unsustainable tourism essay

We’re in the era of overtourism but there is a more sustainable way forward

Professor of Development Studies, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University

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Regina Scheyvens works for Massey University and has done research in the South Pacific funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand's Marsden Fund.

Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University provides funding as a member of The Conversation NZ.

Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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If you live in a tourist destination, you might dread the holiday invasion. Likewise, disgruntled tourists complain about crowded and polluted beaches, national parks or attractions.

Overtourism is now a serious issue in many parts of the world. A good visitor experience may not be a finite resource in the same way as oil, but many popular destinations in Europe are reaching what could be termed “peak tourism”.

Concerns have been raised from Amsterdam to Dubrovnik about noise pollution, crowded parks, pressure on public facilities and rising rents. And in what is depicted as a “ global battle ” between travellers and locals, anti-tourism street marches have occurred in Barcelona and Venice.

Read more: Anti-tourism attacks in Spain: who is behind them and what do they want?

Unsustainable tourism growth

Tucked away in a seemingly idyllic spot in the South Pacific, New Zealand is not immune to such concerns, which is why Massey University is hosting the world’s first research conference on tourism and the sustainable development goals this month.

Between 2013 and 2018, international tourist arrivals in New Zealand grew by 1.2 million to a total of 3.8 million. During the 12 months to March last year, tourists spent almost $40 billion , and the industry now provides one in every 12 jobs.

Economists see this growth as very positive for the country’s development, but many New Zealanders are ambivalent: 39% have expressed concern over the negative impacts of the growth in international visitors. The pressure on some destinations is particularly intense. For example, the 20,000 permanent residents of the summer and winter playground of Queenstown play host to around three million visitors a year.

Read more: Rethinking tourism and its contribution to conservation in New Zealand

Meanwhile local government bodies lament the pressure on public infrastructure and demands for waste disposal from freedom campers. Contractors at four Central Otago freedom camping sites have struggled to clear 16 tonnes of rubbish accumulated over the last two months.

A test case for concerns about the promise versus the pitfalls of tourism is the case of cruise tourism in Akaroa Harbour . The battle line lies between some business owners whose livelihoods depend on cruise tourists and local residents who feel their beautiful harbour and quaint town are marred by air and noise pollution and congestion associated with hundreds of tourists dropping in on their town with each cruise.

Read more: Why Australia might be at risk of 'overtourism'

In Australia, the Guinness World Record-certified whitest sand beach in the world - Hyams Beach - has turned away thousands of potential visitors during the Christmas and New Year period. There are only 110 permanent residents and 400 parking spaces, but up to 5000 tourists wanting to visit the beach each day during summer.

These experiences reflect the pressures and tensions tourism brings to many parts of the world, and the need for better ways of regulating tourist activity and capturing the gains from tourism.

A more sustainable way forward

It is clear that most people do not wish to see an end to tourism. But they do want the industry to be far more sustainable. While the term “sustainable tourism” has long been criticised for its lack of clout – and the way it can be seen as merely “sustaining tourism” , there is a way forward. We can look to the United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), ratified in 2015 by 193 countries and set to guide global development through to 2030.

The SDGs require governments, civil society and business interests to play their parts in creating a more sustainable world. Furthermore, they are multi-faceted, considering social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainability.

Read more: 'Sustainable tourism' is not working – here's how we can change that

The SDGs can help to guide the tourism industry to make more sustainable choices. For example, a strategy by hotels, cruise ships and restaurants to buy as much fresh produce from local farmers as possible would shorten the supply chain and save food miles (thus contributing to SDG 13 on combating climate change). It would also enhance local development (SDG 1 on eliminating poverty).

Tourist resorts in the Pacific could tackle the sexual harrassment from guests that many resort employees experience to show they care about SDG 8 on “decent work for all” and SDG 5 on “empowering all women and girls”.

Tourism trades in luxury products and indulgent experiences, and as such it places a heavy burden on the natural environment and results in waste management issues. SDG 12 on sustainable production and consumption can encourage companies to offer tourists more sustainable products and to reduce wastage of energy, fresh water and food.

Efforts to capture the benefits of tourism while preventing overtourism should pay careful attention to the SDGs.

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Unsustainable tourism and carrying capacity

By Matt Burdett, 23 January 2018

On this page, we look at the consequences of unsustainable touristic growth in rural and urban tourism hotspots, as well as the concept of carrying capacity in relation to tourism.

• Note: ‘touristic’ is a contested word in English. In most situations, ‘touristic’ can be altered to ‘tourist’ or ‘tourism’.

• The Taj Mahal, Agra, India: Some visitors find the beauty of the Taj Mahal is marred by the overwhelming number of tourists, despite a limited-entry ticket system. Is this number of visitors sustainable?

What is ‘unsustainable’ about tourism?

Sustainable tourism can be defined as:

“Tourism that conserves primary tourist resources and supports the livelihoods and culture of local people.” (IBO, 2009)

Therefore unsustainable tourism refers to tourism that fails to conserve tourist resources, and/or does not support the lives and culture of local people. In addition, unsustainable tourism can also refer to environmental sustainability, because there are so many opportunities for an increase in resource consumption coupled with an increase in waste. For example:

• More flights means more consumption of fuel, and more gas emissions that cause air pollution
• More flights means more airports, which means more consumption of land
• More flights means more consumption of disposable products (such as plastic meal trays and cups) which means more plastic waste

This links closely to the concept of the ecological footprint, which is measured in ‘biohectares’ which links to the amount of land required to create the resources and sequester the waste.

There are two further key issues with tourism:

• The resources consumed in tourism are frequently produced very far away from the point of consumption. Therefore, it’s hard to measure the real environmental impact of tourism.
• Tourism is a huge and complex industry. The number of variations within it make it hard to identify the true levels of consumption and waste and therefore the level of unsustainability.

Carrying capacity

Carrying capacity is a key geographical concept. The idea originally comes from farming: the carrying capacity is the maximum number of people that can be fed on the food produced in an area. Over time, the concept of carrying capacity has been expanded into other areas, such as tourism. There are three main types of carrying capacity that apply to tourism: physical, perceptual and environmental. These can be explored through the example of hiking a trail in a mountain area.

Physical carrying capacity

The physical carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of people who can use a space for the purposes of tourism.

An example is the number of people that can fit onto a hiking trail. Mowforth and Munt (2015) suggest that a person needs one meter of trail length in order to walk freely (assuming the trail is 1m wide), which means the physical carrying capacity would be 1000 people per 1000 metres of trail. However, they also recognise that to truly work out the physical carrying capacity, there would be need to be some spare space, and that to work out the maximum number of people who could use the trail we would need to know the time it took for each person to walk. Their calculations are shown below:

“For one of the trails, Sendero Los Cantarillos, other relevant assumptions made are:

• visitors follow the trails in groups of no more than 25 (each group with a guide);

• a distance of at least 100 metres is maintained between groups;

• the trail has a length of 1,100 metres;

• an average time of 1 hour is required for a visitor to complete this trail;

• the monument and trail are open to the public for 7 hours per day and 360 days per year.

Physical Carrying Capacity = length × visitors/metre × daily duration (hrs/day)

=1,100×1×7=7,700 visits per day

=7,700×360=2,772,000 visits per year” (Mowforth and Munt, 2015)

Perceptual carrying capacity

Perceptual carrying capacity is to do with the perception of people. It can be defined as:

“The level reached when local residents of an area no longer want tourists because they are destroying the environment, damaging the local culture or crowding them out of local activities.” (Mowforth and Munt, 2015.)

It can also apply to tourists themselves. For example, one group of people hiking the trail may be happy with a large number of people alongside them. But others might avoid the trail because it is too busy. Their perception is that a busy trail has too many people, i.e. their perception of the carrying capacity has been reached.

Environmental carrying capacity

Environmental carrying capacity is also known as the ecological carrying capacity. It is reached when the environment can’t cope with the number of people using it. It can be defined as:

“The level of tourist development or recreational activity beyond which the environment as previously experienced is degraded or compromised.” (Mowforth and Munt, 2015)

The Butler Model: Consequences of unsustainable tourism growth

In 1980, Richard Butler published an influential paper called “The Concept Of A Tourist Area Cycle Of Evolution: Implications For Management Of Resources”. He argued that the development of tourism in an area would eventually exceed carrying capacity and cause problems, and that the tourist destination would need to rethink its approach to tourism or it would become unsustainable. His model is shown below. If the tourism area successfully adapts, it can enter a period of sustainable tourism called ‘rejuvenation’. If not, unsustainable tourism will lead to a period of ‘decline’.

• Butler, 1980. A Tourism Area Cycle of Evolution.

The model suggests:

• Six stages reflect the changes in a tourist destination.
• Closely linked to carrying capacity and sustainability.
• Suggests that destinations carry the seeds of their own destruction i.e. they are too popular for their own good.
• In the original model there were five variations for Stage 6 “Decline”, with the most negative being a catastrophe such as war or disease.
• Originally focused on ‘sea and sand’ tourism e.g. in Spanish seaside resorts, but was accepted for many alternative destinations.

And one more thing…“leakage”

“[Leakage] is the most frequently cited issue: although tourism can be a great form of wealth distribution, often as little as 5-10% of the money tourists spend remains in the destinations they visit.” (Mullis, 2017)

Leakage is the way that money spent by a tourist on their trip does not go to the destination. The money ‘leaks’ away from the destination through complex processes as shown in the diagram below:

Brazier, 2008. Problems in paradise. Graphic originally sourced from: Tourism Concern/Leeds DEC, cited in Pamela Novicka, No-Nonsense Guide to Tourism, NI 2007. https://newint.org/features/2008/03/01/mainstream-tourism Accessed 23 January 2018.

Butler, R.W. (1980). The Concept Of A Tourist Area Cycle Of Evolution: Implications For Management Of Resources. Canadian Geographer, 24, pp. 5-12. Available at http://www.numptynerd.net/uploads/1/2/0/6/12061984/butler_model_1980.pdf Accessed 20 January 2018.

IBO [International Baccalaureate Organisation], 2009. Geography guide First examinations 2011. IBO, Cardiff.

Mullis, 2017. The growth paradox: can tourism ever be sustainable? https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/08/the-growth-paradox-can-tourism-ever-be-sustainable/ Accessed 23 January 2018.

Mowforth, M. and Munt, I., 2015. Tourism and sustainability; Development and new tourism in the third world, Routledge, London Available at https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/3277849/tourism_and_sustainability.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1516533584&Signature=0jVZC4p4O%2Fzgr0SqnFO9oEi5nG4%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DTourism_and_sustainability_Development_g.pdf Accessed 20 January 2018.

Unsustainable tourism and carrying capacity: Learning activities

• Define ‘unsustainable’. [2]
• Explain why tourism can often risk being a highly unsustainable activity. [3]
• What does ‘carrying capacity’ mean? [2]
• Distinguish between environmental, perceptual and physical carrying capacity. [6]
• The Butler Model outlines six stages that tourist areas go through as they develop. Name all six and briefly describe the features of each stage in terms of the number of tourists visiting. [6]
• Suggest why some locations enter a decline while others rejuvenate. [4]

Other tasks

Look carefully at the Butler model below. Using research and your own knowledge, suggest at least one tourist destination that applies to each of the six stages. For the sixth stage, explain how the tourism area responded to the challenges of stagnation and how that led to either rejuvenation or decline.

Find one picture from each location and annotate it to show the evidence for its position at that stage of tourism.

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What Is Overtourism and Why Is It Such a Big Problem?

Travel destinations are becoming too popular for their own good.

• Chapman University
• Sustainable Fashion
• Art & Media
• Definition of Overtourism
• Consequences of Overtourism

Can Overtourism Be Reversed?

• Machu Picchu, Peru
• Maya Bay, Thailand
• Mount Everest
• Venice, Italy

Overtourism happens when the number of tourists or the management of the tourism industry in a destination or attraction becomes unsustainable. When there are too many visitors, the quality of life for the local community can diminish, the surrounding natural environment can be negatively affected, and the quality of the tourists' experience can decline.

According to the World Tourism Organization, there were 1.5 billion international tourist arrivals worldwide in 2019, a 4% increase from the previous year. International tourist arrivals have continued to outpace the global economy, and the number of destinations earning $1 billion or more from international tourism has doubled since 1998. Tourism is growing, and some places just can’t seem to keep up.

Overtourism Definition

Although the term itself didn’t appear until around 2017 (a writer at media company Skift is often credited for first coining it in the summer of 2016), the problem of overtourism is hardly a new one. The "irritation index," known as Irridex, has examined the change between resident attitudes towards tourists throughout different stages of tourism development since 1975. According to the Galapagos Conservation Trust, tourist satisfaction rankings have been steadily decreasing since 1990 due to overcrowding; the official guidelines for visitor numbers set in 1968 when the Galapagos Island National Park first opened had risen 10-fold by 2015.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization has defined overtourism as "the impact of tourism on a destination, or parts thereof, that excessively influences perceived quality of life of citizens and/or quality of visitors experiences in a negative way." Environmental consequences are a symptom of overtourism, and the recent boost in awareness surrounding the buzzword is simply because there are more destinations around the world experiencing it.

As for what exactly is to blame for overtourism, there are numerous factors at play. Cheaper flights are making travel more accessible, cruise ships are dropping thousands of tourists off to spend several hours at a destination without spending money locally, social media is inspiring users to get that perfect selfie at travel hotspots ... the list goes on and on.

Studies even show that television and movies can impact a place’s desirability. Episodes of Game of Thrones filmed in the historical Croatian town of Dubrovnik corresponded to 5,000 additional tourism overnights per month (59,000 per year) after they aired. Most of these tourists stayed under three days, packing the Old Town walls with day tours that increased pollution and put new strains on the 13th-century infrastructure.

Like so many others, the travel industry has focused too much on growth and not enough on environmental impacts. Rising awareness of overtourism consequences has inspired local and national governments to protect their commodities through sustainable tourism practices and ensure that tourism behavior isn’t damaging—or even better, can be beneficial—to the local environment.

The Consequences of Overtourism

Needless to say, the environmental consequences of overtourism can be catastrophic. Accumulation of trash, air pollution, noise, and light pollution can disrupt natural habitats or breeding patterns (baby sea turtles, for example, can become disorientated by artificial lighting when they hatch ). Both natural and local resources, like water, will degrade as destinations or attractions struggle to accommodate numbers they simply weren’t built to handle. And even as these spots begin increasing tourism development to keep up, they may turn to unsustainable land practices or deforestation to create more accommodations and other tourism infrastructure.

Sustainable tourism management is important since the number of visitors a destination is designed to handle is unique to each one. Short-term rentals may work for certain places, but they could raise rent prices for others and push out local residents to make more room for visitors. In Barcelona, 2017 saw 40% of tourist apartments rented out illegally, making it harder for the locals to find affordable accommodations—only one of the many reasons why the city’s residents organized protests against unregulated tourism over the following years.

It’s the same thing with the environment. Large crowds of tourists in natural destinations may drive wildlife to places outside of their natural habitats, disrupting the delicate ecosystem. In some cases, crowds can negatively influence fragile environments or create more opportunities for human-wildlife conflicts . 

That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of positive aspects to tourism, however. When tourism is sustainably managed, it can be an incredible tool for protecting the environment. Admission dollars to natural areas or animal sanctuaries often go directly towards conservation and environmental education. Tourism can also strengthen local economies and help support small, family-run businesses at the same time. It’s finding that delicate balance between using tourism to fuel the economy while keeping the surrounding environment protected that often presents the greatest challenge.

What Can We Do?

• Plan your trip during the off season or shoulder season .
• Dispose of your waste properly (don’t litter) and bring along your reusables .
• Show respect for local customs and attractions.
• Explore areas outside of the most popular spots.
• Prioritize family-owned and local businesses.
• Educate yourself on sustainable travel practices.

In most places, overtourism is not a hopeless case. Destinations all over the world have already demonstrated ways to overcome the obstacles presented by overcrowding and unsustainable tourism management.

East Africa, for example, has turned gorilla trekking into an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime experience by issuing limits on daily permits, all while maintaining conservation efforts inside native forests and steady employment for local guides. In Antarctica, the Antarctic Treaty restricts the size of cruise ships that land there as well as the number of people they can bring ashore at one time; it also requires a minimum guide-to-tourist ratio while tourists are off the boat.

Local governments and tourist organizations, of course, are largely responsible for maintaining sustainability in the tourism industry, but certain approaches to mitigate the negative effects of overtourism can come down to the individual traveler as well. One of the best ways to become a responsible tourist is by looking outside of the mainstream travel destinations. Consider outer cities or less-visited attractions, or head towards more rural spots to avoid crowds altogether while experiencing a glimpse of a destination’s daily culture outside of the popular areas. There are countless places that want and need more tourists just waiting to be explored.

However, if you just have to visit that bucket-list destination known for its large crowds, consider visiting during its off season or shoulder season instead of peak travel season. Residents who rely on tourism as a source of income need support during the off season more than any other time of year, plus it will save you money as a traveler since accommodations and flights tend to be cheaper. Even better, off season travel puts less pressure on the environment.

Overtourism in Machu Picchu, Peru

John van Hasselt - Corbis / Getty Images

The tourist industry surrounding the famed archaeological city of Machu Picchu in Peru has been largely responsible for the country’s economic growth since the early 1990s. The number of tourists who travel to the 15th-century citadel has quadrupled since the year 2000; in 2017, 1.4 million people visited, an average of 3,900 per day. The site, which sits on a series of steep slopes prone to heavy rains and landslides anyway, is being further eroded by the thousands of visitors who walk the ancient steps each day.

The sharp rise in visitors, combined with a lack of management strategies, prompted UNESCO to recommend that the Peruvian state redraft its overall vision for the site with conservation in mind rather than primarily tourism growth. UNESCO threatened to put Machu Picchu on the “List of World Heritage in Danger” in 2016 if the property didn’t clean up its act.

Beginning in 2019, a new set of tourist restrictions was put into place at Machu Picchu, including limitations on visitors, admission times, and lengths of stay. Tourists are now limited to two daily time slots to relieve pressure on the site and are required to hire a local guide on their first visit.

Overtourism in Maya Bay, Thailand

First made famous by the movie "The Beach," the stunning turquoise waters of Thailand’s Maya Bay have been attracting visitors ever since the film’s release over 20 years ago. Seemingly overnight, the small bay went from a quiet hidden beach on the island of Phi Phi Leh to one of the country’s most popular destinations, bringing hoards of beach-goers along.

According to BBC reports, Maya Bay went from seeing 170 tourists a day in 2008 to 3,500 in 2017, resulting in the death of a majority of its coral reefs. By June 2018, the environmental depredations from litter, boat pollution, and sunscreen had gotten so bad that the government decided to close the beach completely for four months to allow the bay to heal. After the initial four months were through, the government went on to extend the closure indefinitely .

The extreme measure has brought a few positive signs for the environment there. About a year after the initial closure, park officials shared footage of dozens of native black-tipped reef sharks re-entering the bay . A team of biologists and local residents are also working on an ongoing project to plant 3,000 corals in the bay to increase the number of fish and improve the ecosystem.

Overtourism on Mount Everest

While we tend to think of Mount Everest as a remote and unattainable adventure, the destination has actually been suffering from overcrowding for years. Images of hikers standing in line as they try to reach the summit from the Nepalese side aren’t uncommon, and in a high-altitude environment completely dependent on oxygen, long waits can get deadly fast.

Those crowds also accumulate a lot of waste. Between April and May 2019, nearly 23,000 pounds of garbage was collected from Mount Everest, a Guinness Book of World Records in terms of trash. The trash was spread out almost equally between the main basecamp, nearby settlements, high-altitude camps, and the most dangerous portion of the summit route.

One of the most challenging problems lies in the economic value of Mount Everest, which is Nepal’s most lucrative attraction. In the 2017-2018 fiscal year, Nepal received an estimated $643 million from tourism , accounting for 3.5% of its entire GDP.

Overtourism in Venice, Italy

Venice has become the poster child for overtourism in the media, and for good reason. Over the years, the government has been forced to set limits on the number and size of cruise ships that spill visitors into the city, as well as a proposed tourist entrance tax.

The tourism industry hasn’t just resulted in an increased cost of living, but in a decreased quality of life for Venice residents. The local population in Venice has declined by two-thirds over the last 50 years, its cruise ship industry accommodating several hundred ship departures and 1 million passengers each year. According to Bloomberg, there were a total of 5 million visitors in 2017 compared to the resident population of just 60,000 .

In late 2019, when the city experienced a series of floods from record-breaking high tides, some Venetians argued that cruise ships were to blame . The wakes from massive ships were literally eroding the city, while widening the canals to accommodate larger ships throughout the years had damaged coastal habitats for wildlife as well as the physical foundations of the city.

Most of these tourists stick to the city’s most famous landmarks, concentrating large numbers of crowds into small spaces that were not designed to hold them. Its historic buildings and watery ecosystem, already fragile, are certainly feeling the pressure, while the influx of temporary visitors continues to inhibit locals from living their lives. As one of the most active cruise ports in the whole of Southern Europe, Venice is on track to become a city with virtually no full-time residents.

" World Tourism Barometer ." United Nations World Tourism Organization , vol. 18, no. 1, 2020.

Pavlic, Ivana and Portolan, Ana. " Irritation Index, Tourism ." Encyclopedia of Tourism , 2015, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_564-1

" The Impacts of Tourism ." Galapagos Conservation Trust .

" 'Overtourism'? Understanding and Managing Urban Tourism Growth Beyond Perceptions ." United Nations World Tourism Organization .

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11293-020-09673-3

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2014.09.001

" Are Tourists Still Welcome After Protests? " British Broadcasting Corporation .

https://doi.org/10.15640/jthm.v7n2a10

" Thailand: Tropical Bay from 'The Beach' to Close Until 2021 ." British Broadcasting Corporation .

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2018.01.011

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Over seven million people visit "La Joconde," or the Mona Lisa, by Leonardo Da Vinci at the Louvre Museum in Paris each year.

Overtourism: too much of a good thing

The global tourism boom isn’t slowing down. What can travelers do to keep things in balance and aid in sustainability?

Reykjavík isn’t what it used to be. The Icelandic capital’s main shopping street, Laugavegur, now belongs to tourism. Shops bill themselves in English, not Icelandic: Icemart, Chuck Norris Grill, a “Woolcano” gift shop. A lone hardware store has survived the wave of touristification.

The term “ overtourism ”—too many tourists—has been moving from travel-industry jargon into the mainstream, propelled by such flash points as Venice , Amsterdam , and Barcelona , where exasperated locals unfurled “TOURIST GO HOME” banners in 2017.

The phenomenon is global and has even reached chilly, expensive Iceland—a relative newcomer to travelers’ bucket lists. Travel media have affixed the overtourism label not just to Reykjavík but to the whole country. So when I arrive after eight years away, I am apprehensive. How bad will it be? And how can travelers be part of the solution, not part of the problem? [Find amazing alternatives to destinations experiencing overtourism.]

I first explored Iceland as a recent college grad in 1973, entranced by vast scenery, the modern culture with its Old Norse language, and the in-your-face volcanic geology. I kept coming back, making my previous visit in 2010, right before the tourism boom. By 2017, Iceland was drawing over two million visitors annually—six times its national population.

The Blue Lagoon may be one of Iceland’s most popular attractions, but author Jonathan Tourtellot says it’s actually the one place in Iceland he’s not worried about. “It’s entirely artificial, well managed, handy to the airport, and expensive,” he says.

When does such a fast-rising tide become an unacceptable tsunami? For Icelanders who are not making money from tourism—and even for those who are—overtourism means disruption to their lives and their city. “The Reykjavík center is all hotels and Airbnbs now,” says my friend Ingibjörg Eliasdóttir. “Downtown is out of hand. Real estate prices have gone up so high that students can’t afford to live here anymore.”

The tourism flood would have arrived sooner or later. The number of international trips taken each year worldwide has gone from some 25 million in the 1950s, right before the commercial jet age began, to 1.3 billion in 2017. International arrivals are projected to reach a possible three billion by 2050. Yet the sights and places all these people visit remain the same size.

Causes of the tourism surge reportedly range from easier border crossings and cheap regional carriers to subsidized airline fuel and Airbnb, which increases a destination’s accommodations capacity. Look deeper, though, and you find three powerful trends. First, Earth’s population has nearly tripled since the 1950s, when mass tourism was just getting started. Second, affluence is growing even faster, with the world’s middle class expected to reach 4.2 billion by 2022. Third, technological changes from GPS and social media to wide-body jets and towering cruise ships carrying town-size populations have revolutionized travel.

I once complained to the CEO of a major cruise line about how each ship disgorges thousands of passengers into the confined medieval streets of Dubrovnik , Croatia . “Don’t people have a right to visit Dubrovnik?” he countered. Perhaps, but when people keep arriving in groups of 3,000, it profoundly changes a place.

Airlines can boost heavy traffic as well. Icelandair’s free-stopover offers put hundreds of tourists daily on the accessible Golden Circle route, which takes in the historic site of Thingvellir, the Gullfoss waterfall, and geothermal Geysir. The first two are large enough to handle several hundred visitors, but compact Geysir shows signs of overtourism—trash, overcrowding, and a tourist-trap sprawl mall right across the road.

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This fast-growing mass travel poses real threats to natural and cultural treasures. Wear and tear on fragile sites is one issue. So is cultural disruption for local people. And visitors receive a degraded experience. [Discover 6 ways to be a more sustainable traveler.]

Pressure for change comes less from tourists than from locals and preservationists. Officials in Barcelona, one of the world’s busiest cruise ports, have promised tighter controls on mass tourism, short-term apartment rentals, hotel development, and other challenges. Dubrovnik has plans to restrict the number of ships that can dock. Italy ’s Cinque Terre has put limits on hikers. Amsterdam is focusing on tourist redistribution techniques. In Asia , where tourism growth is rampant, governments have closed entire islands to allow recovery, such as on overbuilt Boracay in the Philippines and overtrodden Koh Tachai in Thailand . As for Iceland, the government has launched a Tourist Site Protection Fund, and Reykjavík has banned permits for new hotel construction downtown.

The low sun casts long shadows, revealing the magnitude of the crowd size around the Strokkur Geyser in Iceland.

Destination stakeholders are not the only ones who can take action. What can a smart traveler do?

Adopt a wise-travel mindset.

When you arrive in a place, you become part of that place. Where you go, what you do, how you spend, whom you talk to: It all makes a difference. Try to get out of the tourist bubble and see how locals live. Treat every purchase as a vote. In Iceland, María Reynisdóttir of the national tourism bureau suggests looking for the official quality label Vakinn when buying souvenirs or booking lodgings.

Avoid peak times.

Hit museums and sights early, before crowds arrive. Avoid peak seasons as well. [Visit the world's best museums.]

Stay in homes.

Booking an Airbnb listing with a friendly host can add depth to your stay, but avoid hosts who peddle multiple units bought just for short-term rentals. That practice can boost property values beyond what locals can afford.

Tell tourism authorities what you think. They worry about reputation. Post online reviews about whether you think the destination is doing a good job of managing tourism.

Earth is a big place, and much of it is still undervisited. In Iceland this past August, my wife and I headed north to see where a sign-posted route called the Arctic Coast Way will open in June 2019. Here, far from Reykjavík and well beyond the tour buses relentlessly plying Route 1, we drive past fjords touched by fingers of fog and mountainsides laced with waterfalls.

Just short of the Arctic Circle we stop at the Guest-house Gimbur, empty except for us. “Mid-August is the end of the season,” explains our hostess, Sjöfn Guðmundsdóttir. Relaxing in her hot tub, watching a lingering sunset at the southernmost reaches of the Arctic Ocean, I reflect on something else she said: “Slow tourism is my motto.” It can be yours too.

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• SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
• HIGHWAYS AND ROADS

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Heavy footprints of unsustainable tourism in the Western Ghats

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Hubballi: Ten years ago, the 15 acres of grassland at enchanting Agumbe, a tiny village in the Western Ghats, offered a perfect place for researcher Deeraj Aithal to study the life cycle of the yellow-wattled lapwing, a grassland bird that lays its eggs on the ground. The undisturbed habitat at the grassland of Agumbe used to attract birds and wild animals from the neighbouring reserve forest. But today, the entire place has seen a turn for the worse.

“The grassland has been completely ruined. Hardly any lapwings nest here now, due to the ‘off-roading’ that tourists engage in when they visit the area. Broken liquor bottles, leftover food and plastic covers dumped by neighbouring homestays and hotels have turned this important habitat into a breeding place for feral dogs,” says Deeraj, a former researcher at Agumbe Rainforest Research Station. Visitors also tend to make their way to waterfalls deep in the forests, to which access is generally prohibited. 

A decade ago, there was only Dodda Mane, a century-old home where portions of R K Narayan’s Malgudi Days were shot by filmmaker Shankar Nag. Today, the village that spans three sq km has at least seven homestays, five multi-cuisine restaurants and hotels catering to hundreds of tourists. 

The flux in visitors to Agumbe has led to mushrooming of homestays on private lands, right next to reserve forest areas and protected forests. This is not only exerting pressure on the limited civic amenities at the village, but is also threatening the rich biodiversity of the area. In addition, landslips have been reported in the ghat section, some 14 km from the village, the most recent one having occurred on July 15. Landslips are attributed to  the widening of the road. Agumbe, once the highest rainfall receiving station, now suffers from a water crisis during summer.

“Unregulated tourism is adversely impacting the fragile ecosystem at Agumbe. Today we have lost the grassland, tomorrow we may lose the habitats of king cobras and other endangered species that are thriving here,” says Deeraj.

Agumbe is just one example of the havoc that unregulated tourism is wreaking in the Western Ghats. With the state government not conducting ‘carrying capacity’ studies at tourist places in the districts of Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Shivamogga, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Belagavi, Udupi, Mysuru and Chamarajanagar, environmentalists say the intensity of the natural disasters that Karnataka is witnessing will only get worse.

Girish D V, a member of the Chikkamagaluru-based NGO Wildcat C, says scientific study of carrying capacity is very essential to understand if the site is capable of holding so many tourists at a time. “Carrying capacity studies can assess the impact of construction of resorts, new civic structures, availability of water sources to sustain the projected tourist inflow, roads, power lines, soil erosion, diversion of streams, extraction of groundwater, waste generation and handling, and pollution that can be caused at tourist destinations that are eco-sensitive,” Girish says.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT), while dismissing his petition for carrying capacity studies to be conducted in Chikkamagaluru and other places, instructed the Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and corresponding authorities in all states to conduct a study to assess carrying capacity of tourist places in ecologically sensitive areas, given that Article 21 of the Constitution states that the very basis for development stands on the principle of sustainable development.

The principal bench of the NGT at New Delhi had also asked the MoEFCC for a report by April 2019. No action has been taken in this regard by the state, says Girish.

Popular places like Mullayanagiri, Baba Budangiri and Devaramane in Chikkamagaluru district are overexploited due to tourism. If immediate measures are not taken these hills can witness catastrophic tragedies, Girish adds. The impact of unregulated tourism is evident in many places in Chikkamagaluru, where landslides and landslips are becoming a regular affair. Not only have migratory and native birds started avoiding certain patches in the district, there has also been an increase in instances  of wild animals being run over. Girish believes a science-based tourism policy can present a win-win situation for both the environment and humans.

New measures

Several environmentalists see the recent note issued by Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre on “clearing forest areas of encroachments” as a step in the right direction, to reclaim forests and prevent natural calamities. However, while the intention is considered positive, experts point out there are practical problems, including political ramifications, judicial process, question of livelihoods for displaced persons and the impact it could have on the tourism sector as a whole.

“It is good, but easier said than done,” says Praveen Bhargav, a former member of the National Board for Wildlife.

“Courts have always come down heavily against forest encroachments. There are several verdicts from the Supreme Court and High Court to clear forest encroachments. Yet, precious little has been done on the ground. Vicious cycles of ‘Akrama’ and ‘Sakrama’ have continued under successive governments, demoralising forest staff. Whether the forest minister will be able to convince elected representatives to ensure implementation this time around remains to be seen,” he says.

According to an affidavit submitted by the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Land records) to the Karnataka High Court in 2023, nearly 2.30 lakh acres of forest land has been encroached in Karnataka. Of this, about 25,767 acres of land was encroached after 2015, when a government order exempted clearing encroachments of less than three acres of land that were encroached before 2014 for “livelihood” purpose (mostly cultivation). 

Addressing media persons recently, Khandre claimed that his department had recently cleared encroachments from over 2,000 acres officially (after issuing a notice under section 64A of the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963), and unofficially (without issuing notices) from more than 10,000 acres.

Speaking to DH , Khandre says encroachment and eviction is an unending process, where people tend to encroach unprotected areas of forest, while officials have been clearing them on priority basis. “As it is an unending process, we are unable to get an exact number of the total forest area being encroached,” he adds.

Officials at Aranya Bhavan say that they do not discriminate between forest land encroached for agriculture purposes or for building tourist amenities like homestays, resorts and others. 

District-level officials at the tourism department estimate that only a miniscule area of total forest land is encroached, as the majority of homestays are being run in ancestral buildings or in revenue land next to forest areas. Documents also show that more than 50% of forest encroachments that were encroached before 2014, are less than three acres, and a majority of them are being used for cultivation purposes.

The industry

The responsibility of regulating tourism is not just limited to the forest department, but extends to several departments and local bodies. Gram panchayats, zilla panchayats, urban local bodies and others make decisions on issuing permissions to start homestays or resorts. District tourism committees, headed by respective deputy commissioners and comprised of district tourism department officials, authorise them based on inputs received from local bodies or spot inspections. The police department also needs to give a no-objection certificate.

Environmentalists are not entirely against tourism, an industry that generates one of the highest revenues and number of jobs in the country. However, reckless tourism comes with irreversible consequences.

For instance, take Kodagu, one of the most sought-after holiday destinations in Karnataka for its pleasing weather, breathtaking views and cultural diversity. Locals and environmentalists point out that certain areas in the district have unfortunately been overexploited.

According to Kodagu Tourism Deputy Director Anitha Bhaskar, the district received more than 47 lakh tourists this year; nearly six lakh more visitors than last year.

There is greater scope for tourism in the district, as southern Kodagu is still untouched, she says.“Kodagu ranks 19th in terms of attracting tourists at national level. Currently, the majority of the tourists are visiting only one part of Kodagu. There is so much cultural and natural diversity in the district. If we put a certain procedural system in place, we can manage more tourists,” she says.

However, this is yet to be scientifically verified. Anitha concedes that they have not done any carrying capacity study for the district. 

At present, there are more than 4,000 homestays across the district, out of which only 2,650 have registered with the district administration.

“Illegal resorts and homestays have come up by cutting hills and green cover. To decongest heavy traffic, we are widening roads by unscientifically cutting hills and felling trees,” says Madikeri-based environmentalist Thammu Poovayya. The local administration has not put in place mechanisms to address the solid waste generated at tourist spots. “The liquid waste generated by these homestays and resorts are polluting the water of the Cauvery,” he adds.

A majority of homestay owners blam “outsiders” and corporate houses for disturbing the tranquillity of Kodagu. “Not being able to cope with the erratic monsoon that impacts the coffee cultivation, a majority of Kodavas are selling their lands and settling in Bengaluru and other cities. Non-locals, who buy these lands, do not have much understanding of the fragility of land and are destroying the landscape with their profit motives,” says Sandesh Somanna, owner of a homestay.  

The ecotourism trap

In 2007, the Karnataka government came up with the concept of the ‘Athithi Homestay project’ to promote ecotourism and introduce local culture and cuisines to visitors. Unfortunately, at several tourist destinations, the set guidelines are being violated. The sale of liquor, playing loud music, accommodating more than the permitted number are common occurrences.

Hassan has more than 300 unauthorised homestays, and the majority of them are in ecologically sensitive Sakaleshpur and Belur taluks. Sources in the forest department inform DH that the highest number of resorts and homestays encroaching forest areas are in this district. 

Kumaraswamy, the president of Sakleshpur Homestays Owners’ Association denies this claim. “Homestays and resorts are being used as scapegoats by officials to hide their failures. Show us one instance of natural calamity striking in Hassan due to tourism infrastructure,” he says. The construction of the national highway on Shiradi Ghat, drawing of huge pipelines for implantation of the Yetthinahole drinking water project and the development of three power projects in ecologically sensitive areas is what has resulted in landslides in Sakleshpur and surrounding areas, he says.

“None of the homestay buildings in Sakleshpur are within the reserve forest. Owners might have encroached forest land for cultivating coffee or for other purposes long before. One of the reasons for encroachment is the lack of proper demarcation of forest boundary,” he says.

The problem of blurred boundaries — lack of proper demarcation, non-availability of survey numbers and unclear description of boundaries — is hurting the cause of both revenue and forest department officials. This is not just limited to Hassan but is also common in other parts of the state.

Lack of regulation

Wildlife activist Giridhar Kulkarni gives the example of the Kali Tiger Reserve (KTR), which is witnessing severe stress from tourist activities. “There is no eco-sensitive zone notified around KTR, resulting in several homestays and resorts coming up right next to core and buffer zones, especially within the administrative limits of Haliyal Division,” he says. Many resorts, and homestays are misusing forest roads to connect to their properties, although there are stringent rules against this, he adds. 

Kulkarni also points out that tourism and revenue departments have failed to act against illegal establishments. 

Woodway Homestay owner Shreedev Hulikere says the unfortunate mess around tourism is because there is no proper policy and regulation in the state. “We have let every tourist destination open without providing basic facilities. We need zonation at each tourist spot to reduce the stress on nature. There should also be punitive and strict action against repeated violators,” he says. 

Officials say they are working towards sustainable tourism in the state, but this needs cooperation from all. They add that most importantly, visitors need to be more responsible while visiting these places and respect the nature and culture of locals.

A senior officer at the Karnataka Tourism Department, says Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kodagu and Shivamogga are becoming prone to natural calamities. He adds that one of the reasons behind this is infrastructure development. “Hills and trees are being cut to level the ground for construction of resorts and homestays. The government has asked the Geological Survey of India to identify such vulnerable places, so that we can avoid giving permission for tourism development at such places.”

Rajendra K V, the director of the Tourism Department says the government will encourage only responsible tourism and the process of streamlining has already started.

Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) B K Singh says there is an urgent need to regulate homestay and resorts functioning in the Western Ghats, even if the facilities are in non-forest land, as these homestays are heavily dependent on the neighbouring forest cover. 

Political will

Another former PCCF says that earlier, one phone call from gram panchayat presidents, zilla panchayat leaders, MLAs and MPs would result in the halting of eviction drives, even though regulations and policies were in place.

“Without political will, these drives cannot be taken up. At times, officials are helpless, as they do not get the political backing to act. Before we can set the eviction process into motion, our transfer orders reach us. This is one of the main reasons why there is so little conviction in forest offence cases in Karnataka,” says the retired officer.

Even the Comptroller and Auditor General report that was submitted to the state government in July says that less than 1% (22 cases) of the total 2,541 forest offence cases booked between 2017 and 2022 saw convictions. In the majority of instances, officials failed to even file an enquiry report within the stipulated time.

The current PCCF (head of forest force) Brijesh Kumar Dikshit is optimistic that the encroachment clearance drive will take place unhindered, as the minister himself has sounded the alarm.

“Evictions have already started across the state. We are recovering lost forest lands. Legal processes may delay the time taken in recovery, but sooner or later, all lands that are recoverable will come back to us. The process of eviction will act as a deterrent to future encroachments,” he says.

Nearly 85% of the forest boundary in the state has been geo-referenced as well as demarcated on ground, says Dikshit. And efforts are being made to consolidate these boundaries from further encroachment. Cases where one part of the survey number is classified as forest and another part is not is a challenge, he adds. This is being tackled by a joint survey with the revenue department. 

The forest department is not against tourism, just unregulated tourism, he says. “Unscientific roads, buildings and high density of movement of vehicles are posing a threat to the fragile ecosystem of Western Ghats. The department has set in motion the process to regulate tourists in  areas under its control through online bookings, limiting them based on the carrying capacity calculated through scientific research, " he says.

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JSmol Viewer

Progress in sustainable tourism research: an analysis of the comprehensive literature and future research directions.

1. Introduction

2. methodology.

• Is the article’s language English? Since English is the most accepted language for academic writing worldwide, we have chosen it;
• Are the articles prepared from the standpoint of sustainable tourism?;
• Is the paper published in Beall’s predatory journals? Since it contains a vast dataset regarding the protentional predatory journals and publishers, we have solely depended on excluding articles from predatory journals;
• Is the article published between 1990 and 2021? This period contains the largest amount of publications on sustainable tourism arguments;
• Are the articles focused on the development, dimensions of tourism, issues, challenges, need, practices, and measurement of sustainable tourism?;
• What are the concluding statements of the paper? The concluding remarks of the paper highlight the key messages of the research.

3. A Comprehensive Review of the Relevant Studies

3.1. development and dimensions of sustainable tourism, 3.2. issues, challenges, and needs of sustainable tourism, 3.3. sustainable tourism practices and measurement, 4. discussion and future research directions, 5. conclusions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Yang, Y.; Wani, G.A.; Nagaraj, V.; Haseeb, M.; Sultan, S.; Hossain, M.E.; Kamal, M.; Shah, S.M.R. Progress in Sustainable Tourism Research: An Analysis of the Comprehensive Literature and Future Research Directions. Sustainability 2023 , 15 , 2755. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032755

Yang Y, Wani GA, Nagaraj V, Haseeb M, Sultan S, Hossain ME, Kamal M, Shah SMR. Progress in Sustainable Tourism Research: An Analysis of the Comprehensive Literature and Future Research Directions. Sustainability . 2023; 15(3):2755. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032755

Yang, Yuetao, Gowhar Ahmad Wani, V. Nagaraj, Mohammad Haseeb, Sameer Sultan, Md. Emran Hossain, Mustafa Kamal, and Syed Mehmood Raza Shah. 2023. "Progress in Sustainable Tourism Research: An Analysis of the Comprehensive Literature and Future Research Directions" Sustainability 15, no. 3: 2755. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032755

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Essay on Sustainable Tourism

Students are often asked to write an essay on Sustainable Tourism in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Sustainable Tourism

What is sustainable tourism.

Sustainable tourism means visiting places in a way that helps the environment, supports local cultures, and promotes economic growth. It’s about enjoying our travels while making sure future generations can too.

Why It Matters

How to practice sustainable tourism.

We can choose eco-friendly places to stay, use public transport, and buy local products. This helps reduce pollution and supports local businesses. By making these choices, we contribute to a healthier planet.

250 Words Essay on Sustainable Tourism

Sustainable tourism means visiting places in a way that helps the environment, society, and economy of the area. It’s like being a guest at someone’s home and making sure you don’t cause any harm. This kind of tourism makes sure that beautiful places can be enjoyed by future generations too.

Why is it Important?

When you travel, you can practice sustainable tourism by staying in hotels that care about the environment, using public transport or walking instead of driving, and buying souvenirs from local artisans. It’s also good to respect the local culture and traditions.

Benefits of Sustainable Tourism

Sustainable tourism has many benefits. It helps protect the environment, supports local economies by creating jobs, and provides a better experience for tourists. When places are not overcrowded and nature is preserved, tourists can really enjoy the beauty and uniqueness of their destination.

In conclusion, sustainable tourism is about enjoying our travels while making sure we leave places as beautiful as we found them. By choosing to travel this way, we can help protect the environment and ensure that future generations can also enjoy the wonders of our world.

500 Words Essay on Sustainable Tourism

Sustainable tourism: a journey that fosters harmony with the environment and local communities.

Sustainable tourism aims to minimize negative impacts on the environment and local communities while promoting economic growth. It encourages responsible travel practices that respect and protect natural and cultural heritage. This type of tourism revolves around using resources wisely, reducing pollution, conserving biodiversity, and supporting local economies. It ensures that future generations can enjoy the same natural and cultural riches that we are fortunate to experience today.

Responsible Travel: A mindful approach to exploration

Sustainable tourism encourages responsible behavior among travelers. This includes respecting local cultures, traditions, and customs. It also involves being mindful of the impact of travel on the environment, such as reducing waste, conserving water and energy, and minimizing carbon emissions. Responsible travel is about appreciating the unique qualities of a destination while leaving a positive legacy for future visitors.

Community Engagement: Empowering Local People

Environmental conservation: preserving nature’s beauty.

Sustainable tourism strives to protect and conserve the natural environment. This involves minimizing the impact of tourism on wildlife, habitats, and ecosystems. It also includes promoting responsible wildlife tourism practices and raising awareness of the importance of biodiversity conservation. Sustainable tourism recognizes that the beauty of natural landscapes is one of the main reasons people travel, and it aims to preserve that beauty for generations to come.

Economic Sustainability: Creating a Thriving Ecosystem

Sustainable tourism supports the local economy by creating job opportunities in tourism-related industries. It also encourages the development of small businesses and entrepreneurship. This economic growth benefits the local community and helps to ensure that tourism is a sustainable industry in the long run.

Conclusion: Striving for a Brighter Future

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Sustainable and Last Chance Tourism Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
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Introduction

Sustainable tourism, case study of koh phi phi and gili trawangan islands, last chance tourism.

Tourist numbers around the world have escalated to an excess of six hundred million per year and the number is still expected to rise. This is according to a report by World Tourism Organization (WTO). This can be attributed to the improved infrastructure and transport systems worldwide, as well as changing perceptions that tourism is no longer a lifestyle for the rich, but rather a past time activity or hobby. People have realized that the activity does not necessarily have to be expensive. Revenue from this sector goes a long way in financing the yearly budgets of some nations and any interruption would significantly cripple their treasuries. Massive employment opportunities in sectors such as hospitality and aviation have also come up as tourist numbers continue to soar.

The United States of America for instance generated US$ 110 million in the year 2009. There is therefore no dispute that tourism is a significant sector in any economy, with the potential of earning any nation great amounts of revenue. It also plays a major role in the foreign exchange sector. The nature of tourism allows people from different backgrounds and cultures to mingle and interact with each other, exposing them to the various cultures and customs of different communities. It enables people to appreciate cultural diversity and actually respect each other’s customs and way of life.

In as much as tourism positively contributes to the financial sector of any nation, the challenges associated with it cannot be ignored. These challenges can be categorized into two major categories; social and environmental. Social challenges include erosion of the pre-existing culture or conflict between cultures and increase in product and property prices such that the locals cannot avoid. Environmental challenges are mainly limited to wildlife/national parks where human presence spells a number of problems for the wildlife population. One such problem arises when tourists use migration corridors to drive around the parks, interrupting the wildlife’s migratory patterns. Migratory animals such as wilder beasts would be severely affected if their migratory corridors are encroached into and could even result in a reduction in their number. The littering of parks has also raised concerns among the relevant authorities as it interferes with the natural lifestyle of wildlife by introducing foreign objects into their territories. It is as a result of such concerns that sustainable tourism emerged as the only way to create a balance between benefits of tourism and its shortcomings. It is therefore evident that if proper controls are put in place, a balance can be found between a flourishing tourism industry and a safe environment.

Sustainable tourism can simply be described as the practice of protecting the environmental aspects and culture of a particular community, while at the same time ensuring the benefits of tourism are enjoyed presently and in future. An example of a success story is how the Welsh Assembly Government’s destination marketing organization helped the tourism industry to combat unsustainable tourism practices. Managers of the Welsh tourism industry made use of marketing and awareness campaigns to reach out to all participants in a bid to encourage the use of sustainable tourism approaches. The Welsh Assembly has so far been successful in encouraging tourists to contribute the social and environmental wellbeing of Wales. The same applies to the region’s economy and culture. This proves that any government has the power to positively impact tourism and steer it towards sustainability. Another body that concerns itself with sustainable tourism is the United Nations Commission on the Environment and Development (UNCED). It was in 1983 when the commission advocated for practices that allow the present generation to satisfy their needs without necessarily having to interfere with the resource base of future generations.

Koh Phi Phi, Thailand, and Gili Trawangan, Indonesia are two Asian islands famous for their scenic beauty and rich culture that have attracted a great number of tourists from all over the world. They are both found within a marine park and boast an array of natural resources which need to be conserved. Due to their popularity, the number of tourists that visit the islands has been quite overwhelming, exerting pressure on the environment and existing infrastructure. In the year 2010, a study done by Professors Rachel Dodds and Sonya Graci on the two islands, was aimed to investigate accountability and responsibility on the part of the tourists, and to determine their willingness to financially contribute to the preservation of the island. The target population mostly comprised young individuals from English speaking countries such as England, America, Australia and Canada.

The tourists sampled had high incomes and had no problem making financial contributions to the sustainable practices. There was however differences in their responses when asked what authority should be tasked with implementing the sustainability practices. Most of the tourists were drawn to the islands because of the fun and adventure offered there. Their experiences could be made more memorable by making sure the islands are preserved in their natural state and overcrowding is avoided. Some of the environmental issues noted by the tourists included rapid infrastructural development, creating a strain on existing services such as sewerage and sanitation, as well as congestion by the tourists themselves. When asked who should pay taxes, 68% of the respondents named tourists, 67% named the federal government and 54% named provincial government. It would however be in the best interests of both islands if all stakeholders participated in ensuring a clean and healthy environment instead of pointing fingers at each other.

This term refers to a current phenomenon whereby certain natural and/or historical sites or social heritages become popular for the simple reason that they may not be around for long. They disappear or vanish for one reason or another, prompting tourists to inadvertently rush to have the last look. An example is the disappearing snow cap on Mt. Kilimanjaro in East Africa. It is precisely for this reason that the polar bears of Northern Canada are in duress. Tourists rushing to watch the endangered species engage in activities such as camping, and eventually end up destroying the species’ habitats.

This essay looked at the reasons why the practice of sustainable tourism has been slow to implement and found that the government has most power to keep its tourism practices in check so that the environment does not suffer at the expense of unsustainable practices. However, tourists are also expected to account for their actions and contribute towards safe tourism practices. Examples can be borrowed from governments that have succeeded in promoting sustainable tourism and at the same time giving tourists memorable experiences at their travel destinations.

• Dubai Tourism and Expo 2021 Innovations
• Black Travel Movement in the Skift Podcast Episode
• The Da Vinci Surgical System and Its Main Benefits
• Evaluation of the Welsh National Exercise Referral Scheme
• The Movie "If Only" by Gil Junger and Christina Welsh
• Medical Tourism: Dubai, Kuwait and Rochester Comparison
• Davos, Switzerland: Tourism Services and Attraction
• Tourism Industry: Sectors and Services
• Eco-Tourism Activities in New Zealand
• Italy's International Tourism Environment
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, September 5). Sustainable and Last Chance Tourism. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sustainable-and-last-chance-tourism/

"Sustainable and Last Chance Tourism." IvyPanda , 5 Sept. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/sustainable-and-last-chance-tourism/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Sustainable and Last Chance Tourism'. 5 September.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Sustainable and Last Chance Tourism." September 5, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sustainable-and-last-chance-tourism/.

1. IvyPanda . "Sustainable and Last Chance Tourism." September 5, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sustainable-and-last-chance-tourism/.

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IvyPanda . "Sustainable and Last Chance Tourism." September 5, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sustainable-and-last-chance-tourism/.

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Sustainable Tourism: Definition Essay

Sustainable tourism (or responsible tourism) is a real important concept. Find out the definition

This piece on sustainable tourism, its definition, principles, and types, is provided by Smart Writing Service , a professional essay writing service that cares about students. You may find out that the structure of this essay slightly differs from a standard one for a definition essay. That is done to include as many facts as possible in a condensed way. Feel free to use information you collect from this essay as you see appropriate.

The concept of “ sustainable tourism ” was formed relatively recently, along with the global concept of sustainable human development. The principles of sustainability in tourism, formulated by the UNWTO and the World Travel and Tourism Council, provide for:

• the conservation and enhancement of the natural and cultural potential of destinations, on the basis of a tourism approach aimed at sustainability;
• the ecological transition of tourism enterprises to resource-saving technologies, reduction of industrial waste;
• involvement of the population in the decision-making process on tourism development (a form of consultations);
• partnership in the relationship between the public and private sectors; promotion of tourism, socio-economic development of certain territories of states.

Many travel companies develop their own plans for the transition to the principles of sustainable development, implement environmental management systems, and apply environmental technologies.

The principles of sustainable development in the practice of tourism are spread under the influence of consumer demand . Given the awareness of the population about the state of the environment and the greening of people’s consciousness, the ecological situation becomes one of the decisive criteria for choosing a place or form of recreation.

This trend is reflected in the growing demand for alternative types of tourism , including eco-tourism.

The development of this relatively new type of tourism is based on three main principles:

• part of the income received from the service of tourists remains in place and goes to nature protection ;
• the content of the basic law is in compliance with environmental requirements;
• tourism is conceived as an experience of discovering places, cultures and traditions, as a moment of exchange and mutual enrichment.

Ecotourism encompasses a wide variety of visitors who want to see animals or plants with their own eyes. For example, in Central America and southern Africa, predator sightings are of particular interest. Places, where wild orchids grow, have recently been discovered in Greece.

Tourists accompanied by a guide can visit these protected areas to admire the plants in the wild. Such trips can rightly be classified as ecological, and the persons who take part in them should be considered ecotourists.

Diversification of ecotourism activities is accompanied by the convergence of ecological and other types of tourism. Nature coverage is also inherent in the participants of the mass tourist movement. Swimming and beach holidays, cruises, business trips, are often combined with visits to national or natural and ethnographic parks. The boundaries of ecotourism are losing their clarity, and its scale and socio-economic importance are growing.

Almost every country has the opportunity to organize “green” travel. Today, the main ecotourism flows are directed to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Nepal, Ecuador, Brazil, Philippines and Kenya. In Europe some of the main Ecotourism destinations are Slovenia, Portugal, Croatia, Austria, Ireland. Ecological tourism is one of the most promising and dynamic forms of tourism.

With the growing requirements for the volume and quality of tourist services, with the emergence of new types and forms of tourist activity, the classification of tourism is changing.

Characteristics of sustainable tourism in 2021

You have probably heard of the term “ sustainable development “, which is closely linked to the green economy and means meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the future.

And what is sustainable tourism ? Let’s understand what we need to know and do to make our travels sustainable and our children able to see what we see now.

Sustainable tourism is:

• Availability . By supporting the tourism business, which allows you to get a full experience of travel, we stimulate economic development . This creates new jobs and increases the number of people who can use travel services and see the world.
• Animal safety and wellbeing . We must leave the wild alone . No elephant riding, no photoshoots with crocodiles, monkeys, and other animals. Just watch and don’t touch.
• Environmental protection . Minimization of damage in the process of tourist activity. Make sure that your trip does not have a negative impact on the environment . Even minimal. Just imagine what emotions would overwhelm you, if after a long trip to Norway instead of picturesque fjords you would be waiting for a huge dump…
• Controlled use of tourist services technologies . First of all, motor transport, energy, drinking water, etc. Tourism accounts for about 10% of all global carbon emissions . And this is 3.33 billion tons… They heat the planet, which leads to melting glaciers.
• Immersion in nature . The idea is to offer experiences that allow travelers to reconnect with nature.

Sustainable tourism vs popular and mass tourism

Features of the current stage of tourism development reveal the concept of “ mass tourism “, reflecting the process of democratization and expansion of tourism, especially in countries over the course, where more than half of the population are consumers of tourism goods and services. The concept of “mass tourism” was introduced and used as an alternative to aristocratic tourism of the XIX century, some expensive types of tourism aimed at selected audiences, and tourism in developing countries, where its development is limited due to low living standards.

Mass tourism should be distinguished from popular. The latter is a tourist activity that has gained wide recognition in society due to its attractiveness and accessibility. The definition of “mass” in the term characterizes the quantitative side of the concept, and the word “popular” – qualitative.

Mass tourism is in fact characterized by large numbers of tourists, who buy trips, such as cruises . This implies an overcrowding of places, a great impact on the environment, and a disadvantage for local populations. In fact, by involving thousands of tourists who go to the same place at the same time, mass tourism can generate Overtourism , damage the environment and upset the places.

On the contrary, sustainable tourism plays an important role in the economic development of places, giving it a boost. It contributes to the introduction and dissemination of new, higher standards of service and, consequently, to improve the quality of people’s lives .

In summary, sustainable tourism ensures that the environment will not be impacted by the arrivals of tourists and that the local community will take advantage of that.

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Let us take a walk to the sustainable tourism practices: a qualitative study through the lens of tourism experts

• Research Article
• Published: 04 January 2024
• Volume 31 , pages 12892–12915, ( 2024 )

Cite this article

• Vikas Arya 1 ,
• Vilte Auruskeviciene   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1563-4052 2 ,
• Srishti Agarwal 3 ,
• Priyanka Kokatnur 3 ,
• Harish Kumar 4 &
• Rajeev Verma 5  

620 Accesses

2 Citations

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The rising opportunities of sustainable tourism have brought many policies to control the exploitation of the environment and increase the reach of luxurious, safe, and authentic experiences to the different segments of tourists. This study seeks to prioritize the variables influencing the development of sustainable tourism and pinpoint key success factors that align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It adopts a tri-dimensional framework encompassing economic, social, and environmental aspects, further delineated into eleven sub-dimensions, to provide a quantitative evaluation of sustainable tourism. We conducted interviews with 26 tourism industry experts hailing from eight countries, analyzing their responses using interval type-2 fuzzy sets. The results underscore the critical role of specific components in advancing sustainable tourism. In the economic dimension, “financial resources and tourism costs” emerge as vital factors. In the social dimension, “health and safety” takes center stage, while “green infrastructure” plays a pivotal role in the environmental dimension. These findings underscore the significance of these aspects in promoting sustainable tourism. Furthermore, this study explores the strategic importance of sustainable tourism equity in shaping tourism planning and development for emerging markets.

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All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Vikas Arya conducted the analysis of data and provided an interpretation of the findings. Vilte Auruskeviciene wrote the manuscript draft and ensured consistency in referencing and citation formatting. Srishti Agarwal collected data, collaborated with Vikas Arya to analyze the data, and contributed to the discussion of the findings. Priyanka Kokatnur contributed to the research methodology development and data collection. Harish Kumar provided insights to the theoretical and managerial aspects of the study and contributed to the discussion section. Rajeev Verma conducted a literature review and collaborated with Vilte Auruskeviciene to integrate the literature review into the manuscript. All authors provided comments on previous versions of the manuscript, and they all read and approved the final manuscript.

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Arya, V., Auruskeviciene, V., Agarwal, S. et al. Let us take a walk to the sustainable tourism practices: a qualitative study through the lens of tourism experts. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31 , 12892–12915 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31503-7

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Received : 15 June 2023

Accepted : 08 December 2023

Published : 04 January 2024

Issue Date : February 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31503-7

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Has growth in tourism become unsustainable?

Local residents in Edinburgh (and other European cities) are demanding better regulation around Airbnb accommodation. Airbnb listings in Edinburgh have doubled in the past three years, with 11,985 listings and over half a million tourists staying in Airbnb accommodation on their visit. In 2018, Edinburgh city council welcomed a proposed amendment to the Planning Bill that will make it harder for people to turn their homes into short-term lets. Under these new proposals a licence would be required for anyone operating a property for at least 45 days per year. Edinburgh City Council believes that the Airbnb phenomenon has cut the number of homes available for private rent in the city by at least 10%.  

However, this increase in Airbnb listings doesn’t seem to have impacted the city’s hotels, with occupancy levels increasing by 1.6, making it the city with the highest hotel occupancy out of all UK cities, and ranking in the top five for RevPAR growth for the past four years. It is expected that there will be a 14.5% increase in new hotel rooms entering the market over the next two years and a total of 8717 rooms have been developed or granted consent since 2007.

Tourist Tax

One measure being taken to try and improve the over-stretched tourist industry is the new Tourist Tax. Visitors to Edinburgh may soon have to pay £2 a day; this gained strong support in a public consultation with 85% of respondents being in favour. The Transient Visitor Levy (TVL) will be added to the cost of all accommodation for the first week of a visitor’s stay, which Edinburgh City Council estimates will help raise around £14.6m a year. The funds raised by the tax are mainly to be used on the city’s infrastructure, which is currently under strain from the high numbers of tourists, particularly during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in summer. Can the city accommodate this increase in tourists?

Future Tourist Attractions

One new landmark that is set to shape the city’s tourism in the next few years is the new Johnnie Walker visitor attraction, which has been funded by Diageo. The hope is that this new destination will encourage tourists to stay in the city for their whisky experiences, rather than going further afield and visiting other distilleries. It is expected to create over 160 new jobs and increase tourism spend by £135m. 

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Sustainable Tourism essay

Sustainable tourism has also it drawbacks both to the local community and the neighbourhood at large. Such could include destruction of community’s culture and other related attachments (Wyane 1997). When foreigners visit a certain community, they tend to erode the community’s culture, affect the religion of the community, interfere with the language used by the community by introducing their own language and influencing people to learn it, they affect the community’s rituals and rights and lastly, they affect the general performance of the community in as far as modernisation is concerned.

The tourism industry also has a negative impact on the environment in some ways. Golf playing grounds, beaches, gaming and resorting grounds and other space consuming activities have taken away most of the land thus leading to aridity and lack of the green environment (Wyane 1997). Such activities are so harmful to the environment and end up leading to a lot of loss than gain to the local people who remain hopeless and helpless in the rest of their lives.

About employment, sustainable tourism has led to a situation where people are paid meager wages and salaries as a result of the foreigners taking advantage of the whole scenario. As a result of the desperate situation in terms of money, the young boys and girls are exploited by being employed in very sensitive areas but given very low wages. The community ends up entangled in the mix as they do not have any other option or body to articulate their grievances. Such level of desperateness often leads to people indulging in gambling games and other uncalled for misnomers.

Many of the young girls in the society are led to bad habits such as prostitution, drug taking and other services that are menial. Some tourists go on an experimenting spree hence find themselves in such vices (Simonz 1998). Prostitution has been so rampant in many tourist destined communities as the young women and men are lured into such deviant activities by money. With money being the issue, many people are tempted to look for easier ways of getting it thus they resort to prostitution and drug trafficking.

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The other disadvantage that comes with tourism is the fact that the level of benefits is so low in terms of security of the job, safety during the job and also other health related safeties. When one is employed, he/she can be dismissed from the job at any time without any good reasons because of the fact that the way in which he/she was employed was so archaic and unprofessional. Such individuals end up suffering thus resort to other dubious ways of making money. Solutions to the Various problems brought about by For the visitor.

The visitor needs to give support to the culture of the community in order to expand its diversity (Nahashone 2003). They also need to take part in activities and aspects that are thought to add some value to the society or the community at large. The other solution is that the visitors should shun away from activities that are illegal and those that rake the environment (Nahashone 2003). Visitors should create employment without biasness and witch hunting. This should be done with the aim of improving the employees’ wages and salaries. For the Host.

The host should engage in the selection of activities that dwell on the community’s traditions including the social and cultural part of it (Benstein 2003). They should shun away from environmental deteriorating activities such as clearing of bushes for the golf courses and other outdoor activities. The other solution is that the visitors should shun away from activities that are illegal and those that rake the environment (Benstein 2003). The local communities should focus on business making and transactions that lead to foreign exchange should be clean with no scandals of whatever nature.

Conclusion. Many tourists are visiting tourist attraction areas all over the world. There are many tourists nowadays than it was before. This could be attributed to the fact that more and more ways of tourist attraction are being invented at a very fast rate. Sustainable tourism has many benefits to the local communities as it has been discussed ealier in this paper. Inasmuch as there are advantages associated with this industry, there are also disadvantages as well. Solutions have been provided to help in solving the problems that the local communities derive from the sustainable tourism.

The environment is being affected by tourism related activities, the ecosystem is in jeopardy, the local people in the community are suffering from such effects (Sostrand 2000). Something has to be done in order for the status quo to be maintained. Both the tourist and the community should be proud of the benefits that they derive from the industry and there should not be a situation where the disadvantages outweigh the advantages (Sostrand 2000). In the same respect, solutions should be implemented and enforced so that the industry remains sustainable.

Benstein, S. 2003. Tourism and the Community. Boca Reton: CRS Press. Chek, G. , Dokatch, R. , Holl, P. & Warsh, J. 2002. Find Out: Information about the tourism Industry. South Melboune: MacMilan Austria. Crane, F. 1997. Tourism Style: A guide to Tourism. Westport: Mekler. Hufman, M, C. 1998. ‘Accepting Tourism In the Society’ Tourism Guide, Vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 25-27. MacTagart, T. 2002. Tourism Sustainability. Sydney: Wesleey. Manne, M. 2005. The Globally growing tourism industry: A complete study on the world tourism sector. NY: Dowin Publishers.

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Guest Essay

My Beloved Italian City Has Turned Into Tourist Hell. Must We Really Travel Like This?

By Ilaria Maria Sala

Ms. Sala is an Italian journalist. She wrote from Bologna, Italy.

A little more than 10 years ago, Bologna, my Italian hometown, was not really considered a big tourist destination. Group tours would come, but the city was primarily known for being the place with one of the oldest universities in Europe. Its cuisine — dishes like tortellini and tagliatelle — was an attraction, too, but in a subdued way.

Budget airlines, short-term rentals and social media changed everything. These days Bologna is on its way to becoming a full-blown, must-avoid-the-main-roads kind of tourist city. Some of the effects of this have been typical, like the landlords who have converted apartments to short-term rentals, which has raised rents and sent students farther from the university and into the smaller towns on the periphery. But one result has been very particular to Bologna: the consumption of mind-numbing, heart-stopping amounts of mortadella.

If you are not already familiar with it, mortadella is a cold cut made of finely ground, light-pink pork dotted with white cubes of fat and, occasionally, pistachios. It and Bologna go way back . The slow eating of our city by mortadella shops started before Covid but accelerated when, as in many cities, lots of Bologna’s independent shops, cafes and restaurants went out of business during the pandemic. Many of those in the center of town were bought up by chains with deep pockets and a singular vision: to sell mortadella to foreigners.

Downtown has changed completely. In the streets around the historic main square there used to be many old stationery shops — a favorite sold fountain pens, inks in every color and all the hand-bound notebooks one could dream of. It had been there for as long as I can remember, but was recently turned into an “Ancient cold cuts butcher.” It’s part of a chain. Just across from it, in what I think used to be a jewelry store, is a second self-styled ancient butcher from the same chain. When I asked the shop assistant how ancient they were, she replied that they had been open for three months.

Also just off the main square is a little maze of streets where the ancient food market used to be. Many shops are still there, looking picture perfect and trying to sell their fruit and vegetables, though presumably not to the throngs of people marching behind leaders with microphones and little flags held aloft. Those groups usually stop in front of the old shops that have given in and now exhibit rounds upon rounds of mortadella in the windows.

There are also endless representations of pigs. In front of one shop I saw statues of happy pigs holding the knives with which they’ll presumably butcher themselves into mortadella. Pig snouts on the logo of another. Naturalistic, stylized and smiling pigs gaze benignly on the waiters below, who cart trays piled high with fluffy pork arranged like clouds and ribbons.

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