call to action? The enthusiastic RT volunteers and activists and entrepreneurs must feel deflated when they see this kind of pabulum. I just roll my eyes and think that these people aren't serious - or they're out of touch with the stakes on the ground in destinations. I suppose it's naive to expect a commercial travel agency like RT.com to take the risk of doing something that might offend its stakeholders or threaten its income. However, co-opting the language of activism for something this lame isn't a smart move for keeping street cred among the RT faithful either.

Where's the real rebellion in tourism? By destinations fed up with entrenched industry players and governments who take local people for granted, and by communities tired of being exploited for branding purposes while receiving crumbs in return? This is the kind of rebellious call to action I'd expect Harold Goodwin and other RT leaders to espouse, not an anemic plea from an online travel agency for tourists to eat street food over Big Macs.

The Responsible Tourism  movement is a broad church. I support RT.com’s efforts to engage a new audience and I am not surprised that some were alienated by that. The overwhelming majority of those who read the press release appreciated the joke and smiled. I did.
If you feel that there is potential for something more rebellious then spread the word, there is little enough going on.  There is plenty of scope for rebellious locals, we see little organised action in destinations.  RT .com is an originating market organisation – imagine the fuss if it had, quite improperly launched a campaign in Cape Town or Kerala.

If  RT .com’s campaign is anaemic spice it up. Do better.

Kurt has written in terms that are more aggressive on his blog

I have posted this reply there.

Two people have drawn my attention to your blog and I thought that I should reply to put the record straight. Two or three people who did not immediately see it as a stunt misunderstood what most took to be a jokey attempt to capture media interest. It worked.  It was certainly not a deception.  Very few people misunderstood, I am sorry that you were deceived by it.  I do not  think anyone misunderstands my relationship with ResponsibleTravel.com – indeed you are obviously aware of the history, it is also clearly spelt out on my site

In a world in which it is difficult to get media attention for something as worthy as Responsible Tourism, I applaud those who try to reach new audiences with new messages. Responsible Tourism is a broad church and there is space for many different approaches. My natural predisposition is to be supportive of all initiatives that seek to find new audiences. If you feel the content to be weak then why not strengthen it or take your own initiative?  Krippendorf has been a major influence in my work and I wish that there were more people out there actively campaigning for Responsible Tourism in originating markets and destinations. If it is a weak tea version – what would a strong tea version look like? Any ideas?

Tourism is a commercial activity as well as an experience – it is only sustainable if there is profit. The Body Shop was a commercial business; L’Oreal bought it for £652m in March 2006.

ResponsibleTravel.com is part of a broad movement. A movement that encompasses a broad range of approaches and objectives and which has many leaders. I applaud that diversity.

You accuse me of distributing  RT.com’s marketing messages “without attribution, comment or critical analysis.” Attribution was clear, I linked it directly to RT.com’s website, I did comment, I encouraged people to participate and – I called for debate on the initiative. 

Responsible Tourism  is a broad and diverse movement and no one active in it should expect everyone to agree. I welcome debate. In movements, different people adopt different strategies; and support and criticise each other. The concept of the “academic-consulting-NGO industrial complex” is intriguing. Sounds powerful …. if only. It is all a bit too transparent for that.

The Responsible Tourism  movement is under constant scrutiny and I welcome that. But does anyone not know that RT.com is a business. The accusation that I do not disclose my interests is very wide of the mark – and offensive – take a look at www.haroldgoodwin.info 

For those interested there is more on Kurt Ackerman at

http://www.radaron.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page_ref_id=52
and

http://www.tipsfromthetlist.com/author/kurt_a







Edited by goodwinhj - 17 May 2010 at 2:54pm

Kurt,

You and I clearly will have to agree to differ. It is unreasonable to expect me to write a piece about myself every time I comment or encourage others to comment and participate in debating an initiative. My history is a lot more available than that of most.

There is a Responsible Tourism community, it belongs to all those who actively participate in it – in that context I see no reason for me not to use the language of “our community” and “we need your help”. It certainly does not substantiate your suggestion that my voice and RT.com’s voice is one and the same.

For the record, I do not consult for RT.com and I did not advise them on the ‘rebel tourism manifesto’. My enthusiasm for it is based on the fact that is using a very different language from anything that I would use.

Harold Goodwin

18 May 2010