Trends in Sustainable Travel and Tourism - Essay Example

The major directions in the development of sustainable tourism are discussed here in detail. It was the widespread realization of the need for preserving natural resources and natural assets that led to sustainable tourism. People are now keener to use eco-friendly products and processes eliminating the least chance of harming the nature. As Mullis (2012) points out, fifty percent of the American youngsters in a survey were of the opinion that they would only use an airline if and only if the authorities take initiatives to make up for carbon emissions.

The same opinion was predominant among tourists travelling across tourist spots. They only use things that can be recycled and reprocessed. It eliminates the careless throw out of plastic, carry bags and other non-biodegradable things. According to Mullis (2012), tourism industry is paying more attention to introducing carbon offset facilities to tackle greenhouse gas emissions; and tour operators are now offering carbon offsets to their customers as they are well aware of it. Sustainable tourism does not require too much initial capital investment.

So, the small-scale industries in the tourist sites are adopting various means of protecting the environment in order to satisfy their customers. As stated in the United Nations’ Managing sustainable tourism development (2001) principles, in order to nourish tourism in a particular locality; beaches, mountains, rivers, and all the flora and fauna are to be protected and preserved with fondness: and in the light of these observations made by the policy makers, various laws have been made to protect the indigenous characteristics of the tourist sites and for the protection of the environment.

With the enactment of local laws pertaining to resource exploitation, consumption and waste dumping, issues relating to tourism could be tackled to a large extend. Another notable feature in the area of sustainable tourism is the developments made by the Thai people in the area of mass tourism with the help of their affluent historical, cultural and natural assets. They made small-scale tourism projects which are community based and implemented sustainable tourism in their ethnic village of Karen.

The reason for such an allocation was that the indigenous people knew the terrain and the pulse of the environment better than the outsiders. The aims of this program were to improve the all round quality of the village population, preserve the unique culture of Karen village, allow the indigenous population to make decisions about their way of life and to contribute to the preservation and protection of the natural resources and assets of the region (Managing sustainable tourism development, 2001).

They implemented this idea with the help of Nongovernmental Organizations. Thus, Thailand was one of the pioneers to teach the world the new trend of dividing sites between native people and giving them complete freedom to promote it to the fullest.