Should indigenous cultures be sustained? Which is louder in the Pacific these days, ceremonial drums or boom box Eminem? Do we lament the fall of the Hun culture? Do the "picturesque poor" that tourists photograph next to their straw and clay houses really want to live that way or would they really rather have a Buick?

Indigenous cultures do need to be sustained (that's a no-brainer) but as rich, dynamic overlays of modern life, not as museum pieces, sideshows or cults bent on preserving cruel, medieval ways. There is a tricky balance to be struck between today's slash-and-burn world of global economics, brand names and mass media and the deep but fragile roots of tradition passed on through generations with words, music and art. We can't ignore the good that modern technology has brought us, but culture is like genetics. If you remove variety from the gene pool, the species becomes weaker.

Lack of cultural variety is also… well…boring.

I would not travel - put up with the misery of airlines and airports - to visit a place that is a cultural identikit of home. Believe it or not, it has taken a tourism industry that lives for surveys and studies a long time to grasp that attitude among travelers. Why do hotel rooms in Bali look exactly like ones in Boston? Why do official "tourist meals" in China offer the same bland cuisine from province to province and always feature a side of French-fries?

It has been a long slow haul, but over the past ten years the tourism industry, governments and communities have begun to awaken to the importance of the conservation of heritage and the environment as not only the right thing to do but as source of sustainable profits and community pride. While corporate muscle and government corruption still spawn horrific tourism projects, the more enlightened have realized that there is much to be gained by a synergy between businesses, communities and the travelers themselves. In 1992, the Pacific Asia Travel Association first published its landmark "Code for Sustainable Tourism" for governments and the travel industry. In 2001 it was revised and reissued as the APEC/PATA Code for Sustainable Tourism. A couple of years ago, a PATA committee headed by Dawn Drew, Vice President and Publisher of National Geographic Traveler and vice-chaired by yours-truly published a guide for travelers called the PATA Traveller's Code: Sustaining Indigenous Cultures. Our committee, which includes representatives of the travel industry and organizations such as Conservation International, Oceans Blue, the UN Environment Programme and Green Globe, came up with a short guide based on six questions for travelers to ask themselves before they embark on their adventure.

Click here for a printable version in PDF (Adobe Acrobat format) that you can fold and place in your ticket jacket when you travel. I also included a few additional suggestions from other sources.

Also, published over the past two years is hard research to back up what we have always known. The Travel Industry Association of America and National Geographic Traveler have released the results of the first large-scale study on a consumer market for something they call "geotourism." Geotourism is not sustainababble but a term invented by Geographic's Jonathan Tourtellot on his own. Turtellot now holds the title of Director of Sustainable Tourism of the Society. Geotourism means "tourism that sustains or enhances the geographic character of a place being visited - its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well being of its residents." The Geotourism Study finds that "a destination's unique characteristics are what primarily attract the consumers who take the most trips, spend the most money and produce the greatest volume of visitors overall." The study maintains that the US geotourism market is some 55 million travelers, and potentially many more. Many, says the study, might even be willing to support environmental and cultural programs and choose tour companies that subscribe to sustainable tourism ethics.

Hooray! Hard research that could provide the stimulus for communities to preserve (and in some cases rediscover) their heritage and a financial incentive for businesses to engage in ethical, sustainable practices. -R