Can Tourism Be Sustainable En the 21st Century
CAN TOURISM BE SUSTAINABLE IN THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY ?
Tourism industry is one of the largest industry of the world in the 21st century, before the oil industry and the automobile industry. It is a vital sector for a lot of countries as it generates jobs and wealth. Nevertheless, Tourism can also engender environmental, social, and cultural degradations as more and more people travel all around the world. There was roughly 935 million of tourists in 2010, and there will be 1.6 billion tourists in 2020 according to the World Tourism Organization. This enormous flow of tourists has undoubtedly a lot of impacts on the environment, on the local populations or on the economy. Furthermore, the global population is increasingly growing and the question of resources available is crucial and has become a matter of global concern when development occurs in a time of globalization. Because tourism keeps increasing, this is necessary to find ways to make tourism more sustainable.
The question of sustainable development has become a major issue of the 21st century notably due to the climate change. While the original call for sustainable development in Bruntland Report (which goal was to unite countries to pursue sustainable development together) discussed the application of the principles, tourism was not specially discussed’ (Hall, 1998) Yet, there has been an increasing recognition of the role that tourism could play in sustainable development. As it is a driving force of the economy and a powerful instrument of development, it has a role to play to limit its negative impacts whether they are cultural, environmental or economic. That is to say, adopting the principles of sustainable development to tourism. ‘Sustainable tourism is an extension of the concept of sustainable development” (J.Swarbrooke, 1999). The sustainable development is defined in the Bruntland Report as’ a development which meets our needs today without compromising the ability of people in the
Tourism industry is one of the largest industry of the world in the 21st century, before the oil industry and the automobile industry. It is a vital sector for a lot of countries as it generates jobs and wealth. Nevertheless, Tourism can also engender environmental, social, and cultural degradations as more and more people travel all around the world. There was roughly 935 million of tourists in 2010, and there will be 1.6 billion tourists in 2020 according to the World Tourism Organization. This enormous flow of tourists has undoubtedly a lot of impacts on the environment, on the local populations or on the economy. Furthermore, the global population is increasingly growing and the question of resources available is crucial and has become a matter of global concern when development occurs in a time of globalization. Because tourism keeps increasing, this is necessary to find ways to make tourism more sustainable.
The question of sustainable development has become a major issue of the 21st century notably due to the climate change. While the original call for sustainable development in Bruntland Report (which goal was to unite countries to pursue sustainable development together) discussed the application of the principles, tourism was not specially discussed’ (Hall, 1998) Yet, there has been an increasing recognition of the role that tourism could play in sustainable development. As it is a driving force of the economy and a powerful instrument of development, it has a role to play to limit its negative impacts whether they are cultural, environmental or economic. That is to say, adopting the principles of sustainable development to tourism. ‘Sustainable tourism is an extension of the concept of sustainable development” (J.Swarbrooke, 1999). The sustainable development is defined in the Bruntland Report as’ a development which meets our needs today without compromising the ability of people in the
Bibliography: M. Mowforth & I. Munt, 2003, Tourism and Sustainability, Routledge, London W J. Swarbrooke, 2005, Sustainable Tourism Management, Cabi Publishing, Cambridge Web site