What is Sustainable Tourism?
Tourism is considered one of the world’s fastest growing industry since to many countries, it’s a major source of income (Fien, Calder & White, 2010). Besides, tourism has been essential in revitalizing local economies since it provides many jobs. However, just like other forms of development, tourism has brought in various issues such as social dislocation, ecological degradation, and loss of cultural heritage. Therefore, due to such impacts on tourism, many alternative forms of tourism have given birth to sustainable tourism. The alternative forms include; cultural tourism, ecotourism, and nature-based tourism. Sustainable tourism refers to tourism that regards and protects the local people, cultural heritage, the environment as well as the travelers (Fien, Calder & White, 2010). Sustainable tourism is gaining traction as well as becoming popular and many people forecast that in a decade, it will be the mainstream rather than alternative tourism. Besides, sustainable tourism seeks to provide travelers with exciting and educational holidays while at the same time benefiting people of the host country.
Sustainable tourism establishes the balance between social-cultural, environmental, and economic aspects of tourism development since it plays a crucial role in conserving biodiversity (World Tourism Organization, 2018). It allows the cultural heritage of the local community to be available for generations as well as ensuring income is generated for the preservation of local ecosystems. Revenues from visitor spending are injected back to nature conservation hence the habitats are protected as well as capacity building programmes for local communities are developed to educate them on the management of protected areas. Therefore, due to the positive contribution tourism promotes through biodiversity conservation, poverty is reduced among the local community hence being able to attain goals and objectives towards sustainable development. Sustainable tourism is also crucial in fostering positive behavior as well as raising awareness on behavior change particularly for biodiversity conservation among millions of people touring the world every year (World Tourism Organization, 2018).
Sustainable tourism is considered the future of travel since its benefits are overwhelming. The benefits include; One, we have authenticity. When travelers are checking travel destinations they would love to visit, they not only check the destinations, they also associate with locals so as to understand areas they would be visiting. Secondly, we have community involvement. Travelers also involve the locals within their tour operations hence their engagement ensures the people benefit highly (Lacanilao, 2017). Thirdly, we have employment. Sustainable tourism creates employment for the locals hence the living standards of the locals’ increase. This also allows them to be much productive and also reduce poverty levels. Fourthly, we have cultural preservation. Since the community members are involved as vendors, hosts, tour guides as well as performers, their culture is highly celebrated and protected. Lastly, we have environmental restoration. Locals, as well as travelers, are able to learn ways of interacting with nature in a way that has low impact. Besides, eco-conscious builders are able to create infrastructure around wildlife habitats as well as protect the wildlife (Lacanilao, 2017).
Benefits of Sustainable Tourism
Mass tourism is another form of tourism which is mainly used for the marketing of tourist’s destination. However, it’s quite different from sustainable tourism since it involves ferrying thousands of tourists going to the same destination or resort often at a particular time of the year. Tourism companies/ operators construct destination images depending on what they think customers may want without caring about the impact on the host countries (Fien, Calder & White, 2010). When mass tourists are converged in a particular location, conflicts are inevitable since tourists may easily offend the local codes of behavior of local communities (Lacanilao, 2017). Such problems may arise out from; public intoxication, ignorance on dressing code of a local community, rudeness to local people, erosion of the local language, and also lack of proper behavior in places of worship. For example, residents of Venice have accused tourists at various accounts of destroying their city. Therefore, the Barcelona’s government has limited tourist accommodation by passing legislation (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2018).
Mass tourism does not hold the tourists accountable for such actions since the main goal of mass tourism is generating revenue for the transnational corporations. Local communities do not reap any benefits since about 5% only goes to the local community while the other 95% goes to transnational corporations (Lacanilao, 2017). Therefore, sustainable tourism is on the forefront to effect mass tourism in terms of becoming more sustainable to the local communities as well as the host countries. For example, many travelers are significantly making purchases on travel destinations based on their sustainable practices. Besides, many destinations have plans and strategies in place to employ tourism as a means of alleviating poverty as well as conserving their cultural and natural heritage (Mullis, 2017). For example, the creation of monuments and national parks. However, about 50% of Word heritage sites recognized by UNESCO due to their outstanding universal value, still do not have structured tourism management plans that could assist in preventing the negative impacts of tourism.
Tourism can be made sustainable through various attainable measures. To begin with, governments must develop and implement policies that foster sustainability in tourism so as to overcome the growth fetish (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2018). Besides, governments must be able to conquer and tackle the environmental limits on climatic changes as well as growth challenges. Secondly, consumers should undergo training as well as be educated on the responsibility on travel choices. Thirdly, local communities should be treated as stakeholders, and therefore, they should participate in tourism decision making as well as have a say in how their communities can become tourist destinations (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2018). Fourthly, the tourism industry must assume responsibility by building regulations that help communities thrive as well as submitting local tax regimes. Lastly, non-governmental organizations can take the mandate of reporting abuses of tourism, corruption, community opposition and also human rights abuses.
Tourists, on the other hand, can promote the course of giving back to the communities they visit through volunteerism in different ways. To begin with, tourists can choose hotels that support local causes. For example, I visited Nihi Sumba beach resort located southeast of Bali, in the Island of Sumba. The resort has employed over three hundred local people who make up 90% of the workforce. In my stay at the resort, I was astonished and also happy to find out that resort provided the community with access to clean water, drugs to fight diseases, and also scholarships for ensuring young people get access to education hence alleviating poverty. Due to this initiative, I purposed to always visit the hotel while on holiday since by spending on such hotels, I was assured the money I would spend would serve a great purpose for the community around.
Mass Tourism and Its Negative Impact
Secondly, tourists can spend their money on local businesses. When tourists are at their tour destination areas, they can spend their money across independent and local businesses as much as possible (South China Morning Post, 2017). If a tourist stays in a chain hotel, he or she can swap the dinner offered with an authentic dish offered at a local restaurant. In addition, the tourist can entrust locals to be their guides rather than depending on the tourist operators. Thirdly, tourists can give up a bit of space in their suitcases by carrying items they can donate for a charitable purpose. Donation of much-needed supplies such as medical supplies, school supplies or any other needed item to local communities can be instrumental in assisting the local communities. However, if the items for donation cannot be carried on their suitcases, donation of money can still be essential. In my opinion, this type of voluntourism can be very successful since in some regions in Asia, many tourism operators support this initiative of providing a support pack for the communities.
Fourthly, tourists can educate children from less fortunate families. For example, tourists from the western countries can teach children different subjects including English hence being able to fulfill their education requirements. The tourist can as well help the local teachers improve their classroom and English skills through conducting teaching projects with the local teachers (De Souza, Barcelos, & Lamas, 2018). In my opinion, due to the access to education, the young people will be able to bring development in their own communities. In addition, in case the tourists have any medical training, they can assist in providing healthcare screenings such as prenatal exams, baby checks, and diabetes in collaboration with local medical centers. Lastly, tourists can assist in carrying out environment conservation practices such as planting trees, cleaning the tourist’s destination areas such as oceans or wildlife conservatives from plastic waste (De Souza, Barcelos, & Lamas, 2018). For example, by having projects such as 4Ocean which assists in cleaning oceans from plastics, I believe more ocean life will be protected hence ensuring the sustainability of tourism.
In conclusion, sustainable tourism is crucial in revolutionizing the tourism industry since the local environment, culture and community become beneficiaries. In addition, world heritage sites and other conservatives can be protected hence ensuring more tourists can still access them in the years to come. However, the different parties involved in the promotion of sustainable tourism including tourists, communities, governments and tourist operators should ensure they work hand in hand so as to ensure the objectives of sustainable tourism are met. Therefore, as tourism grows, better returns and efficiency will be assured hence making the tourism industry one of the best globally.
References
De Souza, P. B., Barcelos, A. M. N., & Lamas, S. A. (2018). Tourism and volunteering: the
search for understanding of the voluntourism. Revista Brasileira de Ecoturismo, 11(1), 32-46.
Fien, J, Calder M, & White, C. (2010). UNESCO | Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable
Future | Module 16: Sustainable tourism. Retrieved from https://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod16.html
Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2018). ‘Sustainable tourism’ is not working – here’s how we can change
that. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/sustainable-tourism-is-not-working-heres-how-we-can-change-that-76018
Lacanilao, P. (2017). Mass Tourism Vs. Sustainable Tourism – Visit.org Blog. Retrieved from
https://visit.org/blog/en/mass-tourism-vs-sustainable-tourism/
Mullis, B. (2017). The growth paradox: can tourism ever be sustainable? Retrieved from
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/08/the-growth-paradox-can-tourism-ever-be-sustainable/
South China Morning Post. (2017). Seven easy ways to give back when you travel – why not
start now? Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2120732/seven-easy-ways-give-back-when-you-travel-sustainable
World Tourism Organization. (2018). Defining Sustainable Tourism. Retrieved from
https://www.gdrc.org/uem/eco-tour/sustour-define.html
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