GROUP 2

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

MEMBERS:
Cathy Monterona
Miles Remando
Charena Muñez
Evangeline Gepolongca
Juliana Gallardo
Cindy Zeta
Krizell Irish Roble
Gea Dumapias
Rheil Shane Anggot
Bernadette Floresca
Alexandra Nadine Labios
TOPIC 1: TOURISM AND ENVIRONMENT
Tourism and Environment

- Environmental tourism is typically defined as travel to destinations where the flora, fauna, and cultural
heritage are the primary attractions. Responsible ecotourism includes programs that minimize the
adverse effects of traditional tourism on the natural environment, and enhance the cultural integrity of
local people.

- Tourism uses nature as part of its products; it creates environmental impacts and it can sometimes
contribute to conservation. This review considers these three interactions in turn. Thus, it starts with
considerations of most concern in tourism research and ends with those of greater interest in
environmental research. It cites about one-tenth of relevant literature directly, emphasizing large-scale
reviews, classic contributions, the most recent articles in each subtopic, and, where possible, the
highest-ranked journals.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND MANAGEMENT

Accommodation, Resorts, and Eco certification Various types and components of tourism produce very
different environmental impacts, requiring very different environmental management tools (4, 15).
There are broad distinctions between transport, accommodation, and activity components; between
wilderness, rural, and urban levels of land development; and between different climates, terrain types,
and ecosystems.

• As in other sectors, the tourism industry promotes self-regulation and corporate responsibility as an
alternative to enforceable government regulation.

•Tourism as a fast-growing industry must follow the principles of sustainability in order to last long term
while maintaining positive impacts for an area.

WHAT ARE THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF TOURISM IN ENVIRONMENT?

•Positive impacts of Tourism on the Environment

If you asked random people from different countries whether tourism has negative or positive impacts
on the environment, none of the answers would most likely prevail since their opinion will be based on
their personal experience from travels. Tourism and environment have important, yet controversial
relationship, that needs to be in a perfect balance to benefit each other.

Beautiful natural landscapes or unique flora and fauna are the main drivers of tourism into an area. But
when too many tourists visit natural sites, environment and its inhabitants rather suffer from the
negative impacts, which easily outweigh all the benefits due to exceeding the natural carrying capacity
of a place.
On the other hand, when the number of visitors is balanced with respect for the natural environment,
tourism has great potential in supporting or even starting out new conservation projects that protect
unique areas and benefit local residents.

NEGATIVE IMPACTS

-Lead to environmental destruction

Depletion of natural resources

Causes Pollution

Other loss to nature

Change in climate

• How can we conserve environment from the negative effect of tourism?

One of the alternatives to the negative impact of tourism is “Eco-tourism”. Looking at the positive
impact of this type of tourism, the entire world is looking forward to it. Eco-tourism is rapidly flourishing
industry, that offer benefits for the economies of tourist places as well as safeguards the environment.

TOPIC 2: TOURISM AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL

CRISIS
What is Global Environment Crisis?

Tourism is both highly vulnerable to climate change while at the same time contributing to it. Threats to
the sector are diverse, including direct and indirect impacts such as more extreme weather events,
pollution, water shortages, biodiversity loss and damage to assets and attractions at destinations,
among others.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

1.DEPLETION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Tourism development can put pressure on natural resources when it increases consumption in areas
where resources are already scarce.

2.WATER RESOURCES

Water, and especially fresh water, is one of the most critical natural resources. The tourism industry
generally overuses water resources for hotels, swimming pools, golf courses and personal use of water
by tourists

3.POLLUTION
Tourism can cause the same forms of pollution as any other industry: air emissions, noise, solid waste
and littering, releases of sewage, oil and chemicals, even architectural/visual pollution.

4.AIR POLLUTION AND NOISE

Transport by air, road, and rail is continuously increasing in response to the rising number reported that
the number of international air passengers worldwide.

5.SEWAGE

Construction of hotels, recreation and other facilities often leads to increased sewage pollution.

6.PHYSICAL IMPACTS

Attractive landscape sites, such as sandy beaches, lakes, riversides, and mountain tops and slopes, are
often transitional zones, characterized by species-rich ecosystems.

TOPIC 3: 3 APPROACHES TO ENVIRONMENTALLY

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
• CARRYING CAPACITY

Carrying capacity is the most people who belong to a certain species that a particular area's resources
can support permanently without noticeably depleting or degrading those resources. However, carrying
capacity for people also takes into account our social, cultural, economic, and physical settings.

Many of today's tourism concerns arise from the increased number of visitors. The concept of capacity
stems from the concept of quality, because it follows that when capacity is surpassed, quality suffers.
The carrying capacity idea identifies the allowable degree of usage or modification for a resource that
will significantly impair that resource (Wise, 1988).

Another plan of action may be to determine a level of impact or alteration that is acceptable by
negotiation and compromise while acknowledging that some environmental change will take place, as it
may be challenging to create and implement a precise carrying capacity. This principle recognizes that
the way that humans interact with the natural world will eventually change. The goal is to manage the
destination or attraction through this transition while understanding that effects over a pre-established
level won't be permitted. As a result, measures will be taken to make sure the limits of acceptable
change (LAC) aren't exceeded (Holloway, 2009).

Carrying capacity can help create sustainable tourism to a certain extent. There are numerous situations
in which it may be helpful. It is employed to set an exact cap on the volume of visitors to a given
location. These figures may be used, for instance, as the foundation for actions to control or otherwise
maintain control over visitor flows in congested areas, or to inform planning choices for the number of
accommodations that may be appropriate in a location. This promotes sustainability since it stops
tourists or other visitors from clogging up public spaces. Consequently, negative environmental
consequences can be avoided (UNEP and WTO, 2005).

The physical, cultural, economic, and social aspects of the tourism area are also included in the
multidimensional approach to carrying capacity. The physical carrying capacity takes into account the
most visitors that can visit a single location without degrading the surroundings or lowering the standard
of the experience. The host population's tolerance for the actions, attitudes, and presence of tourists in
the area is the focus of the social and cultural carrying capacity. In an effort to prevent detrimental
changes to the host economy, economic carrying capacity examines the ability of the host to provide for
the economic demands of the tourists in proportion to the economic needs of the host populace.

CHALLENGES:

Difficult to define because it differs across different tourism elements, such as physical space, natural
resources, infrastructure, facilities, tourist satisfaction and the number of visitors.

The carrying capacity is also affected by the type of visitors and the nature of the tourist attraction.
Different visitors affect the environment differently and different sites are affected differently.

Carrying capacity is dynamic, it can change over time depending on the nature of the destination site as
it undergoes different phases of its life cycle. It is affected differently by different seasons, weather or
climatic conditions.

The environmental response to carrying capacity differs, it may be gradual over a long period of time or
it may be dramatic over a short period of time.

LIMITS OF ACCEPTABLE CHANGE

Limits of acceptable change are defined as the variation that is considered acceptable in a particular
component or process of the ecological character of the natural resource, without indicating a change in
ecological character that may lead to a reduction or loss in the quality of the environment. It is also a
planning and management framework used in protected areas and natural resource management. It
provides a systematic process to determine and define acceptable levels of change or impact on the
environment and resources within a specific area.

The concept of limits of acceptable change is an alternative to the concept of carrying capacity. Humans’
use of the natural environment will ultimately lead to change. Therefore, the concept of limits of
acceptable change help to create sustainable forms of tourism in that it aims at managing the
destination or attraction through this change, acknowledging that impacts beyond a pre-established
level will not be tolerated and responses will be implemented to ensure that the limits of acceptable
change (LAC) are not exceeded (Holloway, 2009)

This approach to environmentally sustainable tourism is not aimed at preventing any tourist induced
alterations on the environment, but rather it is focused on deciding how much change in the
environment will be tolerated.
In tourism, LAC can be used to identify the different types of environmental impacts caused by tourists
and where these impacts occur. LAC is able to assess whether these impacts are still confined within the
acceptable limits or have reached levels considered unacceptable.

CHALLENGES

* LAC can also reduce the tourist's satisfaction levels in the destination site and thereby reduce the
income generated from the site due to the reduced number of visitors.

* Difficulties in defining how much change is acceptable or unacceptable.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

• Environmental Impact Assessment is a tool used to determine the environmental, social, and
economic implications of a project before making a decision, according to the United Nations
Environmental Programmed (UNEP). It seeks to anticipate environmental effects early in the project
planning and design process, identify strategies for minimizing negative effects, adapt projects to the
local environment, and give predictions and options to decision-makers.

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) can support the development of sustainable tourism in a
variety of ways. For instance, an EIA assesses environmental data before it is used in development-
related decision-making. This information relates to tourism-related development initiatives or
programmed, and it mostly consists of forecasts of how the environment is anticipated to change in the
event that

An EIA is particularly helpful in the process of getting planning permission for new construction, as well
as in anticipating the environmental effects of alternative tourism plans. After an assessment,
permission is granted. EIA can be used as a tool for decision-making in regard to tourism. The choice is
taken in light of the evaluation of recent developments. Any tourism development project is evaluated
to determine its environmental impact before it is started. This ensures tourism sustainability.

CHALLENGES

• The EIA process is not a regulatory sta