Creating New Services in the Ecotourism Industry

Tourism is the world’s largest industry with nature-based ecotourism seeing rapid growth since its initial arrival in the 1980s. It is estimated by the World Tourism Organisation that nature tourism generates 7% of all international travel expenditure (Lindberg, 1997) and this figure will have increased rapidly over recent years. It’s increase in popularity is due to a number of factors; tourists becoming increasingly bored of the typical sun, sea and sand holiday’s, the increase in global awareness or environmental issues such as global

Sustainable development is the economic development that is conducted with depleting natural resources and also the development of tourism that meets the needs of the present without compromising future generation’s ability to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987). Sustainable tourism refers to the practices, policies and programs that is considered to reach the expectations of the tourist with not natural resources management but also the communities that are affected by tourism (UNEP, 2011). Sustainable tourism should maintain a level of tourist satisfaction as well as their expectations. Taking the opportunity to raise awareness to them about sustainable issues and promote sustainable practices amongst them (UNWTO,

As defined by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and other purposes. Key concepts of sustainable development and sustainable tourism, values and ethics of sustainable tourism and the needs of sustainability in all form of tourism shall be discussed in this essay.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR, also called corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship and responsible business) is a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by taking

The tourism sector has undoubtedly become one of the globe’s foremost drivers of economic development, sustainability and progress. This is because its rate of growth, links to other economic sectors as well as dependence on a relatively unblemished natural environment puts it into an inimitable position from an economic sustainability and development perspective. In the same breath, tourism has been singled out as one of the key sectors that can play a leading role in the world’s transition to an inclusive green economy characterized by low carbon release. Strategic shifts in tourism practices have the potential of yielding major benefits capable of stimulating change towards better sustainability not only in the tourism industry but in

Sustainable development is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (United Nations General Assembly, 1987, p. 43). It is not only related with natural environment, but with social and economic conditions of what people do. In this respect, tourism industry which is highly associated with these conditions is, indeed, an essential part of sustainable development. Thus, the UNWTO defines sustainable tourism as ‘tourism that delivers positive economic, social and environmental outcomes with consideration to the needs of the visitor, industry, community and environment.’ As the tourism industry is mounting every year, sustainable tourism has

As we outline in this journal, the roots of environmentalism and sustainability in the hospitality sector became evident over half a century ago, when a few enterprising hoteliers realized they could provide an enhanced guest experience by integrating natural elements into the resort experience. In the years that followed, factors such as increasing regulation and rising utility costs encouraged hotel owners and managers to adopt a number of environmental best practices. We have observed a remarkable shift in investor sentiment in recent times, as evidenced by the establishment of numerous corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, as well as the prevalence of green building programs for new development projects.

In Twenty-First Century, pollution is a big issue in over the world so people are carefully pay more their attention on protecting the environment than ever. Therefore, ecotourism has been introduced to customer by many tourism businesses include hotel, resort, airline or safari. This essay will compare and contrast some tourism business’s sustainable programs such as Eco Beach Resort, Habitat HQ Hostel and Qantas Airline. Then it will discuss the impacts of these sustainable options may have on the consumer’s decision process.

The Travel and Tourism industry is still one of the largest single businesses in world commerce and its importance is widely recognized. The tourism industry is now one of the largest sectors earning foreign exchange. In the face of many benefits, many countries have started assigning due weight age to the tourism industry in their national development agenda. Tourism is an industry that operates on a massively broad scale: it embraces activities ranging from the smallest sea-side hotel; to air-lines, multi-national hotel chains and major international tour operators. Originally, non-traditional industries such as tourism emerged as a solution to strike a balance between ecology and industry

Within the service sector, hospitality industry is a broad category of fields that includes event planning, lodging, cruise line, theme parks, transportation and other fields with the industry of tourism. The industry greatly depends upon the availability of disposable income and leisure time. Hospitality industry is a multi-dollar industry with hospitality units such as hotel, amusement parks and restaurants. The hospitality units consist of multi groups such as direct operations (housekeepers, kitchen workers, marketing, management, human resources, servers, bartenders and porters etc.) and faculty maintenance. The industry is faced with a number of challenges and issues that needs to be highlighted and discussed. This aim of this essay is to highlight the sustainability issues facing the hospitality sector. The essay entails the basic sustainability definition along with its importance in the hospitality sector. Furthermore this essay will also present the issues, challenges and trends faced by the hospitality sector which is followed by the recommendations that can overcome these issues and conclusion (Powers & Barrows, 1999).

Sustainable Tourism is essentially an industry committed to making a low impact on the natural environment and local culture, while helping to generate income and employment for local people. As Global economists forecast continuing international tourism growth, this continuous growth will place great stress on remaining biologically diverse habitats and indigenous cultures, which are often used to support mass tourism. Therefore it is important that sustainable tourism is promoted and that people are educated about the opportunities provided in order to minimize the effects that tourism poses on the natural environment while helping to benefit

David Weaver is a professor at Griffith University on the Gold Coast in Australia. He has a Ph.D. in Geography and has over 30 years of experience regarding tourism – and his specialities are within the areas of ecotourism, sustainable tourism and destination management. He has been both teaching and researching during his 30 years in the field, and also published academic books and other research materials. Some of his books are currently used in tourism courses at universities worldwide. There is a course called Globally Responsible Tourism at the Norwegian School of Hotel Management in Stavanger, which is mandatory for students studying a bachelor degree in tourism management. In this course Professor Weaver’s ecotourism book is used as the textbook, and in light of this course we became interested in sustainability and ecotourism in the first place. Luckily, he was teaching at the university we did our exchange semester at, and due to that we got the opportunity to interview him in person for this bachelor thesis.

Often times when people think think of the environment they think of fields, lakes, or wild animals. This, however, is no longer the reality of our world today. Because of human impacts on the environment, fields have been turned to shopping malls, lakes have been dried up, and undomesticated creatures are being wiped out by the thousands. One main perpetrator of this destruction is ecotourism. ecotourism is defined as, “travel to natural areas in ways that conserve the environment and improve the welfare of local people.” (“Significance of Protecting Natural Sites for Ecotourism Development”). The term “ecotourism” was first used in the 1970’s, but became popular only in 1990 when the International Ecotourism Society (TIES) was founded.The main goals of ecotourism were to have a means for people to tour natural places, but without having a negative impact on the environment. (“Ecotourism”). This, however, has not been the case. Preservation of the environment is no longer the main goal of ecotourism companies, for the great profits have become many of their main concerns. The positives aspects of ecotourism are not worth the extinction of endangered animals, the overuse of natural resources, and the disturbance of local communities.

Sustainability is gradually becoming one of the tourism industries greatest focuses. To achieve proper sustainability we must find a balance between the growth of the tourism industry and the preservation of culture or “meeting the needs of the present tourists and host regions whilst also protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future” (UNWTO 1997). As the old paradigm that the natural environment is a commodity or resource that can be exploited for human benefit has shifted to that of a more preservation and restoration of the natural environment paradigm, consumers are now looking for ways to still have the same experiences from tourism but with added eco-friendly attitudes. This can be achieved through not closing off areas that

Responsible tourism/travel is about making better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit. It also means that you travel lightly, with a small carbon footprint, respecting people and places, while making a positive contribution where possible. Ecotourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry worldwide. It has spawned voluntourism, wildlife tourism and geotourism (tourism to areas of geological interest.) There’s also a growing interest in ‘sustainable tourism’, whereby tourism businesses that aren’t essentially nature-based. Including hotels and airlines, are finding ways to operate more sustainably.