Resource Center

Tourism is a competitive, resource-hungry industry, which is often highly exploitative. International hotel chains and operators jostle to expand and out-price each other, and cash-strapped governments compete to attract business by offering cheap land and tax-free investment, often complemented by weak labour laws. This places constant pressure on those at the bottom of the tourism SUPP chain – the maids, porters, cooks and drivers, as well as the inhabitants of the land and ecosystems earmark for tourism development. Given this scenario, it is imperative that governments, including the Government and industry players, incorporate and explicitly address the human rights implications of tourism in policy dialogues and debates on sustainable development. This report exposes the violations of human rights that have occurred as a direct result of tourism through an examination of key articles of the UDHR and subsequent UN declarations. It challenges the UK Government and industry to recognise that human rights area fundamental element of any sustainable approach to development – including tourism development, and calls for action to ensure their protection.