Sustainable Tourism Management - Coursework Example

Sustainable Tourism Management Table of Contents Introduction 3 Discussion 3 The idea of sustainable tourism and sustainable development 3 Relationship between sustainable tourism and sustainable development 4 Key features of sustainable tourism and sustainable development 5 The concept of adaptability 6 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction Sustainable development is defined as the form of progress without compromising the ability of upcoming generation to meet the needs of the present. In recent years, the sustainable management is becoming more important part of tourism. The management practices and guidelines of sustainable tourism development are applicable to all types of destinations and all forms of tourism. A brief overview and detailed analysis on the characteristics of sustainable tourism management and sustainable development have been mentioned in this essay. The success of tourism industry can be determined by the concept of adaptability and modern management to ensure competitiveness and satisfy needs of tourists. The prime objective of the essay is to discuss the concept of adaptability, which is regarded as the significant part of sustainable tourism management and sustainable development. Discussion This part of the essay will discuss the concept of adaptability is central to both sustainable development and sustainable tourism management. The idea of sustainable tourism and sustainable development The notion of sustainable tourism is developed from nature tourism over soft tourism and from ecotourism to sustainable tourism. In late 19th century, the journey of nature was poorly developed and less popular. The establishment of Alpine associations and discovery tours to the European Alps contributed to the popularity of nature tourism. In 1980, German speaking countries introduced soft tourism as an alternative to nature tourism (Harris, 2012, p.17). The introduction of soft tourism was meant to reduce the contentious consequences of the development of tourism. In the early 1990s, there was an ongoing discussion to replace soft tourism to sustainable tourism. In 1965, the ecotourism was introduced to integrate ecological issues in tourism (Swarbrooke, 2009, p.22). Eventually it was criticized as a unilateral approach for the purpose of development of tourism. In 1987, the idea of sustainable development of tourism was adopted by the UN World Commission on Environment and Development (Edgell, 2006, p.91). Sustainable tourism is defined as the concept of tourism that addresses the needs of the industry, the visitors and the environment and it takes complete account of its future and current impact on environment, economic and social. The World Tourism Organization described sustainable tourism as the concept to the meet the needs of host regions and present tourists. Sustainable tourism development is envisaged as leading factor to fulfil the aesthetic, economic and social needs. The management of all resources is fulfilled while maintaining life supports systems, essential ecological processes, cultural integrity and biological diversity. The concept of sustainable tourism has developed in to a broad consensus (Font, 2001, p.34). However, the transformation of tourism development is to sustainable tourism has continued to be a main object of debate. Relationship between sustainable tourism and sustainable development According to the World Commission on Environment and development, the sustainability is defined as the forms of progress meeting the social and economic needs of the present-day without jeopardizing the ability of future generations. The concept of sustainability not only considers the social and economic impact but also environment and natural resources. Sustainable tourism and sustainable development both meets the needs of future and present generation. The sustainability of the environment and natural systems with the economic, Social and political challenges faced by human beings are significant concern for sustainable development and sustainable tourism. There are also some differences between sustainable tourism and sustainable development. In the past 20 years, the sustainable development is regarded as the new concept. Sustainable tourism is specific part of sustainable development of country. Sustainable tourism is considered as the essential part and the former is regarded as a parental concerns. According to Muller’s Magic Pentagon, five prime components of sustainable tourism are protection of resources, economic health, subjective well-being, healthy culture and optimum satisfaction of guest (Middleton, 2008, p.48). Colin Hunter debated the contribution of Muller on sustainable tourism. In 1995, two new models provided by Colin Hunter are Partial Immersion and Total Immersion. According to Partial Immersion model, the concern of sustainable development is higher than that of sustainable tourism. According to Total Immersion model, the concern of sustainable development is marginal to the concern of sustainable tourism. Key features of sustainable tourism and sustainable development Sustainable tourism is a responsible tourism which is meant for the development of tourism ecologically by looking at future. Key characteristics of sustainable tourism are differentiation , authenticity, building on inherent strengths, enhancing experiences, reflecting value of community, encourage opportunity of niche, value-adding and bundling attractions. The key benefits of sustainable tourism are improvement in infrastructure, economic growth, business development, increased farm incomes, improvement of services and restoration of historic buildings. The main characteristics of sustainable development are economic growth, utilization of natural resources and bioethical. The pivotal goal of sustainable tourism and sustainable development is to enhance the quality of ecosystem including cultural and natural systems. The guiding principles of sustainable development are several different sectors, such as private corporations, government agencies should be incorporated to tourism development and planning, the planning of tourism should be a part of development strategies for the nations or a region (Miller, 2005, p.29). Moreover, groups and corporations should follow best possible principles to respect the environment and culture of the economy or host area. Local people in the tourist area must be encouraged to undertake the role of leadership in development and planning. Local people can take the assistance of business and government. The concept of adaptability Adaptability is defined as the ability to alter itself to the changed environment or circumstances. Adaptability in sustainable tourism and sustainable development helps to improve service culture, reduce labour turnover and build resilient tourism operators. In October 2007, the 2ndInternational Conference was held on tourism and climate change. The international conference was conveyed by the United Nation World Tourism organization, the World Meteorological organization and the United Nations Environment program. The purpose of the conference was to provide assistance to the developed countries about the issues relating to climatic change impacts and tourism developments. The request from developed countries was made to provide training events to focus on mitigation techniques and adaptation. The aim of UN World Tourism Organization was to build on the Davos Declaration and bring efforts to adapt to the tourism business at the time of climatic change (Budruk, 2010, p.77). The document provided by UN World Tourism Organization on sustainable tourism policy aims to integrate sustainability in the tourism business. Base on the fact that the concept of adaptability can create indirect and direct impact on sustainability tourism management and sustainability development. The guidebook publication series of UN World Tourism Organization includes the implementation process of adaptability to perform function sustainably and effectively. The sustainable tourism policy is also aiming to provide examples of good practice to provide guidance to the tourism stakeholders to develop their own practice and capacity for adaptability. There are three elements of capacity which helps to perform any function effectively. The creation of an environment with an appropriate legal and political framework is the first element of capacity. Community participation and human resources development are the other key elements of capacity. The threat of climate change can be increased by the lack of adaptability. The process of sustainable tourism is maintained by adaptation to the climate change and responding to the anticipated consequences. The concept of adaptation occurs at all levels from the public to private sectors (Calarco and Gurvis, 2011, p.51). Moreover, it also occurs from organization to the individuals and includes communities and households. Each level has its own potential for change. The sustainable development has own adaptive capacity which recognizes that growth must be environmentally sound and inclusive to meet the needs of the present. Long-term sustainability can be maintained after establishing a suitable balance between three sustainability principles of tourism. Sustainable tourism management addresses the environmental, socio-cultural aspects and economic aspects of tourism development (Farrell and Runyan, 1991, p.29). It is vital for tourism industry to determine their sensitivity and exposure towards climatic change impacts. Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change has indicated that the tourism industry can be sustainable by adaptation to climate change. The well-functioned ecosystems can help to reduce the vulnerability of people and enhance the natural resilience. The approach of adaptation towards climatic change and infrastructure development is known as Ecosystem-based Adaptation. The approach of adaptability can become a beneficial factor. According to Michael Conrad, adaptability in ecology is described as the capacity to cope against the unexpected environmental disturbances. According to Calaro, the adaptability is an ability of systems which can sometimes move opposite to the existing situation. The approach of environmental management has grown in to prominence in the twentieth century. The concept of adaptive management was developed by Carl J. Walters and C.S. Holling. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis later improves the adaptive approach (Hunter, 1997, p.852). The sustainable dynamic systems can be developed by the approach of adaptive management. The term adaptive management is termed as a learning protocol of setting objective for the development of community. The assumption made by adaptive management states that managers have to take necessary actions to modify present structure of ecosystem. The sustainable development can be maintained in society by developing effective practices and solution that can responsive to the environment. According to the Bryan G Norton theory, the importance of adaptive management is based on multiscalar analysis, place sensitivity and experimentalism. Multi-scalar analysis is developed by Robert O’Neill and Holling. The multi-scalar analysis helps to understand the management goals and environmental values for the benefit of community. The multi-scalar system of analysis is regarded as the scientific cornerstone on the concept of adaptive management. The approach of multi-scalar analysis is a small sub-system based on model-constitution assumption which functions on faster dynamics. The open management process is required for adaptive management to maintain sustainable development. The prime concept of multi-scalar system is to enhance the knowledge of system. The method of multi-scalar system considers analysis on present and future (Norton, 2005, p.62). A second key principle of adaptive management is localism or place sensitivity. The need of localism is pivotal for the development of sustainable tourism. The success of any plan is based on government partnership with regional and local communities for building flexibility in to planning. The adaptive theory of Charles Darwin is similar to adaptive management. According to Darwin, organism who can survive from environment challenges can adapt the local environment (Graham and Louise, 2005, p.59). According to Niles Eldredge, adaptation is regarded as the soul of evolution. The survival of the community can be maintained by developing practices that are responsive to the betterment of local environment. The creation of sustainable development is viewed by the balance of local community (Hunter, 1995, p.161). The comparison of sustainable development and sustainable tourism reveals that later part is more special concept. Any successful tourist place is heavily reliant on natural and cultural attribute of the local community. Final key principle is experimentalism. Base on experimentation, policy, strategies and assumption must be replaced. The process of monitoring systems can benefit managers to reduce the risk and provide reliable information. Sustainable tourism management is regarded as the part of sustainable development. The sustainable tourism will provide benefits to host communities and visitors while ensuring the cultural and natural environment. Place sensitivity or localism is a key approach to maintain sustainable tourism. Sustainable development can also benefit from localism. The approach of localism will balance the local aspects such as culture nature. Base on the fact it can be proved that the concept of adaptability can become a beneficial factor for substantial development and substantial tourism development (Mowforth, 2009, p.37). The key to successful sustainable tourism is by providing sense of difference, enhancing the values of the community, providing mutual benefits to the hosts. This can increase the value of tourist place and results in to sustainable development. Conclusion This can be concluded that the concept of adaptability is important to sustainable tourism management and sustainable development. The concept of environmental management is replaced by adaptive management. It is described as a systematic approach to provided effective solution to improve resource management. Moreover, sustainability can be maintained by effective approach of adaptability. Base on the fact, it can be notified that managers should approach any step cautiously rather than trying to establish space-time relations and maintaining a steady stage relations. The process of continual social learning and experimenting can help to build resilience by the concept of adaptive management. The application of adaptive management can benefit manager to develop sustainable dynamic systems. References Budruk, M., 2010. Quality-of-lifecommunity indicators. London: Routledge. Calarco, A., and Gurvis, J., 2011. Adaptability : Responding Effectively to Change. Greensboro: Center for Creative Leadership. Edgell, D., 2006. Managing sustainable tourism. London: Routledge. Farrell, B., and Runyan, D., 1991. “Ecology and tourism”, Journal of Annals of Tourism Research, 18, pp26-40. Font, X., 2001. Tourism ecolabelling. London: Sage. Graham, M., and Louise, T.W., 2005. Monitoring for a sustainable tourism transition: the challenge of developing and using indicators. Wallingford: CABI. Harris, R., 2012. Sustainable tourism. London: Kogan Page. Hunter, C., 1995. “On the need to re-conceptualise ST development”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 3:3, pp.155-165. Hunter, C., 1997. “Sustainable tourism as an adaptive paradigm”, Journal of Annals of Tourism Research, 24(4), pp.850-867. Middleton, V., 2008. Sustainable tourism. New York: Springer. Miller, G., 2005. Monitoring for a sustainable tourism translation. New Jersey: Pearson. Mowforth, M., 2009. Tourism and sustainability: development, globalisation and new tourism in the Third World. 3rdedn. New York: Routledge. Norton, B. G., 2005. Sustainability: A Philosophy of Adaptive Ecosystem Management. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Swarbrooke, J., 2009. Sustainable tourism management. Wallingford: CABI. Read More