Discuss about the Tourism and Environment for Sustainable Tourism.
The topic of the essay is “Ecological Foot-Print of Tourism.” Sun, (2014) accused tourism as it has a potential contribution to the climate change. It often distorts the ecosystem of a tourist spot and its surrounding. The study will analyze the reason for which it is accused as unsustainable. It will also describe the contributing factors of tourism towards climate change. Apart from that, the study will also describe the ways through which the tourism sector can reduce ecological footprint.
Tourism claimed to be unsustainable
Fresh water is one of the most crucial natural resources. Tourism industries mostly overuse water resources for using in their hotels, golf courses, swimming pools and personal use of the tourists. In case of Australian tourism industry, maximum of water is used by irrigation of the hotel for building summerhouse, garden and golf course (Filimonau et al., 2013). Therefore, the agricultural sectors are facing problems in farming their land. Unsustainable exploitation and unlimited construction lead to severe environmental issues. Recreational activities customized for the tourists also have great impact on environment. A great number of boat trips also emit carbon, which can destroy the life of marine animal. Apart from that, most of water pipe lines of Australia, which is meant of villagers, are now used by hotels. Therefore, it is creating water crisis for the villagers (Eijgelaar & Peeters, 2014).
Land degradation
Important land resources include fertile soil, minerals, wetland, forests minerals and fossil fuels. Increasing construction and recreational activities have created huge pressure on these land resources and even on scenic landscapes (Waligo et al., 2013). Direct impact on land resources is caused due to use of land in terms of accommodation and infrastructural provision by tourism sectors (Sun, 2014). Tourism sector also creates negative impact on forest due to deforestation towards building new summerhouse and hotels. Degradation in landscapes causes steep imbalance in rain cycle, which results in climate change (Tang, 2015).
Air pollution
Increase in air transport leads to increased level of air travel in tourism industry by 60% (Gössling, 2015). It is highly responsible for increasing emission of carbon footprint. Air pollution comes from excessive tourist transport and increasing use of heater and air condition. It leads to acid rain photochemical pollution and global warming (Lozano-Oyola et al., 2012).
Ways for tourism business to reduce ecological footprint
Tourism industry can reduce its ecological footprint through several ways. Therefore, this industry should adopt those ways for reducing its severe impact on environment.
Eco-Resort
Tourism industry can use eco-resort for their guest in term of their accommodation. According to Castellani and Sala, (2012), eco-resorts are the lodging facility, which reduces the emission of carbon footprint. On the other hand, York et al., (2015) opined that the tourism business should follow the practice of green living. Dependency on natural resources would lead the hotels to use renewable energy for improving environmental impact. Grey water recycling and the use of non-disposable dishes for the tourists can also reduce the impact of ecological footprint on the environment (Cerutti et al., 2016). Apart from that, fresh air exchange system implemented in eco-resort can reduce the use of air condition and reduce the impact of carbon footprint (Jamal & Camargo, 2014).
According to Schaller, (2016), support for natural attraction would lead the tourism business to customize all the amenities towards natural resources. On the other hand, Ozturk et al., (2016) opined that support for natural attraction would also create huge number of green tourist, who will in turn reduce carbon footprint. The hotels should provide authentic cultural experience to the customers through natural resources (Bramwell & Lane, 2013). The hotel should keep a scope for their guest towards volunteering with environmental conservation (Becken, 2013). Providing local food to the guest may also be natural thumbs up. It reduces pollution caused from transportation of food from another place (Hall et al., 2013).
According to Schaller, (2014), eco-friendly vehicles reduce the emission of CO2, which reduce negative impact of environment. On the other hand, Andersson & Lundberg, (2013) opined that eco-friendly vehicles consume less petroleum than other vehicles and use renewable energy source as its fuel. The tourism sector should use eco-friendly cars that the tourists use during their travelling time (Munday et al., 2013). Increasing usage of green car by tourism sector will reduce ecological footprint to a larger extent.
Ways of individual tourist to reduce ecological foot print
Tourists can also reduce ecological footprint by their individual initiatives during their travelling time. Some of ways are described here:
Save Water
Many tourists take unlimited shower while go in washroom, which can waste water and thereby create water strain. The tourists should take shorter shower for saving water. They should turn off the tap while brushing teeth or shaving. It would also reduce unnecessary use of water and create balance in water consumption.
Save Energy
The tourists should leave the hotel room by turning off TV, heat/AC and turn off the lights. It will in turn reduce ecological footprint (Bramwell & Lane, 2012). Apart from that, the tourists can also leave a “Do Not Disturb” sign in front of the door. It would keep the housekeeping away from every day cleaning of the room, which will save harsh chemical cleaning supplies. It would also reduce the electricity of vacuuming (Lee, 2013).
Reusing materials can reduce the emission of ecological footprint towards an unlimited extent (Gibson et al., 2012). The tourists should use the BPA-free water bottle, which can be refilled. It will definitely minimize the impact on landscape resulting from wastage (Juvan & Dolnicar, 2014). Apart from that, the tourists can also reuse their towels and bed sheets through washing it daily instead of changing it daily.
Conclusion
While concluding the study, it can be said ecological footprint of tourism is the negative impact, which it creates on environment. Tourism sectors overuse water for its hotels, swimming pools and golf courses. Extreme usages of boat trip also destroy marine life, which have direct impact on climate change. Apart from that, tourism sector also leads to deforestation for building new hotels and summerhouses. Deforestation in turn create steep imbalance in rain cycle. Tourism sectors can reduce ecological footprint through building eco-resorts and implementing greenery within hotels. On the other hand, individual tourist can also reduce ecological foot print through saving energy and reusing materials.
References
Andersson, T. D., & Lundberg, E. (2013). Commensurability and sustainability: Triple impact assessments of a tourism event. Tourism Management, 37, 99-109.
Becken, S. (2013). A review of tourism and climate change as an evolving knowledge domain. Tourism Management Perspectives, 6, 53-62.
Bramwell, B., & Lane, B. (2012). Towards innovation in sustainable tourism research?. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20(1), 1-7.
Bramwell, B., & Lane, B. (2013). Getting from here to there: Systems change, behavioural change and sustainable tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 21(1), 1-4.
Castellani, V., & Sala, S. (2012). Ecological Footprint and Life Cycle Assessment in the sustainability assessment of tourism activities.Ecological Indicators, 16, 135-147.
Cerutti, A. K., Beccaro, G. L., Bruun, S., Donno, D., Bonvegna, L., & Bounous, G. (2016). Assessment methods for sustainable tourism declarations: The case of holiday farms. Journal of Cleaner Production, 111, 511-519.
Eijgelaar, E., & Peeters, P. (2014). The global footprint of tourism. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Tourism, 454-465.
Filimonau, V., Dickinson, J., Robbins, D., & Reddy, M. V. (2013). The role of ‘indirect’greenhouse gas emissions in tourism: Assessing the hidden carbon impacts from a holiday package tour. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 54, 78-91.
Gibson, H. J., Kaplanidou, K., & Kang, S. J. (2012). Small-scale event sport tourism: A case study in sustainable tourism. Sport Management Review,15(2), 160-170.
Gössling, S. (2015). New performance indicators for water management in tourism. Tourism Management, 46, 233-244.
Hall, C. M., Scott, D., & Gössling, S. (2013). The primacy of climate change for sustainable international tourism. Sustainable Development, 21(2), 112-121.
Jamal, T., & Camargo, B. A. (2014). Sustainable tourism, justice and an ethic of care: Toward the just destination. Journal of Sustainable Tourism,22(1), 11-30.
Juvan, E., & Dolnicar, S. (2014). Can tourists easily choose a low carbon footprint vacation?. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 22(2), 175-194.
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Lozano-Oyola, M., Blancas, F. J., González, M., & Caballero, R. (2012). Sustainable tourism indicators as planning tools in cultural destinations.Ecological Indicators, 18, 659-675.
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Schaller, H. J. (2016). The Footprint of Tourism: Ecological sensitivity and hiking trail assessment at selected protected areas in Iceland and Hokkaido.
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York, R., Rosa, E. A., & Dietz, T. (2015). A tale of contrasting trends: Three measures of the ecological footprint in China, India, Japan, and the United States, 1961-2003. Journal of World-Systems Research, 15(2), pp. 134-146.
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