Managing Tourism from a Sustainable Perspective

Managing tourism from a sustainable perspective is concerned with an

environmentally respectful tourism. Tourism should be effectively managed on
the environmental base. Basically, destination managers are necessary to
monitor the framework for examining tourism impacts. There are mainly four
primary pillars of sustainability underlined as follows:
1. ecological sustainability
2. economic sustainability
3. socio-cultural sustainability
4. political sustainability

1. Ecological Sustainability

The ecological environment is a major attraction to the promotion of destinations.

The unique environment in terms of nature represents the core of destination’s
tourism product. For example, the Australian Coral reefs, the South American
rainforests, the Norwegian forests, Chitwan National Park etc. For many
destinations, the natural phenomenon represents the lifeblood for tourism
industry. Any decline in natural value will see an adverse effect on the
destination.

Residents of each destination have the responsibility for protection and

preservation of natural environments. The tourism industry has an important
obligation to minimize harm done to the ecology. This can be done through by
providing an economic incentive that encourages preservation and protection.

It is noted that some environments are much more unique, fragile, and non-
renewable than others. Hence there are no universal formulae for managing
tourism's negative and positive environmental impacts. Unique solutions are
required for unique problems. This implies that each destination must develop its
own strategy for sustainable tourism development tuned to its own ecological
constraints. In essence, the destination should play the role of leadership for
environmental protection in relation with other organizations charged with similar
responsibilities. In understanding ecological sustainability the tourism sector
should understand environmentally friendly tourism.

2. Economic Sustainability

A destination’s economy is to be understood for sustainability. Tourism must

support a viable economic baseline. A healthy economy reflects state or region
for enhancing the quality of life of the people. The basic needs of the people
should be fulfilled by the state or region. The Third World countries are poor in
environmental protection as the people are more concerned with their basic
necessities. Basically, tourism strategy should be capable of meeting the
economic needs and desire of residents for a long run.

The following considerations are to be taken in determining economic

sustainability:

 Costs and benefits

Costs and benefits should be reasonably spread over the population at the
maximum extent. Creating an environment in which some individuals benefit
handsomely from tourism development while the lives of many deteriorate is
undesirable. Despite, the collective benefit is required to share to all.

 Utilization of local labour

Residents are more supportive of tourism development and may be prepared to

tolerate minor adverse consequences if tourism is an important source of local
employment. Both direct employment and the indirect employment arising from
from tourism are important. Depending on the availability of local labour and the
skills and knowledge resources that are required, the importation of outside
labour should not be excessive. Efforts to establish local training programmes will
probably be viewed favourably by residents. Tourism development often draws
into a region low-skilled people seeking work. Local residents may resent the
influx of these newcomers, not just because they take away jobs but, because
they also place extra strain on local services.

 Job security

Tourism demand can be highly seasonal. Any efforts to enhance job security will
improve economic sustainability.

 Wages, salaries and benefits

Tourism is often perceived to be a low-skilled, low income sector. While many of

the service jobs in tourism and hospitality may be described in this way, the
reality is a little different from the common perception. Tourism supports many
higher income jobs, such as hotel managers, skilled construction workers,
architects, consultants, researchers, airline pilots, senior government employees,
entrepreneurs and numerous others. An economically sustainable tourism
strategy will seek to generate a broad range of employment opportunities.

3. Sociocultural sustainability
The quality of life in a destination depends on more than just economic well
being. The health and vitality of social and cultural systems and institutions helps
to create an environment which residents find meaningful in their pursuit
of happiness. To be sustainable, a tourism development strategy for the
destination must address sociocultural impacts. This should be reflected in the
destination's vision and goals encapsulating those values, ideals and dreams of
the resident community that provide a sense of place. A strategic market
planning orientation is being proposed to 'place marketing' that comprises
five stages.

 Place audit.
What is the community like today? What are the community's major
strengths/weaknesses, opportunities/threats, major issues?

 Vision and goals

What do residents want the community to be or become?

 Strategy formulation

What broad strategies will help the community reach its goals?

 Action plan

What specific actions must the community undertake to carry out its
strategies?

 Implementation and control

What must the community do to ensure successful implementation?

Solutions that minimize adverse social and cultural impacts (such as crime,
prostitution, alienation of certain segments of the population, trivialization of
culture and the disintegration of a way of life), while fostering an interest and
pride in those things that define a culture or society, present sustainable choices.

4 Political sustainability

Political sustainability is rarely identified as one of the pillars of sustainability. It is

potentially critical to the acceptability of any solution. One might argue that if a
strategy for tourism destination development is ecologically, economically and
socioculturally sustainable, it will probably be acceptable politically. However,
solutions founded on political concerns alone tend not to be truly sustainable.
Achieving Sustainable Tourism

The four pillars of sustainability discussed act as an interdependent system. A

particular strategic direction is unlikely to be sustainable if it fails to achieve
sustainability objective of any one of the four pillars. For example, the economic
structure established to exploit the ecological environment cannot survive
because the ecological resources on which it is based will deteriorate
over time. A decline in the economic system will, in turn, lead to adverse social
and cultural consequences. The resulting political pressures, too, are likely to
lead to instability.

Over the last several years, the concept of sustainable development has been
incorporated in management practice in the travel and tourism industry. Some
destinations have actually introduced codes of practice with the aim of
encouraging tourism developers to adopt 'environmentally friendly' practices. A
substantial number of tourism researchers now conduct studies in sustainable
tourism, and such research is essential for the successful management of
sustainable tourism. The most fundamental research involves the measuring
of the environmental, social, cultural and economic well-being of the destination
on an ongoing basis. Since the measurement of environmental impact has been
a driving force behind the growth of sustainable tourism, the WTO (1995) has
developed a special set of indicators emphasizing the environmental impacts of
tourism.