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CODE OF ETHICS FOR TOURISTS
ECUMENICAL COALITION ON THIRD WORLD TOURIST
- Travel in a spirit of humility and with a genuine desire to learn more about the people of your host country. Be sensitively aware of the feelings of other people, thus preventing what might be offensive behavior on you part. This applies very much to photography.
- Cultivate the habit of listening and observing, rather than merely hearing and seeing.
- Realize that often the people in the country you visit have time concepts and thought patterns different from your own. This does not make them inferior, only different.
- Instead of looking for the "beach paradise", discover the enrichment of seeing a different way of life, through other eyes.
- Acquaint yourself with local customs. What is courteous in one country may be quite the reverse in another -- people will be happy to help you.
- Instead of the Western practice of "knowing all the answers", cultivate the habit of asking questions.
- Remember that you are only one of thousands of tourists visiting this country and do not expect special privileges.
- If you really want your experience to be a "home away from home", it is foolish to waste money on traveling.
- When you are shopping, remember that the "bargain" you obtained was possible only because of the low wages paid to the maker.
- Do not make promises to people in your host country unless you can carry them through.
- Spend time reflecting on your daily experience in an attempt to deepen your understanding. It has been said that "what enriches you may rob and violate others".
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