Tourism Master - Assignment Example

123089 TABLE OF CONTENTS Heritage Tourism in United s of America. 2. Eco Tourism, Sustainable Tourism. 3. Case Study: Heritage tourism in Utah, history, attractions. 4. Positive impacts of Tourism 5. Negative impacts of Tourism 6. Impact Assessment and Management 7. Conclusion INTRODUCTION: HERITAGE TOURISM IN USA: Like in any other country, heritage tourism in USA is advancing in huge strides for the last one or two decades now, and Government has realised the importance of promoting tourism in rural America, and here, heritage and cultural tourism have been given more importance. Tourism has become today, one of the biggest industries in the world and has proved beneficial in many ways. USA has decided to showcase its immensely rich heritage, mainly of Native Americans, less of immigrants who occupy the whole of America today. Heritage tourism also covers historical conflicts, fight for freedom, wars for freedom, fight for civil rights and the resulting battles that have left inerasable footprints on sand of time. Today's tourism can never exist without preservation, which has become the most pertinent issue all over the planet. USA, a huge country with unlimited possibilities, is today encouraging heritage tourism while carefully preserving its own innumerable heritage sites, mainly that of Native Indians. ECO TOURISM, SUSTAINABLE TOURISM: Eco Tourism and Sustainable Tourism, though almost identical, are not the same. Eco Tourism is more about the nature, its preservation, whereas sustainable tourism is about nature, but about the living beings on the particular land and is of the opinion that tourism should help the locals, while retaining the planet's pristine garb as clean as possible. On 7th October 2003, WITC came out with the Blue print of New Tourism. "The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) today revealed its Blueprint for New Tourism, which issues a call to action for both government and the industry to make several long-term commitments to ensure the prosperity of Travel & Tourism - one of the world's largest industries, responsible for 200m jobs and over 10% of global GDP1". In heritage tours, areas with extreme environmental threat have to be avoided. Sustainable tourism argues that local community should be financially benefited, so that, they take the initiative of preserving the environmental sensitivities and fragile areas of biodiversities. It has to be seen that economic requirement should not override environmental concerns. Proper guidelines have to be formed on how the nature parks and heritage sites and wildlife sanctuaries have to be preserved. American tourism calls for awakening our senses to natural beauty and national heritage. Amazing heritage sites also offer well-planned, thrilling holidays, because for some tourists, unmixed heritage tours could be dull and uneventful. Wildlife has firmly become part of all tourisms including heritage and cultural tourisms. CASE STUDY: TOURISM IN UTAH, ITS HISTORY AND ATTRACTIONS: Utah, one of the prominent states in USA has been chosen for the case study, as this State is perhaps the best State capable of showing the most vivid kaleidoscope of America's heritage. The State is divided into: Mining County, Carbon/Emery County, Salt Lake County, Summit County, Tooele County, Utah County, Central Utah, Eastern Utah, Southern Utah, mainly depending on its vibrant and violent background. http://history.utah.gov/mining_heritage_alliance/miningmap.html Utah has a population density of 21 people per square mile, (increased at the rate of 15% since 1982), and with a developed land increase of 24% between 1982 and 19922 and this has resulted in 30% loss of wetlands since 1780 and it is the home of 38 threatened and endangered species. For outdoor enthusiasts there is no better place than Utah to ski or snowboard, mountain biking or white water rafting, or to visit the legendary Old West, with all its hidden and trapped glories and fables, who, unfortunately do not exist any more. "Except for the pitifully few American Indians occupying remnants of their once pristine homeland, we are a nation peopled solely by the descendants of immigrants," Papanikolas (1976, p.187). The Bear River Heritage Area near the Idaho-Utah border that houses the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains is where the earlier fur traders and North-western Band of Shoshone Nation and Mormon Settlers existed. It is a region with abundant natural beauty, filled with flourishing agriculture for centuries. It is one of the most historical landscapes in America. Also it is an area of cultural heritage, and natural experiences, and hence, has become a major tourist area in South-eastern Idaho3. http://www.bearriverheritage.com/Regions/ The famous four heritage regions in the Bear River Country are Golden Spike, Cache Valley, Bear Late Country, and Pioneer Trials. The Golden Spike, named after the Transcontinental Railroad, is famous for Box Elder Trees and was home of Shoshone Indians, where many violent incidents continued to take place, till the almost one sided treaty at last materialised and saved further disasters. Cache valley is known for Willows, rivers, basins, streams, and the present name came because traders used to hide (cache) their furs in that area. Valley is 50 x 20 miles, called 'green oasis of arid west', inhabited by Shoshone and Ute Indians, initially known only to them. Later, it became an open secret as trappers invaded the valley around 1847, only to be taken over by Mormons who settled in Salt Lake Valley4. Romantic stories go as far as the cattle minders of Brigham Young, and how the cold winter killed the cattle. The Bear Lake Country has some important tourist regions like Bear Lake, a natural lake that changes colours with the sky, though famous for turquoise colour on a sunny day. Shoshone and Bannock Indians lived here and the region had seen many expeditions after Mckenzie expedition. Today, many kinds of tours like Annual Historic Home Tour of Ogden's Scowcroft Warehouse, and Utah's Heritage Tour are offered to tourists. These early Indian tribes left rich heritage behind, which gives the traveller varied and diverse experience of their culture, bravery, ways of life, beliefs, rituals, ways of worship and many myths carefully built up over the years get shattered when tourists visit this vibrant land that fascinates and attract visitors to the real America. This region is full of rare and legendary Mormon sites. Utah's heritage and culture also claims to be an unbroken chain from the days of dinosaurs, as a wealth of fossils are traced here. Anasazi or Pueblo cultures, Fremont Indians, from 1 A.D. to 1300, spotlighting their lives, beliefs, customs, rituals now immortalised in etroglyph and pictograph panels, existed in this part of America. "The major part of the Great Basin was above water in Mesozoic time, and the eroded sediments were carried east and south into what is now the plateau region. Mesozoic rocks, therefore, are confined largely to the eastern and southern parts of the State; buried within them is fossil evidence of the slow progression of life," Utah (1945, p.13). These are the real inhabitants of America, rich in culture, vivid in ways of living. It is an immensely sad story that the immigrants wiped them out eventually. Also heritage tourism shows the ruins of homes and worship centres of Indians. Ute and Navajo tribes inhabited some places for centuries. Utahns, in spite of diverse religion and culture, share the same background of the soil and history where the legendary Brigham Young led the first Mormon emigrants. Some of the very romantic figures and heroes of folklores of Old West, made this place their home, like Butch Cassidy, Billy the Kid and Rough Riders. All of them used this wild territory, dominated by the great cowboys of lore and today, it is the living history of those wild days, that gives a rich sheen to the cultural climate of Utah. "Any people in a new land may be pardoned for being solicitous about their history; they create it, in a sense, by remembering it. But the tradition of the pioneer that is strong all through the West is a cult in Utah," Wallace (1996, p.2). National parks of Utah are Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capital Reef National Park, Zion, Calf Creek Recreational, and Great Outdoor Recreation. Utah is the home of Rock Mountain Elk. There are additional attractions like Hurricane Valley heritage park, Kanab Heritage House. Utah is home of Seven National Champion Big Trees. State is full of important ski resorts, national parks, recreational activities and breathtaking scenery and museums full of artefacts as mute witnesses of a bygone era and culture. As any other country, USA too is interested in Green tourism. Sustainable tourism depends on clean environment, a change in transport modes, water and waste management, and careful functioning of tourism industry. IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT: Impact assessment and management in Utah is an important part of heritage maintenance in USA. The effectiveness and desirability of impact assessment and the governmental seriousness in doing it, while establishing credibility and intentions are of great value. Similarly, identification of problems and its management, accountability, too are equally important to all countries, and likewise in USA. In spite of not having a thriving biodiversity policy, all issues concerning environment of the State are being handled by department of Natural Resources, which also has a committee for examining each biodiversity issues in the region, mainly to balance advancement of economic activities and sustaining biodiversity according to the State policy that controls water flows to fish, wildlife protection and the development. Hence, coordinated assessment is absent, although wildlife habitat, preservation, environmental sustainability has not taken a backseat faced by the all-pervading economic development. Federal acts govern the laws of endangered species. Through State Acts (Utah Const. Art. XVIII. 1) Utah manages, protects, and restores the public land belonging to the State along with certain cooperative attempts like Department of Wildlife Resources that works with landowners, other Departments, public offices Federal and State both, forest services, Bureau of Land Management, Voluntary organisations, Non Government Organisations in the field etc. Utah has habitat acquisition programs, under Central Utah Project Mitigation, which restore wetlands, fish and riparian habitats5. State also has Private Land Conservation policies under which it provides technical and financial assistance to private landowners to encourage them to create and preserve wildlife habitat leaving the land entirely for wildlife use. The division of Wildlife Resources have to permit if any exotic and rare wild life species have to be imported or exported, and violation would attract both penalties and a jail term. They also have predator and animal control activities with a Landowner Compensation Programme. Still it does not seem to be having constitution or common law protection for preserving biodiversity. Utah does not have any programmes for bio diversity public education, but it participates in Project WILD. Other than some ordinary information about wildlife that has been introduced in the popular curriculum, there had not been much education on heritage or environment. Negative impact of tourism has to be carefully measured and taken care of and the State Government, under the guidance of Federal Government realises that. America is concerned with the coastal area heritage sites and river touching heritage sites, as the damage here could be more. For the new tourism, Governments, local community, and tourists have to work together to achieve it. The impact of peak period tourism too has to be assessed. Some guidelines are set up on how qualitative assessment of tourism to be conducted, how to protect habitats and landscape from getting ruined and disappearing, are in place now. Management includes protection of sensitive areas, information to tourists, management and control of tourist flow, making tourism environment safe and attractive, retaining cultural heritage and background. Other immensely important areas like food safety, hygiene, medical help, civic amenities are anyway taken care of and frequent inspectorial visits of health authorities are continuing. While assessing the impact of tourism on environment, tourism has to be discarded if it is in conflict with the nature, or a heritage ornament. POSITIVE IMPACTS OF TOURISM Advantages of tourism include offering direct sales at a better price for local rarities, preserving local skills, encouraging highly skilled, but now dwindling masters of arts. Also contact with outsiders might end in indirect benefits and friendships. Diversities are important to any nation, to avoid looking like a Communist one. Americans have realised the advantages of preserving their often-painful heritage sites. While giving importance to sustained tourism, with emphasis on eco tourism it is highly significant that the new rules are required in a hurry. With the planets natural resources steadily dwindling at an alarming rate, USA has introduced ethical and sustainable tourism. Heritage tourism in America has hit an all time high recently and nation is basking in its glory. Every small event had been showcased in the country, in an ardent effort to rebuild the history. Conferences, programmes, educational information on minimizing environmental destruction, are being conducted now on a regular basis. Heritage Tourism showcases heritage artisans, shops, studios, handmade treasures, porcelain dolls, antique furniture, reproductions, woodcraft, kiln and pit fired pottery, appliqud western clothing, carved wooden caricatures, hand tooled boots and saddles and unique jewellery. Almost all the crafts and arts belong to Native Americans, and very few belong to the immigrants. "The Utah Heritage Highways five heritage areas are Little Denmark, Sevier Valley, Headwaters, Under the Rim and the Boulder Mountain Loop," http://www.utahheritage.com/ NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF TOURISM Preserving environmental significance under Eco Tourism is easier said than done. Preserving, widespread concern about environment with strict guiding principles on all aspects of tourism have to be brought into line with specific tasks of government, public information and participation, detailing the financial aspects. With continuous flow of tourists, heritage sites could be vandalised, or polluted. Local communities might be disturbed and air and water pollution can lead into various future problems. Pollution will increase and there will be an onslaught on the culture and innocence of local community. Bio diversity of the region could be threatened. There are many stories how the mountain bears in Himalayas started drinking soft drinks. Congestion on roads can lead to unpleasantness. Building infrastructure could be dangerous to the environment. Tourists can bring a lot of contagious sicknesses and it is not possible to form a long lasting friendship with infrequent visitors. Land can be degraded and with pollution, crops could be seriously affected. To a sleepy community, full of their own cultures and stories, continuous flows of visitors could be threatening. There are heightened threats to wildlife, as poaching can increase. CONCLUSION: Tourism has come to stay in every region of the world and USA is no exception to the rule that tourism ushers in foreign exchange. Heritage tourism has the advantage of teaching every country lessons in preservation. With the local help, sustainable tourism should not be a hurdle to any region. Still, it is a precarious area, where advantage and disadvantages are neck to neck. Turning it into an entirely advantageous position is in the hands of three actors, Government, Tourists and Local Communities. Integrating environmental and social concerns of the society so that recreational and sustainable tourism, sustainable tourism development could be achieved is the first task of tourism authorities in USA. It has to be nature-based tourism, with proper policies for environment, heritage sites and land management. The behaviour of visitors and travellers should be self-regulated. Proper heritage tourism can be conducted only with the help of all three major players: Government, local community and Tourists. If Government has to provide proper rules and regulations and enforce them effectively, local communities should be cooperative and proud of their heritage. At the same time, tourists cannot escape from their responsibility of being environmentally conscious and help the other two by discharging their duties as eco friendly tourists. Work on preservation and conservation is an ongoing work, never ending. After some time, Governments will attain more skill and proficiency enough to make it a routine task and no doubt, all of them will succeed too. Utah will remain a heritage showcase of the Native American tribes, who inhabited this wild stretch of dangerous country, before they were almost eliminated by the immigrants. It is also a matter of embarrassment for the country with monumental evidences of cruelty like the Mountain of Tears. At the same time, it is the part of America, its history, and its proud presentation of how a Native American lived. Many visitors would learn a lesson from the sad history of these proud, unbending, but innocent people. Any country would be pleased to own them as the ancestors. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Dwyer, R.J. (1971), The Gentile Comes to Utah, Western Epics, Salt Lake City. 2. Furniss, N.F. (1977)), The Mormon Conflict (1850 - 1859), Greenwood Press, Connecticut. 3. Papanikolas, H.Z. (1976), ed. The Peoples of Utah, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City. 4. Stagnor, W. (1966), The Gathering of Zion, Ever & Spottiswoode (Publishers) Ltd. 5. Utah, A Guide to the State, (1945), American Guide Series, Hastings House Publishers, New York. ONLINE RESOURCES: 1. http://www.defenders.org/bio-stut.html 2. http://www.bearriverheritage.com/Regions/ 3. http://www.utahheritage.com/ 4. http://www.utah.com/mormon/ 5. http://www.wttc.org/News18.htm 6. http://www.bakernet.com/BakerNet/Practice/Real+Estate+Construction+Environment+Tourism/Associated+Practices/Environmental/default.htm 7. http://www.ecofriendlyhotelsrhs.com/CaseStudyConservation.htm 8. http://www.mendicott.com/news/envnews.asp 9. http://greentourism.ca/resource_centre_greeningB&E.php 10. http://www.skisafari.com/respTourism.asp Read More