Introduction
Mass tourism is often hard to manage and has its potential environmental hazards. The current world population is increasing on a daily basis, and most of this people are always willing to take a vacation to a holiday safari or as tourists in a game park, a pristine nature view, and some case camping. This invasion into preserved environments affects the natural setting hence the need for conservation. Furthermore, these tourists use products and equipment which contribute to the decline in environmental quality by increasing the greenhouse gasses or causing other adverse effects (Higham et. al, 2014). Through sustainable tourism where the tourist’s activities in a given place are controlled, we can achieve a lasting less expensive and non-detrimental tourism protocol hence environmental conservation.
Most developing countries derive a good percentage of their revenue from tourism and have since implemented measures to enforce ecotourism in a bid to ensure their sources of income remain intact for future value. Tourists in various countries are thus required for instance to pay a small entry fee to access certain resources which are in turn used in the maintenance of the wildlife and sceneries. This measures among many others designed to influence the conservation of the environment through sustainable tourism are discussed in this paper. Emphasis is put on how tourism affects the environment and the various measures taken to ensure that the process is beneficial to the environment and at the same time being of importance to the local authorities.
Discussion
Encouraging effective conservation policy
Conservation begins at the door steps of the government. They have the power often in most democratic countries given to them by the people to implement laws that are amicable to the interests of the local citizen. In third world countries, most of the governments have taken on ecotourism through policy formulation as a very critical issue for the economy of their countries. The law dictates the formulation of legislation governing interaction between man and wildlife or their activities in gazetted regions of a nation. This prevents malicious people or those who do not understand conservation from interfering with protected areas through activities such as poaching, timber logging or charcoal burning.
The laws also set the stage for tourism where they can establish a controlled environment for visitors regarding security, efficiency, safety, and comfortability. More policies are being implemented at a multinational level, for instance, the development of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park between South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique (Solway, 2010). This government incentives help create a regional development of constructive management of resources for ecotourism to flourish.
Revenue Generation
Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world. As of 2010, there was about 940 million reported global tourist arrivals globally and this number is estimated to 1.6 billion by the year 2020 (Seba, 2012). This sheer market size gives a picture of how big the market is, and thus, the potential revenue people can generate from tourism. There are many different ways countries generate revenue from tourism. One common way of doing this is through a collection of entrance fees at various parks.
The accumulated income is then used to conserve the environment for instance by creating buffer zones between the protected areas and those areas occupied by people. The money can also be used to prevent the spread of diseases and pests in this pristine environment that ensure the wildlife are healthy and safe. More revenue can also be collected from using services in the areas of visitation, for instance, travel fees, accommodation and tour guide fees. This are effectively channeled into the conservation of the environment.
Voluntary ecotourism
An individual can play a big role in the conservation of the environment by participating in programs that are eco-friendly. In most third world countries, there are volunteers who engage in education and emancipation of the local societies with the objectives of reducing the strain on protected areas such as poaching activities or farming (Solway, 2012). These tourists take on a self-sponsored tour to the local communities interacting with them and helping them understand the importance of their tourist sites through education and social events. This social interaction has created a lot of employment for local communities who sell to them African products such as carvings and services.
The corporate society can also market their products through sponsorship of eco-friendly activities in the various tourist attraction sites which in turn help conserve the environment while at the same time benefitting the companies. At an individual level, besides taking the time to visit the area and contribute through fees, one can decide to buy voluntary carbon offsets (Fusco et. al, 2009). Studies indicate that tourism contributes up to about 5% of greenhouse gasses. This can be reduced by purchasing carbon offsets that are traded with other eco-friendly services thus boosting the conservation of the environment and maintaining a sustainable tourism for the benefit of the local population.
Ecotourism Businesses
There are many forms of eco-friendly businesses which have advanced over the years into various realms of the society within tourist attractions. This company provides a wider approach to conservation of tourism by integrating the local society travelers who are the tourists, the destinations of choice for the tourists and the means of transport used. These eco-friendly businesses can be grouped into two major sections tour operators and eco-lodges (Seba, 2012).
Tour operators are keen on organizing local safaris, for instance, Maasai Mara Safari that takes tourists from different places of the scenic parks which are operated by the local people (Higham et. al, 2014). Through this safaris, the visitors are assigned guides which are the local population who through the knowledge of their area help them understand their environment. Besides the tourists get to pay for the safaris and interact with the society creating sources of employment and revenue.
Similarly, those visitors who prefer to have a holiday in a quiet location are offered services of an eco-lodge. Many accommodation industries pay a hefty fee to operate in protected area of which the returns help in maintaining the parks. This collected revenue is used for further initiatives to ensure sustainable tourism. Without such eco-friendly business, tourism would not be sustainable and the revenue generated would not be enough to ensure efficient conservation of the wildlife.
Empowering community members as stewards.
Technology and socialization have helped make the society an interconnected and integrated system of life. People who live in various countries can now find ways of participating in eco-friendly activities that promote conservation from different parts of the country. Races have been sponsored to for eco-friendly purposes. Other efforts such as the tree planting initiatives in many developing countries allow one to plant a tree by contributing a small sum of money without necessarily visiting the site. This is imperative since it has since helped those who are engaged in binding activities to participate in the conservation of their wildlife.
Social organizations such as the Scouts community, wildlife conservation clubs, and independent community development groups have been created. This clubs and societies spend most of the time studying on how to protect their environment sometimes running various projects as well as nurturing citizens who are capable of being stewards for the conservation of their environment especially the tourist sites. For instance, in Laos, tigers in Louey protected area are subject to protection under the initiative of a Wildlife Conservation Society group (Fusco et. al, 2009).
Conclusion
Environment protection can be achieved by implementing sustainable tourism from various angles of the integrated community. Ecotourism thus spans from individual effort through the local society and up to the government and corporate society. There can never be sustainable tourism within partnering with this player in the community. Each one of them has a significant role in developing the tourism industry to accommodate the tourist and provide a conducive environment that encourages the tourist to visit. Once this set of conditions are met, visitors are more likely to come to the site and stream in numbers. Through their fees and participation in the industry, the tourism sector can generate revenue that will allow the government to protect and conserve this area and hence the environment, improve the life of people in the area so that they are not lured to engage in degrading activities such as poaching. The interconnection between sustainable tourism and environmental conservation comes from the interest of improving the lives of people involved in this industry.
References
Fusco, G. L., & Nijkamp, P. (2009). Cultural tourism and sustainable local development. Farnham: Ashgate.
Higham, J. E. S., & Williams, R. (2014). Whale-watching: Sustainable tourism and ecological management.
Seba, J. (2012). Ecotourism and sustainable tourism: New perspectives and studies. Toronto: Apple Academic Press.
Solway, A. (2010). Sustainable tourism. Mankato, Minn: Arcturus Pub.
