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Social Differences : National Parks And Sustainable Tourism

Decent Essays

Abbie Smith
Kyra Hudson
English 2010
13 November 2017
National Parks and Sustainable Tourism National parks provide a highlight for the travel. These lands are set aside as natural beauties, wonders, and even phenomenons. In 2015, more than 307 million people visited the national parks of the United States, a five percent increase from 2014 (Errick). With such an increase in tourism, it becomes ever more important to implement sustainable tourism practices and make travel good for the visitors and the destination. According to the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture, “sustainable tourism is defined as ‘tourism that respects both local people and the traveller, cultural heritage and the environment.’” The purposes of national parks are to protect the heritage of the park, protect the environment found within the park, and educate the public. These purposes work hand-in-hand with sustainable tourism, and it only makes sense that these two ideals are combined together. Unsustainable travel does not have just one, foul-proof solution. Rather, several small actions combined together will have profound effect in the evolution of the system. With the help of park services and the individual tourist, we can move to a future in which we have no need to specify some tourism as “sustainable”. The first major problem facing the environment in the wake of tourism is air pollution. Many people come to national parks from across the country or even abroad.

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