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SECTION 1: THE IMPACTS OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY ON THE ENVIRONMENT 037 S E C T I O N 1 Like all industries, tourism has an impact on the environment. It is a large consumer of natural and other resources such as land, water, fuel, electricity, and food, and generates significant quantities of waste and emissions. The World Tourism Organisation (WTO) reported for 1999: 663 million international tourists (a 4% increase from 1998), 10 times that many domestic travellers and a colossal US$453 billion spending on international tourism (a 3% increase from 1998). The industry’s environment impact is obviously of huge significance. Tourism has a vested interest in maintaining environment quality, as the environment is its key resource. A clean and healthy environment is critical for successful tourism. All over the world, from coastlines in Asia, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean to national parks in Africa, and to mountain resorts in North America and Europe, environment degradation caused by tourism has and continues to bring business losses. Nobody wants to go to the beach where the water is polluted, to visit countryside lined with ribbon developments or walk in parks littered with packaging and disposable waste. As visitor numbers fall, so do prices, then profits. Prices are slashed as tourism operators struggle to stay in business. There being little or no cash for maintenance, repair, or waste management, prevailing environment impacts are worsened. Shabby facilities and poor service further reduces destination quality, and demand continues to drop. To short-circuit this vicious cycle, environment improvements are vital. COMMON QUESTION What is an environment impact? An environment impact is the change in an environment parameter (or medium) resulting from a given activity, compared with the natural rate of environment change that would have occurred had the activity not taken place. For example, the environment impacts of a marina are changes in the lagoon’s ecosystem due to anchoring, the movement of boats, oil, sewage and other chemical discharges, etc. These changes include water pollution, the death of some species of marine life, and increased noise levels. These effects are then compared to those that would have naturally taken place in the same lagoon had the marina not been built. This could be the gradual sedimentation and build-up of vegetation and marine life towards that of a wetland, or strong tidal movements that would remove and renew nutrients to maintain the existing lagoon ecosystem. As this example shows, environment impacts have to be considered over a specific area and within a specific period of time. Environment impacts can be direct or indirect. Direct impacts are those caused directly by a given activity, while an indirect impact occurs as a follow-on or snowball effect. Tourism has a vested interest in maintaining environment quality, as the environment is its key resource. The impacts of tourism and hospitality on land, air and water, as well as several other related issues will be discussed in what follows. The discussion will include impacts that occur during the construction of infrastructure and facilities, as well as those that occur during their use and occupation. The following discussion will help improve appreciation of how the impacts of tourism contribute towards the global environment issues discussed in Unit 1.
038 UNIT 2: TOURISM, HOSPITALITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT – IMPACTS AND SOLUTIONS Many of the world’s major tourism city destinations – Bangkok, Paris, Rome, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Athens, and Manila – are also on the global list of urban areas with very poor ambient air quality. 1 The worldwide phasing-out of ozone-depleting chemicals is in progress under the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances. More information can be found in Unit 1 and Unit 4. 1.1 Impacts of Tourism on Air With over 650 million people travelling internationally and ten times that number travelling domestically, road, rail and air transport are major contributors to global warming, climate change, photochemical smog and poor air quality. Road traffic also causes noise, dust, congestion and particulate emissions that are worsened in many cities by badly maintained exhaust systems. It is worth noting that many of the world’s major tourism city destinations – Bangkok, Paris, Rome, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Athens, and Manila – are also on the global list of urban areas with very poor ambient air quality. Transport is also an important activity when tourism facilities are being designed and built. Building materials, machinery, furniture and fittings have to be transported to the site and construction waste has to be disposed of. Once buildings are occupied, businesses directly contribute towards air pollution through the use of fossil fuels and ozone-depleting substances 1 , as well as the purchase of goods and services that need to be transported long distances. In many countries electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels and as hospitality businesses in these countries are big electricity consumers, they contribute to air emissions that way too. Emissions from aircraft, especially nitrous oxides, have greater impact when released at high altitudes. Air traffic control delays, airport congestion and fuel jettisoning (even though rare) all contribute to air pollution. 1.2 Impacts of Tourism on Land • LAND USE ISSUES The hospitality industry is often held responsible for the expansion of urban sprawl and the use of hitherto untouched natural areas, especially mangroves, mountains and forests, for further development. While this can bring much-needed water, power and transport infrastructure, it also creates competition with traditional land uses such as agriculture, fisheries and forestry. Mangroves, forests and mountains are constantly under pressure for resort development. Coral reefs and forests are further exploited as sources of building materials which leads directly to land degradation and biodiversity loss. Land use conflicts can be observed in many coastal regions, where the local fishing industry has vehemently opposed tourism development. The fishermen argue that tourism not only destroys the coastal environment and near-shore fishing grounds, but brings them only very meagre revenues. • RESOURCE CONSUMPTION Hospitality businesses and tourists themselves consume large proportions of basic resources, which are often in short supply. It is usual practice in many resort areas for local people to live through cuts in power, water, fuel and food supplies during peak seasons, to meet the needs of tourists. Consider the following facts: - Several species of shellfish are on the brink of extinction in the Caribbean because of over-fishing. The main demand for shellfish comes from tourists; S E C T I O N 1
Page 1 and 2: sowing the seeds of change AN ENVIR
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PARTING THOUGHTS 211 “Expand your
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RESOURCES 213 The following is a li
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