What is Sustainable Tourism?

Tourism, by its very nature, focuses on what is valuable in our world: magnificent landscapes, wildlife, history, culture and people. Tourism can be a catalyst for growth in the local economy by providing quality jobs, entrepreneurial opportunities and funding for conservation. However, if not managed well, tourism can have negative impacts on local communities and environments, creating long-term problems for local residents and ultimately leading to a decline in tourism in the destination.

The main responsibilities of sustainable tourism include:

1. Protecting the environment, natural resources and wildlife,
2. Providing socio-economic benefits for communities living in tourist destinations,
3. Preserving cultural heritage and creating authentic tourist experiences,
4. Bringing tourists and local communities together for mutual benefit,
5. Creating inclusive and accessible tourism opportunities.

Therefore, sustainable tourism requires the following:

1) Helping to preserve essential ecological processes, natural heritage and biodiversity, ensuring optimal use of environmental resources, which are a key element in tourism development.
2) Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, preserve their established and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute to intercultural understanding and tolerance.

3) Provide stable employment and income-generating opportunities and socio-economic benefits to host communities… that are distributed fairly to all stakeholders, and conduct viable, long-term economic operations, contributing to poverty reduction.

Sustainable tourism requires broad participation, consensus, and strong political leadership.

You may have heard the terms ecotourism and sustainable tourism used interchangeably, but there is a distinct difference between the two.

Sustainable tourism is about creating travel opportunities with minimal impact and positive benefits for destinations and their communities, while ecotourism is more focused on educating tourists about nature and the environment and encouraging travelers to participate in conservation and cultural activities.

What Does Responsible Travel Mean?
Responsible travel refers to the behavior of individual tourists who want to make choices based on sustainable tourism practices. These behaviors are generally focused on minimizing negative impacts and maximizing positive impacts when visiting a tourism destination.

What Are the Goals for Sustainable Tourism?
The twelve main goals for sustainable tourism, set by the World Tourism Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme in 2005, are as follows:

​Responsible Travel refers to the behavior of individual tourists who want to make choices according to sustainable tourism practices. These behaviors are generally focused on minimizing negative impacts and maximizing positive impacts when visiting a tourism destination.

​The twelve main goals for sustainable tourism, set out in 2005 by the World Tourism Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme, are as follows:

​1. Economic Vitality: To ensure the sustainability and competitiveness of tourism destinations and businesses so that they can continue to thrive and provide benefits in the long term.

​2. Local Well-being: To maximize the contribution of tourism to the economic well-being of the host destination, including the proportion of visitor expenditure that is retained locally.

​3. Quality of Employment: To strengthen the number and quality of local employers, including wage levels, conditions of service and accessibility to all, regardless of gender, race, disability or other discrimination.

​4. Social Equity: To ensure that the economic and social benefits from tourism are widely and fairly distributed throughout the recipient community, including improved opportunities, incomes and services for the poor.

​5. Fulfilling Visitor Responsibilities: To provide a safe, rewarding experience that is open to all, regardless of gender, race, disability or other discrimination.

​6. Local Control: Involve and empower local communities in planning and decision-making processes on the management and future development of tourism in their areas, in consultation with other stakeholders.

7. Community Well-being: Protect and strengthen the quality of life in local communities, including social structures and access to resources, facilities and life support systems, avoiding all forms of social degradation or exploitation.

8. Cultural Richness: Respect and enhance the historical heritage, authentic culture, traditions and diversity of host communities.

9. Physical Integrity: Protect and enhance the quality of both urban and rural landscapes and prevent physical and visual degradation of the environment.

10. Biodiversity: Support the conservation of natural areas, habitats and wildlife and minimise damage to them.

11. Resource Efficiency: Minimise the use of scarce and non-renewable resources in the development and operation of tourism facilities and services.

12. Environmental Purity: Minimizing air, water and soil pollution and waste generation by tourism businesses and visitors.

1. Environmental impacts
The quality of the environment, both natural and man-made, is essential for tourism. However, the relationship between tourism and the environment is complex. It involves many activities that can have negative environmental impacts. Many of these impacts are linked to the construction of general infrastructures such as roads and airports, and tourism facilities including resorts, hotels, restaurants, shops, golf courses and marinas. The negative impacts of tourism development can gradually destroy the environmental resources on which it depends. Tourism development can put enormous pressure on an area and lead to impacts such as soil erosion, increased pollution, discharge into the sea, loss of habitat, increased pressure on endangered species and increased vulnerability to forest fires. It often puts pressure on water resources and can force local populations to compete for the use of critical resources.

On the other hand, tourism has the potential to have beneficial effects on the environment by contributing to the protection and conservation of the environment. Tourism should finance the preservation of natural areas and serve as a means of raising awareness of environmental values.

2. Socio-Cultural Impacts
Socio-cultural impacts occur when tourism disrupts value systems and changes in human behavior, thus threatening indigenous identity. In some societies, tourism often causes changes in family relationships, collective traditional lifestyles, ceremonies, and morals. However, tourism can also have positive effects, as it can serve as a force for peace, help foster pride in cultural traditions, and create local jobs, helping to avoid urban resettlement. As is often the case when different cultures come together, socio-cultural impacts are uncertain. They need to be measured and monitored carefully.

3. Economic Impacts of Tourism
The tourism industry provides significant economic benefits to both host countries and the home countries of tourists. One of the main motivations for developing countries, in particular, to promote themselves as a tourism destination is the anticipated economic recovery.

How Can We Measure Sustainable Tourism?
While sustainable tourism has many positive goals, there must be a concrete measurement system that ensures the company is making progress toward sustainability. Benchmarks are used to measure results and progress. Benchmarking is “the comparison of a business’s performance in a specific area (such as water consumption) with that of a similar business.” Benchmarking not only puts a business’s operations in perspective with those of its competitors, but also contributes to many positive internal improvements.

For example, common metrics used in the tourism sector include:

• Electricity and energy consumption in kilowatt-hours (kWh) per square meter of serviced area,
• Freshwater consumption in liters or cubic meters per guest per night (m 3 ),
• Waste production (kg per guest per night and/or liters per guest per night)

With these benchmarking categories, achieving sustainability in the tourism industry is not just a rhetorical goal; it is tangible, providing measurable benefits and potential economic savings to businesses trying to improve their daily performance.

By starting to benchmark their operations, businesses can simultaneously realize the tangible and economic benefits of internal improvements.

Tourism has large-scale economic benefits and is one of the world’s most important sources of employment. However, tourism is a very complex industry involving many stakeholders and requiring significant resources. Therefore, depending on how activities are managed, tourism can have very opposite effects. Well-managed tourism can play a positive role in the socio-cultural, economic, environmental and political development of a destination and therefore represents a significant development opportunity for many countries and communities. On the contrary, uncontrolled tourism development can have very damaging effects on natural resources, consumption patterns, pollution and social systems. The need for sustainable planning and management is essential for the survival of the industry as a whole.

Tourism is a big part of our global culture, allowing us to explore different parts of the world, meet people from different walks of life, and experience new activities. Tourism provides many benefits to both travelers and local communities. However, the industry is changing rapidly. Over the years, we have become increasingly aware of the threat of climate change and our role in escalating it. From fashion to cement, publishing to industry, all sectors are thinking of ways to reduce its negative impact on the world. Of course, the tourism sector has also started to experience its share of awareness on this issue. A study published by Nature Climate Change in 2018 revealed that tourism accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, we can say that the tourism sector has realized that it needs to move to a more sustainable model. In our article below, we will examine the definitions of sustainable tourism and eco-tourism, discuss the pros and cons of the tourism industry, and explore how sustainable tourism can provide a solution to our current challenges.