How sustainable is ‘sustainable tourism’?

Sustainable tourism, also called eco-tourism or green tourism, is one of the fastest-
growing sectors of the tourism industry. It is constantly promoted as something that
is very different from mass tourism, which many agree is ruining many popular
travel destinations. It is often called the ‘friendly face of travel’. But is it?

If managed well, sustainable tourism offers many benefits. It does very little harm
to the environment and builds awareness and respect for the local culture and
environment. It employs and benefits local people, and educates visitors about
local social, political and environmental issues. Part of the money made goes
directly to the local community, which is then used in conservation programmes (by
establishing a wildlife habitat, for example), and visitors carry new ideas back home
to influence their own environment. Ideally, money generated from sustainable
tourism also encourages governments at national and local level to invest in
various conservation programmes.

A recent survey of travellers indicates that 23 per cent went on what they perceived
to be a sustainable trip. However, there is some doubt as to how sustainable some
of their trips actually were.

‘Sustainable tourism is supposed to bring people closer to nature, and thus instil a
greater desire to protect it,’ says Heidi Manning of GreenSpace Tours. ‘However, it
is difficult to say what sustainable tourism actually is and what it involves, so not all
activities do this equally well. Is swimming with captive dolphins in a pool
sustainable? Is driving a jeep across the desert sustainable? They are, but only to
a certain extent, and they probably impart different impressions of nature and the
desire to preserve it. The question we need to ask is: Did those 23% have a
positive or negative impact on the local environment?’

‘One promise of sustainable tourism is that it increases the value of biological

systems,’ says Robert Moriarty, an environmental systems lecturer at Briarwood
University. ‘This means that people make more money by preserving a forest, for
example, than by cutting the trees down to create farmland. The problem is that
some kinds of sustainable tourism do not contribute much to the local economy.
Usually, only a few people benefit, and those who are left out have little incentive to
engage in conservation.’

Emily Thompson, an environmental campaigner, is concerned about something

called ‘greenwash’. ‘Greenwash occurs when an organisation tries to present a
positive public image in order to hide the damage it is doing to the environment,’
she says. ‘They advertise positive environmental practices while doing the
opposite. A recent case concerned a travel company who had built a resort for eco-
tourists in a forest. In order to build it, they destroyed 200 acres of the forest, and
forced 80 local people to move. They then diverted a river for their water supply
and employed staff from a city many miles away. When we complained, they
insisted that they were acting to preserve the local environment, which of course
they weren’t!’

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Martin Gomez has spent six months working in the Marimara Islands. ‘The islands
are a popular destination for travellers who support sustainable tourism. However,
that’s the problem. Although they have good intentions and genuinely believe they
are helping to preserve the environment, their very presence means that it is being
damaged. Pollution, erosion, depletion of water supplies and displacement of local
people are serious problems that outweigh any financial benefits.’