World's ecologically sensitive places are always vulnerable to increased number of visits of tourists. In other worlds tourism in general endangers sensitive environments.
However, the fact is that proper planning and management can not only conserve the environment of a ecologically sensitive environment but also generate funds for basic conservation efforts and research which is very important in order to understand a particular ecosystem.
The World Conference on Tourism held in Manila in 1980 identified in the ‘Manila
Declaration’ ‘tourism’ as an “activity essential to the life of nations because of its
direct effects on the social, cultural, educational and economic sectors of
national societies and on their international relations” (Technical Manual,
1995).
Tourism has traditionally been defined either in term of activities of
tourists/visitors (the demand side) or in terms of the activities of businesses
supplying tourists/visitors (the supply side).
The 1991 World Tourism Organisation (WTO) Ottawa Conference
on Travel and Tourism accepted the demand side of the definition as
“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”.
The United Nation’s specialized tourism related agency,
the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is vested with the objective of
promotion of tourism. UNEP/UNWTO (2005) defined sustainable tourism as tourism
that takes “full account of current and future economic, social and
environmental impacts addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the
environment and host communities”.
The UNEP/UNWTO definition is applicable to all forms
of tourism in all types of destinations weather mass tourism or niche tourism,
including eco-tourism.
In
1972, the environment becoming an issue was prompted by the Conference on Human Environment held at Stockholm in 1972.
The concept of sustainable development
evolved since the time it was dealt in ‘1987 Brundtland report’ and in the
Agenda 21 in the UNCED held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
By a search of research literature one can find that the concept of tourism, eco-tourism and sustainable tourism evolved over years
in relation to the purpose, place and size. Proper assessment of tourism development of a particular place therefore needs study in the context of sustainable tourism needs assessment in
the background of empirical understanding of the subject in literature.
The
concept of sustainability in tourism has developed over the last few decades as
a result of improved understanding of the applied aspects of the concept to
tourism industry.
Reviewing
literature, Clarke (1997) identified various authors’ approaches to the concept
of sustainable tourism and identified four frameworks which in chronological
order were that of polar opposites, continuum, movement and convergence.
While
the early debate whether a particular type of tourism fell in this category or
not, it was largely recognized that all form of tourism must move towards
sustainability.
The
early literature commonly recognized scale as the distinguishing feature but
Clarke (1997) considered this as the unifying theme for the proposed framework.
The first position of polar opposites was conceived when mass tourism was
considered as polar opposite to sustainable tourism.
Alternative tourism
(Pearse, 1992) was the popular label for sustainable tourism and it
was pulling away from mass tourism. In this position the two types were
considered as ‘good’ and ‘bad’; the negative social and environmental impacts
at destinations were attributed to mass tourism, a destructive tourism type.
Advocates of alternative tourism even pressed for a total replacement of mass
tourism. In this framework of polar
opposite position, sustainable tourism was considered as a possession of small
scale characteristics, in short small was synonymous with sustainable.
The
next position in the framework is the position of a continuum between mass
tourism and sustainable tourism. The view held that sustainable tourism
utilized the infrastructure, transport and reservation system of mass tourism and therefore if it was not properly managed it had the
potential of development into mass tourism.
With
dramatic growth in international tourism from 25 million trips in 1950 (WTO,
1993) to the 531 million in 1994 (WTO, 1995a) and continued predicted growth
(WTO,1995b), replacement of mass tourism with sustainable tourism was not
feasible.
Sustainable tourism being considered small lacked capability and could neither manage arrival
numbers nor bring the kind of economic returns required. There
were problems with issues such as elitism, local ownership and
control. Therefore, some researchers believed that mass tourism was not harmful if it progressed towards ‘harmonious’ tourism.
In
the third position, scale became a less emotive issue and became a subject
demanding improvement and alignment to sustainable development. The negative
impact of mass tourism is replaced by large scale tourism.
This position takes a more
objective view to achieve the goal of sustainable tourism by making changes in large
scale tourism. It is industries like mining and manufacturing which damaged the
environment.
The large scale tourism possessed several strengths like
marketing, communication and contacts to foster interest in sustainable
tourism; large scale has the strength to influence suppliers and distributors
to persuade them to sustainable policies in supply chain.
It appeared that the large scale tourism had more strength to move to sustainable tourism. On the demand side
consumers showed more interests in green issues.
Financial
institutions were available with funds to support initiatives to move to
sustainable options. Large scale tourism showed signs of proactively
moving to sustainable tourism.
Environment becoming a major concern, it is now evident that initiatives have come from different quarters: British Airways published environmental report, the International Hotels Environment Initiative (Van
Praag, 1992); and launch of ‘Green Globe’ programme across the hotel sector.
The
fourth position is the current position of convergence where the objective is to
reach the goal. Here regardless of the scale all tourism must strive for
sustainability. In the current form the tourism is large scale,
it incorporates the dominant view of large size business conforming to
ecological perspectives and a small scale view of sustainability at the level
of destination.
The small scale view of alternative tourism at local level
takes care of local economic, social and cultural aspects.
The current tourism
is environmentally conscious trying to be compliant to international
regulations. It is still evolving at both levels: the large
business caters to the ever growing needs and the destination level taking care
of the economic, social, cultural needs for their preservation and promotion.
There are guidelines for business at all levels for implementation and
follow-up.
The
evolution of sustainable tourism observed above is a consequence of growing
global concern for deterioration of environment.
The beginning of this concern
started with the Stockholm Conference of 1972 and a more firm affirmation of
concern was laid with the setting of Agenda 21 at the UNCED in 1992.
UNWTO described 12 aims of sustainable tourism as, “ economic
viability, local prosperity, employment quality, social equity, visitor
fulfillment, local control, community well being, cultural richness, physical
integrity, biological diversity, resource efficiency and environmental purity”.
Though UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the main international agency
concerned with sustainable tourism, there are several international
organizations concerned with the formulation of policy, principles, processes,
standards and implementation of the programmes in this field.
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) is the main international body involved in
formulation, promotion, standardization and certification of sustainable
tourism principles, procedures and practice. To
implement 12 aims of sustainable tourism, GSTC developed Global Sustainable
Tourism Criteria for tourism and for destinations.
The GSTC criteria developed
as part of tourism sector’s response to the United Nations’
Millennium Development Goals of poverty alleviation and environmental
sustainability and climate change. First released in 2008, these criteria are
revised regularly after consultation. The criteria indicated expectations and
purposes:
(i) Guidelines for tourism related business chain using global
criteria;
(ii) Guidance for travel agencies in choosing suppliers and
sustainable tourism programs;
(iii) Help consumers in identifying sound
sustainable tourism programs and businesses;
(iv) Serve as a label to recognize
sustainable tourism providers and products; (v) Help certification and
voluntary programs ensure that their standards conform to a broadly accepted
baseline;
(vi) Offer all agencies (governmental, non-governmental, and private
) a starting point for developing sustainable tourism requirements;
(vii) Serve
as basic guidelines for education and training bodies, such as hotel, schools
and universities. For the purpose of providing guidance in measuring of
compliance with the GSTC criteria, the criteria consist of 40 guidelines.
These
guidelines are for application by hotels, tour operators and destinations.
Sustainable tourism criteria are the guiding principles and are built around
possible socioeconomic impact, cultural impact, and environmental impact
including consumption of resources, reducing pollution, conserving
biodiversity, and preventing landscapes.
GSTC criteria are the minimum which
businesses and destinations should follow to achieve social, environmental,
cultural and economic sustainability. Since tourism destinations have their own
culture, environment, customs and laws, the criteria can be suitably adapted to
local conditions and supplemented with additional criteria for specific
location and activity.
GSTC criteria have been developed for hotels, tour
operators and for destinations. GSTC has developed certain standards and
certification programmes for being designated as ‘GSTC-Recognized’,
‘GSTC-approved’ and ‘.GSTC-Accredited’.
Sustainable
tourism offered opportunities for creation of jobs and trade. The member states
had emphasized the importance of sustainable tourism in creating decent job
opportunities and trade opportunities.
Following the UN Conference on
Sustainable Development held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June, 2012, the
outcome document emphasized on the need to support sustainable tourism
activities and relevant capacity-building for promotion of environmental
awareness, conservation and protection of the environment, respect wildlife,
flora, biodiversity and ecosystems and cultural diversity and improve the welfare
and livelihoods of local communities. Recommendations very relevant to
countries ecologically sensitive.
The Conference also encouraged “investment in
sustainable tourism, including ecotourism and cultural tourism, which may
include creating small and medium sized enterprises and facilitating
access to finance, including through microcredit initiatives for the poor,
indigenous peoples and local communities” ( General Assembly resolution 66/288,
annex, paras. 130 and 131).
UNWTO, in persuasion of the General Assembly resolution 66/196, had taken a lead in preparing a report (UN
General Assembly, 68th Session) on sustainable tourism in seven small countries
of Central American Region.
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