Tourism Concern

Set up in 1989 Tourism Concern is a unique independent charity dedicated to campaigning for ethical and fairly traded tourism.

We aspire towards a world where tourism is ‘ethical, fair and a positive experience for both travellers and the people and places they visit‘ and our aim is to ensure tourism always benefits local people by challenging bad practice and promoting better tourism.

Our objective is two fold; to expose tourism’s worst human rights abuses and campaign against them. Equally importantly, we promote tourism that benefits local people in tourist destinations.

We are funded by individual Members; who are often keen travellers themselves, and who want their holidays to be as good for the people they visit, as they are for them. Our members help us to:

• Improve working conditions for tourism workers
• Lobby UK tour operators to be more socially responsible
• Develop guidelines for best practice
• Give a voice to local communities threatened by exploitative tourism development

 

Support from our Members enables us to run our campaigns. However our work is not just limited to campaigning. We work with NGOs and governments to influence the way tourism is developed and produce reports and educational resources on issues of concern. We also work closely with our Ethical Tour Operators Group to provide information to travellers and tourists that will enable them to make better and more informed choices about their holidays, finding satisfying travel experiences in communities who get real benefits as a result.

Become a Member

Members join a global network of ethical travellers and professionals; get invited to events organised by us or other partners; and have access to complimentary copies of all our reports. Members are also entitled to free or discounted entry to our conferences and seminars as well as access to discounts and exclusive benefits with partners listed in the online Ethical Travel Guide.

Additionally all individual Members receive a complimentary copy* of our print edition of the Ethical Travel Guide (worth 15 GBP).

Partnership with HouseSit Match

Tourism Concern takes its reputation very seriously and works only with the most trusted and carefully selected partners who share our ethos, values and professionalism. Our partners offer products and services that are of interest to Ethical Travellers so we have teamed up with HouseSit Match and can offer an exclusive 50% discount on our Annual Membership for HouseSit Match Members.