(Name/s)
Sustainable Tourism
TOU6125
Sustainable tourism has been defined as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities” (UNWTO, 2016). Sustainable tourism is a recent development. In 1996, Agenda 21 specific to tourism emerged. The international year for ecotourism was 2002. The first and second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism happened in 2003 and 2007. The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) was launched in 2008. The UNWTO led the initiative on sustainable tourism for eradicating poverty in 2008. In 2012, GSTC launched the sustainable tourism criteria for destinations. (Patterson, 2016) Recent developments indicate an increasing commitment to sustainable tourism. If these developments persist, adoption of sustainable tourism can lead to the more significant and concerted role of tourism firms in employment, local culture promotion, economic growth, environmental stewardship, and social welfare of local communities (UN-DESA, 2016). The goal of this assignment is to provide a deeper understanding of sustainable development and its link to tourism by considering perceptions of sustainable tourism, impact of these perspectives on sustainable tourism development, challenges to sustainable tourism, impact of these challenges on tourism development, and ways of addressing these challenges.
Perspectives of Sustainable Tourism
Anthropocentrism in Sustainable Tourism
An anthropocentric position considers people have inherent value, they belong to a distinct specie, and their lives are influenced by how they interact and cultural norms. Concurrently, nature or the environment cannot be characterized as having intrinsic worth. Instead, nature is the means through which people can fulfill their goals. (Schultz & Zeleny, 2003) Proponents of this perspective are likely to focus on economic growth to the detriment of environmental protection. They are also likely to invest their time, money, and effort to only a limited number of eco-friendly endeavors. In the modern context, the concept of enlightened anthropocentric perspective emerged to describe the extension of some degree of agency to nature, but only so far as to facilitate the products and services needed to address people’s needs with the aid of technology (Keulartz, 2012). Anthropocentrism in sustainable tourism implies ethical values focused on people and the achievement of their needs (Jovicic & Sinosich, 2012).
Ecocentrism in Sustainable Tourism
An ecocentric perspective also recognizes the innate value and distinct characteristics of humans, but considers man as part of the many living things sharing the same natural environment and objects of value that include flora, fauna, waterways, valleys, and mountains. Advocates of this approach recognize that natural forces and human activities are intertwined. Mutual dependence of humans and nature means that the approach to tourism leans towards the greater concern for environmental issues, support for environmental protection and not just for economic growth, and involvement in environment-friendly practices. (Schultz & Zeleny, 2003) Adoption of econcentrism leads to the development of ethical standards for the tourism industry that accommodate nature, ecosystems, and living things (Jovicic & Sinosich, 2012).
Impact of these Concepts on Sustainable Tourism Development
Anthropocentrism and ecocentrism are positioned apart in a continuum. An implication is that different stakeholders of sustainable tourism development are likely to adopt varying perspectives of the linkage between humans and nature depending on their alignment with one concept or the other (Hunter & Rinner, 2004). Specifically, there is likely to be variance in the perspective of stakeholders over the importance or role of sustainable tourism depending on the concept adopted by stakeholders. Of the two concepts, anthropocentric stakeholders expect tourism managers to prioritize economic gains in developing sustainable tourism plans and policies. Ecocentric stakeholders expect the thorough consideration of the environmental and socio-cultural factors in sustainable tourism activities. Different priorities by stakeholders imply that tourism managers need to consider compromises in managing sustainable tourism development. Yet, this is not easy to achieve and implement. A position of compromise means there will be some degree of resistance from stakeholders advocating either anthropocentrism or ecocentrism. Resistance can affect the outcomes of sustainable tourism initiatives.
Challenges to Sustainable Tourism
Differing perspectives pose several challenges to sustainable tourism, which are support for sustainable tourism, disconnect between policy and practice, triple bottom line in growth management, redistribution of resources, and climate change.
Support for Sustainable Tourism
A challenge to sustainable tourism is sourcing and maintaining the flow of adequate financial resources for sustainable tourism development plans. In most countries, part of the funds used for sustainable tourism projects come from government. However, allocation of public funds for sustainable tourism development is decreasing in many countries. Dwindling financial resources lead to the shelving or poor implementation of sustainable tourism programs that lead to little or no gains (Maksin, 2010). Tourism indirectly supports sustainable tourism through the use of income generated from visitors for the development of sustainable practices and programs (Patterson, 2016). A means of addressing this challenge is to increase the financial resource contributions coming from tourism based on the polluter pays principle, prevention principle, or sustainable consumption principle (Maksin, 2010). Charging appropriate fees can raise the revenue needed to support the implementation of sustainable tourism projects in a manner that would generate significant positive results. At the same time, fees also facilitate the control of the carrying capacity of tourist destinations in order to protect nature and culture (Patterson, 2016). Fee differentiation is a strategy that can be used to match the fees with the degree of vulnerability of the tourism destination and the socio-demographic characteristics of destination visitors. To achieve the goals of sustainable tourism, fees must be directly allocated to the sustainable tourism site and the host community (Maksin, 2010). The difficult part is encouraging leaders of tourism firms to accept responsibility and voluntarily contribute funds.
Disconnect between Policy and Practice
Another challenge to sustainable tourism is the gap between what was envisioned by policy and actual practice. Although many countries adopted Agenda 21 for tourism, policies do not always translate into the intended practice. At the firm level, goals and plans are not always implemented. This can be attributed to the lack of clear understanding of the principles of sustainable tourism (Maksin, 2010). Disconnect is also linked to differences in the perspective of the relationship between tourism and sustainable development (Aall, 2014). Some may consider sustainable development as a barrier to tourism. Others may consider tourism to a contributor to unsustainable development. There are also those who consider tourism to be one part of the strategy to achieve sustainable tourism development. These perspectives affect the development of sustainable tourism policies and the concurrent outcomes. This could also be attributed to the lack of clear understanding of the principles of sustainable tourism and strategies for applying these principles (Maksin, 2010). An integrated tourism plan, effective resource management, uniform vision, and strong intellectual leadership can be ways of addressing this challenge (Harrison, Jayawardena, & Clayton, 2003). Addressing this challenge can be through a business rationale that covers governance, incentives and penalties, multiple stakeholder interests, generational attitudes and concerns, and compilation of best practices (Jayawardena, 2003).
Triple Bottom Line in Growth Management
Balancing the triple bottom line in growth management is another challenge to sustainable tourism. Expected growth in tourism in the next years requires the effective management of tourism development in order to prevent any severe disruption and destruction of tourism. Effective management of sustainable tourism involves careful design of development plans for a tourism destination, better management of ecological quality, and stronger influence on the attitudes and behaviors of tourism consumers. (Maksin 2010) A compounding challenge is the management of tourism development in a manner that balances the triple bottom line of economic, socio-cultural and environmental aspects or at least the even prioritization of these aspects. This difficulty can be exemplified by the activities targeting sustainable tourism in Kenya and Zanzibar that neglected to consider the socio-cultural aspect, particularly the impact of the activities on gender roles and gender relations and the corresponding effect on access to resources by women actively involved in tourism. A strategic sustainability framework with a holistic approach and involves cooperation of key stakeholders would likely lead to a better management of growth and balancing of the triple bottom line. (Okech, 2010)
Redistribution of Resources
Another challenge to sustainable tourism is reversing the tendency of tourism activities to neglect reinvesting in the local communities in terms of job creation, decent income, and work advancement opportunities. Tourism is labor-intensive with little obstacles to entry, which puts the industry in the position to make a significant contribution to local communities, especially in rural areas where majority of families living in poverty reside (Aal, 2014). Part of the effective management of sustainable tourism is ensuring that tourism revenues are redistributed to local communities as well as allotting a certain percentage towards the poor communities. Redistribution can be ensured through a strategic sustainability framework focused on inclusion of stakeholders, addressing local impacts, and equalization of resource distribution. (Maksin, 2010)
Climate Change
A challenge to sustainable tourism that has a broad impact on all industries and economies is climate change. Climate change directly affects tourism development and vice versa. It also has wide-ranging impact on other industries linked to tourism and government policies that directly or indirectly affect tourism. While addressing climate change may not be within the power of sustainable tourism development managers, they can contribute to alleviating its effects. Impact of climate change on tourism and influence of tourism on climate change should be considered in sustainable approaches and diligently monitored to ensure the appropriate preventive and alleviatory responses (Hunter & Rinner, 2004).
Conclusion
Different concepts, anthropocentrism and ecocentrism, have a strong impact on the understanding of the importance and role of sustainable tourism, which then influences the effective planning, implementation and evaluation of sustainable tourism activities. Concepts of sustainable tourism together with other factors give rise to several challenges to sustainable tourism development. Sustainable tourism appears to be here to stay. Tourism managers need to consciously engage in achieving a clearer understanding of sustainable tourism, developing compromises towards greater adoption of sustainable practices by tourism firms, and building on best practices for effectively managing challenges to sustainable tourism development.
References
Aal, C. (2014). Sustainable tourism in practice: Promoting or perverting the quest for a sustainable development. Sustainability, 6, 2562-2583. doi:10.3390/su6052562
Harrison, L., Jayawardena, C., & Clayton, A. (2003). Sustainable tourism development in the Caribbean: Practical challenges. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 15, 294-298. doi:10.1108/09596110310482227
Hunter, L., & Rinner, L. 2004. The association between environmental perspective and knowledge and concern with species diversity. Society and Natural Resources, 17, 517-532. doi:10.1080/08941920490452454
Jayawardena, C. (2003). Sustainable tourism development in Canada: Practical challenges. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 15, 408-412. doi:10.1108/09596110310496051
Jovicic, D., & Sinosich, R. (2012). Ethical bases of sustainable tourism. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/
Keulartz, J. (2012). The emergence of enlightened anthropocentrism in ecological restoration. Nature and Culture, 7, 48-71. doi:10.3167/nc.2012.070104
Maksin, M. (2010). Challenges, responses and partnership for achieving sustainable tourism and heritage preservation. SPATIUM International Review, 22, 11-18. doi:10.2298/SPAT1022011M
Okech, R. (2010). Tourism impacts on local communities around coastal zones: Issues of sustainable development. Journal of Tourism Challenges and Trends, 3, 189-200. Retrieved from https://www.questia.com/
Patterson, C. (2016). Sustainable tourism: Business development, operations and management. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Schultz, P. W., & Zelezny, L. (2003). Reframing environmental messages to be congruent with American values. Human Ecology Review, 10, 126-136. Retrieved from http://connection.ebscohost.com/
UN-DESA. (2016). Sustainable tourism. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/sustainabletourism
UNWTO. (2005). Sustainable development of tourism: Definition. Retrieved from http://sdt.unwto.org/content/about-us-5
