Sustainable Tourism is tourism that

minimizes the costs and maximizes the

benefits of tourism for natural environments
and local communities and can be carried
out indefinitely without harming the
resources on which it depends. Responsible
travel involves visitation to natural places in
order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and
any accompanying cultural characteristics,
both present and past) in a manner that
promotes conservation, has a low visitor
impact, and facilitates the active socio-
economic engagement of local peoples.
According to United Nations
WTO, Sustainable Tourism is
defined as the form of tourism
as 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.
This definition implies that the present
generation, which means “us”, has a
responsibility to keep our planet in the
state we found it, at the very least, but if
possible, to enhance it.

As saying goes, “ We do not inherit the

Earth from our ancestors, we only borrow it
from our children.”

The principle in borrowing is to return what

we borrowed, and if possible, pay what we
owe with interest.
 ECONOMY
PROPERTY
could be achieved by
developing appropriate
tourist products for carefully
selected markets and
profitable business
operations, providing decent
employment to all, especially
local communities, fostering
livelihood and small
enterprises, and adopting
fair procurement practices.
SOCIAL
EQUITY
Social and cultural equity could be
pursued through respecting local
traditions, protecting indigenous
communities, and preventing the
exploitation of women and other
vulnerable groups. Social equity
can be fostered by getting all
relevant stakeholders to get
involved in the planning,
development, and control of
tourism as an activity and as an
industry
ENVIRONMENTAL
CONSERVATION
sustainable tourism
requires that the
environment is safeguarded
from destruction and that
the tourism industry and
tourists behave in a
responsible manner.
GOALS OF SUSTAINABLE
TOURISM
1. enhances the well-being of communities in which
tourism takes place;
2. supports the protection and enhancement of the
natural and cultural resources of the destination;
3. recognizes the importance of product quality
(physical products, hospitality, and services) and
tourist satisfaction as key factors for the economic
success of tourism; and
4. adopts adequate management and monitoring
measures
Sustainability simply means being able to
continue for and indefinite period of time.
Many tourism projects suffer from the
"ningas cogon" syndrome wherein they tend
to experience a rapid boom and bust cycle.
They become hot destinations for a few
years, then decline rapidly for lack of
maintenance, funding, or demand from the
target market. To increase the chances of
success of tourism sites, a few questions
need to be addressed first (DOT et al. 2014):
1. Is the area safe?
2. Are the attractions unique?
3. Do the attractions have social and cultural value?
4. Is it accessible?
5. Is there political support?
6. Is the community supportive of the project?
7. Are there sources of funds for the project?
8. Are there available utilities and infrastructure?
9. Are there onsite facilities?
10. Is the area open for tourism development?
11. Is the quality of the area conducive for
tourism development?
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Safety and security are of paramount importance to
potential visitors. If an area where an attraction is beset
by man-made and natural hazards, which could not be
avoided or where mitigation costs area high, it would be
best to abandon the project.
Man-made hazards include crime,
insurgency, war, and terrorism, as well as
diseases and epidemics. Natural hazards
include earthquakes, landslides, erosion,
storm surge, tsunami, and flooding.
Attractions also need to be
evaluated in terms of their
uniqueness and socio- cultural
value. They should offer
outstanding appeal to be able to
draw tourists to the area. An
indicator of their importance and
uniqueness is if the attraction is a
UNESCO World heritage site or if
it occupies an important place in
the country's history.
Professor Felipe de Leon, Jr. suggests exploiting
the following aspects in order to make
attractions stand out: (1) excellence, (2)
superlative characteristics; (3) authenticity; (4)
endemicity; and (5) originality: an award-
winning park, the highest mountain, the
smallest volcano, or pancit habhab eaten in an
authentic way or the way locals do, straight
from the banana leaf to the mouth... or the
original buko pie or pancit lomi...or you can
talk about the tamaraw and tarsier that thrive
only in Mindoro and Bohol, respectively.
In terms of accessibility, an attraction or site must be
within one-and-half-to two hours away from a major
airport, or seaport and within an hour away from a
major highway or main town, or service center. The
service center refers to the nearest major town or city
from the attraction where tourists usually stay the night
and get their food and other supplies. Tourists usually
have two to three- day vacations, and traveling should
not consume so much of their time. Accessibility also
involves the presence of transportation, whether
airplane, ship, van, jeepneys, buses, tricycle, habal-
habal, or boat. Preferably, such transportation should
be available on a scheduled basis instead of having to
negotiate for special rates every time.
Another consideration is political support. Without the backing of local
government executives, a tourism project may not be able to take off, as the
project may not funded by the local government unit (LGU)The community
should also be supportive. To encourage this, the stakeholders must be
involved in tourism planning at the outset so that they will own the project.
Stakeholders can help in providing data and information, which only local
residents are familiar with.
This include suggestions as to which site to
develop, which sites are safe and not safe,
and local folk tales and histories. In terms of
community support, one question to ask is
whether there is opportunity to establish
partnerships with existing people's
organizations (e.g., cooperative) for
collaborative development and
management of tourist sites, and for local
staff recruitment.
A preliminary site assessment includes observation about the
availability of utilities such as water, power, and infrastructure like
roads and bridges in the area to be developed. It will cost less to
develop a site when these are present rather than starting from
scratch. For example, one kilometer of road costs about 20 million
pesos, as per local tourism
officers in Samar province.
Moreover, many tourists
prefer places where there is
strong Internet connection.
Convenience stores and
ATMs are other facilities
that many tourists seek in a
destination.
Tourist facilities and infrastructure could only be built in a
certain class of land. Tourism development is restricted in
ecotourism sites, natural parks, and marine sanctuaries, for
example. Ancestral domains and contested lands are also off
limits for investments.
It is also important that the place
to be develop is free from foul
odors and unsightly garbage.
Landfill areas and garbage dumps
diminish the value of a potential
tourist attraction.