Towards Sustainable Tourism – Key Problems and Issues Facing Hong Kong

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 is one of the most international industries. Globalisation is the gradual forging of links between groups and societies until they finally reach around the globe in several directions (Smith, D,2006). Globalization is one of the serious challenges facing managers today. It is critical to develop services that are able to satisfy a highly diverse customer base (Ueltschy et al., 2007) Now to keep up with the rising levels of globalization in the hotel industry, there’s a need to understand not only the positive, but also the negative impacts of globalisation. I’ll also talk about the growth and rise of one of the most respected brands in the hospitality industry - the Hilton Hotels. Throughout the evolution of this famous organization, the Hilton has

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).

As mentioned by Rimmington & Morrison (2009), the assistance from different parts of the world presents a new and diverse outlook for future research including theoretical innovations and revelations, cultural and environmental aspects, tourist destination and other ecotourism and recreational aspects of tourism and hospitality industry (Brotherton,

Tourism plays a vital role in economic development in most countries around the world. The industry has not only direct economic impact, but also significant indirect and influential impacts. There is agreement among experts that the travel and tourism sector is the fastest growing of global economy. According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourism receipts surpass US$ 1 trillion in 2011, growing about 3.8%up from 2010 (WTO, 2012).

Hong Kong’s recent reinstatement as the world’s freest economy1 reconfirmed its claim as a central hub for international business travelers. Its exceptional shopping and fine dining opportunities also make it a major tourist Mecca. Hong Kong was especially a unique shopping experience for visitors from China mainland and the world. From glitzy malls to funky street markets, and trendy boutiques to traditional Chinese products stores and themed shopping districts, tourists could find everything to satisfy their shopping fantasies.

Tourism rationales for development on Green Island can benefit in employment opportunities, socio-economic development of areas which would help foster economic activities around the island. Environmental best practice refers to the applications used in the most appropriate and beneficial way in the combination of environmental control measures and strategies. Green Island follows the regulations in relation to environmental best practice however the need for such applications to be developed is increasing as carbon emissions in the world are increasing which is why the objective of not leaving behind a carbon footprint needs to be achieved by Green Island.

Tai O (Chinese: 大澳) is a fishing village, located on the southwest of Lantau Island in Hong Kong. Tai O is also known as the "Venice of Hong Kong", which is a hot tourist spot for both foreign and local people. Although, the fishing industry is declining, Tai O still remains its unique feature and culture of a fishing village such as Stilt-houses, traditional customs and celebration of special festivals. And the existing natural landscape and ecology, that facilitates the tourism development. Due to the tourism development, it generates impacts in terms of economy, socio-culture and environment. This article is to analyse the impacts from tourism industry and the sustainable tourism development

At last, the ecological element is also important when investigating the business environment and the CSR has gradually ended up coordinated in numerous associations' business goals. For a hotel industry to be socially, dependable it must finish numerous approaches, for example, submitting to the energy consumption laws, lessening carbon footprint, and connecting with the local community. Then again, the natural disaster has turned out to be incessant. Subsequently, numerous destination spots are intensely influenced and sustainable tourism must be practiced to save natural resources (Levonsky & Conley, 2004).

1 The tourism school, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China; 2School of Business Administration, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China. Email: chenjue8@yahoo.com

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

“China now ranks as one of the biggest source markets of tourism globally, but more significantly, the Chinese are now the top spenders on tourism in the world”.

Analyse: The Nan Tien Temple offers a number of services to the tourist marketing segment. They offer planned retreats for people with an interest in Chinese culture. They have classes at the temple which have a Chinese focus, including: t’ai chi, meditation and calligraphy. Tourists are also offered accommodation options on the same grounds if they’re looking to stay in the area, as well as conference facilities and weddings. The Macro-Environment plays a role on the tourism marketing operations of the Nan Tien Temple, and its opportunities and threats to its sustainability. Currently the Nan Tien Temple’s website is very outdated, with a limited online booking system, hindering how they can plan/use online technologies to market their attraction. By having tours conducted by employees they limit the amount of people who go through the area every day, and allow for sustainability, through less damage by having limit number of group tours. Having group tours benefits the site by allowing money to go back into maintaining the grounds, and improving the site.

This research has shown that there are differences in perceptions and expectations of Chinese Mainland tourists compared to other foreign tourists and this impacts upon satisfaction levels. Chinese Mainland tourists spend less on hotel accommodation than other foreign tourists, however have high expectations and expect value for money, making price a major factor in the consideration process for hotel selection and an aspect that the Hong Kong hotel market must consider when marketing their hotels and services, to the Chinese Mainland tourist.

In addition, with Singapore being a well-established hub for various sectors such as the finance and medicine, business travel in Asia has seen an increase by 20% compared to 2009 (Channel News Asia, 2010). With a rebound in Asian business travel, hotel occupancy in July hit a high of 90% an increase of 10.2% from 2009 and hotel room revenue grew 37.2% (The Business Times, 2010). Being the “Best Business Hotel in the World, Asia-Pacific and Singapore” as awarded by Business Traveller (Shangri-La, 2010), the surge in business travels is definitely advantageous to Shangri-La.