"Harnessing the wanderlust of the human spirit," is how Potjana Suansri describes her work with Thailand’s fishing villages and hill tribes. Visiting travelers lounge in longboats while fishing with seafaring families. Then, in homes built on stilts above the Andaman Sea, visitors dine with the families, eating the catch—hot chili shrimp and steamed crab. 

Suansri, a soft-spoken Thai whose kind face is framed by silken black hair is the Project Director of REST—Responsible Ecological Social Tours. She and her staff work long and hard with the locals so the adventures they create respect cultures, spread wealth, and protect nature. Suansri told of the thousands of volunteers who crossed the planet to assist the Tsunami-stricken Thais, many because of the camaraderie established on earlier trips. "The tsunami showed the world that tourism can truly be a bridge between people," she said.

The kind face, lively eyes and inquisitive mind of Suansri came to symbolize for me the 250 souls from 50 countries who gathered last October in Pattaya, Thailand for the Third Global Summit on Peace through Tourism. Their aim? Use tourism to create a culture for peace. The conference was organized and inspired by the Stowe, Vermont U.N.-affiliated International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT). IIPT aims to make tourism the world’s first peace industry, starting by appointing every traveler to be an ambassador for peace.

H.E. Akel Biltaji, Special Advisor to Jordon’s King Abdullah II, unable to resist the Arab love of word play, commented that the extreme cool of the chandeliered ballroom was better "for meat-packing than meetings," before getting down to the serious business of tourism’s response to terrorism. "Terror has nothing to do with Islam and Islam has nothing to do with terror," he reminded us as he introduced Officials from Indonesia, Pakistan, Kenya and Spain. In the audience, Ministers of tourism, industry leaders, and nongovernmental specialists in suits sat with tour guides, Peace Corps volunteers, students and aid workers in shirtsleeves. Later, Asian and African honchos joined forces for joint ventures and senior officials from Israel and Palestine laid plans for travel to the whole of the Holy Land.

In smaller meetings, guides from Jamaica and Laos compared homestays with academics from Champagne-Urbana and Hong Kong. Tour owners from Australia and Nevada forged contacts with communities from Uganda and Vietnam. Peace Corps volunteers met with students studying how to make tourism work for peace—several universities now have Peace through Tourism programs.

"Our area started getting tourists in 1999 when Lonely Planet came out," said Dethxayfeng Oulovandhine, the District Vice-Governor of the northern bit of Laos that borders Burma and China. It was Lonely Planet’s first guidebook to Laos since the Communist takeover in 1975. The Vice-Governor’s stories about the trek to his village made the traditional-for-all-guests welcome massage sound like  islanders sounded more my speed.

"We’re taking adventure altruism to a new height," declared Toni Neubaurer, President of Myths and Mountains. She was describing its Nepal Read program—establishing rural libraries sustained by local moneymaking projects. This Nevada-based tour company introduces their clients to interesting people such as an Ecuadorian shaman, a Bhutanese weaver, and an Indian sadhu or a holy man. They pack into Patagonia, mediate with India and motorcycle through Vietnam.

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Got you trip-dreaming yet? Here is IIPT’s "short course" on how to become a Peace Ambassador.

First, bring something to the party. Brush up on the region’s history and its culture. Learn a few words of the local language. "There are first class travelers and first class idiots," said Vijay Varghese, Editor of Smart Travel Asia, "and the only thing that separates the two is knowledge."

Second, seek to better understand cultures—theirs and ours. Take staring, for example. My mom taught me it’s rude. Chinese moms teach their kids to take a good, long look at what they’ve never seen before. And some Native American moms teach their kids not to look directly into another person’s eyes. Luckily, smiles are universal.

Third, break down stereotypes. It is crystal-clear to me that I do not think, feel or act like the other people in my family, neighborhood, religion, race or country. Why is it so easy to assume that "they" do? Recently, my nephew and I lingered over breakfast at the homestays of five very different South African families. We learned lots—how apartheid felt, how diverse South Africa is, not to mention, the damage wild elephants can do to apple orchards. And they learned about us. "If you hadn’t told us, we wouldn’t have known they were Americans—they were so nice," several of our hosts who had never met an American before told our South African travel agent,

LINKS WITH ATTITUDE

International Institute for Peace through Tourism, www.iipt.com

Thailand’s Responsible Ecological Social Tours won National Geographic Traveler’s World Legacy Award, www.rest.or.th

Ecoclub.com, is a nonprofit and international network of Ecolodges that meet their ecological, community involvement and price requirements, www.ecoclub.com

The northern Laos tours are part of the Lao government’s program promoting rural tourism, www.ecotourismlaos.com

Myths and Mountains, tours at www.mythsandmountains.com and the reading program at www.readnepal.com