This document discusses the importance of landscapes for tourism and some of the threats facing landscapes around the world. It notes that landscapes provide the foundation for the tourism industry but are under threat from climate change, rising sea levels, and other environmental impacts. The document calls for increased international cooperation and protective measures to safeguard landscapes and the wildlife they support to ensure the future sustainability of the tourism sector.
This document discusses the importance of landscapes for tourism and some of the threats facing landscapes around the world. It notes that landscapes provide the foundation for the tourism industry but are under threat from climate change, rising sea levels, and other environmental impacts. The document calls for increased international cooperation and protective measures to safeguard landscapes and the wildlife they support to ensure the future sustainability of the tourism sector.
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This document discusses the importance of landscapes for tourism and some of the threats facing landscapes around the world. It notes that landscapes provide the foundation for the tourism industry but are under threat from climate change, rising sea levels, and other environmental impacts. The document calls for increased international cooperation and protective measures to safeguard landscapes and the wildlife they support to ensure the future sustainability of the tourism sector.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Contents • The concept of landscapes • Preferences of tourists • Images of landscapes • Film tourism and landscapes • Wildlife tourism • Landscapes under threat • Future of changing landscapes Landscapes • The word landscape is from the Dutch “landschap” meaning a sheaf, a patch of cultivated ground • Landscape = cultivated = not wilderness? • From landscape art to tourist gaze • Other scapes: seascapes, riverscapes, cityscapes, etc. What forms a landscape? Landform and geology
Presence of Natural vegetation
man and animals From cultural to natural landscapes
Cultural Natural
Urban/cityscapes Rural Wilderness
high Human intervention low Wilderness • Wilderness is generally defined as a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. • Wilderness is deeply valued for cultural, spiritual, moral, and aesthetic reasons. • How much of Earth’s surface is still “wilderness”? • 46% From wilderness to National Parks
• First protection of wilderness: English Kings,
to protect hunting grounds • Urbanisation & industrialisation: more value for nature protection • First National Park: Yellowstone, 1872 USA • Conservation versus protection: “Proper use of nature” versus “protection of nature from use” What is an attractive landscape? • Enlightment: back to nature, what was seen as beautiful (art) • Global dominance of Northern Europe: exported aesthetic inscriptions • UNESCO: universal ideas about what is beautiful Art, landscapes and tourism What landscapes do tourists prefer? • Nature, forest, varied landscape • Wild landscapes with mountains and water • High relief differences • Landscapes with a special value (by art, film, TV) • Heritage landscapes • Landscapes with animals World’s most popular landscapes • Great Barrier Reef • Mount Everest • Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe • Angel Falls, Venezuela • Niagara Falls, USA/Canada • Northern Lights • Amazon river and rainforest • … Status of landscapes • Important aspect in tourism: being seen in (famous) landscape • Doing, being active, being part of it • Visitors seek to “own” landscape Tourist gaze • Tourists don’t gaze but glimpse • Landscape = photo opportunity • Deep meaning or exercise of ego? • Backpacking or just watching? Experiencing famous landscapes Landscapes are cultural constructions • Images of landscapes attract tourists • A landscape is a cultural construction • Artistic representations, films, TV programmes, media exposure of landscapes generate tourism • A landscape destination is created for tourism consumption Film & TV tourism • Places, and images of places, are fundamental in tourism • Experiencing a film is going into a fantasy world • Going on holiday, tourists also enter a world between imagined and real culture and places being visited • Successfull film can lead to increased visitor numbers • Marketing can change visitor profile Experience of film tourists • Film tourists consume familiar signs and symbols in film • Real landscape is covered with several new layers of meaning for the consumption of film tourists • Re-enacting parts of the film Film locations boost UK tourism “British tourism has enjoyed a huge boost from a rise in visits to film and TV show locations, says a report.”
“Film and tourism bodies identified increased
visits to the settings of productions including The Da Vinci Code and Gosford Park and TV's Balamory.” Film locations: Tobermory • Isle of Mull, Tobermory: location for pre- school children’s TV programme Balamory
• The village of Tobermory experienced a 40
per cent rise in visitors - an increase of 160,000. The series is thought to be contributing £5 million a year to the local economy. Balamory or Tobermory? From film to tourism product • Harry Potter films: Alnwick Castle, Ben Nevis, Scotland, Oxford University, etc. • The Harry Potter films led to a 120% rise in visitors to Northumberland's Alnwick Castle, and had brought about £9m worth of tourism to the region. • British films and TV are “brochures” for tourism Landscapes and wildlife • Value of wildlife • Relationship human beings and wildlife • Viewing platforms • How important is it to know there is wildlife? • How important is it to encounter wildlife? Wildlife tourism • Worldwide, the wildlife tourism industry is increasing by up to 12% year on year (November 2007) • For instance in Scotland alone there are between 250 and 300 wildlife tourism operators. • Offering everything from whale and dolphin spotting to bushcraft and farm projects, they generate around £200m a year for the Scottish economy. Popular wildlife destinations • National Parks Africa • Alaska, USA • Nature reserves India • Amazon, South America • Great Barrier Reef & • Galapolos Islands, Outback, Australia Ecuador • Sahara, Africa • Grand Canyon, USA • Canadian Rockies, Canada • Hawaii, USA Climate change • Global Warming is accelerating • Expected global average temperature expected to increase between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees this century • Increase in rainfall 3-10% by 2050 • Increase in droughts • 4-10 cm increase in sealevel per decade Effect on tourism in Alpes • Shorter skiing season • Greater demand for higher altitude skiing resorts • Extended season for non-skiing activities • Less demand for skiing? Effect on tropical islands Tropical islands • Sea level rises are critical • Storm frequency increasing • Coral bleaching • Reef damaging • New tropical diseases Landscapes under threat • Cancun, Mexico: threatened by sealevel rise Melting glacier Kilimanjaro
Estimated to be gone by 2012
Mount Kilimanjaro • The tallest mountain of Africa lost 82% of its ice cover in the last 80 years • Africa’s two highest mountains — Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya — will lose their ice cover within 25 to 50 years if deforestation and carbon emissions are not stopped, says the United Nations Environment Program. • Less water => droughts European Union policy on climate change • “Climate change is already happening and represents one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing the planet. The European Union is committed to working constructively for a global agreement to control climate change, and is leading the way by taking ambitious action of its own.” • Expected water battles, for instance between agriculture and tourism Protection of landscapes
• No attractive environment = no tourism
• The environment is the foundation of tourism industry • Tourism requires the protection of the scenic and historical heritage of destination areas. Protection of wildlife Example: Polar Bears: Protected, but Not Safe!
• In May 2008, the Bush Administration listed the polar
bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
• Is it too late? Arctic sea ice is receding, and scientific
studies by the U.S. Geological Service (USGS) estimated some 30% decline in sea ice by mid-century.
• A study by the USGS projected a two-thirds decline in
the world's polar bear population — currently standing at up to 25,000 — by 2050. How could landscapes be protected?
• United Nations and International Union for
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) • World Heritage Sites (1972) • National Parks • Protected landscapes • International National Parks What can we do? • Carbon emmissions: renewable energy • Creative and new ideas for tourism • Small steps make great contribution • Turn credit crisis into positive movement • Examples: improve cycling possibilities (= cheaper means of transport), invest in solar powered transportation… Future of world landscapes • Environment is prime resource for tourism • Threats by tourism development, climate change and increased scarcity of resources • Protection and conservation is mission for tourism industry • Challenges for the future