A High quality of environment is basic for tourism development. When hundreds of thousands of tourists visit a destination, their impact is bound to be felt on the host areas. The environment has to be examined in terms of its physical characteristics – vegetation, climate, soil, fauna and flora and the dynamic of the relationships, between these.
1. The key elements of environmental change connected with tourism development mainly focus on issues of land and landscape both in man-made or built and natural environment. These physical impacts tend to be most visually apparent because tourism development, like any other development activity, will certainly have impact on physical location to a certain extent wherever that location exists.
2. Mass movement of tourists may be responsible for both protecting as well as destroying the environment of a destination area.
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3. A destination’s environment in all its forms is a major motivating factor for the initial visitor interest in a host area. If there is any deterioration in the environment of a host area or if the quality of the environment is threatened by visitors or by tourist development itself, the very reason for tourism development may be defeated.
4. There has been a growing concern over the years regarding environmental protection and conservation. A growing concern for the protection of the environment and the individual’s quality of life is being felt.
It is within this context that the relationship between tourism and the environment has been receiving a growing level of attention from both the public and private sector organisations in various countries in the world.
5. Various international bodies have cooperated in the preparation of a host of studies, plans, programmes and activities on tourism and environment. At every leading platform where tourism is discussed, environmental protection receives attention.
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6. The concern for environmental protection in the field of tourism can, however, be traced back to much earlier. The International Union of Official Travel Organisations (IUOTO), the predecessor of World Tourism Organisation (WTO), was one of the first organisations to come to the defence of environmental protection as early as 1950 having, as one of its main objectives, the study and development of natural tourist resources.
7. In the year 1954, the study of environmental questions became institutionalised in the activities of IUOTO and the protection of tourist heritage was included on the agenda of each IUOTO Assembly.
8. The tourism boom which characterised the 1960s as a result of the introduction of jet travel was also responsible for the advancements in the development of statistical measurements and evaluation of tourism.
9. More and more governments realising the importance of tourism to their country’s economies started collecting and compiling the basis tourist statistics to determine the benefits and also to plan for future developments. Some evaluation studies of qualitative aspects of tourist movements were also undertaken.
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10. Various surveys conducted showed that natural tourist resources were the primary factor that attracted tourists even in countries rich in cultural heritage. There were large movements from urban areas to beaches, mountains and other natural resources for rest and recreation.
11. The great increase in number of visitors to these areas resulted in rapid, unplanned construction of hotels and other dwellings for use of tourists and for migratory service employees. This unplanned growth threatened to destroy the very environment that was the tourist attraction in the first place. There appeared an environmental threat both aesthetic and ecological from overcrowding of particularly attractive areas.
12. The need for what began to be described as an ‘integrated approach’ to the purism development was felt by governments, international agencies and the public in general.
13. Increased interest began to be generated in what was termed as the ‘ecological impact of tourism.
14. Awareness and also the recognistion of ‘ecological threat’ led IUOTO to recommend to world governments that they implement a resolution adopted in 1960 by its Fifteenth General Assembly in the following terms:
(a) “The General Assembly, considering that nature in its most noble and unchanging aspects constitutes and will continue increasingly in the future to constitute one of the essential elements of the national or world tourist heritage”
(b) “Believes that the time has come for it to deal with the problems raised by the dangers threatening certain aspects of nature.”
(c) “Decides consequently to recommend to all IUOTO member countries to exercise increased vigilance regarding the attacks made on their natural tourist resources.”
Environmental Policy for Tourists:
Implementation of the above resolution required the adoption of a tourist environmental policy. A policy was set forth by IUOTO in a research paper entitled “Study on human environment” which was submitted to the Twenty-Second General Assembly held at Ankara, Turkey, in the year 1971. The Tourist Environmental policy had the following highlights:
(a) Recognition that protection of the environment, which is at the very basis of the development of tourism, has often been neglected in physical planning policies.
This entailed promoting an awareness that the real interests of tourism did not lie in the immediate profitability of plan but in a rational utilisation of tourist natural resources which, far from damaging them, would contribute to their development.
Accordingly, it was seen as essential to base development policies on long term prospects and on the basic needs of tourists;
(b) Recognition that as tourism was largely international in nature offering the natural resources to individuals of another country for their cultural enrichment and well being; the protection of the tourist capital was in the interest of everyone and must be dealt with at world level.
Underlying this recommendation was awareness that close international cooperation was necessary so that no region would be at a disadvantage as a result of having adopted high-quality environmental protection measures;
(c) Recognition of a lack of uniformity in the way in which environmental protection was handled at national level. In many cases there were no provisions to ensure that tourism interests were represented within bodies with responsibility for the environment and physical planning.
It was therefore seen as necessary to establish or strengthen collaboration between all bodies dealing with the problems of nature protection. The need was also seen to set up a special body at national level responsible for coordinating steps to protect nature, a proposal that was subsequently to be adopted by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment at Stockholm.
Inventory of Natural Tourist Resources:
Central to such a policy was seen to be the establishment of an inventory of natural tourist resources with a view to identifying in particular
(i) Protected areas or natural reserves where attempts at the very least should be made to conserve or re-establish the natural balance (national parks, forest reserves, etc.) ;
(ii) Areas reserved primarily for tourism because of their natural attractions and from which industries would be excluded (beaches, mountain resorts, etc.);
(iii) Mixed natural areas in which the establishment of industry must be so planned as to safeguard the main tourist resources.
Implicit in the above policy directives was the concept of classification or zoning, whereby areas with a particularly sensitive or fragile environment would not be developed for tourism or at least where tourism access would not be ‘severely restricted.
In areas where tourism development was to be permitted on a larger scale, planning measures were seen essential if the growth of tourism itself were not to produce adverse environmental effects; the pollution of bathing water, for example.
Legislation was seen as playing a key role in the implementation to the tourist environmental policy It was needed not only in national parks or nature reserves but also in tourist areas in general so as to prevent anarchic construction of dwellings, dirty camping grounds or beaches, forest fire or the proliferation of advertising hoardings outside of towns.
Guidelines for Environment Protection:
The establishment of guidelines for the development of new tourist resorts was a key feature of the new tourist environment policy. It suggested that new developments should conform to a definite plan drawn up by a multidisciplinary team of experts in legislation, tourism and ecology. According to these guidelines.
1. If the conception of the plan was the responsibility of regional or local authorities, account should be taken of the developments in neighbouring areas or localities so as to achieve coordination of measures necessary to protect natural surroundings.
2. It was also considered desirable to establish suitable reception capacity at the resort in order to plan the communication and transport infrastructure and the distribution of areas for building a recreational plant thus avoiding traffic problems, air pollution and noise congestion, etc.
3. Architecture and the general aspect of buildings and the location of sports facilities or camping sites should be so designed as to ensure harmony with natural surroundings and vegetation.
4. For planning parks, forests or even the countryside, the competent authorities should also ensure that ecological principles were applied and prevent the destruction of trees, flora and fauna by determining the areas to be set aside for the construction of buildings and by creating paths and other means of access which were not harmful to the beauty of the sites.
5. The pollution of water and beaches was recognised as a serious threat to main tourist areas and it was recommended that specific measure be taken to limit or prevent these effects.
UN Conference:
The United Nations some years back organised a conference in Stockholm on Human Environment. This conference symbolised the growing importance that the people of the world attach to maintaining and improving the quality of human life and to enrich the human environment.
It is a fact that, all over the world, man has been using natural resources without any thought of the future. It is the wrong use of these resources which causes problems.
Today environmental pollution poses a serious threat to life -on earth and this is true not only of the areas where there is a great concentration of industries but also where there is a great concentration of tourists.
Nation of Maitre D’ Hotel:
The negative impacts of haphazard and unplanned development of tourism are well illustrated by many areas in North America and Western Europe and also to a greater or lesser extent throughout large parts of Asia’s tourism circuit. Yugoslavia’s Adriatic coast and the Seychelles are other examples.
Many of the beaches of North America and Western Europe bear a mute testimony to the havoc that can be wrought by uncontrolled development of tourism. Destinations once noted for their particular character are reduced to unattractive showpieces as many countries endeavor to keep pace with the visitor inflow.
Despite a measure of governmental control during the development, the great increase in number of visitors to these areas resulted in rapid, unplanned construction of hotels and dwellings for tourists and for migratory service employees. These expansions threatened to destroy the very environment that is the tourist attraction.
A prominent leader in the Seychelles objected to seeing his country become a “nation of maitres d’ hotel”. These examples underline environmental threat, both aesthetic and biological, from overcrowding of particularly attractive areas.
Resource Exploitation:
Tourism development brings in special ecological problems not encountered in other types of economic activity. The environmental resources ‘exploited’ for tourism attract tourists because of their outstanding beauty, recreational possibilities or educational and cultural interest.
The modern tourism’s most paradoxical trait is its capacity to destroy those attributes which attracted the visitor in the first place. The well known economic analyst and futurologist, Herman kahn, described the rapidly expanding tourism as “…next only to atomic power in its potential for environmental destruction …” Mass tourism has brought in its wake certain ecological and environmental pollution problems.
Environmental Amenities:
The environmental amenities which attract tourists have tended to be taken for granted. Preservation of their quality has only recently begun to concern tourism development planner. For tourism the quality of the environment is the basis for attracting visitors and needs to be conserved.
Tourism development can become a positive factor for improving the environment, if certain amount of intelligent basic planning is done. In fact the quality of the tourism product depends upon a high quality natural environment.
Contribution of Tourism in Preservation:
It has been seen that major social benefits accrue to tourists themselves. But tourism also has valuable spillover benefits for tourist receiving countries.
Notable among these is the contribution of tourism to the preservation of historic sites and cultural values. Careful cleaning and beautifying ancient monuments, clearing the areas around the monuments and improving them, for tourism purposes is a case in point.
Through tourism development, the environment is not degraded but in fact can be improved. So great has been the national and international demand for tourism and recreational facilities that government has increasingly to face up ‘to the choice between extending public access and availability of sites, and conservation and protection against over-development.
Governments are increasingly aware that future growth of the industry will necessitate careful management and avoiding over development of regions of natural beauty. Moreover, saturation in principal destination areas will require a more active policy of diversification and redistribution of tourist flow.
Regional Planning Considerations:
The potential of a region for tourism may be so great that its development will be central to economic goals and plans. However, regional planning for tourism more often will be considered as a separate and distinct planning effort, aimed primarily at determining the best location of facilities like hotels, resort facilities and transportation networks.
Such planning views tourism primarily as a source of foreign exchange earnings. This approach would recommend development to accommodate maximum possible number of projected visitors and to design facilities to generate the maximum possible spending by the tourists.
However, this approach of profit maximising in tourism development can result in deterioration of fragile environment and attractive landscapes through over-building and excessive number of visitors.
The aim is conserving the environment amenities of a region and advancing regional development through interdependence. The more the local people benefit from tourism the more they will benefit from a commitment to preserve the environmental features which attract tourism.
Consideration of the region’s ecological characteristics is essential to providing adequate criteria for the development of facilities and viable plans for the use and management of resources for tourism.