Essay

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Ensuring Tourism Is Sustainable

Tourism is considered as a rich source of conventional mass tourism as well as economic

development that is linked with various negative impacts like the destruction of cultural heritage

and ecological systems as well. In response to such issues, a term that is surfaced recently is

sustainable tourism. The term sustainable tourism can be defined as an industry that is committed

to affecting the culture and the environment at a lower extent while supporting the job creation for

the residents in the future. The focus of sustainable tourism is to make sure that the impact of

development affects positively on the local peoples that involve tourism organisations and the

tourists as well. UNESCO (2015) stated, Sustainability is a paradigm for thinking about the future

in which environmental, societal and economic considerations are balanced in the pursuit of an

improved quality of life. It has represented potential solutions for the sustainability of tourism. In

addition, local communities, industry & government, visitors, and indigenous people are the

stakeholders that are involved in it; these are the key ideas to be covered in this essay. The research

is focused on ensuring the sustainability of tourism that is done with the help of analysing different

factors like environmental, social, and economic that are affecting the tourism industry.

In the past few decades, it can be seen that tourism has become an economical technique

that is proven and is one of the main leaders in driving the trade. The tourism industry takes part

in the contribution towards the strong growth of the economy, greater exports return, as well as

creating jobs, based on skills and foreign currencies and investments. Therefore, it is mandatory

to keep maintain tourism sustainable. The industry of tourism is so sensitive that it can be

influenced by natural or epidemic disasters; also, instability in politics is a major factor that has a

negative impact (Ingram, Tabari & Watthanakhomprathip, 2013). On the other hand, the growing

number tourism of developing countries creates a crucial effect on the resources that are natural
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such as the pattern of consumption, social systems, and pollution. There is a need of responsible

and sustainable planning as well as management is imperative for the industry of tourism in order

to survive as a whole. However, the industry of tourism never is fully sustained as each industry

has impacts but tourism can become more enhanced and more sustainable. Furthermore, it is

estimated that the number of international tourists would become around 1.8 billion in the next

few years (UNWTO, 2015). Approximately more than $650 is receipt by each tourist annually,

and more than $1.2 trillion dollars are spent on tourism every year (World Tourism Organization

UNWTO, 2012). Total global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) involves around 10% of the tourism

and travelling and it creates more than 10% of the employment globally (WTTC, 2016). A crisis

like violence, disaster and persecution affect the tourism industry.

According to UNEP (2005), tourism is an activity that is raised approximately 25% in the

last one decade and it accounts for more than 10% of the worlds economic activities as well as it

one of the main source of employment. Nevertheless, it effects on the developed and the natural

environments mainly and culture of the host populations and on the wellbeing as well. In the same

time, the focus of sustainable development has become broadly acceptable as the way towards a

better tomorrow even through its roots in order to back to the 1980s.

Travelling is one of the favourite activities of the people all over the globe, especially the

millennial; however, it might affect the environment negatively. From an environmental point of

view, there are a number of issues that are being faced by the tourism industry involving global

warming, greenhouse emission, pollution and crisis like disasters such as Nepal Earthquake 2015

and the attack on the World Trade Centre. These disasters influenced the tourism industry directly

and indirectly in a negative way and devastated tourism within the country. On the other hand, a

significant amount of air pollution and noise pollution has also been increased due to the increment
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in the number of air, road, water, and rail transport. Emissions from transportation and energy

usage results in acidic rain. In addition, noise pollution that has been doubled by the time causes

stress and even hearing loss to the human as well as distress to the wildlife specifically in the

sensitive areas (UNEP, 2017). For example, the sound of vehicles can cause the wildlife to alter

their patterns of natural activities. It might also put pressure on the environment due to a large

number of tourists in the areas or regions where there are inadequate resources. This can be

reflected by the recent case of Thailand that the government decided to close down their three most

popular islands namely Koh Khai Nok, Koh Khai Nui and Koh Khai Naiin. These islands lie at

the coast of Phuket, the reason behind the decision was the negative effects on the islands such as

coral bleaching and damages to the marine ecosystem (McMah, 2016).

Despite environmental concerns, tourism also affects some social issues such as equity and

corporate social responsibility in the tourism. The term social tourism can be defined as the

phenomena or the relationship in tourism field that is came into existence with the help of

participating in travel by the elements of society that are economically weak (Murphy, 2013). It

involves both connotations demand and the supply as well. On the other hand, society refers to the

pattern of social organisations of the communities and within the communities as well. In contrast,

culture refers to the way that how people interact as observed through social relations, material

artefacts, and social interactions. Furthermore, social impacts of tourism define the changes within

the lives of individuals living in destination communities. The Cultural impact of tourism denotes

to the change in the various aspect of peoples lives such as artefacts, arts, rituals, customs, and

architecture. However, the term socio-cultural denotes to the changes to the experience of peoples

everyday life that also involves a way of life, values, and artistic as well as intellectual products.
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The impact of tourism are many in terms of social point of view, it might affect positively

as well as negatively in various aspects of sustainable tourism. For instance, a hotel in Costa Brava,

a coastal region of Catalonia in north-eastern Spain attracted female migrants labours for

receptionists and housemaid employment purposes and from being the daughter of farmers and

working in the kitchen, they were uprooted to the society and had good status as well as earned

good money. They became important financial contributors to their families, which changed their

status within the family. In addition, they became politicised through membership of trades unions

and some developed careers as managers within an industry not bound by traditional Spanish

practices as both foreign and domestic multinational hotel companies sought the best staff.

Tourism is one of the worlds largest and rapidly growing industry in the economic sector.

There are a number of countries that considers tourism as the main source of economic

development as it involves modern economic activities (UNEP, 2005). There is a link between the

tourism as well as employment, payment, production, and income. On the other hand, it might

affect negatively on the environment. Uncontrolled growth of tourism might result in impairment

of the environment and the growth of the tourist can be settled. The environment is the major

source of sustainable tourism that is why it is mandatory to protect the environment economic

development and sustainable tourism growth in the future. For instance, The World Trade Centre

also known as the Twin Towers was an American icon that was targeted by the terrorists on

September 11, 2001.

It was one of the extreme terrorist attacks in the history and affected very badly on the

industry of tourism due to the ban on air travel made by the government. In most of the airports in

the United States to avoid any more hijacks of aeroplanes as they already lost three of their

commercial jets carrying hundreds of people. Thomas Cook the retail air traveller agency and one
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of the biggest in America reported that the attack has affected the airline's industry mostly. The

tourists cancelled or declined their bookings of flights for America, up to 12% of the downfall was

noticed from more than 95 travel agencies which have grounded many flights and about 1930

peoples lost their jobs due to the mega downfall in the industry (Kollewe, 2016). This devastation

ruined the tourism industry completely where many people were on their vacations or on holidays

as the spring is the month of joy falls in September. This is the month when the most of the worlds

population face towards top vacations destinations; this was one of the main reason for the

involvement of a large number of tourists death. The effect was so huge that the tourism industry

was collapsed in America, especially in the state of New York, until the appropriate actions were

taken. This disaster impacted on the economy of America and ceased the whole tourism industry

for a long time. The government and all of the airline operators serving in the United States lost

millions of dollars as well as defame all over the world.

This is true that the tourism relies on the natural environment and the historical-cultural

heritage as well. There are three diverse aspects of sustainable tourism that are interconnected with

each other namely environmental, socio-cultural, and economic. The term sustainability entails the

property of being able to exist for an indefinite duration. Therefore, sustainable tourism involves

optimum utilisation of resources that involves minimization of ecological, biological diversity,

maximisation of benefits for conservation and local communities, and cultural and social impacts

(Kibert, 2016). In addition, it involves management structures that are required to attain it.

Sustainable tourism is not something special, or not even any special form of tourism. Beside this,

it involves all forms of tourism that must be strived towards sustainability. Making tourism more

sustainable is not just about managing and the controlling the negative impacts of the industry. It
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is about benefiting local communities, socially, economically as well as to raise the awareness

and support for conservation of the environment in a very special position.

The focus of this essay was to ensure the sustainability of tourism and figuring out the

current situation through analysing the three major aspects of sustainability that involves the

environment, socio-cultural, and economic. After going through the above analyses, it can be

concluded that industry of tourism is one of the most vulnerable industries in the world. It would

be great if people can learn from these type of disasters and stay prepared for handling such

scenarios even in an emergency. Sustainable tourism is about adopting and re-focusing. It is

necessary to balance the usage and the limitation so that continuous changing, planning, and

monitoring makes sure that tourism is manageable. It demands long-term thinking as well as an

understanding of the change that is mostly cumulative, irreversible, and gradual. However,

environmental, social, and economic aspects of sustainable development must involve the

interest of each stakeholder including local communities, industry & government, visitors, and

indigenous people. Within the tourism industry, environmental protection and economic

development must not be seen as opposing forces, they must be engaged hand in hand as ambitions

that can and must be mutually reinforcing. Furthermore, policies and the actions must focus on

strengthening the benefits and diminish the tourism prices. Government authorities must provide

an environment that helps the private sector as well as motivate them, the tourists, and other

stakeholders to respond towards sustainability concerns. This could be attained with the help of

developing as well as managing, drawing up in concert with others that place sustainability as its

main point of attention.

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References

Ingram, H., Tabari, S. & Watthanakhomprathip, W., (2013). The impact of political instability on

tourism: the case of Thailand. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 5(1), pp.92-

103.

Murphy, P. E. (2013). Tourism: A community approach (RLE Tourism). Routledge.

Kibert, C. J. (2016). Sustainable construction: green building design and delivery. John Wiley &

Sons.

Kollewe, J. (2016). Thomas Cook bookings recovering in aftermath of terror attacks. The

Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/11/thomas-

cook-demand-holidays

McMah, L. (2016). Here are three more places you cannot visit in Thailand anymore. The News.

Retrieved from http://www.news.com.au/travel/world-travel/asia/here-are-three-more-

places-you-cant-visit-in-thailand-anymore/news-

story/7329c8150749ee25d4234a3c3f178c30

UNEP, (2005). Making Tourism More Sustainable. France: UNEP. Retrieved from

http://www.unep.fr/shared/publications/pdf/DTIx0592xPA-TourismPolicyEN.pdf

UNEP, (2017). Tourism's Three Main Impact Areas. Staging.unep.org. Retrieved 24 March 2017,

from

http://staging.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Business/SectoralActivities/Tourism/Factsand

FiguresaboutTourism/ImpactsofTourism/EnvironmentalImpacts/TourismsThreeMainImp

actAreas/tabid/78776/Default.aspx
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UNESCO, (2015). Sustainable Development. UNESCO. Retrieved 24 March 2017, from

http://en.unesco.org/themes/education-sustainable-development/what-is-esd/sd

UNWTO, (2015). UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2015 Edition. UNWTO. Retrieved from

http://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284416899

World Tourism Organization UNWTO, (2012). International tourism receipts surpass US$ 1

trillion in 2011. Retrieved from http://media.unwto.org/en/press-release/2012-05-

07/international-tourism-receipts-surpass-us-1-trillion-2011

WTTC, (2016). Travel & Tourism. World Travel & Tourism Council. Retrieved from

https://www.wttc.org/-

/media/files/reports/economic%20impact%20research/regions%202016/world2016.pdf