Geography – Environmental issues and management | e-Consult

Answer: Sustainable tourism aims to minimize the negative environmental and social impacts of tourism while maximizing its benefits for local communities and the environment. However, achieving this is fraught with challenges and presents significant opportunities.

Challenges:

• Environmental Impacts: Increased carbon emissions from air travel, pollution from accommodation and activities, habitat destruction due to infrastructure development, and pressure on natural resources (water, energy).
• Economic Leakage: Profits from tourism often flow out of local communities to multinational corporations, limiting economic benefits for residents.
• Social Impacts: Cultural commodification, displacement of local communities, and potential for conflict between tourists and residents.
• Over-tourism: Concentration of tourists in popular destinations can lead to overcrowding, damage to infrastructure, and a decline in the quality of life for residents.

Opportunities:

• Economic Benefits: Tourism can generate revenue, create jobs, and support local businesses, particularly when managed sustainably.
• Environmental Awareness: Sustainable tourism can raise awareness of environmental issues and encourage responsible behaviour among tourists and local communities.
• Community Empowerment: Sustainable tourism can empower local communities by giving them a greater say in tourism development and ensuring that they benefit from tourism revenue.
• Habitat Conservation: Tourism revenue can be used to fund habitat conservation and restoration projects.

Examples:

• Costa Rica: Pioneering ecotourism, with national parks and reserves generating revenue for conservation and providing employment for local communities. Table:

  Ecotourism in Costa Rica

• The Galapagos Islands: Strict regulations on tourism, including limits on visitor numbers and mandatory guides, to protect the unique biodiversity of the islands.
• Community-based tourism in Nepal: Local communities manage and operate tourism businesses, ensuring that tourism revenue benefits the community and supports conservation efforts.

Conclusion: Sustainable tourism is a complex issue with both challenges and opportunities. Effective management requires a holistic approach that addresses environmental, economic, and social considerations. Collaboration between governments, businesses, and local communities is essential to ensure that tourism benefits both visitors and host communities while protecting the environment.