Mountaineer Doug Scott launched the Specialist Trekking Co-operative (STC) in 1989. STC was born out of anger at the dreadful conditions of labour in the Nepalese trekking industry where everything was left to market forces, where there was very little in the way of rule and regulation and nobody to enforce them anyway. The main ethos was simply to provide fair remuneration and adequate conditions for not only the local, permanent staff, but also for the porters.

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Tags: charity, eco tourism, mountaineering, nepal, responsible tourism, trekking
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With the freedom to travel comes a responsibility to the people we visit whether trekking in the world’s mountain ranges or travelling through Asia on a gap year. ‘Community Tourism’ is about tourism that benefits local people. It aims to include and benefit local communities, particularly indigenous peoples and villagers in the rural South (i.e. ‘developing world’). For instance, villagers might host tourists in their village, managing the scheme communally and sharing the profits. There are many types of community tourism project, including many in which the ‘community’ works with a commercial tour operator, but all community tourism projects should give local people a fair share of the benefits/profits and a say in deciding how incoming tourism is managed.

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Tags: adventure travel, community tourism, eco tourism, responsible travel, trekking
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