Sustainable Development and Tourism
The present tourism and hotel industry depends on a diverse and ironic, built and natural environment for its economic interest and safety. The development of tourism that is constantly ignoring the environmental concerns is doubtful to remain viable for longer period of time (Leslie 2016). Along with the other industrial sectors as well as the field of academic study, the tourism industry, too have responded towards the popularity of the concept of sustainable development in the developing world. Globally, the tourism industry is growing significantly from the past half century and it is expected that it would grow further at an average annual rate of 4.3% until the year 2020. It is also to note that the very recent global recession as well could not case this industry to grind a complete halt. The nature of the development of tourism in every area is affected by a wide range of the planned and existing development like the transport, the housing, health service provision, retailing etc. However, this report is going to elaborate on explaining my viewpoint in for of the statement- “Given environmental concerns, tourism in the developing world is unsustainable.” It shall explain the future of the tourism and why it is likely to be unsustainable in this developing world.
Concept of Sustainable development
Sustainable development is one of the most discussed topics in recent years. There are a total of two different components in the definition of sustainable development and they are- 1) the meaning of development and, 2) the condition that is needed for sustainability. As per Flynn et al. (2016), the sustainable development depicts the procedure which makes an effort in order to enhance the living style and conditions of the individuals. The main vitality of the sustainable development is carrying the growing successes into the future in such a manner that the upcoming generations are not troubles in any way.
The sustainable tourism industry
Sustainable tourism refers to the tourism which is created and is maintained in a manner that it remains economically advantageous for an indefinite time period and that it does not erode the human and physical environment which stands and cultivate it (Figueroa and Rotarou 2016). It is to note that tourism has become one of the major economic activities within the developing and the already developed nations, and it is something that is often contributing more amount of foreign currency than the traditional primary commodity exports. This growth in this sector as well as its maturity has led the people getting more concerned about the resources of the host nations that they think might be exhausted in the future. Much attentions has been paid towards the relationship in between the tourism and the environment as well as the problems that are linked with the expansion of the tourism. It is to note that there are three different objectives of the sustainable tourism and they are:
- Satisfying the demands of the increasing number of tourists
- Meeting the needs of the host population for improving the living standards of the people for short and long terms
- Protecting the natural environment so as to achieve both of the above objectives
Sustainable Tourism Objectives
Challenges for tourism to remain sustainable in the near future
It is to mention that the tourism industry faces numerous sustainability related challenges and some of the most specific of the that are in high need of resolving by means of greening the industry are as follows:
- Energy and the GHG (Green House Gas) emission
- Tourism is one of the very notable contributors of the emissions of greenhouse gases at global level. The growth of energy in the accommodation, tourism, travel and transport related activities along with the dependence on the fossil fuels, rise the uncertainty and the vulnerability of the future business growth (Gossling and Peeters 2015). With the same, it also translates into the vital implications for the Greenhouse gas emissions and the climatic changes. It is to note that in present days, tourism contributes about 5% of the CO2 emissions (Pan et al. 2018). However, as per several scientists, the gross contribution of this sector to the issue of global warming ranges from 5.2 to 12.5%.
- Consumption of water
- As per de Paul Obade and Moore (2018), in USA, recreation and tourism consumes about 946million m3of water every year and 60% of it is linked with the accommodation that is mostly spent of the landscape, guest consumption, laundry activities and the property management. Also, the 13% of the remaining is linked to the food service. It is to mention that the total annual water consumption in European countries is estimated to be 843 million m3 (Lamastra et al. 2017). Every tourists there consumes about 300 litres of freshwater each day on an average. On the other hand, the luxurious tourists could consume up to by 880 litres per day. By comparison, it is to note that the average per capital residential utilisation in the European countries is estimated as 241 litres a day. Furthermore, it is also to mention that the global direct water consumption in the global tourism is reckoned to be 1.3 km3 an year. According to the available data, the direct use of water in the tourism industry varies from 100 to 2000 litres for each guest night, along with a proneness for resort style hotels in order to make use of the notably more water as compared to the other smaller hotels or campsites or pension like formations. The major water consuming elements are the irrigated fields, the gold courses, the spas, swimming pool, guest rooms and the wellness facilities.
- Waste management and the quality of water
- Waste management is one of the other increasing challenge in the tourism industry. Each and every international tourist in Australia generates about 1kg of the solid waste every day. In United States it is 2kg per person per day. Furthermore, it is also to state that according to the report of Jambeck et al. (2015), the total country generation of waste, comprising of the industrial as well as the other sources include- for Austria (1.18 kg/person/day), India (0.4 kg/person/day), United States (2.3 kg/person/day) and Mexico (0.68 kg/person/day). Depending on the different sources, the Di Peri (2015) estimates that in the year 2001, about 692.5 million of the international tourists in the world are likely to generate 4.8 million tone of the solid waste.
- It is also to note that tourism also impact the quality of water. For example, the discharging the untreated sewage or the fresh water abstraction as well as the challenges are huge on the wastewater management in even rich country destinations. In Mediterranean, it is still a very common operation (the practice of discharging the sewage from the hotels to the sea bodies). According to the anecdotal evidences, it is suggested that it is also a practice is many of the countries other than the European Union. This industry is also effecting the water quality in indirect manner. For example, the over use of the water could result in saltwater intrusion and land subsidence and this in turn is deteriorating the quality of the ground water. It is to note that in Zanzibar, impacts as such have also been noticed in northern islands. There, the water has turned saline and this is likely to be a sign of saltwater intrusion.
- Loss of the biological diversity
- There are several instances where the large-scale tourism sector has had some significant impacts on the biodiversity, comprising of the coastal wetlands, coral reefs, semi-arid and the arid ecosystems, rainforests and the mountainous areas. It is to state that the coral ecosystems have undergone a strong negative influence because of the use of corals for the purpose of constructing materials for the hotels, sedimentation and dumping of sewage from the poorly managed runoffs from the parking lots, buildings and the gold courses and over fishing of the reefs for feeding the tourists. They might also be destroyed because of the highly used scuba diving areas. The coastal wetlands, very specifically, the mangroves have regularly been damaged for the purpose of building beach resorts (Attemene and Eguavoen 2017). With the same, in the golf courses, the arid and the semi-arid ecosystems, and other water-intensive actions and activities have resulted in lowering of the water tables and this in turn in significantly affecting the local fauna and flora.
- Effective management of built and the cultural heritage
- It is to note that the interest of the tourists in the unique cultures could result in negative influence as well as serious disruption for the communities. Certain examples of the communities are present that are occupied by the large number of the visitors, the threats of the cultural survival from the planned and the unplanned tourism and the commercialisation of the traditions. The tourism destinations are often built by the outsiders in the areas which are indigenous (Chan et al., 2016). It can also be built by the traditional communities who consider these destinations to be their own. Such situations results in conflicts which make the mutual benefits and the cooperation next to impossible for achieving and this inculcate animosities which cynically impact the local communities along with the tourist destinations. Over the past two decades, along with the growth in ecotourism as well as the alternative travel, this impacts of this industry on the unguarded and unsafe cultures has started to be considered seriously by all the government organisations, the non-governmental organisations, the tourism industry as well as the cultural groups that are involved.
- Changing Consumer Patterns
- It is evident that the choices of the tourists are also significantly increasing by the sustainability considerations. For example, in the year 2007, as per the survey of the TripAdvisor of the travellers from different parts of the world, 38% of the global travellers said that they consider environmental friendly tourism while travelling, the other 38% travellers prefer staying at environment friendly hotels and the remaining 14% seek for such hotels. With the same, as per the report of 2015, 83% of the travellers are wanting to pay more in order to spend their days in environment friendly hotels (Line and Hanks 2016). The traditional mass tourism like the sun-and-sand resorts, has turned into a very rapid growth stage. In contrary to this, the ecotourism, the cultural, nature, soft adventure and the heritage tourism like the community and rural tourism are leading in the tourism market at present and it is predicted to grow rapidly in the coming decades.
Conclusion
Hence, from the above discussion it is clear that there are several challenges for the tourism sector in present days. Tourism has a very significant potential to drive the growth of the world’s economy and the green tourism has the potential to create better developed nations. In order to be truly sustainable in the tourism industry, the industry should start sustainable practices. This industry is harming the environment in many ways. Some of the many significant challenges for this sectors are of the growing demands of the travellers and their tendency of preferring environment friendly products and services. However, it is to state that if it continue to practice such things, it is likely to be unsustainable in the developing world.
References:
Attemene, P. and Eguavoen, I., 2017. Coastal ecotourism in The Gambia: Effects of sustainability communication on environments and rural livelihoods (No. 154). ZEF Working Paper Series.
Chan, J.H., Iankova, K., Zhang, Y., McDonald, T. and Qi, X., 2016. The role of self-gentrification in sustainable tourism: Indigenous entrepreneurship at Honghe Hani Rice Terraces World Heritage Site, China. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 24(8-9), pp.1262-1279.
de Paul Obade, V. and Moore, R., 2018. Synthesizing water quality indicators from standardized geospatial information to remedy water security challenges: A review. Environment international, 119, pp.220-231.
Di Peri, R., 2015. An enduring ‘touristic miracle’in Tunisia? Coping with old challenges after the revolution. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 42(1), pp.104-118.
Figueroa B, E. and Rotarou, E.S., 2016. Sustainable development or eco-collapse: Lessons for tourism and development from Easter Island. Sustainability, 8(11), p.1093.
Flynn, A., Yu, L., Feindt, P. and Chen, C., 2016. Eco-cities, governance and sustainable lifestyles: The case of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City. Habitat International, 53, pp.78-86.
Gössling, S. and Peeters, P., 2015. Assessing tourism’s global environmental impact 1900–2050. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(5), pp.639-659.
Jambeck, J.R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., Siegler, T.R., Perryman, M., Andrady, A., Narayan, R. and Law, K.L., 2015. Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science, 347(6223), pp.768-771.
Lamastra, L., Miglietta, P.P., Toma, P., De Leo, F. and Massari, S., 2017. Virtual water trade of agri-food products: Evidence from italian-chinese relations. Science of the Total Environment, 599, pp.474-482.
Leslie, D., 2016. Tourism, tourists and sustainability. In Tourism enterprises and the sustainability agenda across Europe (pp. 33-52).
Line, N.D. and Hanks, L., 2016. The effects of environmental and luxury beliefs on intention to patronize green hotels: the moderating effect of destination image. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 24(6), pp.904-925.
Pan, S.Y., Gao, M., Kim, H., Shah, K.J., Pei, S.L. and Chiang, P.C., 2018. Advances and challenges in sustainable tourism toward a green economy. Science of the Total Environment, 635, pp.452-469.
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