SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Chapter 1: The Concept of Sustainable Tourism

UNTWO (United Nations World Tourism Organization) defines sustainable tourism as

the one that meets the needs of the present tourist and host regions while protecting and
enhancing opportunity for the future. It also follows the definition of its mother concept of
sustainable development, that meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own need.
Sustainable tourism adopts a triple bottom-line approach that considers tourism’s
economic, environmental, and social dimensions. It is also known as 3 P’s (People, Planet, and
Profit) or 3 E’s (Equity, Environment and Economy).

Goals in Sustainable tourism

 Economic prosperity
 Social Equity, and
 Environmental Conservation

Principles of Sustainable Tourism

1. Enhance the well-being of communities in which tourism may take place.
2. Support the protection and enhancement of the natural and cultural resources of the
destination.
3. Recognize the importance of product quality and tourist satisfaction ass key factor for the
economic success of tourism.
4. Adopts the adequate management and monitoring measures.
(According to UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organizations)

Tourism should be an instrument for uplifting the lives of the local communities.

Requisites for sustainable tourism

Sustainability simply mean being able to continue for an indefinite period of time. As
many tourism projects suffer form the “ningas cogon”’ syndrome. They become hot destinations
for a few years but rapidly decline due to lack of maintenance, funding and/or demand form the
target market.
 Safety and Security
 Uniqueness and Socio-cultural value
- Excellence
- Superlative characteristics
- authenticity
- endemicity
- originality
 Accessibility
 Political support
 Access to utilities
 Land reform
 Pollutants
History of Sustainable Tourism Concept

History of
Sustainable Tourism
Concept
1946- The First International
Congress of National Tourism
Bodies, meeting in London,
decides to create a new
international non-
governmental organization to
replace the International Union
of Official Tourist Propaganda
Organizations (IUOTPO),
established in
1934.
1947- The First Constitutive
Assembly of the International
Union of Official Travel
Organization’s (IUOTO) is held
in The Hague. The
temporary IUOTO headquarters
are established in London.
1948- International Union for
the Protection of Nature was
founded. This association is for
the promotion of an exceptional
firm of
government and non-
government organization.
1954- The book entitled “The
Challenge of Man’s Future”
was published by Harrison
brown. The book’s theme is
sustainable development.
1956- The International Union
for the Protection of Nature
changed its name to Union for
Conservation of Nature and
Natural
Resources.
1961- World Wide Fund for
Nature was established,
formerly known as World
Wildlife Fund. This
International NGO focuses on
the
preservation of wildlife and
reducing the human impact on
the environment.
1962- The book Silent Spring
was published by Rachel
Carson. The book is all about
the connections between the
environment, economy,
and social well-being. She also
discusses in her book the
negative effects of different
insecticides on humans and
ecology.
1968- The club of Rome was
established. This association
aims to study the global
proportions to model and
analyze the dynamic
interaction between industrial
production, population,
environmental damage, food
consumption, and natural
resources usage.
1969- Friends of Earth formed
nonprofit advocacy for the
protection of the planet and for
the Empowerment of people in
voicing out their
will to protect their quality of
life and environment.
1970- First Earth Day was held
in San Francisco to promote
national teach-in on the
environment
1946- The First International Congress of National Tourism Bodies, meeting in London, decides to create
a new international non- governmental organization to replace the International Union of Official Tourist
Propaganda Organizations (IUOTPO), established in 1934.
1947- The First Constitutive Assembly of the International Union of Official Travel Organization’s
(IUOTO) is held in The Hague. The temporary IUOTO headquarters are established in London.
1948- International Union for the Protection of Nature was founded. This association is for the promotion
of an exceptional firm of government and non-government organization.
1954- The book entitled “The Challenge of Man’s Future” was published by Harrison brown. The book’s
theme is sustainable development.
1956- The International Union for the Protection of Nature changed its name to Union for Conservation
of Nature and Natural Resources.
1961- World Wide Fund for Nature was established, formerly known as World Wildlife Fund. This
International NGO focuses on the
 preservation of wildlife and reducing the human impact on the environment.
1962- The book Silent Spring was published by Rachel Carson. The book is all about the connections
between the environment, economy,
and social well-being. She also discusses in her book the negative effects of different
insecticides on humans and ecology.
1968- The club of Rome was established. This association aims to study the global proportions to
model and analyze the dynamic
interaction between industrial production, population, environmental damage, food
consumption, and natural resources usage.
1969- Friends of Earth formed nonprofit advocacy for the protection of the planet and for the
Empowerment of people in voicing out their will to protect their quality of life and environment.
1970- First Earth Day was held in San Francisco to promote national teach-in on the environment
1971- The Founex Report on Development and Environment was released. The report is about the
developed countries’ views on environmental issues, pollution, economic development, and how
developing countries view poverty as their main problem- First WTO General Assembly meets in May in
Madrid at the invitation of the Spanish.
- In the same year, Rene Dubos and Barbara Ward also released the book entitled Only One Earth:
The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet. The book was about the impact of human activity on the
biosphere.
1972- The UN Conference on Human Environment was held in Stockholm, the conference led to the
creation of several national environmental protection agencies and the UN Environmental Programme.
The conference is rooted in the pollution and acid rain problems of Northern Europe.

1973- Tourism: Blessing or Blight book was established by Young; this is about getting attention to the
negative impacts of tourism.
1980- The International Union for the Protection of Nature published the World Conservation Strategy
(WCS). In the section of WCS, the “Towards Sustainable Development” aims to identify habitat
destruction as poverty, population pressure, social inequity, and trading regimes; the strategy calls for a
new international development strategy to redress inequities.
1982- In October, the UN approved the World Charter of Nature that presented several measurements to
protect the environment such as natural habitat protection, conservation of non-renewable resources, re-
use and recycling resources, environmental impact assessment, prevention, and mitigation: environmental
monitoring and timely intervention, etc.
1987- The World Commission on Environment and Development publishes Our Common Future also
known as the Brundtland Report.
Because of this report, the term “sustainable development” became popular, and defined as “development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs”.
- In the same year, Philippine Strategy for Sustainable Development (PSSD) was established. Its
goal is to achieve economic growth while protecting the biodiversity, ecosystem, and environment of the
Philippines.

1988- The UNWTO added a definition of sustainable tourism as “the management of all resources in
such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity,
essential ecological processes, biological diversity, and life support systems”
1989- Blueprint for a Green Economy book was published by Barbier, Markandya, and Pearce. It is about
placing a better worth on the environment relative to the growth of the economy.

1991- The book The Good Tourist was published by Wood and House. This book tries to explain the
influence of tourists’ behavior by making them aware of the potential negative impacts of tourism.

1992- WTO participates in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio
de Janeiro (Brazil), where "Agenda 21" is created. Moreover, the conference produced the Rio
Declaration, which integrates the principles of sustainable development, which were tackled in previous
international conferences.
The Philippine Agenda 21: National Agenda for Sustainable Development for the 21st Century was also
published.
1993- Tourism and Local Agenda 21: The Role of Local Authorities in Sustainable Tourism was
published by the UNEP and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives. The book
covers the roles of the local authorities in sustainable tourism development and the decentralization of
their power.
- UNWTO also published the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. This focuses on the principles in
guiding the stakeholders for the development of tourism, maximizing the economic contribution of
tourism while minimizing the negative effect on the environment.
1994- Turner et al. presented a sustainability measurement from very weak to very strong.
1995- WTO Forum on Parliaments and Local Authorities: Tourism Policy-Makers, held in Cadiz
(Spain), underscores the importance of cooperation between local, regional, and national
authorities.
1996- The UN publishes A Practical Guide for the Development and Application of Indicator of
Sustainable Tourism.
1997- The signing of the Kyoto Protocol by the delegates of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change which commits developed nations to reduce overall emissions of several
greenhouse gases and mechanism to encourage the North-South cooperation on emissions and
reduction.
1998- The book Guide for Local Authorities on Developing Sustainable Tourism that aims to present the
sustainable tourism best practices in minimizing the negative impacts of tourism development and
planning in the environment and society, was published by the UNWTO.
1999- WTO General Assembly in Santiago (Chile) adopts the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.
2000- The shift of focus of UN Millennium Summit into the development to poverty and multiple
deprivations.
2001- The convention entitled Biological Diversity and Sustainable Tourism the UNEP and UNWTO
recognize tourism as a biodiversity- dependent industry that needs to be committed to protecting the
diversity of life on Earth.
2002- UNWTO takes part in the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, South
Africa), during which the program “Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty” (ST-EP) is presented.
The final declaration of the Summit includes a direct reference to the sustainable development of tourism.
The UNWTO also produced Voluntary Initiatives for Sustainable Tourism. In this book/article, voluntary
initiatives are meant to guide the self-regulation of the tourism industry. They cover certification systems,
eco-labels, awards and prizes, environmental management systems, codes of conduct and, others.

2003- UNEP and the International Center for Local Environmental Initiatives publish the Tourism and
Local Agenda 21: The Role of Local Authorities in Sustainable Tourism.
Meanwhile. UNWTO published the Co-operation and Partnerships in Tourism: A Global Perspective. It
provides guidance on how to build, implement and develop Public-Private-Partnership.
2004- A guidebook that contains the procedure to develop a destination, tourism policy, and planning
and applications in different
destination types was published. The title is “Indicator of Sustainable Development for Tourism
Destination: A Guidebook”
2005- UNWTO and UNEP published the book entitled Making Tourism More Sustainable- A Guide for
Policy Makers that explains how tourism could become sustainable.
2006- An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About
It, was published by Al Gore. The book discusses how global warming becomes manmade and how to
correct it using greenhouse gas emissions and planting for vegetation.
2007- Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism, Davos (Switzerland), adopted
the Davos Declaration, endorsed by the London Ministerial Summit on Tourism and Climate Change.
2008- UNWTO and other UN agencies present the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria at the World
Conservation Congress, Barcelona (Spain)
2012- The UN Conference on Sustainable Development and marks the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Rio
Summit or also known as the Rion 20+. In The Future We Want, the Conference’s outcome document,
member nations pledged “to promote education for sustainable development and to integrate sustainable
development more actively into education beyond the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (2005-2014).
2013- The UN proposes A Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development after
2014 in response to the UN resolution made during the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2012.
2014- UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Aichi- Nagoya
has marked the end of the UN Decade of ESD that runs from 2005-2014. This year also, Global Action
Programme on ESD was launched.
2015- In the Global Sustainable Development Report, the UN identified key for sustainable development
goals for the next 15year to year2030

Chapter 2: The Definition, Dimension and Determination of Tourism Impacts

Definition of Tourism Impacts

Tourism impacts is defined as the change in each state over time as the result of an
external stimulus. For the purpose, external stimulus is referred to as tourism. Tourism impact
may be defined as an effect to as an effect brought about directly or indirectly by tourism
policies, tourism related establishments an infrastructure and tourist behavior. By dictionary
“impact” is defined as influence; effect; outcome; result, consequences; aftermath; upshot; and
product.

Dimensions of Tourism Impact

Dimensions of tourism impacts may be categorized in terms of their scope, the direction
of change and type of impact, and the scale, distribution, and duration of effects.
 The scope of tourism impact may be economic, environmental, social, cultural, or
political. Impacts are sometimes uni dimensional. Tourism may focus on making the government
overzealous in protecting the nature at the expense of indigenous people creating a conflict
between environmental and cultural concerns.
In terms of the direction of change, tourism may cause positive or negative changes in the
economy, environment, or society. Tourism may either contribute to the improvement or the
deterioration of a place. Impacts may be categorized in many ways: actual (objective), Perceived
(subjective), quantitative or qualitative, direct, or indirect.
Tourism impacts may also be seen in terms of its temporal dimensions.
 Cumulative Impact – it is caused by the development over time.
 Immediate Impact – it is caused by s single event that could happen within a short
period of time.
 Long-Term Impact – these are those that will be borne or experienced by the
affected sector or stakeholders for years to come.
Tourism impacts can be looked in terms of their distribution among stakeholders or
geographical coverage. Places that are endowed with outstanding tourism assets near the
transportation terminals or gateways and have a high concentration of skilled human resources
are more likely to benefit than the less endowed areas. The Tourism Attraction Model identified
varying levels in the different areas of tourism attractions as: tourist generating regions, the
transit route region, and tourist destination region.
The tourism induced impacts may be reversible or irreversible.
 Reversible impacts are those that can be corrected immediately.
 irreversible impacts require a long period of time to recover.
The impact from tourism may have a chain reaction or just an isolated effect. Tourism,
particularly when carried out on a mass scale has the potential to affect the environmental,
economic, and social systems in an intertwined fashion.
Tourism impacts may also be classified according to source, it may come from:
1. Point source – these are site specific, tangible, and have clear finite lifespans.
2. Non-point source – are mobile, intangible and has definite lifespans.

Determinants of Tourism Impacts

Several factors that determine the direction, scale, duration, and distribution of tourism impacts
can be deduced. Some of these are the
 Level of economic development of the destination
 Strength of linkages between tourism industry another economic sectors
 Tourism policy
 Tourism laws
 Tourism development criteria
 Weights
 Proximity of tourism core
 Location of development
 Technology and design
 Physical and social carrying capacities.
 Volume of tourism and residents-tourist ratio
  Tourist market served.

Levels of Development of the Tourism Industry

The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) of the World Economic Forum is
a measure of the level of tourism development in a country. The TTCI (2015) is based on four
broad subindices, with a total of 14 pillar components.
1. Enabling Environment
a. Business environments
b. Safety and Security
c. Health and Hygiene
d. Human Resource and Labor
e. ICT readiness
2. Travel and Tourism Policy and Enabling Condition
a. Prioritization of travel tourism
b. International openness
c. Price competitiveness
d. Environmental sustainability
3. The infrastructure
a. Air transport
b. Grounds and port
c. Tourist services
4. Natural and Cultural Resources
a. Natural Resources
b. Cultural resources and business travel

A’s in Tourism framework suggested by Cruz (2009)

Access Atmosphere
Accommodation Attitude
Activities Administration
Amenities Assistance
Attractions Awareness

4 A’s of Tourism Industry

 Atmosphere – refers to the general impressions of being welcomed and safe.
 Attitude – the friendliness and readiness of residents in a destination to have tourist in
their midst.
 Administration – the management of tourism destinations
 Assistance – is the level of support provided by government to tourist and to tourism
industry.

Strength of the Economy and Linkages

The net economic impact of tourism depends on the proportion of income that is retained
in the local economy. This retained income if basically the difference between tourism revenues
and leakages. Leakages happens when we import products or pay for expatriate managerial
expertise.
Stakeholders Power and Capacity
One key issue in the tourism development is the extent by which the benefits and
opportunities are shared by the stakeholders. Ideally, there must be equity in tourism outcomes.

Tourism Policy
Another determinant of tourism impact is the tourism policy embodied in the republic
acts, presidential decrees, or local ordinances. Tourism policy serves as the tourism development
framework and defines a country’s prioritization of tourism in relation to overall development
strategies and spells out the objectives.

Tourism Volume, Density or Ratio

Tourism Density refers to the numbers of tourist at a given time in relation to area of the
destination. Tourism Ratio refers to the volume of tourist in relation to the local population.

Concentration and Dispersal Zone

The government can also contain the negative side effects of tourism by concentrating the
tourism activity in a confined section of the city.

Technology
Tourism impacts especially on the environment may be modified by technology.

Capacity
Tourism Capacity id defined as the level of human activity an area can accommodate
without the area deteriorating the resident’s community being adversely affected, or the quality
of visitors experience declining.

Other Factors
Besides the factors mentioned, the emergence of bureaucrats, the rise of unlivable
industrial cities, which drove people to escape the physical crowding of the cities, and women’s
liberation, has become a driving force of tourism development.

Chapter 3: Tourism Impacts on the Environment

Sustainable Development of tourism requires a thorough understanding of its impacts on
the environment. Tourism impacts influence the environment in many ways.

Impacts of Tourism on the Environment

Impacts represents a long-term change. Development and modernization greatly
affect/impacts the environment. Improper siting may destroy natural features and threaten
species. To prevent and lessen these impacts is through imposing environmental guidelines.
Tourism development has an affect on wildlife and plants, environmental quality, topography,
and even climate change.
Hunter and Green (1996) in Swarbrooke (1999) identified that the impact of tourism on
the physical environment is evident through the disruption of breeding habits of animals, etc...
Moreover, they also noted that tourism also produces pollution of various types.
Huttche, White and Flores (2002) observed that tourism also affects the coastal areas that
leads to:
 Land Degradation
 Waste Depletion
 Pollution
 Climate Change
 Water
 Habitat Fragmentation
 Animal Species Extinction
 Tourism Impacts on coral reefs.
 Beach Encroachment and Crowding

Positive Impacts of Tourism on the Environment

Tourism has the potential to improve the environmental quality in many ways.
 First, tourism can provide the incentive to develop lands for commercial development.
 Infrastructure Development