I have begun to read on tourism's impact on the environment and local communities. Found these beginning steps in the context of tourism in the USA, but applicable anywhere.. atleast these need to be part of the ethos of all travellers anywhere.
The Audubon Society has recognized the potential for adverse effects of tourism, and has developed a “Travel Ethic” for tour operators that provide wilderness trips. The Travel Ethic encourages tour operators and cruises to stay on trails to protect vegetation, keep a minimum distance from wildlife, refrain from destruction of coral reefs, maintain and enforce an anti-dumping policy, and educate tourists about the types of souvenirs not to buy (such as sea turtle products and ivory).
The Sierra Club also educates its members on methods to minimize their impact on the environment. The club’s concern about the potential impact of member travelers on the environment started as early as 1970, when its leaders commissioned a report from three professors about any adverse impacts Sierra outings had, and how they could be mitigated. These “Wilderness Manners” include traveling on durable surfaces, camping away from water bodies and trails, reducing litter by repackaging used food and carrying out all trash and garbage, minimizing use and impact of fires, and respecting wildlife and other travelers.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) uses the trips it sponsors as a way of fulfilling one of the tenets of ecotourism: using tourism to support conservation. The WWF attempts to minimize the environmental impacts of their trips by selecting commercial tour operators according to their reputation as environmentally friendly.
The report speaks of this : Three examples of tourist infrastructure that minimize environmental impact and incorporate local people’s needs are two eco-resorts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a riverfront park in Detroit, Michigan.
Maho Bay Camps and Harmony Resort were built in the 1970s, and are two of the best known and successful eco-resorts. Wooden walkways minimize soil erosion and vegetation damage from trampling. Communal toilets and captured rainwater reduce water usage, and reliance on solar and wind power along with computer monitoring of electricity and water use help reduce energy use.
The “Detroit Linked Riverfront Parks Plan” is a good example of effective tourism planning. In lieu of indiscriminate development based solely on economics, planners first determined the needs of the local people, and then designed the area accordingly.
Sectors of the tourism industry have the opportunity to “channel” activities of both
tourists and employees toward more environmentally responsible activities. This type of
influence has been termed “downstream” leverage. The lodging industry exerts downstream influence on tourists by encouraging environmentally sound practices. Ramada International Hotels and Resorts distributed 20,000 copies of “50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth” to guests as a method to encourage environmentally responsible behavior.
It has been suggested that an effective way to implement changes favorable to the environment is by starting with hotel employees in areas such as laundry, housekeeping, and engineering (Shanklin, et al., 1991, p. 65). These employees have first direct contact with some aspects of the hotel business that have an impact on the environment (such as washing linen and sheets).
There are also efforts in place to minimize water use. 77% of U.S. hotels use low flow shower-heads, and 33% use low consumption toilets. However only 4% of hotels reclaim their laundry wastewater, and 2% use their gray water for irrigation, as of 1990.
Royal Caribbean Cruises is an example of a cruise line using leverage with suppliers to encourage use of products that minimize environmental impact. Through a Quality Supplier Development Program, the cruise line has convinced suppliers to reduce packaging and substitute more environmentally benign materials. In the last five years they have reduced packaging by 35% through several different routes including ordering ketchup and chili sauce in 5-gallon pouches instead of tin cans, ordering some beer in kegs rather than cans, putting fountain syrup in 5-gallon boxed bags, which saves 250,000 syrup cans annually, and purchasing soda in cans without plastic rings.
Decreasing water availability and growing demands due to climate change and increasing tourist numbers in the Mediterranean basin are likely to result in worsening conflicts between socioeconomic sectors that depend on water to survive. In a study, hotel size, category, and year of construction/renovation were all directly associated with the implementation or lack of implementation of certain water-saving measures.
The hoteliers did not perceive any strong incentives to adopt water-saving measures, but there were clear indications of cost and technical barriers and a lack of awareness about possible options.
Hotels with more rooms, more stars, and more services tend to consume more water.
The most widely implemented water-saving measures by the hotels surveyed were low-cost, low-tech, and legally enforceable measures. The main measures were dual-flush toilet systems and improved towel and bed linen reuse policies (both present in 78.9% of hotels) and faucet sensors, timers, or aerators (73.7%).
In regard to hotels with swimming pools, the most common measure was the installation of shower sensors or timers (71%). Of the six hotels with gardens, 4 (66%) had installed more efficient irrigation systems (sprinkler or computerized irrigation systems), and just two (16.7%) had planted native or drought-tolerant plants. None of the hotels had replaced lawns with paving or synthetic grass. The maintenance of natural lawns requires large volumes of water as they are typically composed of non-native grasses.
Overall, just 42.1% of hoteliers stated that their workers received training on water-saving practices, whether in the form of specific programs or informal training by the owners or managers. All the large hotels and some of the medium-sized hotels provided training and the hoteliers were of the opinion that this was crucial for helping to save water and reduce operating costs.
It is noteworthy that 77% of hotel managers stated that all the measures implemented had been effective and had resulted in a real reduction in water consumption.
None of the hotels had introduced systems for gray-water reuse, rainwater harvesting, water consumption monitoring in key areas, or leak detection. All four measures require greater investment and technical knowledge and have a longer payback period.
There was a lack of awareness about water shortage problems and their potential impact on hotels in the future: Almost 60% of those interviewed were of the opinion that their hotel did not have water problems and believed that this would continue to be the case. They were also unaware that the implementation of water-saving and efficiency measures could be both beneficial for the environment and profitable for their business.
Barriers related to marketing and publicity were mentioned by several managers. In particular, faucet flow restrictors, bathtub-to-shower conversions, and towel and bed linen reuse programs were perceived as measures that could lead to a loss of business.
Those interviewed suggested various ideas, including technical training for owners and managers.
The Audubon Society has recognized the potential for adverse effects of tourism, and has developed a “Travel Ethic” for tour operators that provide wilderness trips. The Travel Ethic encourages tour operators and cruises to stay on trails to protect vegetation, keep a minimum distance from wildlife, refrain from destruction of coral reefs, maintain and enforce an anti-dumping policy, and educate tourists about the types of souvenirs not to buy (such as sea turtle products and ivory).
The Sierra Club also educates its members on methods to minimize their impact on the environment. The club’s concern about the potential impact of member travelers on the environment started as early as 1970, when its leaders commissioned a report from three professors about any adverse impacts Sierra outings had, and how they could be mitigated. These “Wilderness Manners” include traveling on durable surfaces, camping away from water bodies and trails, reducing litter by repackaging used food and carrying out all trash and garbage, minimizing use and impact of fires, and respecting wildlife and other travelers.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) uses the trips it sponsors as a way of fulfilling one of the tenets of ecotourism: using tourism to support conservation. The WWF attempts to minimize the environmental impacts of their trips by selecting commercial tour operators according to their reputation as environmentally friendly.
The report speaks of this : Three examples of tourist infrastructure that minimize environmental impact and incorporate local people’s needs are two eco-resorts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a riverfront park in Detroit, Michigan.
Maho Bay Camps and Harmony Resort were built in the 1970s, and are two of the best known and successful eco-resorts. Wooden walkways minimize soil erosion and vegetation damage from trampling. Communal toilets and captured rainwater reduce water usage, and reliance on solar and wind power along with computer monitoring of electricity and water use help reduce energy use.
The “Detroit Linked Riverfront Parks Plan” is a good example of effective tourism planning. In lieu of indiscriminate development based solely on economics, planners first determined the needs of the local people, and then designed the area accordingly.
Sectors of the tourism industry have the opportunity to “channel” activities of both
tourists and employees toward more environmentally responsible activities. This type of
influence has been termed “downstream” leverage. The lodging industry exerts downstream influence on tourists by encouraging environmentally sound practices. Ramada International Hotels and Resorts distributed 20,000 copies of “50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth” to guests as a method to encourage environmentally responsible behavior.
It has been suggested that an effective way to implement changes favorable to the environment is by starting with hotel employees in areas such as laundry, housekeeping, and engineering (Shanklin, et al., 1991, p. 65). These employees have first direct contact with some aspects of the hotel business that have an impact on the environment (such as washing linen and sheets).
There are also efforts in place to minimize water use. 77% of U.S. hotels use low flow shower-heads, and 33% use low consumption toilets. However only 4% of hotels reclaim their laundry wastewater, and 2% use their gray water for irrigation, as of 1990.
Royal Caribbean Cruises is an example of a cruise line using leverage with suppliers to encourage use of products that minimize environmental impact. Through a Quality Supplier Development Program, the cruise line has convinced suppliers to reduce packaging and substitute more environmentally benign materials. In the last five years they have reduced packaging by 35% through several different routes including ordering ketchup and chili sauce in 5-gallon pouches instead of tin cans, ordering some beer in kegs rather than cans, putting fountain syrup in 5-gallon boxed bags, which saves 250,000 syrup cans annually, and purchasing soda in cans without plastic rings.
Decreasing water availability and growing demands due to climate change and increasing tourist numbers in the Mediterranean basin are likely to result in worsening conflicts between socioeconomic sectors that depend on water to survive. In a study, hotel size, category, and year of construction/renovation were all directly associated with the implementation or lack of implementation of certain water-saving measures.
The hoteliers did not perceive any strong incentives to adopt water-saving measures, but there were clear indications of cost and technical barriers and a lack of awareness about possible options.
Hotels with more rooms, more stars, and more services tend to consume more water.
The most widely implemented water-saving measures by the hotels surveyed were low-cost, low-tech, and legally enforceable measures. The main measures were dual-flush toilet systems and improved towel and bed linen reuse policies (both present in 78.9% of hotels) and faucet sensors, timers, or aerators (73.7%).
In regard to hotels with swimming pools, the most common measure was the installation of shower sensors or timers (71%). Of the six hotels with gardens, 4 (66%) had installed more efficient irrigation systems (sprinkler or computerized irrigation systems), and just two (16.7%) had planted native or drought-tolerant plants. None of the hotels had replaced lawns with paving or synthetic grass. The maintenance of natural lawns requires large volumes of water as they are typically composed of non-native grasses.
Overall, just 42.1% of hoteliers stated that their workers received training on water-saving practices, whether in the form of specific programs or informal training by the owners or managers. All the large hotels and some of the medium-sized hotels provided training and the hoteliers were of the opinion that this was crucial for helping to save water and reduce operating costs.
It is noteworthy that 77% of hotel managers stated that all the measures implemented had been effective and had resulted in a real reduction in water consumption.
None of the hotels had introduced systems for gray-water reuse, rainwater harvesting, water consumption monitoring in key areas, or leak detection. All four measures require greater investment and technical knowledge and have a longer payback period.
There was a lack of awareness about water shortage problems and their potential impact on hotels in the future: Almost 60% of those interviewed were of the opinion that their hotel did not have water problems and believed that this would continue to be the case. They were also unaware that the implementation of water-saving and efficiency measures could be both beneficial for the environment and profitable for their business.
Barriers related to marketing and publicity were mentioned by several managers. In particular, faucet flow restrictors, bathtub-to-shower conversions, and towel and bed linen reuse programs were perceived as measures that could lead to a loss of business.
Those interviewed suggested various ideas, including technical training for owners and managers.
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