Green tourism, green practice

The Responsible Tourism Day unveiled at the World Tourism Market in London recently is excellent to stress the relationship between the UN and private sectors in the environmental interest and climatic change, says Awni Kawar, general manager of the Petra Travel and Tourism Company.

The initiative binds the UN World Tourism Organization and travel agents, tour operators and management destination companies to establish common grounds for a tourism agenda that relies on adopting eco-friendly practices, Kawar, also chairman of the Jordan Inbound Tourism Association, added.

The Responsible Tourism Day initiative was made at the WTM last week which incorporated 5000 travel trade participants from 200 countries; He said the participation of Petra Tours underlines its commitment to 'green tourism' through the adoption of practices to cut down on wastes and other emissions harmful for the environment.

"We must forge an alliance between green issues and our travel trade and make sure as much as possible they go hand-in-hand," Kawar, who has been the general manger of the Petra Travel and Tourism since 1999, and which owns a number of hotels, says.

"We have longed adopted 'green' practices in our hotels and which include towel recycling in our rooms and the use of other simpler things to ensure long-term environmental protection and sustainability."

Mr Kawar wants to position Petra Tours as a green company that pays greater heed to local environmental issues by allowing the local culture to grow and encourage the local production of different home products that would neighborhoods to work and conserving natural resources and pollution.

To me that's responsible tourism put in practice. We are doing our fair bit in Jordan to introduce new concepts to marry the issue of travel and tourism to Jordan by being eco-friendly through simple practices like changing our life styles, safe guarding against litter, cutting down on smoking, walk instead of being tied to the motor wheel all the time and we need to keep drumming up ideas to protect nature through better tourism practices.