What Is Sustainable Tourism, and Why Does It Matter?

By addressing the demands of its ecological surrounds and local populations, sustainable tourism addresses its current and future economic, social, and environmental implications. This is accomplished by safeguarding natural environments and wildlife when developing and managing tourism activities, providing only authentic experiences for tourists that do not appropriate or misrepresent local heritage and culture, and generating direct socioeconomic benefits for local communities through training and employment.

Travel destinations and organizations are following suit as people begin to pay more attention to sustainability and the direct and indirect repercussions of their actions. The New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment, for example, aims to have every New Zealand tourism business committed to sustainability by 2025, whereas Palau has required visitors to sign an environmental pledge upon admission since 2017.

Tourism companies are regarded successful when they can service the needs of visitors while minimizing the impact on natural resources and providing long-term employment for locals. Sustainable tourism, when correctly managed, can meet the demands of the present without jeopardizing the future by delivering great experiences for locals, visitors, and the business itself.

What Exactly Is Sustainability?

At its foundation, sustainability is about maintaining our environmental, social, and economic benefits while not depleting the resources that future generations will require to survive. Historically, sustainability principles leaned toward business, but more recent conceptions of sustainability emphasize finding ways to avoid depleting natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance and the quality of environmental and human societies.

What Characterizes Sustainable Tourism?

Because tourism effects and is impacted by a diverse variety of activities and industries, all sectors and stakeholders (tourists, governments, host communities, tourism firms) must work together to ensure the success of sustainable tourism.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations body in charge of promoting sustainable tourism, and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), the global standard for sustainable travel and tourism, hold similar views on what constitutes sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism, according to them, should make the best use of environmental resources while also contributing to the conservation of natural heritage and biodiversity, respect the socio-culture of local host communities, and contribute to intercultural understanding. Economically, it should also assure long-term viability of operations that will benefit all stakeholders, whether that is permanent employment for locals, social services, or contributions to poverty alleviation.

The GSTC has developed a set of criteria to help create a shared understanding of sustainable travel and tourism. These criteria are used to distinguish sustainable places and organizations, but they can also help corporations and government agencies adopt sustainable policies. The global baseline criteria are divided into four pillars: sustainable management, socioeconomic effect, cultural impact, and environmental impact.

Environment?

Protecting natural habitats is the foundation of sustainable tourism. According to World Tourism Organization data, tourism-related CO2 emissions are expected to rise by 25% by 2030. Tourism transport-related emissions accounted for 5% of all man-made emissions in 2016, with long-distance international travel transport-related emissions anticipated to increase by 45% by 2030.

The environmental consequences of tourism do not stop with carbon emissions. Unsustainable tourism can cause waste problems, land loss or soil erosion, natural habitat loss, and stress on endangered species. Most of the time, the resources in these areas are already few, and the negative consequences might lead to the degradation of the very ecosystem on which the sector depends.

Sustainable industries and destinations must save resources, decrease pollution, and preserve biodiversity and key ecosystems. To accomplish this, proper resource management, as well as waste and emissions management, are required.?

Tourism, for example, consumes 65% of local water resources in Bali, whereas tourists use 15 times as much water per night in Zanzibar as local people.

Another aspect of ecologically conscious sustainable tourism is purchasing: Does the tour operator, hotel, or restaurant prefer vendors and products sourced locally? How do they handle food waste and dispose of items? Offering paper straws instead of plastic ones can make a significant difference in an organization's harmful pollution footprint.

?There has recently been an increase in the number of companies that promote carbon offsetting. The objective of carbon offsetting is to pay for greenhouse gas emissions by cancelling them elsewhere. Carbon offsetting should not be the primary goal, in the same way as reducing or reusing should come first before recycling. Sustainable tourist industries always try first to reduce emissions and then offset what they can't.

Sustainable tourism, when properly managed, has the potential to provide alternatives to need-based vocations and behaviours such as poaching. Because of poverty and other socioeconomic concerns, residents in developing nations frequently resort to environmentally hazardous habits. For example, in India's Periyar Tiger Reserve, an uncontrolled growth of tourists made it more difficult to manage poaching. In response, an eco-development initiative focused at creating jobs for villagers transformed 85 ex-poachers into reserve gamekeepers. The group of gamekeepers established a number of tourism packages under the supervision of the reserve's management team and are now safeguarding land rather than exploiting it. Jobs in responsible wildlife tourism have shown to be more fulfilling and lucrative than illicit work.

Local Culture and People

Contributing to the protection, preservation, and enhancement of local places and traditions is one of the most important and sometimes overlooked parts of sustainable tourism. These include locations of historical, archaeological, or cultural importance, as well as "intangible heritage," such as ceremonial dance or traditional art skills.

When a location is exploited as a tourist attraction, it is critical that the tourism does not obstruct access to local residents. Some tourist groups, for example, develop local programs that allow citizens to visit culturally significant tourism attractions in their own country. Wilderness Safaris' "Children in the Wilderness" program educates children in rural Africa about the importance of wildlife conservation and provides valuable leadership development tools. Vacations booked through Responsible Travel benefit the company's "Trip for a Trip" initiative, which organizes day trips for disadvantaged youngsters who live near renowned tourist attractions but have never visited.

Sustainable tourism organizations collaborate with communities to incorporate and respectfully reflect various local cultural expressions as part of a traveler's experiences. They work with locals to get their feedback on culturally appropriate interpretation of sites, and they train guides to offer visitors a valuable (and accurate) perspective of the location. The idea is to persuade visitors to want to safeguard the region because they recognize its importance.

Bhutan, a small landlocked South Asian country, has imposed an all-inclusive tax on international visitors since 1997 ($200 per day in the off season and $250 per day in the high season). This allows the government to limit the tourism business to only local entrepreneurs and to specified places, ensuring that the country's most valuable natural resources are not exploited.

Economy

Making a business case for sustainable tourism is simple, especially when considering a place as a commodity. Consider the preservation of a destination, cultural site, or ecology to be an investment. Sustainable tourism will optimize the efficiency of corporate resources by keeping the environment healthy and the inhabitants happy. This is especially true in places where people are more likely to express their complaints if they believe the sector treats visitors better than residents.

Reduced reliance on natural resources not only saves money in the long run, but studies suggest that modern visitors are more willing to participate in ecologically friendly tourism. Booking.com discovered in 2019 that 73% of passengers preferred an eco-friendly hotel over a standard one, and 72% stated that people needed to make sustainable travel decisions for future generations.

The Tourist's Role

For the ninth year in a row, growth in the travel and tourism sectors has surpassed growth in the entire global economy. Prior to the pandemic, travel and tourism contributed $9.6 trillion to global GDP and supported 333 million employment (or one in every four new jobs worldwide).

Sustainable travel dollars support employees, who pay taxes that benefit the local economy. If those employees are not given a fair salary or are not treated decently, the traveller is inadvertently supporting harmful or unsustainable behaviours that contribute nothing to the community's future. Similarly, if a hotel does not consider its environmental impact, it may be constructing infrastructure on animal breeding grounds or contributing to excessive pollution. The same is true for attractions, as income from sustainably managed areas (such as nature preserves) are frequently directed toward conservation and research.

By designating 25.56% of land as a national park, wildlife refuge, or reserve, Costa Rica was able to transform a major deforestation catastrophe in the 1980s into a diverse tourism-based economy.

Are You a Green Traveller?

Sustainable travellers are aware that their actions have an environmental and social impact on the places they visit. Be cautious of the destinations, accommodations, and activities you select, and choose closer-to-home destinations or lengthen your duration of stay to save money. While on vacation, consider using more ecologically friendly modes of transportation such as bicycles, trains, or walking. Consider supporting locally managed tour companies or locally owned family enterprises rather than giant international chains. Avoid activities that endanger wildlife, such as elephant riding or tiger petting, and instead visit a wildlife sanctuary (or, even better, participate in a beach clean-up or schedule an hour or two of volunteer work that interests you).?

Respect the local population and their traditions by taking out what you bring in, not littering, and leaving natural areas as you found them.

The majority of us travel to see the world. Traveling is extremely gratifying because it exposes you to other cultures, traditions, views, smells, and tastes. It is our obligation as travellers to ensure that these sites are preserved not only for the communities who rely on them, but also for future generations of travellers.

Sustainable Tourism Varieties

Sustainable tourism includes multiple levels, the majority of which are opposed to more traditional types of mass tourism, which are more likely to cause environmental harm, cultural loss, pollution, negative economic repercussions, and over tourism.

Ecotourism

Ecotourism emphasizes ethical travel to natural regions that are concerned with environmental conservation. A sustainable tourism organization promotes and contributes to biodiversity protection by properly managing its own property and respecting or improving neighbouring natural protected areas (or places of high biological significance). The majority of the time, this appears to be monetary compensation for conservation management, but it can also entail ensuring that tours, attractions, and infrastructure do not disrupt natural ecosystems.

On the same note, wildlife interactions with free-roaming wildlife should be non-intrusive and appropriately handled to avoid unwanted consequences for the animals. Prioritize trips to recognized rescue and rehabilitation centres, such as the Jaguar Rescue Center in Costa Rica, that specialize on treating, rehoming, or releasing animals back into the wild.

Tourism with a Soft Touch

Soft tourism may emphasize local experiences, languages, or encourage more time spent in specific locations. This is in contrast to hard tourism, which includes short-term visits, disrespect for culture, snapping a lot of selfies, and generally feeling superior as a tourist.

Many World Heritage Sites, for example, promote soft tourism to increase conservation, preservation, and sustainability. Peru's iconic Machu Picchu was once considered as one of the world's worst victims of over tourism, or a tourist destination that has suffered negative repercussions (such as traffic or litter) as a result of an excessive number of visitors. In recent years, the attraction has taken attempts to mitigate damage, such as requiring hikers on the Inca Trail to employ local guides, defining dates and times on visitor tickets to avoid overcrowding, and prohibiting all single-use plastics from the park.

Tourism in the Countryside

Tourism in non-urbanized places such as national parks, woods, nature reserves, and mountain ranges is referred to as rural tourism. Camping and glamping are two examples, as are trekking and WOOFing. Rural tourism is a fantastic approach to practice sustainable tourism because it often uses fewer natural resources.

Tourism in the Community

Community-based tourism refers to tourism in which local members encourage visitors to their own communities. It occasionally includes overnight stays and is frequently held in rural or developing areas. This sort of tourism creates connection and allows travellers to get in-depth understanding of local environments, wildlife, and traditional cultures – all while directly benefiting host communities. Ecuador is a world pioneer in community tourism, with unique lodging options such as the Sani Lodge, which is maintained by the local Kichwa indigenous people and offers responsible cultural experiences in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest.