Responsible Tourism: SWOT Analysis, Scope, And Issues

What is Responsible tourism?

The main idea of responsible tourism basically comes from sustainable tourism & eco-tourism. These two concepts usually make up the idea of responsible tourism. Responsible tourism is such an activity which will help to eliminate or minimize the negative environmental, social & economic factors. The main idea behind responsible tourism is to make the nature green & keeping the environmental balance of nature intact (Mihalic 2016). Responsible tourism is mainly beneficial for the local residents of a place or a tourist destination because it helps to generate economic benefit (Mathew, Paul and Sreejesh 2017). This report discusses all the important factors regarding responsible tourism like: SWOT analysis of responsible tourism, the scope of improvement, security matters, green tourism, sustainable tourism, eco-tourism and how the countries form all around the world encouraging it.

Tourism can be considered as the most important social as well as economical factor of the modern times. Tourism has become an integral part of a modern society (Smith 2014). However, while connecting nature with tourism, the first thing that comes in mind is green tourism, sustainable tourism & eco-tourism. The aim of responsible tourism is to make places ready for accommodation, provide sustainable living facilities for people (Mason 2015). Responsible tourism encourages the idea of making places better for people to live a sustainable life, to maintain the balance of nature & environment and making the tourist destinations better for the visitors. Responsible tourism also encourages the idea of green environment.

The first of this report contains: what is responsible tourism, emergence of responsible tourism, components of responsible tourism. The second part of this report contains: need for responsible tourism, destinations, strength, weakness, opportunities & threats and also the main factors that are affecting responsible tourism.

First of all it is important to know the meaning and definition of tourism. Tourism is nothing but travelling for pleasure. Tourism can also be defined as the way of attracting visitors both the foreign & domestic to a place that has some significance, historical value or it may be world heritage site. However, from last decade responsible tourism has been in the centre of attraction. Responsible tourism is such an activity that encourages the idea of making tourist destinations better for visitors & make places sustainable for living (Mathew Paul and Sreejesh 2017). Responsible tourism is generally the aggregation of green tourism, eco-tourism & sustainable tourism. These three types of tourism generally make up the idea of responsible tourism.

Impact of globalization on Responsible tourism

The word Responsible Tourism was first defined in the year 2002 in Cape Town, South Africa during an international summit which was based on sustainable development. The definition which was made on that day is now widely accepted & is known as the declaration of Cape Town. World Travel Market (WTM) adopted this policy in the year 2007. The main contributors in responsible marketing will be the government of a country, the tour operators, the hotel owners, local people of a tourist destination & the tourists. The World Travel Market now encouraging the fact that travel industries will also have to take more responsibilities to make tourism more sustainable & thus keeping the environmental balance intact. Since the beginning of 2010, the demand of tourism industry has been at a peak stage. In the year 2012, the number of tourists crossing the international border from all around the globe reached a limit of a one billion; the figure is according to the reports of World Tourism Organization, which comes under the United Nations. A 50% of that one billion people is from European countries. But the rest of the tourist demand was triggered by the countries like Russia, China, South Africa and the rest of the people were form south-East Asia & Latin America. In addition to the statistics of international travel, it is estimated that the number of people travelling in their own country is five to six billion per year. With the help of these statistics it can be easily said that tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the modern age & it can contribute a large part to a country’s economy and Responsible tourism is the biggest contributor in the tourism sector (Larsen and Guiver 2013). The Tourism industry along with responsible tourism sector contributes a 9% to the total world GDP. It donates an amount of 1.3 trillion dollar in exports and a total 6% of world trade. Tourism brings economic profit for the local community and also encourages the connectivity between countries.

The Responsible tourism shows developments in Environmental, Economical and social factors of a particular region. The cultural wings and the creative arts of various regions of a country contribute a major part in the tourism sector.  Today, social media plays an important role in the tourism industry. A traveler is likely to acquire some information about the place he/she wants to travel. To acquire such information, social media will play an important role. According to Budiman, Internet is always considered as the social media tool in every aspect. Thus internet itself plays major role in searching about any and every information on eco tourism or green tourism and the places which are included in those categories (Budiman, Sultan and Yuliawati 2016). For example, the International Ecotourism Society (IES) of UK suggests few Green tourism business schemes which are shared on the official websites. Along with that there are various destinations are described and all the travelling information are also described. However, these information are shared on the associated social media pages of IES, UK. In this way, large numbers of consumers who are engaged with social media sites and browses about those destinations can avail the information provided by IES, UK. This will influence the number of footfalls of visitors to those places famous for green tourism (Ecotourism.org 2017).

Impact of Social media on Responsible tourism

There are generally a large number of people who are interested in travelling to different places. Some people also have already travelled to a place and they share their views about the place, the facilities that are provided there, accommodation and many more. People who are interested in travelling generally take these details as reviews about that particular place and thereafter take their decision regarding that place (Munar and Jacobsen 2014). For example, there are some companies like Trip Advisor, ECOCLUB.com, Rainforest Expeditions, Sumak Travel, Porino Ecotourism Ltd., world Primates Safaris and Canadian Mountain Holidays, who contributes a major part in the responsible tourism sector of UK (Sustainabletourism.net 2017). It is estimated that 50 million people search for different tourist places in that web site of Trip Advisor. The contents generated by different user are believed to be much more reliable and authentic than usual information. There are more than 200 million viewers with their reviews & opinions posted on Trip Advisor. It also has more than 800 million users who are active on facebook who are posting their updates there (Leung et al 2013). They also share some relevant images regarding the tourist destinations and their importance as green tourist spots or eco tourist spots.  These statistics shows, social media is taking a major role as marketing influencer for the responsible tourism sector. According to a research, almost 52% market of responsible tourism sector gets attention of their target travelers through the Facebook pages of various ecotourism companies of different countries. 

Minimizing the negative impacts of social, environmental and economic factors

Helping the host communities by enhancing their well-being

Providing sustainable living conditions

Work condition improvement

Generating economic benefits for the local community

Taking the suggestions of the local people

Preservation of the natural resources, cultural heritage

Responsible tourism is generally made of three criteria, they are: green tourism, eco-tourism & sustainable tourism.

Sustainable tourism is a concept which defines that a person will visit a place a tourist and will always try to make positive impacts on the environment as well as on the entire society and economy (Jamal and Camargo 2014). The basic criterion which is involved with tourism is transportation. Transportation may include the primary transportation to the location, transportation of the local area, entertainment, nourishment & accommodation. It can be a business travel or travel in a holiday. Therefore, the concept of sustainable tourism is directly related to the concept of sustainable mobility. There are two considerations related to the concept of sustainable tourism, they are: reliance of tourism on fossil fuel and effect of tourism on climate change. Maximum amount of the tourism’s Carbon-Di-Oxide emission comes from the transportation field. Transportation department is reliable for 72% of tourism’s Carbon-Di-Oxide emission. Accommodation department is reliable for 24% emission (Lee and Brahmasrene 2013). Local activities of the tourist destination are reliable for 4% Carbon-Di-Oxide emission. As tourism is one of the fastest growing industries of the modern age, the diverse cultures can be highly pressurized by the continuous growth of the tourism industry (Jamal and Camargo 2014). The various indigenous cultures & different species are the main driving force behind mass tourism. Tourists who are generally associated with responsible tourism generally keep vigilance over these matters & they try to protect the tourist destinations & it’s diverse cultures. Sustainable tourists can help to reduce the negative impacts of tourism, like:

Informing the visitors about the diverse cultures of a tourist destinations & it’s impact on the cultural & natural heritage.

Respecting the culture of local people & taking their suggestions before making any decisions.

 Providing support for the integrity of the culture of the local residents of a place which can either be a heritage site or a general tourist destination. This is generally done by encouraging those businesses which will be able to conserve the cultural & natural heritage of that area (Jamal and Camargo 2014).

Providing support to the local economy by enhancing the usage of local goods & helping the local businesses

Encouraging the use of bio-degradable goods, this can be done by the least possible usage of non-biodegradable materials.

Although sustainable tourism is generally derived from responsible tourism, the goal of both the tourism types remains the same, that is to encourage the sustainable development of the environment.

Eco-tourism is another important part of responsible tourism which involves visiting the areas which are generally fragile & not visited very often. These areas are said to be relatively undisturbed. These areas are generally those places which serve as the alternatives to the standard tourist spots (Hall 2015). Therefore, ecotourism can be defined as travelling a natural place with responsibility & trying to conserve the environment of that area & providing support for improvement of the life of the local people and helping them having a sustainable life. The main purpose of ecotourism is ecological conservation, providing support for the economic benefit of local people & moreover that empowerment of the local residents in every aspects of life (Webster and Ivanov 2014). From the beginning of the 1980s, ecotourism has been considered as the central point for various environmentalists & scientists. The main idea is to let the future generation to experience those destinations which are not frequently visited by the human or remain untouched from human activities (Hall 2015.)

Eco-tourism is one kind of responsible tourism which encourages the following activities:

Increasing awareness for the protection of environment among people

Conserving the heritage of the local communities, respecting their cultures & providing them financial benefits

Providing support for human rights & democracy

Political & social empowerment of local people

Increasing awareness for the protection of both the biological & cultural diversity through the protection of the ecosystem

Increasing awareness for the use of bio-diversity with sustainability, thus providing job opportunities for the local people

To make sure that tourism is not hampering the natural resources 

There are many countries in the world who doesn’t take tourism as only an activity for the protection of their environment, for them eco-tourism is a way to generate profit (Hall 2015). Countries like Madagascar, Nepal, Ecuador, Kenya and Costa Rica have eco-tourism as a major part of their economy as it has a large contribution on their GDP and GNP (Hunt et al 2015).

Contributions from the communities to manage the eco-tourism activities locally will create many job opportunities including the management positions of higher level. On the other hand, eco-tourism will help to reduce the issues like unemployment and poverty (Fennel 2014). The activities of eco-tourism are generally different from the activities of large scale of general tourism, therefore it is relatively less expensive to accomplish the objectives of eco-tourism & it requires less effort (Hall 2015). Eco-tourism can also be economically beneficial because of the local materials & products used. Ecotourism is growing by 10-15 percent annually. There are some negative impacts of eco-tourism which must be resolved with strong measures. Some of the issues are: forcing local residents to leave the locality, fundamental rights violation & causing different types of environmental hazards.

Different ecotourism destinations are:

Conservation Area of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier

National park of Virunga

Galapagos Island

Liano Del Muerto waterfall in El Salvador

There are many reasons to promote responsible tourism internationally. One of the main reasons is minimizing the negative impact of tourism on nature and on the local residents. Trying to keep the local cultural and environmental heritage intact, furthermore reducing the pressure on nature. The various industries associated with tourism are the main reason for the intense pressure on a locality. Responsible tourism helps to reduce that pressure (Traveller 2017). Responsible tourism is also an important step to generate job opportunities for the local people. Moreover, Responsible tourism has a great impact on socio-economic empowerment of the local residents. Another important factor is energy consumption, where responsible tourism can play an important role especially in the aviation industry which is responsible for a large amount of carbon emission.

There are many responsible tourism destinations all around the globe. Some of them are:

Gansbaai – South Africa, this place is South Africa’s one of the most exciting fishing villages (Andreotti et al 2016).

Aruba, a Dutch Antilles is some miles from the coast of Venezuela. It is set to eliminate fossil fuels by 2020.

Cyprus is one of the most popular tourism destinations. It attracts over 2.4 million tourists all around the globe every year (Farmaki et al 2014). The agritourism products of Cyprus have a worldwide reputation.

The V&A Waterfront of South Africa has been able to reconnect the city. Today, not only the tourists visit the area, 16000 employees are also working there (Marsac et al 2014).

Galapagos Island is perhaps the only geographical area with so much of diversity in both natural & biological aspects.

The SWOT analysis of responsible tourism is as follows:

Strength	Weakness
Reducing pressure on nature & environment Relatively less expensive than general tourism Encourages the maximum utilization of natural resources Provides job opportunities for the local residents	Not many people are aware of responsible tourism. The idea of responsible tourism is yet to convince all the countries There are some issues related to forcing local residents to leave the area Causing several environmental hazards

  (Source: Created by author)

Opportunities	Threats
Aviation industry to introduce future generation aircrafts which will reduce carbon emission Completely avoiding the usage of fossil fuel will reduce the pressure on natural resources Responsible tourism can play an important role to remove poverty form various underdeveloped places Responsible tourism can generate employment	The level of Carbon emission is a threat to responsible and sustainable tourism Green house effect continues to be one of the threat to the responsible tourism Terrorism is perhaps the biggest threat on responsible tourism The use of modern weapons in different battles is causing several damages to the purpose of responsible tourism.

 (Source: Created by author)

There are several factors which are affecting the purpose of responsible tourism. But the most important reasons are terrorism & war. Middle-east Asia has and Northern parts of Africa have rich cultural heritage & attracts large number of tourists every year. But the beginning of 2010 saw the rising of some extremist group in Iraq & Syria. The constant battle that are still being fought in that region are causing some serious damages.

Aleppo is one of the most historical cities in Syria. It is one of the oldest cities with habitation in the world. Aleppo has a rich cultural history. It is the second biggest city in Syria after Damascus. However, the battle of Aleppo (2012-2016) caused massive destruction & almost half of the city has been destroyed. In 2016, Syrian government announced full control over Aleppo (Cafarella and Casagrande 2016). 

The picture given above clearly shows the situation of Aleppo. 

Palmyra is also one of the historic cities in Syria. It is considered to be one of the richest cities of the ancient empire of Rome (Edwell and Smith 2015). However the battle of Palmyra witnessed the destruction caused to the city. Many heritage sites which were designated by UNESCO have been destroyed in this war. These sites include: the Bel temple, the Baalshamin temple and the Arch of triumph (Wahbeh, Nebiker and Fangi 2016). 

 

The given above picture shows the complete destruction of a temple in Palmyra.

Therefore these armed conflicts in Syria not only damaged the significant heritage sites but forced the tourists to come to Syria & had a massive negative impact on the economy of the country.

Not only in Syria, the Countries of northern Africa also witnessed the destruction of war. Recently, the attacks in Paris, Nice, Brussels & Berlin caused the lockdown of the entire country in France, Germany & Belgium. These incidents are affecting responsible terrorism at a large scale.

Conclusion

Throughout the discussion, it is clear that the idea of responsible tourism must be adopted by all the countries in order to achieve the target of clean environment. The target can be achieved only if all the countries agree with the fact that responsible tourism is the only way to minimize the negative impacts of tourism. First priority must be given to the aviation department because of the fact that it is reliable for a large amount of carbon emission. Therefore it is necessary to have a next generation aircraft which will be able to reduce the amount of carbon emission. Responsible tourism is also important to achieve the target of sustainable tourism & eco-tourism. The cultural heritage of the local people must be kept intact; also the environmental balance and the natural resources of that area must not be hampered. These things are necessary to achieve the target of responsible tourism. The idea of abolishing the usage of fossil fuel must be encouraged in order to reduce the pollution level. Besides that, the use of local goods & materials must be enhanced to generate benefit for the local people.

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