Tourism and sustainable development: a special relationship 


Tourism is in a special position in its contribution to sustainable development and the challenges it presents. Firstly, this is because of the growth and dynamism of the sector and the significant contribution that it makes to the global economy and the income of many local destinations and countries. Secondly, tourism is an activity that involves a unique relationship between consumers (travelers), the industry, the local communities, and the environment. 
This special relationship arises because, unlike most other sectors, the consumer of tourism (the tourist) travels to the producer and the product. This leads to three important and unique aspects of the relationship between tourism and sustainable development: 


• Interaction: The nature of tourism, as a service industry that is based on delivering an experience of new places, means that it involves a considerable amount of interaction, both direct and indirect, between visitors, host communities and their local environments. 

• Awareness: Tourism makes people (visitors and hosts) become far more conscious of environmental issues and differences between nations and cultures. This can affect attitudes and concerns for sustainability issues not only while travelling but throughout people’s lives.
• Dependency: Much of tourism is based on visitors seeking to experience intact and clean environments, attractive natural areas, authentic historical and cultural traditions, and welcoming hosts with whom they have a good relationship. The industry depends on these attributes being in place.

This close and direct relationship creates a sensitive situation, whereby tourism can be both very damaging but also very positive for sustainable development.

On the positive side, tourism can:

• Provide a growing source of opportunities for enterprise development and employment creation and stimulate investment and support for local services, even in quite remote communities. 

• Bring tangible economic value to natural and cultural resources. This can result in direct income from visitor spending for their conservation and increased support for conservation from local communities. 

• Be a force for intercultural understanding and peace.

Conversely, tourism can: 


• Place direct pressure on fragile ecosystems causing degradation of the physical environment and disruption to wildlife. 
• Exert considerable pressure on host communities and lead to dislocation of traditional societies. 

• Compete for the use of scarce resources, notably land and water. 

• Be a significant contributor to local and global pollution. 

• Be a vulnerable and unstable source of income, as it is often very sensitive to actual 
or perceived changes to destinations' environmental and social conditions.

The net result is that all those involved in tourism have a considerable responsibility to recognize the importance of its sustainable development. Tourism has immense power to do good. Yet, it can also be the vector for the same pressures that may destroy the assets on which it relies. Developed without concern for sustainability, tourism can not only damage societies and the environment, but it could also contain the seeds of its destruction. 
For governments, tourism policies that address economic, social, and environmental issues, and which are developed with an awareness of the potential both for harm and for benefit, can channel the forces resulting from the sector's dynamic growth in a positive direction. For the tourism industry, accepting this responsibility is not only about good citizenship. A strong element of self-interest should also fuel it since any harm inflicted to the natural, cultural, or social environment of destinations can lead to their eventual destruction or loss of value as a tourism product. In economic terms, sustainability can guarantee that crucial factor 
already mentioned: 'the viability of enterprises and activities and their ability to be maintained in the long term. 


Making all tourism more sustainable

Some commentators and institutions have implied that sustainable tourism
is a particular kind of tourism appealing to a market niche that is sensitive to environmental and social impacts, serviced by specific types of products and operators, and usually—in contrast with high-volume tourism—implying small
in scale. This is a dangerous misapprehension. It must be clear that the term ‘sustainable tourism’—meaning ‘tourism that is based on the principles of sustainable development’—refers to a fundamental objective: to make all tourism more sustainable. The term should be used to refer to a condition of tourism, not a type of tourism. Well-managed high-volume tourism can and should be just as sustainable as small-scale, dispersed special interest tourism.

Moreover, sustainable tourism should not be taken to imply a finite state of tourism. In fact, it is often argued that tourism may never be totally sustainable—sustainable development of tourism is a continuous process of improvement.

Confusion over the meaning of sustainable tourism has been compounded in
some countries by using the term 'ecotourism' as meaning the same as 'sustainable tourism.' Ecotourism does indeed embrace the principles of sustainability, but it refers explicitly to a product niche. It is about tourism in natural areas, usually involving some form of interpretative experience of natural and cultural heritage, boldly supporting conservation and indigenous communities, and usually organized for small groups. The development of ecotourism can provide a valuable tool within
more comprehensive strategies towards more sustainable tourism, as was expounded in the Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism, 2002.5

The WTO has given the full definition of sustainable tourism presented in (Box 1), emphasizing the need to make all tourism sustainable. Expressed simply, sustainable tourism can be said to be:

'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.'

Making tourism more sustainable means taking these impacts and needs into account in the planning, development, and operation of tourism. It is a continual improvement process and applies equally to tourism in cities, resorts, rural and coastal areas, mountains, and protected areas. It can apply to all forms of business and leisure tourism.