Sustainable Tourism

Tourism has become a commercial business, which has obvious benefits to the said economy, the environment and society. Often, the positive economic impacts persuade governments, companies and individuals to get involved with the development of tourism. Tourism creates jobs, both

Sustainable tourism development merges environmental concerns with economic policy (Dresner, S. 2008: 69) and allows for tourism’s products in the form of intangible services or the natural environment, to be environmentally cautious through a responsible trade off between production and use of assets. Some influences apparent are environmental, social, and economical and it is further important to emphasize that one or a combination of the aspects, with market cooperation, creates a sustainable agenda. Travel services are increasingly seen as less of a luxury good and more as an everyday purchase (Page, 2003:3) due to marketing becoming more prominent which means organisations must complete vigorous promotion strategies for long-term viability. Marketing therefore has a highly important role, as Holloway (2004) explains marketing understands the needs and wants of customers, ‘to what can be sold, to whom, when, where and in what quantities’ (Holloway J.C. 2004:7). Holloway (2004) writes that successful organisations anticipate demand “recognising it, stimulating it and finally satisfying it” (Holloway, J.C. 2004: 7). Marketing is absolutely crucial within creating and maintaining a sustainable agenda in a variety of ways, moreover reference to consistency among stages of development, unique benefits produced from varied strategies, relevancy of market research, adapting to changing market demand and the positive outcome of identifying new markets.

Making tourism more sustainable is not just about controlling and managing the negative impacts of the industry. Tourism is in a very special position to benefit local communities, economically and socially, and to raise awareness and support for conservation of the environment.

The most commonly used definition of sustainable development is still that given in the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), i.e. sustainable development is ‘a process to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ Sustainable development is therefore about creating a better life for all people in ways that will be as viable in the future as they are at present. In other words, sustainable development is based on principles of sound husbandry of the world’s resources, and on equity in the way those resources are used and in the way in which the benefits obtained from them are distributed (Making Tourism More Sustainable, 2005).

Sustainable development is defined as “Development that meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (IISD, par. 1 ).

Sustainable development means that the present generations should be able to make use of resources to live better lives in such a manner that it does not compromise the ability of future generations. For sustainable development to occur, there needs to be sustainable economic, ecological and community development. Society needs to be educated about ways in which they can use resources, especially natural, in such a manner that it does not cause harm to the environment and put future generations lives at risk.

Sustainable development is the improvement that addresses the issues of the present without bargaining the capacity of future eras to address their own issues. It consists of two key ideas:

Tourism plays a vital role in economic development in most countries around the world. The industry has not only direct economic impact, but also significant indirect and influential impacts. There is agreement among experts that the travel and tourism sector is the fastest growing of global economy. According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourism receipts surpass US$ 1 trillion in 2011, growing about 3.8%up from 2010 (WTO, 2012).

Sustainable development is an action plan to save the earths resources for future generations like fossil fuel. It is also an initiative to preserve the environment we live in. The table below shows the progression of sustainable development over years:

Sustainability is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations” (Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future 1987). The concept of sustainability comprises of four pillars: environmental; economic; political and social; as can be seen in the image below. Environmental sustainability is the use and management of the environment in a way that it does not deplete our finite resources. Economic sustainability is a long term sustainable economy that supports its community and political sustainability is the collaboration of different bodies of government to achieve a sustainable future. Now social sustainability is hard to define as it encapsulates many different factors; however to be very broad it is to achieve social justice. The real objective for sustainability is that all four pillars work together equally in a precautionary principle;

Tourism is one of the most exciting and progressive industries in the world. Tourism today is a leisure activity of the masses. People travel to international destinations to break the regular monotony of life. They are mainly attracted by either the scenic beauty of its nature or by fascinating leisure, sports and adventure activities offered by the destination. However, every destination has some internal strengths and weaknesses that either enhance its capacity to attract foreign visitors or diminish it. Similarly the external environment can create various opportunities or exposed to threats as well.

Moreover, tourism and the environment are balancing sectors in terms of vision and goals. The environment is the right climate for sustainable tourism development, and sustainable tourism focuses on environmental planning. Perhaps the most important element on which eco-tourism is based is not to disturb the ecological balance resulting from human actions, which are represented by the behavior of tourists in the case of ecotourism and the pollution it may cause. In addition, natural areas form the basis for ecotourism from marine tourism and land tourism, and recent studies have shown that eco-tourism generates direct financial resources. What is more, the main objective of ecotourism is to promote and improve the standards of living of the local community (Kuhdairi, 2012)

The debate over ecotourism's success as a tool for conservation and development in the developing world is aggravated by the dispute over what exactly ecotourism is. The International Ecotourism Society offers a succinct and often cited definition: “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people” (TIES). Ecotourism is often tied to the concept of sustainable development. “Sustainable tourism development meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future” (WTOa).

The Travel and Tourism industry is still one of the largest single businesses in world commerce and its importance is widely recognized. The tourism industry is now one of the largest sectors earning foreign exchange. In the face of many benefits, many countries have started assigning due weight age to the tourism industry in their national development agenda. Tourism is an industry that operates on a massively broad scale: it embraces activities ranging from the smallest sea-side hotel; to air-lines, multi-national hotel chains and major international tour operators. Originally, non-traditional industries such as tourism emerged as a solution to strike a balance between ecology and industry

The concept of sustainable development has become a major topic among intellectuals from various fields. Sustainable development has gone through various changes in its definitions and at present does not have a commonly accepted definition. The origination of the concept of sustainable development is debatable. In 1974 at a conference on Science and Technology for Human Development by the World Council of Churches the concept of a “sustainable society” is believed to have been first noted. This early concept focused on equitable distribution of scarce resources and the need for democratic decision making. In 1980 the currently used term of sustainable development emerged in the