‘Sustainable Tourism Is a Myth.’ to What Extent Do You Agree with This Statement?

Sustainable tourism development merges environmental concerns with economic policy (Dresner, S. 2008: 69) and allows for tourism’s products in the form of intangible services or the natural environment, to be environmentally cautious through a responsible trade off between production and use of assets. Some influences apparent are environmental, social, and economical and it is further important to emphasize that one or a combination of the aspects, with market cooperation, creates a sustainable agenda. Travel services are increasingly seen as less of a luxury good and more as an everyday purchase (Page, 2003:3) due to marketing becoming more prominent which means organisations must complete vigorous promotion strategies for long-term viability. Marketing therefore has a highly important role, as Holloway (2004) explains marketing understands the needs and wants of customers, ‘to what can be sold, to whom, when, where and in what quantities’ (Holloway J.C. 2004:7). Holloway (2004) writes that successful organisations anticipate demand “recognising it, stimulating it and finally satisfying it” (Holloway, J.C. 2004: 7). Marketing is absolutely crucial within creating and maintaining a sustainable agenda in a variety of ways, moreover reference to consistency among stages of development, unique benefits produced from varied strategies, relevancy of market research, adapting to changing market demand and the positive outcome of identifying new markets.

Making tourism more sustainable is not just about controlling and managing the negative impacts of the industry. Tourism is in a very special position to benefit local communities, economically and socially, and to raise awareness and support for conservation of the environment.

Tourism plays a significant role in sustainable development and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization (WTO) wish to encourage all countries to make sure that their policies and actions for its development and management fully embrace the principles of sustainability. Likewise, policies to promote sustainable development should take full account of the opportunities offered by tourism. Various international conventions and declarations have put forward principles and guidelines for sustainable tourism and the importance of tourism and its sustainability was underlined at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. Many countries declare that they are pursuing, or wish to pursue, policies for ‘sustainable tourism’. Despite this interest, there remains a degree of uncertainty over the scope and priorities for making tourism more sustainable and only partial appreciation of how to put this into practice (Making Tourism More Sustainable, 2005).

Waterfront is a priority economic area for local, regional and national development (NACOMA, 2007). Waterfront-based activities can provide employment but they are also likely to cause social and environmental impact. Biological hotspots, breeding areas, environmental sensitive areas may suffer from uncontrolled tourism development and activities. These impacts however can be effectively mitigated through careful planning and design of sustainable tourism activities.

Human activity largely impacts the Great Barrier Reef, from tourists to wider world issues such as climate change humans are widely responsible for damaging many ecosystems. Tourism has both negative and positive effects on the Great Barrier Reef. The main positive is the revenue that the tourism creates for local communities, this money can also go towards the upkeep of the area surrounding the Great Barrier Reef, and also by helping spread the message of how delicate the Great Barrier Reef’s ecosystem is. However tourism also has many negative impacts on the Great Barrier Reef. With more people in one area, the demand for natural resources increases. This can result in the overuse of natural resources as well as producing more waste and pollution. Some tourists may also not obey the rules at the Great Barrier Reef, this can cause damage to different organisms in the Great Barrier Reef.

Therefore tourism should be discouraged as it can cause great harm to the environment of that particular tourist spot with the influx followed by the tourism industry.

Nonetheless, since an overwhelming majority of the industry is owned and managed by foreign operators, the social and economic contribution to the Galapagos Islands are minimal; “[w]hile foreign visitors outnumber domestic tourists almost four to one, […] just 15.1 percent of the foreign expenditures stayed in the Galapagos local economy, compared to 95.2 percent of the money spent by Ecuadorians” (130-1). Both mass tourism and ecotourism can arguably provide an excellent opportunity for development, but their negative impact is sure to be seen, and could potentially outweigh the benefits that they have brought.

In economic measurement, countries are usually interested in looking separately at effects whether they occur on their soil or within other economies. This issue is particularly relevant in the case of tourism which by nature supposes that individuals displace

* This work has not been accepted in any previous application for a degree or diploma by me or anyone else

From an environmental perspective, it is apparent that the world is starting to realise that increases in tourism are having a negative impact on the environment. This is due to increases in energy consumption, which in turn heightens the effects of global warming (Neto, 2002). There are many controls that governments are trying to put into place, such as flight rationing (Liverpool Business School, 2009). However, it can be argued that these have not really begun to have a significant effect on tourism, as they are still insufficient to dampen demand. It may become a problem in future years, as the number of controls is likely to increase. Perhaps the largest environmental factor would be natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina (Cashell, 2005) and the tsunami that hit Asia in December 2004 (Birkland, 2006). These will impact negatively on people’s confidence in visiting places that have been hit severely by such disasters.

Humans are negatively effecting numerous ecosystems including the Rocky Shores, Sand Dunes and Mangrove communities. If human activities continue as they do now, there will be troubling future implications to nature, and to humans. Tourism, for example, is one of the major human influences that is destroying many valuable ecosystems. Tourism is commercial holidaying where people visit places of interest. (www.directtourismservices.co.uk, 2017) It requires an abundance of associated infrastructure and resources and increased populations have negative effects on the surrounding ecosystems (Brambly, 2017). For example, increased foot traffic, runoff water quality and infrastructural development are all having drastic impacts to ecosystems and are caused by tourism. While it may be greatly beneficial for economic growth, which is why humans are so interested in it, tourism is a major strain on many vital ecosystems and courses of action should be taken to monitor its impacts to the environment.

The human impact of tourism on reefs, while having its economic and social benefits, also has detrimental impacts on the surrounding environment of the reefs, globally. A study, conducted by the ARC Centre of Excellence: Coral Reef Studies has stated that more than half of Latin America’s coral reefs are potentially going to be tainted and disintegrated within the next 5-10 years and that 70% of the world’s coral reefs are likely to vanish by 2030, as a result of tourism related activities (ARC Centre of Excellence, 2011). An example of this coral loss can be seen below, in Image 1.1, which demonstrates the estimated coral loss along the North-East coast of Queensland, in the next 15 years.

Tourism is a pivotal part of human nature, it impacts humanity on a worldwide scale in our everyday lives. It has become a ritual in the modern times, as the number of international tourists increase every year. According to UNWTO, international tourists have gone up to a mind blowing 1.2 billion people worldwide(UNWTO, n.d.). People who go on holidays to foreign nations experience a variety of new encounters. They get exposed to the new cultures, different food, beautiful natural landscapes, and new people.The host country love to attract tourists, because they make loads of money off of them. Tourism helps globalise the world, it lets people see for themselves instead of just hearing about someplace. On the other hand, the tourists are at risk of instances such as terrorist attacks. When visitors come to a new nation, they love all the sightseeing there is to offer. A lot of the favourite places of tourists include; wildlife, historical monuments, and natural landscapes. The revenue made by the tourism industry in 2016 alone was more than 7.6 trillion U.S. dollars (Statista,n.d.).This essay will argue that the plus points of tourism weigh much more than all of the negatives. The essay will analyse the negative and positives of tourism Environmentally, Socioculturally, and Economically.

Recently, a lot of researchers have been paying attention at how the island has been stressed by heavy population load. The island's visiting population has more than tripled in twenty years — now equal to almost half the size of its native, resident population. Although the impact is rather different if the transient population increases at this rate than if the permanent population does, an increase in the tourist population of this magnitude poses very similar challenges and problems as any other kind of population increase.4

Planning and development are both extremely important factors within the tourism industry and can have both positive and negative effects on the environment, local communities and tourist destinations. “Destination planning aims to limit the negative impacts of cultural tourism upon the history and lifestyles of the local community. An understanding of sustainable tourist development allows for the development of culture without loss of its authentic identity” (Maidment. T. 2012). This statement discusses the importance of planning to avoid having any negative impacts on environments and communities. Because the effects of tourism are so severe to destinations, many natural and cultural resources have been destroyed, therefore tourism planning is vital to preserve and maintain these places for future generations.