SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IS TOURISM ATTEMPTING TO MAKE A LOW IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND LOCAL CULTURE, WHILE HELPING TO GENERATE FUTURE EMPLOYMENT FOR LOCAL PEOPLE. THE AIM OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IS TO ENSURE THAT DEVELOPMENT BRINGS A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE FOR LOCAL PEOPLE, TOURISM COMPANIES AND THE TOURISTS THEMSELVES. SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IS NOT THE SAME AS ECOTOURISM.

Sustainable tourism is tourism development that avoids damage to the environment, economy and cultures of the locations where it takes place. The aim of sustainable tourism is to ensure that development is a positive experience for local people; tourism companies; and tourists themselves. Under sustainable tourism, it may be unlikely to experience the kind of 'boom and bust' that led to the rapid growth, and then despoliation of locations such as the east coast of Spain in the 1970s. But despite this optimistic objective, sustainable tourism is still not widely understood. For a start, 'sustainable tourism' is not necessarily 'ecotourism'. Ecotourism became popular in the 1980s as a form of tourism that focused exclusively on wildlife, nature, or exotic cultures. Recent research, however, has indicated that such tourism may not actually be good for environment, or for the people who experience this attention. Safaris in Kenya, for example, are undoubtedly 'ecotourism'. But Kenya is full of cases where lions have been forced into erratic behaviour because of excessive tourists, or where the local Masai people have failed to benefit from this kind of development. More importantly, 'ecotourism' does not involve more mainstream beach-or city-based tourism, where impacts are much greater than any nature-based tourism. Sustainable tourism, therefore, is an attempt to improve the impacts of all types of tourism, and this implies seeking ways to build partnerships between tourism companies and local governments or managers of resorts. But how can sustainable tourism be achieved? Evidence suggests that it requires cooperation between concerned companies and the managers of destinations. It does not, however, require a marked interest from consumers. Some companies have suggested that they will only take steps to achieve sustainable tourism if they recognize a clear 'market demand' for holidays that are overtly 'green' or 'environmentally friendly'. Research, however, has indicated that few tourists want holidays that are 'green' within the mass tourism market; and that holidays that are 'green' may repeat the pitfalls of ecotourism. It may not be profitable or sustainable to encourage market demand for 'green' tourism as this demand may not occur, and also may not lead to sustainable tourism. Instead, evidence has suggested that sustainable tourism does not have to be advertised as environmentally or culturally sensitive in order to succeed. Research has indicated that profits may be increased simply by adopting some general environmental principles, such as recycling waste, planning for long-term sustainability, and seeking local partnerships for resort management. If these actions result in cleaner, less crowded, holiday resorts, then they are in effect sustainable tourism without being labelled so. But how can companies and resort managers achieve this kind of success? This question is more controversial. One proposal has been to increase the vertical integration of tourism companies, so that individual companies have greater control over the marketing of holidays,

transportation of tourists, and then management of resorts. Such integration may help avoid the disappointment and despoliation of resorts that occurs when tourists interested in conventional mass tourism are sent to sites perhaps better suited to bird watchers or hill walkers, as has occurred in Corfu. But this suggestion, however, is occasionally opposed as it may imply that smaller tourism companies cannot enter the market. Furthermore, reducing competition from smaller companies may result in reducing the pressure for lower prices of holidays. Since the 1980s, the British tourism industry has experienced rapid cuts in prices as a result of deep competition between major companies such as Airtours, First Choice, and Thompson. But it is generally the presence of competition from smaller, less regulated, companies that leads to the rapid over-development of resorts, or the reluctance of large companies to increase their costs by attending to the long-term sustainability of locations The achievement of sustainable tourism, therefore depends in part on providing the right incentives for companies and resort managers to reduce the negative impacts of tourism, and then a variety of local practical steps (such as limiting numbers, or zoning land use) to reduce these impacts. But in the long term, the ultimate achievement of sustainable tourism also requires tourists and companies to think more about how tourism may impact on other people's homes and livelihoods. Marcel Proust once wrote that most tourists seem to want to travel through one hundred countries with one pair of eyes, whereas the best journey would be to travel through one country with a hundred pair of eyes. By seeking more diversity and depth in holiday destinations, tourists may help avoid the impacts of tourism on destinations, and also achieve a more satisfying experience.

The socio-economic impact of sustainable tourism:

If industry and government are to protect and sustain the social, cultural and environmental wealth that attracts tourists, they must build more ambitious and committed partnerships to plan, manage and invest in this wealth. Tourism attracts workers from rural areas who may have been employed in the main traditional industries such as agriculture. This tends to reduce the output levels in these industries. These are the predominant effect in the developing countries. There is little economic benefit in tourism on the long run if there is an employment shift from rural to tourism developed urban localities. Sustainable tourism development requires a partnership among the stakeholders of the local tourist destination. This partnership must use both market and non-market instruments to implement a shared sustainable development vision. Without such a partnership, advocacy for sustainable development becomes a conflictive struggle between an industry which seeks to respond only to market forces and a public sector which, when accountable, acts to protect public goods and wealth for future generations.

Therefore, the key problem at this stage of the sustainable tourism debate is the creation of tangible, working local partnerships. These local partnerships must be encouraged and supported by national governments and industry, and not undermined by higher level agreements. To succeed, local residents and their local authorities need to more fully recognise the significant adverse impacts of tourism development and must be informed about opportunities for reduced impact tourism development. Tourism businesses need to recognise and support the social conditions (e.g., security, public health) and the cultural and environmental wealth that make a community an attractive tourist destination. The environmental impact of sustainable tourism: Major polluters of the environment are the vast majority of air transport for the purpose of tourism. While tourism provides considerable economic benefits for many countries, regions and communities, its rapid expansion can also be responsible for adverse environmental (and socio cultural) impacts. Natural resource depletion and environmental degradation associated with tourism activities are sometimes serious problems in tourism-rich regions. The management of natural resources to reverse this trend is thus one of the most difficult challenges for governments at different levels. The fact that most tourists chose to maintain their relatively high patterns of consumption (and waste generation) when they reach their destinations can be a particularly serious problem for developing countries and regions without the appropriate means for protecting their natural resources and local ecosystems from the pressures of mass tourism. The main environmental impacts of tourism are (a) pressure on natural resources, (b) pollution and waste generation and (c) damage to ecosystems. Furthermore, it is now widely recognized that not only uncontrolled tourism expansion is likely to lead to environmental degradation, but also that environmental degradation, in turn, poses a serious threat to tourism. Sustainable Tourism: The way forward Countries and regions where the economy is driven by the tourism industry are becoming increasingly concerned with the environmental, as well as the socio-cultural problems associated with unsustainable tourism. As a result, there is now increasing agreement on the need to promote sustainable tourism development to

minimize its environmental impacts and to ensure more sustainable management of natural resources. The concept of sustainable tourism, as developed in the United Nations sustainable development process, refers to tourist activities leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, and biological diversity and life support systems.

These sustainability concerns are, therefore, beginning to be addressed by governments at national, regional and local, as well as international, levels. In addition, given the leading role of the private sector in the tourism industry in most countries, many initiatives have also been taken by this sector. Broadly speaking, the main policy areas regarding sustainable tourism are: (a) the promotion of national strategies for sustainable tourism development, including the decentralization of environmental management to regional and local levels, (b) the use of both regulatory mechanisms and economic instruments, (c) the support for voluntary initiatives by the industry itself, and (d) the promotion of sustainable tourism at the international level. Socio-cultural impact of sustainable tourism: Many impacts are socio-cultural and an outcome of lack of information, false impressions, misinformation, poor communication and poor knowledge. Negative perceptions and attitudes towards visitors and tourism can also affect tourism/communities. Ill feelings towards tourism, delays/obstructions to tourism product development and lack of council/authority support can prevent tourism from flourishing; perhaps these communities are not ready for tourism. It is easy to blame tourism for any economic, social and environmental problems. Open communication channels, proper consultation, transparency and involvement at the community level at all stages of the planning process can aid in communities taking ownership of their tourism product. To many people the label tourist has become a negative term; in fact many travellers do not consider themselves tourists. There is a noticeable shift in attitude in both communities and travellers to the concept of visitor. The visitor concept reinforces the fact that travellers are guests within a community, and that their stay is a privilege and not a right. Center for Sustainable Destinations I was quite overwhelmed in discovering this rich articles on sustainable tourism. I found myself perusing them with interest especially where politely it asked me to explore the links in case you work in the travel industry, academia, government, or for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) involved with tourism management. Center for Sustainable Destination has as a wealth of information for both professionals and academia. It promotes sustainable links to numerous sites that argued about tourism, travel and destinations with practical, sustainable-tourism assistance for entrepreneurs, lodging managers, economic development workers within ecotourism and heritage and cultural tourism. It also boast of academic sites, mainly for research groups, universities and institutes.