Sustainable Tourism Development

Executive Summary

The report has described different contemporary issues in maintaining sustainable tourism. The main purpose of the report is to make the readers understand about the issues related to the tourism business. The contemporary issue has helped the reader understand how poverty can be alleviated through sustainable tourism. Different views of different authors have helped the reader understand how carbon emission, climate change and degradation of the environment affects the sustainability of the tourism business. Sustainable tourism issues are one of the major issues all and which can be resolved through economic growth, health improvement of people, poverty alleviation, community development and others. The report has also demonstrated the ways how marine life and coastal areas are being destroyed by the human activities for their room. The anti-tourism phenomena like overcrowding in many tourist destinations have also helped the reader understand the issues on the ground of sustainable tourism. Finally, some recommendations like government agencies' and NGOs' steps have suggested the solutions to the above issues for the understanding of the reader.  

Introduction 

The report will highlight some contemporary issues on sustainable tourism business. The different issues will be discussed consequently and it will be shown how different stakeholders are responsible for sustainable tourism business. Sustainable tourism issues are one of the major issues all over the world and thee issues can be resolved through poverty alleviation, economic growth, health improvement of people, community development and others. The first contemporary issue will be poverty alleviation; the second will be climate change, carbon emission and environmental effects. The third will be the negative effects on marine and coastal life, the fourth will be the responsible consumption Vs consumerism. The fifth will be to ascertain whether sustainability can be fostered in tourism through trekking and the final issue will be the overcrowding issue on tourism. The main theme of the study will be discussed through the views of different authors for the understanding of the readers. Carbon emission, ruthless human activities in the environment and anti-tourism activities will be highlighted in the study. The negative effects on marine life and on coastal areas through human activities will also be discussed. The purpose of this study is to make aware of the people of their responsibility for sustainable tourism. 

Findings 

Contemporary issue 1: Poverty alleviation through sustainable tourism

According to Scheyvens & Hughes (2019), while discussing the potentials, poverty can be considered as a major issue everywhere. The multidimensional character is to be considered rather than emphasizing on the solely economic deprivation. Poverty is so widespread all over the world that it is really a contemporary issue to alleviate it. There is a connection between the growth of tourism development and poverty alleviation. Through tourism business development,  more jobs can be provided to the people, their economic conditions can be improved and thus, poverty can be alleviated through sustainable tourism development.  

On the other hand, Nafi & Ahmed (2017), have opined that the main elements of poverty alleviation can be increasing labour productivity, job creation and others. For example, it can be said that Bangladesh has taken many measures to alleviate poverty and sustainable tourism policy is one of them. There are different types of sustainable tourism in the world and of them, rural tourism can be named. In the view of Feng et al. (2018), the main theme of rural tourism is to take rural areas based on the scenery and human activities as key tourist attractions and then to develop those areas.

Different stakeholders in the management and planning of sustainable tourism

The objective of alleviating poverty puts more pressure on the less developed countries and different types of stakeholders play vital roles in the alleviation of poverty. According to Feng et al. (2018), the main stakeholders to improve sustainable tourism are UNWTO, individual entrepreneurs, government, National Parks, hotels and communities. These stakeholders plan and develop tourist destinations. Pro-Poor tourism means a reduction of poverty through the development of the tourism industry. Different countries like the UK have taken collaborative approaches to alleviate poverty through such tourism. From the above discussion, it is clear that stakeholders have a major responsibility to alleviate poverty through tourism.

Role of UNWTO in sustainable tourism 

Medina‐Muñoz, Medina‐Muñoz  & Gutiérrez‐Pérez (2016), have stated that the United Nations World Tourism Organization has started to promote sustainable tourism through the development of pro-poor tourism programs for the reduction of poverty. With this program, the UNWTO leads the management of all resources that all the economic, social and other aesthetic needs can be fulfilled along with cultural and biological diversity. In addition to this, the UNWTO has also initiated Sustainable Tourism Eliminating Poverty Program, the purpose of which is alleviating poverty through the assistance of developmental projects that are sustainable.  

Role of government on pro-poor tourism planning and development

Government is one of the major stakeholders in the tourism industry. In the view of Medina‐Muñoz, Medina‐Muñoz  & Gutiérrez‐Pérez (2016), Government through its agencies can develop sustainable tourism programs and alleviate poverty through pro-poor tourism. The government can introduce some environmental policies that facilitate pro-poor tourism. The poor are critical but through such policies, they can be organized that support pro-poor tourism.  It can be concluded that the government can discuss with the poor residents while taking any decision regarding tourism. Some regulations can be revised by the government that impedes the poor people in tourism employment or tourism-related small business units.  

Management approaches by tourism companies for poverty alleviation

The main purpose of pro-poor tourism is to support the poor section of society through the development of tourism business. According to Majrul & Mandal (2018), the main players in the tourism industry play a major role to support pro-poor tourism. The hotels, National Parks and other tourist destinations are required to employ local people so as to support them and mitigate their poverty. They should buy goods and services from the local suppliers to support their livelihood. For community programs organized by those players’ local drama groups, choral groups and for other purposes, local arts groups are required to be hired. In this way, the pro-poor programs by tourism industry players can alleviate poverty.  

Role and need of the poor community in sustainable tourism

Community-based tourism is a tourism that is managed and controlled by the community in the society. The goal of this CBT  is to support the community of society through tourism business. Through this type of community-based tourism, the communities will be involved and thus they will be benefited through sustainable tourism. Arnstein in the year 1969 used a concept of the ladder for community development (Ebel et al., 2018). Through his ladder, Arnstein has highlighted the power of community in to participate in a program and in decision-making. This type of concept will help the tourism authority and government to involve the community more scientifically in the tourism program.  

Contemporary issue 2: CO2 emission, climate change and environmental quality in the context of sustainable tourism

According to Rodríguez Díaz & Espino Rodríguez (2016), Climate change is continuously affecting the human and other animals’ health since the past few years. Due to globalization and huge carbon emission, the ecological balance is destroying and the quality of the environment is degrading gradually. People, marine animals and other corals are the parts of the tourism industry and they are continuously affected by this degraded quality of the environment. Bad quality of health of both human beings and other animals affected sustainable tourism. 

Needs and roles of different stakeholders in CO2 emission, climate change and environment quality

Ebel et al., (2018) have opined that different stakeholders related to the tourism industry have a responsibility to reduce the evil effects of CO2 emission, climate change and environmental degraded quality. Government has to impose legislation for less CO2 emission, industrialists directly or indirectly related to the tourism industry have a responsibility to cause less CO2 that leads to climate change and above all the community have a responsibility to maintain natural resources for sustainable tourism. Visitors are one of the main stakeholders and they have a responsibility to keep the environment clean for sound tourist destinations. 

Needs and roles of UNWTO in CO2 emission, climate change and environment quality

UNWTO’s projects are related to the development of public health and health of other animals and plants which are part of the tourism industry. According to Weishaar & Chen  (2017), the principles of UNWTO are designed to reduce carbon emission. Again UNWTO is a member of the UN Climate Change Negotiations in Paris that helps reduce the negative effects of climate change. All these have contributed to sustainable tourism. 

Needs and roles of government in CO2 emission, climate change and environment quality

Governments in different countries have passed different laws in reducing the carbon emission and to mitigate the effects of climate change.  Canada joined the Kyoto Protocol and Australia introduced Carbon Tax to reduce emission. In these ways, governmental policies can boost sustainable tourism. 

Needs and roles of players in the tourism industry in CO2 emission, climate change and environment quality

Tan et al. (2018) opined that for the past few years, there has been a trend to reduce carbon emission and use more of renewable energy all over the world. The largest decrease has been recorded in China and the US. On the other hand, signing the Paris Agreement has reduced the effects of climate change in many countries. Based on this trend the players in the tourism industry have been cautious in keeping the environment clean through their tourism activities. 

Needs and roles of the poor community in CO2 emission, climate change and environment quality

Government is trying to alleviate poverty through pro-poor tourism programs all over the world and the poor community in the society has to be aware of the consumption of natural resources that create CO2, they have to preserve the natural resources and thus have to maintain a quality environment for sustainable tourism. 

Contemporary issue 3: Coast, marine life and other unlawful activities of human being on sustainable tourism

According to Filous et al. (2017), human activities have impacted negatively marine life and this has affected marine tourism. For example, careless fishing has destroyed the balance of marine life. On the other hand, human beings have destroyed lots of mangroves to make their rooms in the coastal area affecting sustainable tourism.

Needs and roles of different stakeholders in Coast, marine life and other unlawful activities of the human being for sustainable tourism

Stakeholders related to marine, coastal and other human activities are responsible to stop these unlawful activities and save the marine life. In the view of Holladay et al. (2018), stakeholders should have a detailed perspective on sustainable tourism. The government can protect the community from dumping waste on the ocean, ship-owners should be aware of marine pollution and the community will be aware of destroying coastal land to maintain sustainable tourism.

Needs and roles of UNWTO in Coast, marine life and other unlawful activities of a human being for sustainable tourism

Hsiao et al. (2020) states that Pollution, climate change and man-made activities are going to destroy marine and coastal life and UNWTO has a responsibility to save both coastal areas and marine life for the management of sustainable tourism business. Maintaining a higher sea level, maintaining the behaviour of tourists are in some ways. Ganglmair-Wooliscroft & Wooliscroft (2016), have also discussed tourism behaviour to develop it.  

Needs and roles of government in Coast, marine life and other unlawful activities of a human being for sustainable tourism

Continuous ruthless activities by human beings have destroyed the marine creatures and also the mangroves at different parts of the world and this has caused damage to the sustainability of the tourism business. According to Rajamanicam, Mohanty & Chandran, (2018), the government officials have the responsibility to collect data on tourism development. Government has a role to encourage activities for protecting them and also to provide public training for their awareness.

Needs and roles of players in the tourism industry in Coast, marine life and other unlawful activities of a human being for sustainable tourism

The tourism industry has a great interest in maintaining marine and coastal life for a sustainable tourism business. They are required to maintain those sea and coastal areas and make aware the tourists through tourism education programs to save tourist destinations.

Needs and roles of the poor community in Coast, marine life and other unlawful activities of a human being for sustainable tourism

Poor communities like fishers are solely dependable on their livelihood and due to this reason, they sometimes destroy the sea and coastal land and some marine creatures which is harmful to sustainable tourism. They have a role to take care of the seashore and coastal areas while working.  

Contemporary issue 4: Responsible consumption vs consumerism   in sustainable tourism

Through consumerism, the interest of the consumers in the tourism industry can be protected and a sense of responsibility can be created in the minds of tourism consumers that will be supportive for future consumption and environmental protection.

Needs and roles of different stakeholders on responsible consumption Vs consumerism in the context of sustainable tourism

Michael Hall (2015), states that the main theme of the ethical or responsible consumption is to make a sense of sustainable consumption behaviour in the minds of people. Most importantly with the government, many other non-governmental NGOs can make the public aware through their programs of responsible consumption for the future.  

Needs and roles of UNWTO on responsible consumption Vs consumerism in the context of sustainable tourism

UNWTO has enacted principles for responsible consumption to support consumerism in the tourism industry. It has ensured the proper contribution of the tourism-related products among the consumers. UNWTO has ensured all the facilities for all products and services. thus ethical consumption has been maintained. 

Needs and roles of government on responsible consumption Vs consumerism in the context of sustainable tourism

Government has a major role in proper distribution of tourism-related products like food and other consumable goods to support future generation and to save the environment. Government policies can make the public aware of responsible consumption. 

Needs and roles of players in the tourism industry on responsible consumption Vs consumerism in the context of sustainable tourism

Tourism players have a joint responsibility to make the people aware of the responsible consumption of tourism-related resources like food and other special type resources. The tourism players have to make awareness campaigns to make the consumers aware of responsible consumption. 

Needs and roles of the poor community on responsible consumption Vs consumerism in the context of sustainable tourism

The community in society has to contribute to the pro-poor programs that are organised by the government. They should avoid tourism-related resource waste and maintain the same in a responsible way. Poor communities have to take training and financial initiatives offered by the government to develop their consumption sense (Dangi & Jamal, 2016).

Contemporary issue 5: Is Trekking Tourism Sustainable

Trekking is a form of tourism that can foster sustainability through its activities. According to Upadhyay (2018), people spend money on any type of tourism and this transaction money. Nepal is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world and lots of mountaineers come to Nepal for trekking purposes and they spend money which is a source of income. Again, the investment made by foreign investors in Nepal is a great source of earning. Mountaineering and trekking are the major tourism products for which tourists stay in Nepal and thus, support the economy of Nepal. In this way, the trekking business in Nepal has a pivotal effect on the tourism industry and leads to sustainable tourism. On the other hand, Bohme-Bauer (2012), opined that the customers' feedback in the tourism experience in Nepal also creates sustainability in the tourism business. Sharing of tourism experience between the customers is helpful fostering the growth and sustainability of the tourism business.  

Upadhyay (2018) has again viewed that trekking along with different sports, hiking, rafting, jungle safari, jumping is a part of an adventure in human life and hence, they are the study of culture, society and economy of the local community and others. Hence, from the above analysis, it can be told that there is a great scope to develop trekking in Nepal in the context of sustainable tourism business and it will boost the future tourism business in Nepal.   Sustainable trekking tourism business depends on the natural resources on which the entire tourism industry depends. Promotion of tourists' quality of life and satisfaction of tourists are also responsible for sustainable tourism business in the country like Nepal.  Many concerns in Nepal like loopholes in tourism policies,  labour migration for jobs abroad, lack of development in tourism infrastructure and others are the responsible barriers in the path of sustainable tourism business in Nepal and these should be resolved immediately for sustainable tourism. 

Contemporary issue 6: Over tourism and resident social carrying capacity 

It has been experienced for the last fifty years that over-tourism impacts negatively on the residents of a locality and it can be said to be one of the contemporary issues in sustainable tourism. The negative phenomena have been named as overtourism by the local residents in a tourist destination. According to Arai & Goto (2017), for few years overcrowding in tourist destinations have disrupted the life of local residents with the destruction of natural and sociological assets. Even in some tourist destinations, the local residents have started demanding that tourists should be stopped from coming. In this way, the over-tourism has been transferred into an anti-tourism phenomenon and it is harmful to sustainable tourism. Seraphin, Sheeran & Pilato (2018), have shown that activists in some places like Barcelona, Palma, Venice, Bhutan and some other places arranged local campaigns against tourists and tourism business. The slogan in Barcelona was ‘Tourists go home’ and this type of acts was organized by the social activists in the year 2017. 

On the other side, Gonzalez, Coro mina & Gail (2018), have highlighted the effects of over-tourism through a case study in Spain. The author has discussed how the local residents had to carry social burden due to over-tourism in tourist destinations. However, from the above discussion, it has been clear that the threats to sustainable tourism business are to be mitigated for long-time sustainable business. Otherwise, overtourism or other threats can be detrimental in the future business of tourism. Government and non-government organizations should come forward to mitigate the threats of a sustainable tourism business.  

Conclusion 

Sustainable tourism means to run tourism business maintaining all the resources sustainably for future use and to make the tourism business long-lasting for the tourists. ruthless human activities have created many negative factors like carbon emission, destruction of marine life and coastal areas and these have been a great concern for sustainable tourism.  Anti-tourism phenomena like overcrowding have also been barriers in the path of development of sustainable tourism business. Government and other non-government organizations have to come forward and root out those negative issues to maintain an ever-lasting sustainable tourism business. Apart from these, the communities related to tourism have to be aware of the waste of tourism-related resources. 

Recommendations 

The following recommendations are suggested for a sustainable tourism business:

• Carbon footprint is required to be decreased and other human activities that destroy the tourism-related resources are required to be stopped through the implementation of the government policies. Punishment should be there in case of infringement of such policies. There are plenty of green tips that are to be advised by Government agencies or NGOs in campaigns with the assistance of tourism companies.
• The coastal cities and areas are to be maintained and new cities should be developed for the residential places of the tourists. Coastal forests that are often damaged by typhoons or soil erosion are to be rejuvenated by the government and the players in the tourism industry.
• Anti-tourism phenomena like overcrowding should be mitigated for sustainable tourism. This type of phenomena can create negative impacts on the local residents and hence, this will be then against the policy. 
• Tourism jobs should be created not on the basis of seasonal jobs but on the basis of permanent jobs to attract local residents and avoid migration of local residents. The government should provide incentives for this.