Introduction
As one of the world’s largest industries, tourism plays an essential role among the global population. In spite of the fact that this activity has become an integral part of people’s lives not more than one century ago, tourism serves a variety of functions in modern society. On the one hand, this sector is tremendously beneficial for the economic development of numerous countries, as it is associated with improved tax revenue and personal incomes. On the other hand, tourism offers the opportunity to explore the world and develop friendly relationships between various cultures. In turn, a vast amount of attention is paid to sustainable tourism lately.
This kind of tourism is based on the idea to establish a suitable balance between the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development. Currently, it is intended to achieve three main goals. First, the purpose of sustainable tourism is to make optimal use of environmental resources in order to ensure natural heritage can be appreciated by future generations. The second goal of this kind of tourism is to preserve the socio-cultural heritage of communities, whereas its third goal is to provide economic benefits to specific tourist destinations. In other words, one of the main objectives of sustainable tourism development is to improve the quality of up-to-date tourist services, as well as enhance opportunities for the future. Accordingly, it is essential to note that the impact of tourism on the environment should not be ignored.
History of Sustainable Tourism Development
Even though sustainable tourism has been developing for only several decades, this process is extremely important today. Initially, this term was used in the seminal report called ‘Our Common Future’ published in 1987 (World Bank Group, 2017). Published by the United Nations, this document was based on the idea to analyze multilateralism and interdependence of nations. As a result, this report has encouraged multiple experts in the area of tourism to do comprehensive research. Since the end of the 20th century, sustainable tourism development has been analyzed from two main perspectives, such as the needs of individuals and the ability to satisfy the expectations of future generations.
Thus, the primary 10 principles of sustainable tourism were developed in 1991 (World Bank Group, 2017). These principles require the global population from different parts of the world to use resources sustainably, reduce overconsumption, maintain biodiversity, integrate tourism into planning, and support local economies. At the same time, it is tremendously essential to involve local communities, train staff, and take marketing tourism responsibly. Taking into account that these principles are still considered in the area of tourism, they play a crucial role in ensuring that tourism does not have a negative influence on the environment.
Furthermore, three dimensions of sustainable tourism development were identified in the past century. For instance, tourism presently has a considerable economic, environmental, and social impact on the whole world. In the context of environmental influence, numerous destinations attract citizens of other countries with the help of natural resources, such as clean air, land, and mineral waters. Therefore, it is essential to preserve these resources, as they make a significant contribution to the entire natural environment. From the perspective of the economic dimension, tourism is associated with job creation, injection of income into the local economy, and infrastructure development. Hence, tourism can be considered an economic phenomenon, as it attracts financial investments. Finally, the social aspect of sustainable tourism development is the basis for the idea to preserve local culture and heritage, as well as strengthen communities.
Statistical Data
The tourism industry has developed considerably since the middle of the 20th century. For example, there were around 25 million registered international tourists in 1950, whereas nearly 1.4 billion people were traveling internationally in 2018 (Vu et al., 2020). In other words, the number of international tourists has increased over 50 times in the past 70 years. In turn, Europe has always been the most visited continent among tourists, even though the level of its popularity has decreased in the past decades.
For instance, in the middle of the past century, around two-thirds of all tourists were traveling to this continent. In the 21st century, approximately one-half of all tourists make a choice to visit Europe (Vodenska, 2020). Such considerable popularity of this continent on the global market can be explained by the significance of tourist resources in France, Spain, and Italy. In terms of France, it is the most visited country in the world with nearly 100 million people visiting it with tourist intentions (Vodenska, 2020). This country is widely known for its breathtaking landmarks, precious architecture, delicious food, beautiful beaches, and tremendously interesting history.
Nevertheless, the outbreak of COVID-19has significantly affected the development of the tourism industry. It is assumed that international tourist arrivals fell by 70% in 2020 due to the negative impact of the global pandemic (Vinh & Sang, 2020). Thus, about one billion individuals were not involved in the process of tourism in the past year. This can be explained by the closed borders of the majority of countries and people’s fear to be infected with the virus. It is expected that tourism will be slowly rebounding in 2021-2024, although it depends on global trends with regard to vaccination rates.
Involvement of Global Organizations in Sustainable Tourism Development
Sustainable and responsible tourism development is taken into consideration by a variety of leading global organizations around the world. Some of them are the British Tourist Authority, World Tourism Organization, and U.S. Travel Association (Streimikiene et al., 2020). At present time, they are associated with different roles, functions, and missions. However, all of them support sustainable and responsible tourism development. Usually, these organizations are similar in terms of:
Role: The main role of leading organizations is to protect the beauty and culture of the country by managing and maintaining the destinations. Most frequently, representatives of these organizations take responsibility for ensuring that tourism is managed in a systematic manner, as it may result in an increased number of satisfied tourists.
Functions: Global organizations mentioned above are involved in the promotion of sustainable and responsible tourism. For example, some of the primary functions served are protecting destinations and implementing policies related to the sustainable development of tourism. In turn, the protection of destinations can facilitate the increment of tourism around the world. Apart from this, these organizations pay a vast amount of attention to the safety and security of destinations. Lastly, the process of implementing appropriate policies for the sustainable development of tourism is beneficial for generating national income and increasing the number of potential tourists.
Forming strategies for supporting sustainable and responsible tourism: All the leading organizations that are focused on the development of tourism form specific strategies in order to improve the quality of tourism in a particular country. For instance, these strategies can be based on infrastructure development and the safety of tourists.
Mission: All the leading organizations involved in sustainable and responsible tourism work with a mission of increasing and developing tourism around the world so that the number of tourists could be increased and their expectations could be met.
Tourism Impacts
It is essential to note that tourism has both positive and negative effects on the whole world and each specific country. In order to assess the influence of this field of business, environmental, social, and economic factors should be considered in the first place. In this way, the target audience would be able to increase the level of awareness of this sector and make appropriate conclusions.
From the perspective of the environment, it is crucial to pay attention to the positive effects of tourism. First, tourism can be considered a tremendously effective tool that is used to create awareness and sensitization about sustainable tourism options. In other words, people from different parts of the world get the opportunity to determine the value of preserving and maintaining the environment. Second, tourism development has been successfully encouraging the adoption and implementation of regulatory measures in the past several decades. For instance, there are numerous policies implemented with the intention to protect ecosystems by controlling the number of tourists in a specific area and setting up restrictive legislation aimed to conserve the environment (Setiawan et al., 2017). Third, tourism is associated with a considered development of infrastructure, including roads, railways, airports, electrical grid systems, and telecommunications.
Simultaneously, tourism is widely known as one of the most significant contributors to environmental issues that are registered on different continents. For example, the destruction of nature and habitat loss have recently become the main environmental problems related to the development of tourism. Currently, this industry uses new areas of land to build tourist infrastructure in spite of the fact that certain territories should be protected by the law (Nurjaya, 2018). As a result, numerous animals lose their natural habitat, which is likely to result in the extinction of many species. Moreover, tourism contributes to various waste disposal problems that significantly lower the quality of life of the local population. It is predicted that numerous tourist destinations will face the disappearance of fresh underground water in the nearest future due to vast pressure on the resources of these areas. For instance, in California, some people are required to limit their shower time because of this environmental problem.
Presently, a lot of attention should also be dedicated to the problem of the exploitation of animals. In order to entertain tourists, people working in this industry have started using animals. Whether it is elephant safari, donkey rides, circuses, or oceanariums, many people would like to enjoy unforgettable animal experiences during their trips. Even though the majority of tourists sponsor these activities because of their love for animals, few people know about the suffering that animals have to experience to meet the expectations of tourists. Usually, they struggle with a combination of cruel training methods, including beatings, scarring with loud noises, and keeping them chained. Thus, tourism promotes some activities that should be banned due to animal abuse.
In addition to environmental impact, tourism also considerably affects the economies of numerous countries. Tourism is frequently used to improve the economic development of specific destinations in terms of employment, currency exchange, taxes, and imports. Taking into consideration that this sector accounts for approximately five percent of world GDP, this industry provides numerous economic opportunities. For example, around 10 % of the global population is employed in the area of tourism (MacKenzie & Gannon, 2019). In other words, every 10th person in the world builds a career in this field. Furthermore, there are almost 50 countries that mainly rely on tourism, as this industry generates over 15% of their total share of employment (Juandi et al., 2018). In turn, these countries include Aruba, Macau, Maldives, and the Bahamas. When it comes to European countries that greatly depend on the development of tourism, Greece, Croatia, Portugal, and Albania should be mentioned.
Accordingly, the main positive effects of tourism on the economy of different countries are foreign exchange earnings, employment generation, and the development of the private sector. As a result, once a certain country receives foreign exchange earnings, there is an opportunity to spend it either on the further development of tourism or public services, such as education and healthcare. In the context of the development of the private sector, tourism plays an essential role as local communities can become tremendously profitable. For example, Italy is the country where the international coffee chain Starbucks had been banned until 2018 due to the intention to promote their individually-owned coffee shops and develop the private sector (Benu et al., 2020). Subsequently, similar measures can be taken by other countries in order to popularize the local market.
Nevertheless, this field of business also has some negative effects on the economy of the whole world and some specific countries. First, it is important to take into account economic leakage which is an extremely prevalent problem in different parts of the world. In general, this process can be described as a diversion of funds in the globalized and monopolized world. This economic problem can occur through imported goods, foreign employment, or currency conversion. The causes of this process depend on the destination and its development, although mass tourism and luxury tourism are regarded as the main contributors to economic leakage. For example, of every 100 USD spent on tourism in developing countries, only about 5 USD are invested in the local economy (World Bank Group, 2017). Therefore, the implementation of regulating policies in the area of economic leakage is required to address this problem.
Infrastructure cost is another considerable economic problem that occurs due to the development of the tourism industry. On the one hand, the process of building new infrastructure has a variety of advantages for the host community. On the other hand, the cost of building appropriate infrastructure is frequently ignored. However, the government usually spends a vast amount of financial resources from people’s taxes to fulfill the needs of tourists. For instance, the third runway at London Heathrow was estimated to cost around £18.6billion (World Bank Group, 2017). When it comes to developed countries, have the opportunity to improve local infrastructure without damaging other essential areas, such as education and healthcare. However, developing countries frequently need to build tourist infrastructure based on the money that was supposed to be invested in other fields.
Furthermore, an increase in prices is an economic problem that is discussed from different perspectives. It is extremely common practice when the same products significantly differ in prices in hotels and local markets. A considerable increase in prices does not fit the increase in the income of the local population proportionately. As a result, some tourist destinations are affected by gentrification, which is known as the process when locals are forced to leave a certain area due to the inability to satisfy their economic expectations (Vodenska, 2020). At the same time, this problem can be successfully managed by sustainable tourism. It is usually recommended to take into consideration strategies, such as employment of local people in the tourism industry, reduction in the number of all-inclusive hotels, as well as encouragement to purchase local products and services through high-quality promotion.
Lastly, there are numerous social benefits of tourism, which significantly contribute to changes in individual behavior and community organization. At present time, the primary examples of positive social impacts of tourism are the provision of social services and; the commercialization of culture and art. Taking into consideration that local culture is one of the main aspects encouraging people to travel, it is fair to say that tourism positively impacts the process of preserving local culture. Usually, people visit Brazil because of the annual carnival, whereas the majority of tourists coming to Thailand aim to enjoy authentic Thai food (Setiawan et al., 2017). In other words, each destination takes appropriate measures to preserve local culture in order to impress tourists. Whether it is historical monuments, food, architectural landmarks, or natural resources, they are preserved due to sustainable tourism development.
Simultaneously, it is essential to consider the negative social impact of tourism from different perspectives. First, tourism is a considerable contributor to social change, as this process requires local populations to adapt to new traditions. For instance, some people have changed the way they dress due to mass tourism, while others have been introduced to alcohol consumption. Second, loss of authenticity is another problem that has developed due to tourism. In spite of the fact that numerous tourists search for an authentic experience, they are unlikely to enjoy local authenticity to the fullest extent. If the authenticity was preserved completely, tourists would have to face a variety of complications. Therefore, governments adapt destinations’ authenticity to the needs of people who frequently travel there.
The growth of aggression and crime rates can be considered the most substantial social issue associated with the development of tourism. When it comes to aggression experienced by residents of a specific area, it is usually the result of tourists’ disrespect for local traditions. Before coming to any country, it is extremely important to do comprehensive research on the rules that are maintained there. For instance, it is forbidden to wear shorts in Indonesia or shake left hands in India (Vinh & Sang, 2020). If travelers ignore these rules, they are likely to face aggression from the local population.
A vast amount of attention should be dedicated to high crime rates in the destinations that are visited by numerous tourists. For example, Barcelona and Paris have some of the highest rates of crime even though these cities are well-developed centers in Europe. Currently, 40 crimes per 100 inhabitants occur in Barcelona, which can be considered a tremendously high rate (World Bank Group, 2017). Therefore, before visiting popular destinations, it is vital to take the right precautions.
Conclusion
Sustainable tourism development plays an essential role in modern society, as it takes full account of its current and future economic, social, and environmental impacts. Simultaneously, this process is based on the idea to meet the expectations of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities. This form of tourism is intended to advance urban infrastructure and universal accessibility, as well as preserve cultural and natural heritage. Therefore, the main characteristics of a sustainable tourism destination include environmental, socio-cultural, and economic respect by both tourists and residents. Thus, sustainable tourism development aims to improve current tourists’ experience and offer future generations the opportunity to get engaged in tourism activities.
Tourism has both positive and negative impacts on the whole world in the context of social, economic, and social factors. When it comes to environmental factors, tourism contributes to the development of infrastructure, as well as the creation of national parks, and reserves. However, this field of business is also associated with the depletion of local natural resources, pollution, and waste problems. In terms of economic impact, tourism has a significant influence on attracting investment, additional regional income, and employment growth. In turn, economic leakage and increase can be regarded as the main negative effects of tourism on the economy. Finally, the socio-cultural impact of tourism can be noticed through the provision of social services, and the commercialization of culture. In contrast, tourism is one of the main contributors to social change, loss of authenticity, as well as the growth of aggression and crime rates.
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