Course title and code: Sustainable tourism development\THRM311

Name NAYEREH Last name: TAVAKOLI ST.ID# 18700560

Assignment#5
Fall semester\2020-2021

The struggle towards sustainable tourism development

Today we see that overcrowding is becoming a real issue for many destinations; for example,
Barcelona is capping several new hotel licenses. Santorini is restricting the number of cruise
visitors, and popular destination like Machu Picchu is also limiting the number of day-to-day
visitors to the site. Capping tourists is a drastic measure and often treated as a last resort, but the
fact that more and more destinations are taking these steps indicates that tourism is not always
sustainable and that other sustainable initiatives are failing. To achieve genuinely sustainable
tourism development, what is needed is informed participation of all stakeholders, including
strong political leadership, Business is going beyond the business case for CSR, and individuals
are behaving more responsibly and while we see that the understanding of what sustainable
tourism is improving taking responsibility is often still lacking.

Although tourism is vital to many local and national economies, understanding the benefits of
mass tourism is being transformed by overcrowding. By that, I mean there is a misconception
that if they use the environmental elements that are mother earth`s blessing, they can gain more
financial profit. This way of thinking is perilous. According to the video, more countries
nowadays are becoming more aware of the situation and started to pay more attention to the
harmful and destructive effects of mass tourism on destinations’ societies and cultures. Limiting
visitors and tourists is a practical approach, not what resorts would want to do. It is always seen
as the last option to do, and the fact that more and more touristic destinations do not find any
other way to stay viable shows the evident lack of different initiatives.
In conclusion. Only if authorities, corporations and individuals take responsibility for improving
their actions can sustainable tourism growth be accomplished. Although awareness of activities
is improving, it is also deficient in accepting responsibilities. Even these baby steps bring hope
and show that more and more countries are starting to see the issues and working on
sustainability as whiteout natural resources will be nothing to attract tourists. Overcrowding to
gain more economic gain in a short amount of time will only shorten the destinations` lifecycle,
and caping tourists will protect the environment and touristic attractions in the long-term.