Challenges In Sustainable Tourism and Their Solutions

We hear sustainable tourism and sustainability in tourism quite often these days. According to the data of World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism activities make up for 11% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. And this rate is expected to double in the year 2050. The importance of sustainability in tourism is obvious!

However, there is a challenge here. Continuity of profitability in the tourism sector requires increasing tourist numbers or increasing added value and prices of touristic products or making tourists consume more. It seems that increasing capacity and consumption is needed to increase profitability. And this is not a ‘sustainable’ solution. So, what should be done?

Personnel and food/beverage expenses constitute the largest expense items in tourism followed by energy. And energy efficiency has a crucial role in increasing profitability in tourism as well as promoting sustainable tourism practices.

We examine challenges and solutions in sustainable tourism in this post. Enjoy reading!

Tourism & Sustainability

Tourism is an industry based on natural and historical resources. As such, all activities to be conducted in scope of tourism sector to be conducted in a way that is respectful of environment and natural life and that protects limited consumable natural resources is not a matter of preference but a necessity.

Unfortunately, the consumption craze that has taken humankind under its control starting with the industrial revolution brought with it the mistreatment of natural resources. The recorded activity in sectors between 1970-2000 led to serious destruction of nature and rapid concretion of natural environments. Finally, with the guidance of United Nations, many organizations and institutions started to conduct awareness raising activities for a more sustainable environment by identifying the negative impacts arising from consumption behaviors of people.

The rapid growth of the tourism sector makes the environmental damages arising from touristic activities unavoidable. As such, sustainability works in tourism have increased especially in recent years. One of the primary aims is to enable destinations, which will receive tourism investments, to be operated in accordance with their capacity rather than closing whole areas to tourism in order to prevent environmental destruction.

In short, the main purpose of sustainable tourism is to decrease harm to the environment in tourism activities and realize sustainable practices.

Challenges of Sustainability in Tourism

Tourism encourages luxury consumption as its nature requires. It needs to provide revenue for the local people, businesses, and the country. It is important to enable foreign tourists to spend more, thus more foreign currency would enter into the country. As such, the aim of tourism is to attract more tourists and to have these tourists spend more. This is how profitability is achieved.

In order to increase revenue in tourism, we need to;

1. Increase the number of tourists coming to the country,
2. Rise the added value and prices of touristic products,
3. Have tourists consume more.

At this point, there is a serious conflict between increasing tourism revenue and sustainability. Because when a destination plans to increase the number of incoming tourists, this disrupts the very grounds of sustainability, and it has to go beyond its physical bearing capacity. Or it would try to have tourists consume more. And this disrupts the sustainable production balance.

Therefore, there remains only one option for a country that wants to increase its tourism revenue by balancing it with sustainability, which is raising the prices of touristic products. However, when the prices of touristic products are raised, serious decreases in tourist numbers can be experienced due to international competition, elasticity of tourism demand and multiplicity of options. In this context, sustainable tourism has to be conducted on an overly sensitive scale, especially in terms of development.

So, what can we do for sustainable tourism? How can we overcome the conflict between profitability and sustainability? With energy efficiency!

The most important fact in sustainable tourism is energy saving, minimizing fossil fuel use through smart building technologies, more importantly making sustainability permanent by using renewable energy sources. Practices such as insulation, LED lighting, etc. would enable energy efficiency while also increasing profitability.

Energy Efficiency in Tourism Sector: Accommodation

The most important investment for a region to get a share of the tourism pie is accommodation. And accommodation has higher energy demand.

Energy costs of accommodation enterprises are among the biggest fixed expenses following personnel wages and food/beverage costs. Hotel enterprises operate 24/7. The hours when businesses are closed are the busiest times for hotel enterprises. In addition, they do not close during official and religious holidays. Accommodation facilities which have hundreds of personnel and thousands of guests have a huge energy demand. Main expense items are heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting. In addition, cleaning equipment and other equipment used in kitchen services may be listed among other energy items.

Energy bills of hotels increase with the use of natural gas. In short, reducing the energy expenses of accommodation activities, which are the backbone of tourism sector, is quite important in terms of benefiting from a cost advantage.

SENTRUM Project and Energy Efficiency in Tourism Sector

From the perspective of sustainability, we know that energy that is needed by tourism enterprises has an immense importance. Fossil fuels are used for the most part for the energy consumed in tourism. We know that the carbon emissions released into the atmosphere as a result of this use play a key role in several events that threaten natural life, from global warming to acid rain.

And this is why we initiated the SENTRUM project to transform Küçükköy, Ayvalık into a tourism practice center based on sustainable energy. Energy efficiency was at the heart of the project.

We united our powers as Enerjisa Enerji with Sabancı University and the United Nations Development Program. We aimed to be a leader in bringing the tourism sector in Türkiye to the future in a climate-friendly way. We completed energy efficiency and renewable energy works on tourism establishments and public buildings in Küçükköy.

We conducted works for the “green destination” model in Küçükköy to be an example for other parts of Türkiye. We revealed the opportunities of energy efficiency and saving with the energy infrastructure and energy performance of the enterprises in the region.

We conducted survey works in Halis Komili Primary School, Küçükköy Culture Center, Küçükköy Central Mosque, City Museum and Creative Technologies Workshop. We identified areas of improvement for energy efficiency. We transferred 5 million Turkish Lira of resources for the works in scope of the project.

We transformed the building in Küçükköy through energy efficiency applications. We realized innovative energy implementations that would provide efficiency while protecting the original structures of these buildings. Moreover, we conducted pre-survey works for 8 small scale businesses and we identified potentials for energy efficiency and saving. We supported the businesses chosen for the SENTRUM Project to renew their inefficient equipment. In addition to this, we organized training and activities to raise awareness and create consciousness about sustainable tourism among business owners and local people.

The tourism sector needs continuity as well as the continuity of profitability. On the other hand, there are measures we must take for a sustainable future.

The most important practice here comes to the fore as energy efficiency.