Challenges for Speedy Changes towards Sustainable Practices - Essay Example

CHALLENGES FOR SPEEDY CHANGES TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES By of School and Q. 8 Explain why either the tourism or events industry has been relatively slow to change their management practices in the context of environmental concerns Introduction Tourism is among the fastest growing industries in the modern business. However, the resultant impacts of the practice are vastly controversial, hence putting to question the future of the industry in general. According to the earth summit that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, sustainable tourism was among the main agenda for the industry (Hall, 2011). The summit highlighted the need to pay important attention to the association between environmental protection and conservation, in order to realize sustainability within the industry. The conclusion of the conference was that the tourism industry needed awareness on the negative effects, and that there was a need to promote the adoption of behaviors that were more responsible in tourism for the future, if tourism was to attain significant sustainability in the future (Moscardo, Konovalov, Murphy and McGehee, 2013). The climatic change resulting from global warming is among the most critical challenges of environment in the 21st century practices. The scientific explanations that are widely acknowledged associate the steady rise in average earth temperatures and in the oceans to the high level of concentrated anthropogenic greenhouse gases (Shakeela, Breakey and Ruhanen, 2012). Hotel facilities and other tourism-related departments are considered as among the top consumers of energy within the commercial and service sector. Among these, waste constitutes a substantive amount of the energy use in the industry, hence the need for energy-efficiency enhancement and conservation of resources in the industry (Saufi, OBrien and Wilkins, 2014). Several studies have thus been carried out in order to establish the environmental issues within the industry with the aim of formulating the ideal industry practices for environmental sustainability. Environmental Responsibility The main aspect of responsible environmental practices is the general product or enterprise life cycle. This includes the management of the business, as well as the integration of establishment with the management of the environment (Hall, 2011). All enterprises in tourism are capable of making important contributions towards sustainable environment of practice such as through support of local products producers and offering advice to the guests concerning the making of responsible decisions on purchases (Shakeela, Breakey and Ruhanen, 2012). Establishments have the responsibility of minimizing the energy requirements, reduce pollution of light, noise and air, as well as considering the neighborhood of the business through reduction of all negative transformations of the business environment, including cultivation of indigenous and non-invasive vegetation species (Moscardo, Konovalov, Murphy and McGehee, 2013). All resources ought to be put in use in a fashion of sustainability, hence over consumption and wastes must be avoided. Establishments must also promote positive mannerism among visitors, especially the respect for natural heritage as well as ensuring low environmental impact by discouraging them from engaging in certain practices, including quad biking (Shakeela, Breakey and Ruhanen, 2012). Challenges for Speedy Changes Towards Sustainable Practices More than a decade following the Agenda 21 publication for the tourism and travel industry, sustainability is a common word used in different contexts of practice. In fact, the sustainable tourism concept is now past the narrow definition of the ecotourism concept in order to encompass all tourism aspects (Saufi, OBrien and Wilkins, 2014). However, implementing of the sustainable tourism practices has not been an easy task within the industry, with researchers, amongst which are Lu and Nepal (2009), expressing their frustrations at the slow pace at which the changes in the industry have been effected towards the adoption of environmentally sustainable tourism practices. As the tourism industry advances into the 21st century, there is a need to consider the different challenges that have led to the slow pace of change in the tourism industry. Among the factors that have derailed the change in the industry towards the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices is the ambiguity of the term “sustainability” as used in the tourism industry. At the concept level, sustainable tourism is fairly appealing and has received a significant endorsement by the policy makers, academics, as well as the practitioners (Moscardo, Konovalov, Murphy and McGehee, 2013). The majority of the sustainable tourism definitions have their basis in two foundational ideas that are complementary namely; the Brundtland Report, also referred to as Our Common Future sustainable development definition, and the “triple bottom line” by Elkington, which needs accounting of environmental, social and economic benefits and costs (Shakeela, Breakey and Ruhanen, 2012). The definition of sustainable tourism by the United Nations World Tourism Organization is inclusive of these concepts and brings out the sustainable tourism as the ability to meet the present tourism and host region needs needs while enhancing and protecting opportunities for the future (Hall, 2011). It has been envisioned as fore in the resource management in a manner that social, economic and aesthetic requirements are well fulfilled, while ensuring cultural integrity, life support system and cultural integrity. Even though the definition is appealing conceptually, it lacks the required prescription and fails to provide a precise road map upon which the practitioners yearning the adopt the said concept can follow (Lu and Nepal, 2009). The operationalization of the sustainable tourism concept can occur in numerous ways and the ideal activity application is bound to the destination. There is a need for the individual destination community to determine the rightful balance of social, economic and environmental activities facilitates the fulfillment of their future and current objectives while striking the balance of the triple bottom line, and this makes it hard to determine the right weighting for the institution (Farrell and Twining-Ward, 2005). In fact, the different destinations weigh the benefits and costs of tourism, together with the long term effects of these on the identified destination community in varying ways. Even with the proliferation of the list of things to be done, certification, together with the growing information body of ideal practices, there is no one way considered ideal for the sustainable tourism practice (Saufi, OBrien and Wilkins, 2014). Many organizations are caught up in the confusion of trying to determine what needs to be included within the program of sustainable tourism, though the measures are not yet adopted on large scale. In this case, it is very difficult to make a determination on what is or what is not sustainable in the general practices (Farrell and Twining-Ward, 2005). As opposed to being practiced in absolute terms, there is always, the proposal of a warranted new approach. The recent developments have witnessed the growth of a research body in business studies, which identifies that there is the implementation of socially and environmentally responsible programs in a continuum from complying with activism as determined by the various factors among which is corporate culture, leadership, and resource and capacity availability (Saufi, OBrien and Wilkins, 2014). The businesses that take the environment into consideration are categorized from dark green to light green. The corporations have the liberty of choosing policies from socially responsive to legally compliant, based on their respective commitment levels to a particular social issue. The drift from the “black and white” sustainability vision to the approach, which acknowledges the continuum of sustainable tourism could be more productive towards the understanding of how organizations and destinations handle sustainability (Saufi, OBrien and Wilkins, 2014). Another notable component of the issue is the difficulty with which the activities of the sustainable tourism can be identified in a given destination. The practices of sustainable tourism are described in multiple ways (Hall, 2011). For instance, the policy mangers within NGOs could apply the term sustainable tourism, while at the enterprise level, practices of sustainable tourism are mostly defined in line with the corporate citizenship or the corporate social responsibility. The cultural and social considerations could be referred to as heritage tourism. From the perspective of the consumer, travelers could take part in behaviors regarded as proenvironmental, voluntourism, as well as the adoption of behaviors of responsible tourism (Farrell and Twining-Ward, 2005). Even though every one of the activities fits within the framework of sustainable tourism practice, they may fail to be identified as sustainable tourism components, therefore, it is difficult to measure the activities of sustainable tourism practiced by disparate tourism destination actors. The next challenge hampering speedy adoption of the environmentally responsible tourism practices is the complexity of the adaptive system of the tourism industry and the multiple independent actors within it. Tourism experience delivery demands that many corporations work together in order to offer services and products to the travelers (Saufi, OBrien and Wilkins, 2014). This system is highly dynamic and with self organization. There lacks the top down structure within the tourism industry. Recognizing this insight requires the policy makers reevaluate their approaches towards the identified role Destination Marketing Organizations towards implementing programs of sustainable tourism (Ruhanen, 2013). Appreciating the governance issue complexity in the implementation of sustainable tourism policy has experienced a significant growth following the invention of Agenda 21 for Tourism and Travel industry. The National Tourism Authorities have particularly been in charge of the planning, marketing, and offering advice to the central government regarding tourism and travel issues (Ruhanen, 2013). Within this capacity, therefore, there is a higher likelihood that the majority of the required tasks towards facilitating transition to sustainable development are still in their hands. The destination marketing organizations, who are in this case the National Tourism authority, purely lack the policing and regulatory functions (Ruhanen, 2008). In this case, the destination marketing organization fails to ensure sustainable tourism implementation, but instead, functions as advocates and catalysts for sustainable tourism. In the recent days, there has been a significant growth in stakeholder population appreciation, both involved directly in tourism and those ancillary to it, being engaged in the sustainable tourism (Hall, 2011). With the increased experience in the sustainable tourism practices, it is evident that not all of the decisions made towards the implementation of sustainable tourism are as precise as they appear at the first look. Sustainable tourism practices need trade-offs, which could be viewed in different light at different levels of the system. For example, at the level of an enterprise hotel, linen programs minimize the consumption of water and energy as well as promoting a positive impact on the environment (Saufi, OBrien and Wilkins, 2014). However, at a community or destination level, the housekeeping programs do not need a lot of staff hence reducing the opportunities for employment. Based on the social needs, the community or destination may attach a lot of importance to the employment opportunities to the people than the saving of energy. In situations with no industrial or legislation agreements, the enterprise is at liberty of determining the actions it so likes. Another challenge that hampers the quick implementation of the environmental responsible practices in the tourism industry is the adoption. It is noted that adopting the practices of sustainable tourism is significantly complex within the tourism destination system and would need both the implementation and the destination level as well as the adoption of sets of practices by all actors within the system, among which are attractions, hotels, providers of transport, as well as other service providers. In fact, in every organization, the individual partakers have the duty of learning and applying new methods of doing things to contribute towards the sustainable system. Hall (2011) observes that most of what should be done in the implementation of sustainable tourism is well known to many scholars. However, the bigger portion of knowledge in regard to the subject has been under-diffused at the destination levels, at which it is significantly needed by the activity managers and planners. Education on the importance of sustainable tourism practices has been highlighted as an ideal method of promoting the adoption of sustainable tourism (Saufi, OBrien and Wilkins, 2014). However, it must be understood that knowledge alone is not enough in stimulation of change, especially if positive results are required. As noted by Saufi, OBrien and Wilkins (2014), adopting sustainable tourism practices need a readiness to change. Conclusion The ever growing dangers of environmental pollution have evidently led to an adjustment in the manner of operations within the tourism industry in order to avert the adverse consequences of environmental pollution that result from irresponsible practices. However, the rate at which the different organizations have adopted the proposed sustainable practices is worrying, threatening the continual of environmental deterioration, especially global warming. It is important that stakeholders in the industry observe the different challenges that have derailed the adoption of ideal business practices in order to make the change process faster. In addition, scholars and researchers have the chance of exploring the different behavioral issues related to adoption and change of the tourism sustainability practices. All the challenges identified demonstrate the close relationship among them, with each being a consequence of the complexity that characterizes the tourism industry systems. Even with the presence of the challenges identified, the implementation of sustainable tourism remains paramount for the better of current and future tourism. There is an increased understanding of the complexity of the tourism systems and how well they can be manipulated to ensure sustainability in the industry practices, in order to overcome the aforementioned challenges. The value of inspiration for sustainable and ideal tourism future should continue to provide motivation to the practitioners in the industry in addressing the challenges and discovering innovative solutions for the future of the industry. References Farrell, B. and Twining-Ward, L., 2005. Seven Steps Towards Sustainability: Tourism in the Context of New Knowledge. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 13, pp. 109-122. Hall, C, M. 2011. Policy Learning and Policy Failure In Sustainable Tourism Governance: From first- and second-order to third order change? Journal of Sustainable Tourism 19, pp. 649-671. Hall, C. M., 2011. Policy learning and policy failure in sustainable tourism governance: from first- and second-order to third-order change? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 19(4/5), pp.649-671 Lu, J. and Nepal, S, K., 2009. Sustainable tourism research: An analysis of papers published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 17, pp. 5-16. Moscardo, G., Konovalov, E., Murphy, L. and McGehee, N., 2013. Mobilities, community well-being and sustainable tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 21(4), pp.532-556 Ruhanen, L., 2008. Progressing the sustainability debate: A knowledge management approach to sustainable tourism planning. Current Issues in Tourism, 11, pp. 429-455. Ruhanen, L., 2013. Local government: facilitator or inhibitor of sustainable tourism development? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 21(1), pp.80-98 Saufi, A., OBrien, D. and Wilkins, H., 2014. Inhibitors to host community participation in sustainable tourismdevelopment in developing countries. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 22(5), pp.801-820 Shakeela, A., Breakey, N. and Ruhanen, L., 2012. Tourism Education’s Roles in Sustainable Tourism Development: A Case Study of SIDS Introduction. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education, 24, pp. 35-43. Read More