Environmental Impacts of Tourism
Positive environmental impacts of tourism
Conservation of natural environments and preservation of biodiversity
Restoration of degraded aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
Negative environmental impacts of tourism
Pollution
Depletion of natural resources and threats to wildlife habitats
Conservation of natural environments and preservation of biodiversity
Local communities and governments in destination regions invested in conserving the natural environment and preserving biodiversity.
Maintaining pristine natural attractions brings tourists to visit and revisit, thus ensuring economic sustainability.
Tourism revenue in the destination regions may be used to help fund the protection of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
E,g, protected areas or national parks can be established, where developments in the area are restricted in order to ensure the habitats and biodiversity are undisturbed.
Revenue can also be used to employ and train specialised staff to run these parks and care for these ecosystems.
Environmental education programmes may also be set up for tourists in order to encourage them to show care for these ecosystems.
For example, the Galapagos Islands , Ecuador, is very popular with tourists for its rich biodiversity and scenic environments. An entrance fee of US$100 is charged to visitors entering the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador. The revenue generated from the fees are channelled to the conservation and upkeep of the park, including the hiring of park rangers.
2. Restoration of degraded aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
Natural aquatic and terrestrial sites with rich biodiversity have the potential to be tourist attractions. Hence, there is often a motivation to restore degraded aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems to create new natural attractions, such as marine or national parks.
Ecosystem restoration is the process of stopping and reversing degradation, which results in improved ecosystem services and recovered biodiversity. There are many ways to do this, such as through forest regeneration, and often depends on local conditions and practices.
e.g. Costa Rica, which has doubled its forest cover since the 1980s through restoration. As the tourism sector contributes significantly to Costa Rica’s GDP, reversing deforestation has a significant impact on the country by boosting ecotourism. Due to reforestation, the provisioning and regulating ecosystem services provided by the rainforest have been restored.
e.g. Mauritius and Seychelles a regional project led by the United Nations Development Fund has been initiated to restore the coral reef ecosystem, in order to enhance both local livelihoods and the tourism industry.
Halong bay is a popular tourist destination in Vietnam, well-know for its scenic beauty. However the increased number of tourists are putting stress on its ability to handle the large amount of trash generated.
https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/05/29/it-makes-you-sad-tourists-and-fishermen-leave-vietnams-ha-long-bay-covered-in-trash
Look at the cartoons below.
Can you infer the positive and negative impacts of tourism development?
http://www.seppo.net/cartoons/displayimage.php?pid=633
Positive- environmental protection from ecotourism. Animals and their habitat is conserved. Money from ecotourism can also allow the locals to engage in tourism related economic activities and supplement their income in tourism related jobs such as being tour guides or hotel service staff
Negative - The development in tourism might restrict the movement of the animals in the surrounding areas and affect biodiversity. There is also an increase in carbon footprint.
Positive - Income for the locals selling the cultural goods such as the wooden craft. This can also help to preserve their heritage in traditional craft.
Negative - Trees are cut down for the development of tourism resulting in deforestation and reduced biodiversity as animals lose their shelter and food. The sale of the cultural goods to tourists may dilute the authenticity of local culture as designs cater for tourists' tastes and preferences. The cost of living may increase because of the higher demand for resources to meet the tourist needs.
Littering
Littering by hikers in the Himalayas -https://sg.news.yahoo.com/news/nepal-picks-four-bodies-11-142758548.html
Vandalism
Five tourists accused of damaging Peru's iconic Machu Picchu site were deported to Bolivia on Jan 16 2020 and barred from returning to the country for 15 years - https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/machu-picchu-vandalism-tourists-deported-banned-from-peru-12270232
Vandalism by tourists in Thailand - https://nextshark.com/tourist-vandalizing-wall-thailand/
Increased carbon footprint
The graph below shows how much CO2 one emit on a Singapore-KL journey on various transport modes:
https://www.you.co/sg/blog/reducing-carbon-footprint-flight-car-bus-train/
14 destinations under threat from tourism
https://www.easyvoyage.co.uk/news/14-destinations-under-threat-from-tourism-overcrowding-69371
Negative impacts
Read this article on how environmental degradation brought by tourism has led to the Philippines president to restrict entry by outsiders to Boracay for half a year.
Watch this video to find out the environmental impacts of tourism on Boracay, Philippines.
Where is Boracay?
Who will be affected by the restriction of tourists to the island?
Why was there a need for the restriction of tourists on the island?
What are the impacts of the restriction of tourists on the locals living in Boracay?
When will the restriction of tourists enforced?
How could the development of tourism be made sustainable in Boracay?
Reflections
(a) Which part of the video caught your attention?
(b) What is the main idea of this video?
(c) What are some examples the producer uses to illustrate the main idea?
(d) What conclusions can be drawn from the video? For e.g., are there positive and negative impacts?
(e) What are your reflections about the video? (e.g., Is the video bias and was it written with a negative slant?)
Rainwater and waves seeping through rubbish littered can pollute coastal waters and cause it to brackish. The sewage which is directly disposed into the water caused much environmental harm. The polluted waters can cause destruction of habitats and deaths to nearby marine life. The massive disposed wastes left by tourists which are not properly disposed lead to land pollution. Nearby land and marine animals may ingest the wastes and choke to death. The Government of tourist destinations may lack the funds and resources to provide basic needs like utilities and managing pollution caused by tourism. As seen in the video, there is improper sewage treatment facilities and waste disposal which leads to environmental degradation. This is a common problem in many tourist destinations in developing countries which face this problem as it is costly to construct sewage treatment facilities and waste disposal systems. Many tourist destinations depend mainly on tourist spending and cannot afford to close off locations temporarily for them to recover from pollution, unlike Boracay iinn Philippines.
How does tourism impact on water resource in Koh Samui?
What is Sustainable Tourism Development?
Positive Impacts of tourism - Can you categorize the impacts of tourism in this game?
Play the game at http://www.classtools.net/widgets/dustbin_2/WXEaX.htm