Letter to the Editors

Dear Editor,

The World Tourism Organization has established a code of ethics to promote sustainable and respectful tourism. Promoting respectful behavior of travelers will help reduce the growing resentment toward tourists in host countries, preserve host countries’ cultures and environments, and ensure a safer and more rewarding experience for all travelers.

The International Society of Travel Medicine has already embarked on such an initiative with our Responsible Traveler initiative and we are playing a key role by disseminating educational information on travel ethics.

However, it is time to take the next step. I propose that ISTM and an organization such as The International Association of Film and Television Schools (CILECT) [CILECT is a french acronym] (www.cilect.org) sponsor a competition to encourage film and video makers to produce media that encourages responsible travel. These productions would be aimed at inexperienced travelers going to developing countries. Films and videos would be submitted to ISTM and reviewed for quality and content that support the principles of The Responsible Traveler. After preliminary evaluation the best of these productions could be viewed and voted on by ISTM members at the ISTM biannual meetings or over the Internet.

I have discussed this idea with Larry Engle (lbe1@columbia.edu), a filmmaker and teacher at the Columbia University School of Visual Arts in New York City. He felt that “this was too good an idea not to pursue.”

Here are some thoughts to consider:

• The winning production (and perhaps, even some of the runner-ups) can be used to promote responsible travel by ISTM and its members and by the media.
• We can have ISTM and CILECT members submit films, videos and Internet productions that they have viewed and think would interest others, have media producers submit their productions, or both.
• We can start small and see what happens. The competition could be every two or three years?
• Perhaps we could get sponsors and/or publicity from the following groups: television programs devoted to travel, companies that sell airline tickets on the Internet, travel health information services, pharmaceutical companies, and private foundations, for example.
• Subjects could include anything from preventing malaria to how to use Asian toilet.

Sincerely,

Michael Schwartz
Manchester, NJ 08759 USA
Phone: (732) 657-8447
ms112@columbia.edu