A Plan for Sustainable Tourism
As people continue to explore the world and tour it, they are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of preserving the environment as tourism ceases to exist without the environment. Tourism is solely dependent on the environment. Preserving the natural attractions thus becomes a vital concern the world over and it merges with the climate change debate going on. Changing weather patterns have been affecting the ecosystem and subsequently changes in the fauna and flora of the affected place.
Reduce the emission of greenhouse gases or the carbon footprint of tourism and minimize general environmental pollution.
Minimize the overuse of resources and Waste Production and Disposal
Tourism, much like other leisure activities are dictated by trends whereby the popularity of a tourist destination leads to its subsequent overcrowding and exhaustion of the place’s resources. It is especially true in today’s world that is dominated by social media where people have multiple platforms for sharing information. A solid example of this is Thailand that in 2008 alone received over 14 million visitors. Overworking the environment's resources lead to a situation where it takes longer to self-regenerate, and its deterioration to no longer support life. On average, a tourist produces about one kilogram of waste per day, uses up about 300 liters of fresh water and generates noise pollution as well.
Tourist destinations need to turn to ways to reduce the use of energy and increase its efficiency to prevent losses. Turning to solar powered systems where possible is a green way to decrease the use of fossil fuels and the carbon footprint as well. It also includes the installation of energy-saving bulbs to maximize on energy consumption.
Water can be conserved in various ways or be supplemented by the resorts. It includes collecting and tapping rain water for later use, installation of low-flush water closets and showers to prevent wastage of run-off water. Also, putting up notices that direct the tourists on conscious water usage could help in proper water utilization.
Pollution can be managed through waste management systems such as having multiple waste disposal sites with separate recycling sections. Incentivizing recycling of waste is a sound plan to manage plastic waste.
As more resorts come up to accommodate the high demand in prime tourist spots all over the world, there is massive land and marine life destruction near oceans. The alternative to this is cotourism which involves the use of the mantra reduce, reuse and recycle. While building, resorts are encouraged to disturb as little life as possible. It includes placing resorts a distance recommended by consultants that will have the least effect on life.
Reducing the Carbon Footprint
It means reduce the output of gases that contribute to the heating of the earth’s atmosphere such as carbon oxide and methane. Tourism involves a lot of travelling, whether by air, on land or in water and all these forms of travel contribute a significant percentage of these gases. A sustainable solution would be to shift to public forms of transportation such as buses and the use of bicycles and encouraging walking to the tourist destinations. Another solution that can be implemented is planting trees around the tourist spots to reduce the carbon oxide being emitted.
Adherence to international and national environmental regulations forms another way to achieve the goal of reducing the carbon footprint of the tourist industry. Compliance to switching to biofuels wherever possible as it was discovered, can lead to up to a 95% reduction in carbon oxide emission.
Sustainable Forms of Tourism
Green tourism is also known as ecotourism is a rising form of tourism that seeks to reduce the harmful impacts of tourist activities by offering alternatives. Ecotourism is wholesome adaption of clean forms of energy and environmental conservation. It is “uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel.”It is hypothesized that it will no longer be a trend but the mainstream mode of touring in a decade. Ecotourism marries the above plans of reducing the carbon footprint and responsible management of natural resources. It also includes respecting and involving the local communities in their activities to uplift their socio-economic status.
Adapting to the Climate Change
Recent changes in climate include extremely hot summers, unreliable snow cover and melting ice caps that are threatening the tourism industries that have invested in seasonal tourism. Private-public partnerships are best to ensure the industry is amply equipped with strategies to adapt. So far, such projects are still in their research phases where international organizations, private firms and individual governments are all stakeholders. Adaptation requires a multi-faceted approach that is yet to be determined.
Conclusion
While sustainable tourism seems like a forward alternative to the current mass tourism, it is quite complicated to implement for a number of reasons. First, environmentally conscious waste management methods are quite expensive to set up and maintain. Second, building ecotourism resorts is not always economically feasible and ends up costing more than conventional facilities. Third, the adoption of green alternatives is quite slow and laborious as compared to the growing tourism. Fourth, biofuels are not yet a viable solution for air travel as it contributes to at least two percent of the industry’s carbon footprint. The fuels are still in their experimental phases. Finally, the process of adapting to the changing climate is very slow because it has to be customized to each region depending on the effect of the climate change. In the Maldives for example, they have come up with ways to climate proof their water resources.
Bibliography
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The International Tourism, “What is Ecotourism,” (2016): www.ecotourism.org (accessed 27 February 2016).
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