Trends in Sustainable Tourism - Term Paper Example

Running header: Sustainable Tourism Student’s name: Name of institution: Instructor’s name: Course code: Date of submission: Sustainable Tourism Sustainable Development Many global economic experts note that tourism is one of the biggest industries in many countries of the world. Tourism is known to be a major economic driver of many nations. In fact, many developing nations throughout the world have cited tourism as one of their greatest sources of income (Eagles, McLean & Stabler, 2000). Tourism has very many advantages and disadvantages. It greatly affects the environment, culture, infrastructure and resources of the host country. Many stakeholders in the tourism industry are continuously seeking to ensure that the sector is sustainable because of these challenges. That is why they seek to establish tourism that has very little impacts on the environment, culture, infrastructure and resources of the host country. Sustainable Tourism There are very many explanations that have been put forward trying to define sustainable tourism. Examples of these descriptions include environmentally responsible tourism, ethical travel, green travel and fair trade. It has however been noted that sustainable tourism has a very unique definition that explains its meaning. One such definition that is very popular and widely used is the one given in 1996 by the World Tourism Organization (WTO). The WTO (1996) argues that sustainable tourism is “tourism which leads to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems”. According to the WTO, the development of sustainable tourism is important because it describes a process aimed at achieving the expectations of both the tourists and the host country. It also seeks to protect and promote their future needs. The advantages of tourism to the countries that host tourists are many. Most of these advantages revolve around infrastructural growth and development. According to Backman, Wright and Backman (1994), tourism may deplete the resources of the host country because it places a lot of demand on them. When the resources of a country are in great demand, they are needed by many people at once. This leads to excessive energy use, waste generation, water consumption. There is also a lot of demand on the infrastructure of the country because the tourists will need to use roads and other infrastructure. These demands need to be properly controlled and managed so as to regulate their impacts on the cultures, infrastructure and environment of the host country (Paul, McCool & Haynes, 2002). Reports by the World Tourism Organization indicate that the tourism sector has been experiencing continuous high growth. This is evident through the numbers that have been showed by the WTO, indicating this growth. For example, in 1950, the number of international tourists stood at 25 million. This number had reached 650 million in 2000 (Backman, Wright & Backman, 1994). This high growth rate is attributed to several factors such as the improved standards of living in developed countries, the decrease in costs of travelling and the additional allowances given to people for holidays (Hunter & Shaw, 2007). Such facts and figures indicate that the resources of host countries are likely to be strained because the number of visitors who will need to use them is ever increasing (Cizmar & Lisjak, 2007). According to forecasts in the tourism sector, this growth is likely to continue at a high rate, probably from three to six percent every year. In 2002, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) showed that tourism and other activities related to it generate 11% of the total world’s GDP. This therefore shows that the need for sustainability in the tourism sector is today higher than ever (Buckley & Sommer, 2001). This is because as the tourism sector grows, the strain being placed on the available resources in the host countries continues to increase. The habitats, which were initially biologically diverse and the cultures that have always been indigenous will be affected by the strain of tourism. It is the responsibility of host countries and stakeholders in the sector to ensure that tourism does not affect the environment and cultures negatively (Fenell, 1999). The effects of tourism on the environment and cultures need to be minimized. With sustainable tourism there are a lot of efforts to have the least negative impact on the environment and local cultures. Sustainable tourism is also aimed at assisting the people of the host country to generate future employment (World Tourism Organization, 2001). Mass Tourism The WTO notes that mass tourism entails the visiting of places in masses. In fact, it has branded it as the ‘grandest scale of tourism’. It has been difficult to define mass tourism because the numbers of academic sources defining this concept are few. However, mass tourism has been described by using its characteristics and features. According to the WTO (1999), mass tourism is said to occur when a large number of tourists visit one destination simultaneously. Mass tourism is the traditional large scale tourism that refers to the popular and common forms of leisure. Mass tourism is said to have pioneered in the late 1960s and early 1970s in North America, the Caribbean and southern Europe (Eagles, McLean & Stabler, 2000). This is known to have is shortcomings and strengths. Any country or region that receives massive influx of tourists is said to experience mass tourism (Backman, Wright & Backman, 1994). As seen above, mass tourism has some advantages and disadvantages. An advantage of mass tourism is that it ensures positive development in the host country. This is because tourists bring a lot of foreign exchange to a country (Dowling, 1993). Employment opportunities are also created through mass tourism when residents are given the opportunity to work in the tourism sector (Hunter & Shaw, 2007). A disadvantage of mass tourism is that it is strains the resources of the host country when many visitors flock into the country. The visitors will need to use the infrastructural water and energy resources at the same time (Beeton& Graetz, 2001). The environment of the host country will therefore be affected by this. Alternative Tourism Tourism is known to exist in many forms. Some of these forms are famous for promoting sustainability while others are known to have unique problems (World Tourism Organization, 1997). Alternative tourism is a type of tourism that is important in the development of sustainable tourism. According to Weaver (2006), alternative tourism only represents a partial solution to the challenge of sustainable tourism. Weaver proposes that ensuring sustainable tourism has been challenging many stakeholders in the tourism industry for many years now. He further notes that countries are involved in efforts to change their tourism industries into sustainable industries despite the challenges they face. Concerns among stakeholders in the tourism sector are continuously increasing because the need to conserve and protect the environment is also becoming high. This paper aims to discuss the arguments proposed by Weaver stating that alternative tourism only represents a partial solution to the challenge of sustainable tourism. The essay will proceed by defining and critically discussing sustainable tourism, alternative tourism and mass tourism, identifying the strengths and limitations of alternative tourism. This paper will finally discuss the need for sustainability in conventional mass tourism and suggest ways in which sustainability may be developed in mass tourism. According to Cizmar and Lisjak (2007), alternative tourism may be defined as “the type of tourism that combines individual tourism services or other tourism products”. They note that alternative tourism is different from mass tourism in the sense that other than the usual visits made by the tourists, there is also the provision of a combination of tourist products and services. These include eco-tourism, adventures like hiking and thematic tourism which is connected to the historical and cultural heritage of both the local people and the tourists (Buckley & Sommer, 2001). How Alternative Tourism Influences Mass Tourism This type of tourism is created so as to reduce the negative impacts of mass tourism. In mass tourism there is the mass movement of tourists to one destination at the same time. This is different in alternative tourism because it aims to change the trends of many people touring one particular area simultaneously (Jennings, 2004). Alternative tourism began with the aim of providing an alternative to mass tourism. In mass tourism, a destination is always visited by many tourists and is over-exposed to them repeatedly (Buckley & Sommer, 2001). Alternative tourism comes into play because it is aimed at providing other forms of tourism products and services. This gives tourists the opportunity to be involved in other forms of leisure that do not entail going to common places in masses (Jennings, 2004). According to Weaver (1996), alternative tourism was initiated in order to reduce the environmental strain caused by mass tourism. For this reason, alternative tourism protects and preserves the environment more compared to mass tourism (Tiegland, 2000). Alternative tourism has both strengths and limitations. One of the strengths of alternative tourism is that it was created so as to reduce the negative impacts brought about by mass tourism. In mass tourism, one destination is visited by masses of people. When this happens, the resources of this place are strained because they are in high demand (Cizmar & Lisjak, 2007). Alternative tourism breaks the pattern of only having holidays during seasons and introduces the system of having holidays anytime of the year. This will ease off the strain on the resources of the region being visited because the visits are spread throughout the year (Backman, Wright & Backman, 1994). Alternative tourism is limited by several factors such as it not being easy to provide due to the special and additional tourist products and services. For it to be successful, a lot of other people have to be involved. These may require local businessmen to invest in the tourism sector. If they do not wish to be involved, then the alternative tourism will be difficult to provide and may not be successful (Beeton& Graetz, 2001). Mass tourism has been seen to have the potential of affecting the culture and environment of a given tourist destination. This is through the fact that the place usually hosts large masses of visitors at a go, thus influencing the cultures of the locals and negatively affecting the environment of the place. There is a constant need for sustainability in conventional mass tourism so as to deal with these problems (Beeton& Graetz, 2001). According to Hunter and Shaw (2007), sustainability has been described as the capacity and ability to endure. This endurance is brought about by the responsibility that tourism has in maintaining social, economic and environmental development. This provides the opportunity for resources to automatically regenerate themselves without straining. Sustainability in mass tourism is therefore necessary so as to protect the host country and its environment. The need for sustainability is brought about by the need to protect the host country, its environment and cultures. Tourism should only have positive impacts in a place for it to be considered sustainable. Sustainable tourism is aimed at bringing development to local people, to the tourists, to the tourism companies and to the environment in general. The need for sustainability in conventional mass tourism will always be constant because tourism should not have negative impacts on the environment. The activities of conventional mass tourism should not affect the environment and cultures of the host country in any way. Sustainability is necessary so as to reduce or eliminate these negative effects that conventional mass tourism may have on a place (Backman, Wright & Backman, 1994). Conclusion As seen above, mass tourism should always be sustainable. This can be achieves through a number of ways such as making many destinations in a country to be attractive and appealing to the visitors so that they can consider them as possible tourist destinations. This reduces the chances of them visiting one area in the country. Making many places in a country attractive to tourists increases their likelihood of diversifying their visits. They will tend to visit many places as opposed to one place. Sustainability in mass tourism can be developed by ensuring that conditions are favorable for the local businessmen. They may invest in the tourism sector is the conditions are favorable. Tourism should be evenly spread throughout the year by eliminating seasons. This way, tourists can visit the country at any time of the year, at their own convenience (Cizmar & Lisjak, 2007). References Beeton, S., & Graetz, B. (2001). Small Business – Small Minded? 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