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A small festival among friends
Un pequeño festival entre amigos
Ein kleines Fest mit Freunden
A group of friends in Oaxaca, Mexico are creating the Responsible
Tourism Fair (January 17-30), our 10th event since 2001
and a veritable model of frugality
and slow
travel. If you cannot attend in person, there are many ways
to participate. We are inviting our responsible tourism -- #rtnet
-- buddies to create your own RT event during this time and
let us know about it via Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and all of
the cool Web 2.0
toys. Updates
on the wiki!
About the fair
The world's largest small event, the 2010 Responsible Tourism
Fair is hosted for a tenth year by Planeta.com and friends.
"This year's event expanded on what we've learned the past
few years in Oaxaca, Mexico," said Ron Mader, founder of
Planeta.com. To be repeated are popular activities including
food tastings, walking with the weavers, a photo safari among
the trees and video nights.
The fair was launched in 2001 as a way of connecting locals
and visitors. Among the advances -- many of the local artisans
and tour providers have their own websites and online photo
galleries. Information has been incorporated into updated travel
guides on Planeta.com and the Oaxaca Wikispace now includes
dictionaries of local indigenous languages and directories of
artisans.
"We have always partnered with local providers and artisans,"
Mader said. "The event has been created on a shoestring
budget and in these times of financial belt-tightening, it's
a great example of how friends can collaborate and organize
events with a minimal budget. Frugal can be fun."
Notably, the fair has also changed from a one-day market to
a series of a dozen micro-events across two weeks. Most of the
events took less than four hours. It's a relaxed endeavor that
celebrates slow travel. "The fair emphasizes a 'small is
beautiful' approach to tourism," Mader said. "Most
visitors to rural environments do so in small groups and the
fair reflects mindful practices."
On the technology front the Responsible Tourism Fair encourages
the integration of Web 2.0 tools including Facebook, Flickr,
Twitter and YouTube to document good practices in responsible
tourism. "The fact is Web 2.0 provides the most affordable
way for locals to share what's available and what's new with
potential visitors. We're showing the resources for independent
and small group travel so that others can follow the footsteps,"
Mader said.
HOW TO PARTICPATE
There are are many ways to participate: 1) Share photos in
the Flickr groups. 2) If you are in Oaxaca, join us. Bonus points
if you share photos in the Photography Group! 3) If you organize
your own event -- anywhere in the world -- let us know so we
can add it to the program 4) Members of the Planeta Forum are
encouraged to add news in the Rural Tourism branch. 5) If you
can help promote the fair, please add a link to this page and
to Planeta.com. If you let us know, we will give you proper
kudos! If you tag this page, please use the code 'rtf2010' so
we can track the reference.
MODEL EVENT
Can this event be replicated elsewhere? Yes! For those who
would like to create their own tourism fair, we have compiled
a list of recommendations.
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