TS311 – SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

SEMESTER 2 - 2020

Week 2 – Unit 2

Sustainable Tourism
Presented by Stuart Gow
 Last week:
Sustainable Development

• “Sustainable development
is development that meets
the needs of the present
without compromising the
ability of future generations
to meet their own needs”
 Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit,

you should be able to:
• Discuss the historical context in
which sustainable tourism emerged.
• Explain the links between
sustainable development and
sustainable tourism.
• Outline different viewpoints on
sustainable tourism and defend
your own perspective.
• Identify and evaluate the criticisms
of sustainable tourism.

• Advocacy tourism development
• Semantics
• Cautionary tourism development
• Tourism centric approach
• Alternative tourism development
• Holistic perspective
• Knowledge-based tourism
development
• Product-orientated
• Action-based tourism
development
• Symbiotic
• Partial immersion
• Total immersion
• To kill the goose that lays the
golden egg
Key Terms
• Agenda 21 for the Travel and
Tourism Industry
• Common pool resources
• WTO’s Global Code of Ethics for
Tourism
• Tragedy of the Commons
• WCED definition
• Alternative tourism
• Small-scale development
• Polar opposites
• Carrying capacity
• Sustainable tourism
• Pick and mix
• Convergence
• Zero-priced goods
• Sustainable tourism development
 Reading

• Reading T2.1
Chapter 1 of textbook, pp. 7-12.
• Reading T2.2
Chapter 3 of textbook, pp. 23-40
• Study Guide Reading 2.1
Liu, Z., (2003), Sustainable
Tourism Development: A
Critique, Journal of Sustainable
Tourism, 11/6, 459-475
 Additional Readings
• Bramwell, B., Henry, I., Jackson, G., Prat A. G., Richards G. & van der Straaten, J.
(Eds.) (1996). Sustainable Tourism Management: Principles and Practice.
Tilberg: Tilberg University Press.
• Britton, S. G. (1983). Tourism and Underdevelopment in Fiji. Development
Studies Centre, Australian National University, Canberra: Australian National
University.
• Butler, R. W. (1980). The Concept of the Tourist Area Cycle of Evolution:
Implications for the Management of Resources. The Canadian Geographer,
24(1), 5-12.
• Butler, R. W. (1991). Tourism, Environment and Sustainable Development.
Environmental Conservation, 18(3), 201-209.
• Butler, R. W. (1993). Tourism – An Evolutionary Perspective. In J. G. Nelson, R.
W. Butler & G. Wall, (Eds.), Tourism and Sustainable Development: Monitoring,
Planning, Managing, Department of Geography Publication Series, No. 37 (pp.
27-43). Waterloo: University of Waterloo,.
• Farrell B. H. (1992). Tourism as an Element in Sustainable Development. In V. L.
Smith & W. R. Eadington (Eds.) Tourism Alternatives: Potentials and Problems
in the Development of Tourism (pp. 115-133). Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press.
• Jafari, J. (1989). An English Language Literature Review. In J. Bystranowski,
(Ed.), Tourism as a Factor of Change: A Socio-cultural study (pp. 17-60). Vienna:
Centre for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences.
• Lindberg, K. (1997). Rethinking Carrying Capacity. Annals of Tourism Research,
24(2), 461-465.
• Marten, G. (2001). Human Ecology: Basic Concepts For Sustainable
Development. London: Earthscan Publications.
• Mathieson, A. & Wall, G. (1982). Tourism: Economic, Physical and Social
Impacts. Harlow: Longman Scientific & Technical.
• Mowforth, A. & Munt, I. (1998). Tourism and Sustainability: New Tourism in the
Third World. London: Routledge.
• Sharpley, R. (2000). Tourism and Sustainable Development: Exploring the
Theoretical Divide. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 8(1), 1-19.
 Videos

• UN Millennium Campaign Goal 7

Environmental Sustainability
 TS311 – SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
SEMESTER 2 - 2020

Learning Outcome 1

DISCUSS THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT IN

WHICH SUSTAINABLE TOURISM EMERGED
 Chronology of Sustainable Tourism
as a Concept

Recognition of Birth of the Growth in the

the potential concept of green concept of
impacts of the tourism sustainable tourism
boom in mass
tourism

Growth in the
concept of visitor Swarbrooke, 1998
management

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Advocacy / Cautionary / Alternative / Knowledge / Action /
Miracle industry Impacts Polar opposites Convergence Implementation
 Jafari’s platform model (1989; 2001)
1. Advocacy / Miracle
industry platform
1950-1960’s
• Pro tourism perspective first
developed in the
1950s/1960s
• Focus on economic benefits
• Regional development;
linkages
• Chance for the ‘third world’
2. Cautionary /Impacts
platform
1970’s
• Developed in the in the late
1960s and early 1970s
• argues that unregulated
tourism development
eventually culminates in
unacceptably high
environmental, economic
and sociocultural costs for
the residents of destinations
• Regional disparity; leakages
• Commodification of culture
 Jafari’s platform model (1989; 2001)

3. Adaptancy / Alternative / 4. Knowledge-based /

Polar opposites platform Convergence platform
1980’s 1990’s
I. Identified the potential negative
impacts of tourism. • Sustainable development
II. Perceived solutions marks the
beginning of the adaptancy. • Sustainable tourism
III. Alternative tourism
IV. Alternative tourism opposite to
mass tourism, (supporting locally
owned small-scale enterprises
rather than those that are
externally owned.
V. Ecotourism - manifestation of
alternative tourism that emphasizes
attractions based on the natural
environment.
 Jafari’s platform model (1989; 2001)

5. Action / Implementation Jafari’s platform model

2000’s
Implementation of SDGS & different
forms of sustainable tourism
I. faces up to how to make the industry
more environmentally friendly
II. to make consumers more aware and
to encourage a more active
contribution to sustainable
development concerns and priorities
III. sustainable tourism development
used to demonstrate the firm links to
the sustainable development agenda
and, following the increasing poverty
focus of much sustainable
development work,
IV. new tourism terms have emerged
linking tourism to this dialogue, e.g.
fair trade, ethical tourism and pro-
poor tourism.
 TS311 – SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
SEMESTER 2 - 2020

Learning Outcome 2

EXPLAIN THE LINKS BETWEEN

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT &
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
 Sustainable Tourism

UNWTO: Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic,
social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the
industry, the environment and host communities
(https://sdt.unwto.org/content/about-us-5)
Tourism & the SDGs
Conference 2019

• Tourism & the SDGs

Conference 2019
• https://tourism-sdg.nz/
 Tourism and Development

• Tourism can – directly or indirectly – contribute to all 17 SDGs

• Specific references to Tourism in the SDGs (UNWTO 2018)
Sustainable Transport
Sustainable accommodation
Waste management
 TS311 – SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
SEMESTER 2 - 2020

Learning Outcome 3

OUTLINE DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS ON

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM & DEFEND YOUR
OWN PERSPECTIVE
 Commercialization of Culture,
Poverty Alleviation or Business?
 2 UNWTO publications

https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284419722 https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/book/10.18111/9789284419746
 TS311 – SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
SEMESTER 2 - 2020

Learning Outcome 4

IDENTIFY AND EVALUATE THE CRITICISMS

OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
 Early criticism of tourism’s impacts

IMPACTS
• on local people &
their environments
• concerns about the
rapid & often
unplanned growth
of tourism
• the development of
tourist ghettos
• the negative social &
ecological impacts
 Mass tourism critique since the 1970s

• Mass tourism refers to a large number of visitors, often

on package holidays with accommodation and travel
included
• Displacements and forced replacements of local people
from their origin livelihoods
• Massive developments and transformations are created
to meet the expectations and needs of visitors
• Often high seasonality: people are moved in and out of In Pagan, Myanmar, 4.000 people have been
forcibly relocated to make way for tourism
paid positions development (Pilger 1997)
• Emphasis on commercialisations of natural and cultural
ressources.
• Environmental costs:
– air , soil and water pollution
– Littering
– deforestation...
Tons of trash on Mount Everest
 Mass tourism (MT):
tourist enclaves
• MT dominates a region
due to its non local
orientation
• little requirement for
local food products,
money stays within the
enclave
• Denarau, Fiji ??
 Mass tourism
• (Mass) tourism as a tool for economic development of a region: creation of jobs
and enterprises, infrastructure development and the export income earned
• Marketing occurs on the basis of high volume
• 1.3 bn International Tourists; 5-6 bn Domestic Tourists

UNWTO 2017
 Overtourism

• hosts or guests, locals or visitors, feel

that there are too many visitors and
that the quality of life in the area or
the quality of the experience has
deteriorated unacceptably
 Overtourism in Venice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGqVG6QUTKQ
 And under-tourism
in the South Pacific?
International tourist arrivals
2016
• Tonga (61.000)
• Federated States of
Micronesia (24,000)
• Solomon Islands (22,000)
• American Samoa (20,000)
• Marshall Islands (10,000)
• Niue (8,000)
• Kiribati (5,000)
• Tuvalu (2,000)
• Nauru (< 1,000)
UNWTO, 2017
Importance of Tourism for
Developing Countries
 The Relationship between
sustainable tourism & other terms

CBT
PPT

Alternative
Tourism
Responsible
Tourism Sustainable
Tourism Eco-Tourism

Soft Tourism
Environmentally
friendly Tourism
Minimum Impact
Tourism
 Potential benefits of sustainable tourism I

In response to critiques over the impact of social, economic & environmental impacts of
mass tourism

• Accommodation
– Does not overwhelm the community
– Benefits (jobs, expenditures) are more evenly distributed
– A larger percentage of revenues accrue to local areas
– Greater opportunity for local entrepreneurs to participate in the tourism
sector
• Attractions
– Authenticity and uniqueness of community is promoted and enhanced
– Attractions are educational and promote self-fulfillment
– Locals can benefit from existance of the attractions even if tourists are not
present

Weaver 1993; Fennell 2008, 6

 Case Study: Tilos, Greece

The first island in the Mediterranean to run entirely on wind and solar power
 Case Study: Sochi, Russia
- after Winter Olympics 2014
 Samoa 2019 Pacific Games

Did Samoa and her people

get any long-term benefit
from this event?
 Potential benefits of
sustainable tourism II

• Market
– A more desirable visitor type: luxury tourists or
backpackers?
– Less vulnerability to disruption within a single major
market
• Economic impact
– Economic diversity is promoted to avoid single-sector
dependence
– money circulates within the community
– More jobs and economic activity are generated
• Regulation
– Community makes the critical development/strategy
decisions
– Planning to meet ecological, social and economic carrying
capacities
– Long-term approach takes into account the welfare of the
future generation

Weaver 1993; Fennell 2008, 6

 Share and discuss

• Can you think of any example of

sustainable tourism where you are
(from) or which you observed or
experienced?
• Identify the sustainable elements
• Talk to your colleagues next to you.
Everybody should introduce one
example in the group
 The 4 Approaches of ST vs MT

• ST & mass tourism > renounce

Polar opposites Mass T to get ST

• No polar opposites > different shades of

Continuum both

• Idea to make Mass T more sustainable

Movement

• All T should strive to be sustainable

Convergence
Clarke (1997)
 ST enters academia

• Early books/textbooks since 1990s

the 1960s • Launch of the Journal of
– Dowers 1965; Young 1973; Sustainable Tourism in
de Kadt 1979; Britton, 1983; 1993
Krippendorf 1987 (http://www.tandfonline.co
• Increasingly importance m/loi/rsus20#.V4bPk6Il9_w )
since 1990s
– Hall & Lew 1998; Mowforth
& Munt 1998; Swarbrooke
1999; Aronsson 2000; Ritchie
& Crouch 2003; Weaver
2006; Gössling, Hall &
Weaver 2009
ST enters academia
 The institutionalization of sustainable
tourism
• The concept gained increasing
attention
• has moved rapidly from a position of
peripherality to centrality
• External (non tourism) institutions
– Global: United Nations but also see
UNWTO
– Regional: European Commission; Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC);
ASEAN; Association of Caribbean
States (ACS); African Union etc.
– Environmental organizations:
Conservation International (CI); World
Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) etc
 The institutionalization of
sustainable tourism

Internal institutions:
• UNWTO: Manila (1980); Hague
declaration (1989); year of ecotourism
(2002); year of sustainable tourism
(2017)http://www2.unwto.org/
• WTTC: advocacy platform approach to
tourism
development; https://www.wttc.org
• Regional Org. such as PATA or SPTC
• National and subnational recognition
• NGOs
 2017 International Year of
Sustainable Tourism for Development
• In the context of the universal 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development and the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), the International Year
aims to support a change in policies, business
practices and consumer behavior towards a more
sustainable tourism sector that can contribute to the
SDGs.
• http://www.tourism4development2017.org/
 TS311 – SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
SEMESTER 2 - 2020

CRITIQUE & STAKEHOLDER

PERSPECTIVES OF ST
 Tourism Industry’s Response to
Sustainable Tourism
• Beginning in the 1980s hospitality
industry led the way with ‘green’
initiatives.
• Most of the tourism industry has
simply focused on the
environmental dimension (energy
conservation/saving, recycling,
waste reduction) of ST
• Has neglected social side of
sustainability (HR management
policies).
• Many operators and attractions
have begun to address social and
economic dimensions of the
sustainability equation.
 Civil society and media

• Pressure on industry (especially hotels, transport,

tour operators) by:
– Professional bodies
– Pressure groups and CSOs (e.g. Tourism Concern, Tourism
Watch,
– The media
 Tourists’ Response
to Sustainable Tourism

• Tourists are attracted to sensitive, fragile environments

• Little interest in ST approaches?
– Hardly boycotts of environmental unfriendly air travel
– Or tourist movements to push hotels to pay higher wagers
– Flygskam movement? (flight shaming)
• Mass tourist versus alternative tourist
• Green consumer behaviour at home does not correlate
with green tourism purchases (Wearing, Cynn, Ponting,
McDonald, 2002)
– Tourism as a way to break out of daily routines
 Stumbling Blocks on the Road to
Sustainable Tourism
1. Semantics –what is sustainable tourism?
2. Focus on environmental dimension at the
expense of the social and economic
dimensions
3. Lack of multi disciplinary approach –focus on
capacity rather than appropriate types of
tourism

(Twining Ward, 1999)

 Critique of Sustainable Tourism
Thinking

Value Judgments over Evidence

• Independent travel more
sustainable than package
holiday tourism?
• Can small scale tourism
provide real economic
benefits?
• What about a well managed
mass seaside resort at the
Mediterranean?
 Critique of Sustainable Tourism
Thinking
Impact and awareness
• In many environments the impact of other industries is of far
greater concern
• Tourism and Human Rights/political freedom
• Does the green tourist actually exist?
– Are tourists switching from cars to public transport / from aeroplanes
to trains? Evidence?
– Insisting hotels recycle their waste?
• Sustainable/alternative tourism opens the door to mass
tourism?
Do existing concepts (eg. de-marketing, CBT) really work?
Growing Chinese Tourism…
 Conclusions

• Ideas of more sustainable tourism are

articulated since the 1960s
• But academia just started a focus in the 1990s
• Difficult to find a single or binding definition
of ST
• Many subforms
• Importance and challenges of implementation
• Critique of ST as blessings for all
 TS311 – SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
SEMESTER 2 - 2020

Week : 10-14 August 2020

TUTORIALS WEEK 2

• 1st REAL tutorial!
• Prepare by reading all on Perusall
• Groups will be given 1 question to
discuss/critique for 1 hour
• All groups must present to class
for 10 mins each on subject
• Q&A big part of your marks
Tutorials
1. Twining-Ward (1999, p. 187) says tourism
development is rarely if ever contained at
a level of use that is compatible with the
capacity of the destination resource base.
Do you agree? Think of examples for and
against this proposition.
2. Traditionally environmentalists, planners,
sociologists and anthropologists have
been critical of tourism development and
economists, management and marketing
experts see it as an opportunity to
enhance the prosperity of local people.
Which viewpoint do you favour? Why?
3. In a group, brainstorm some of the key
issues for sustainable tourism that need
to be addressed in your country.
 TS311 – SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
SEMESTER 2 - 2020

Stuart Gow
Stuart.Gow@usp.ac.fj
 TS311 – SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
SEMESTER 2 - 2020

Week 2 – Unit 2

Sustainable Tourism
Presented by Stuart Gow