NATURE AND SCOPE OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Sustainable tourism, as defined by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) (as cited
in Cruz,2016), is “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.”

Nature of Sustainable Tourism

It is essential for tourism to have possession of the following elements for it to be sustainable:

 Stakeholders are adept in their function/role.

 Presence of strong political leadership to make sure that there is a wide participation and
collaboration in all key players.

 Impacts are continuously monitored, and preventive or corrective actions are utilized when
necessary.

 Tourism should provide meaningful experience and high levels of satisfaction to tourists.

 Raising tourists’ awareness about the issues and practices in sustainability.

Scope of Sustainable Tourism

For tourism to sustain itself, it must be able to continue for an indefinite time. This can only become
possible if all the three (3) dimensions of sustainable development—namely, economy, society, and
environment—are developed and well-balanced. If one of these dimensions is neglected, the others
will also be at risk.

The three (3) dimensions also comprise the scope that sustainable tourism covers. Figure 1 shows
how the interaction between the three (3) dimensions of development can be balanced.
The framework above illustrates how development can be balanced among the three (3) dimensions
according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (2015),
which include the

following:

 The fundamental policy objectives of tourism development should be based on the basic
conditions of social justice and ecological sustainability.

 Policies for tourism development should seek long-term benefits for all.

 Measurement of progress in sustainable development should focus more on the three (3)
dimensions instead of economic returns alone.

 Public policies must recognize that our planet’s resources are limited and cannot always be
addressed through the use of technology.

The balance among the three (3) dimensions will result in the following:

 A balance between the economic and environmental dimensions makes development viable or
something that can be achieved.

 A balance between the economic and social dimensions makes development equitable or fair
regarding the area of concern and its community.

 A balance between the environmental and social dimensions makes development as a tool for
an area’s liveability or fit for human habitation.

 The balance of all three (3) dimensions makes development sustainable and may continue for an
indefinite period.
THE NEED FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Sustainability is an important aspect applied to tourism. Many definitions explain what sustainability
is, but it could simply be defined as “the ability of something to continue for an indefinite period of
time” (Cruz, 2016).

These are the following reasons why tourism needs to be sustainable:

 Environmental Dependence – Tourism is dependent on various resources, such as man-made

 Economic Activity – Tourism provides economic opportunities and chances for local people, even
in the remotest areas, to be involved in the global economy. The goal of tourism in the economic
context is to grow local, regional, and national economies through profits made by providing
tourism products and services.

 Social Welfare – Tourism also contributes to the welfare of people, particularly the poor. Some
of the main goals of tourism in the social welfare context are to alleviate poverty and to
empower marginalized groups such as women and minorities.

KEY PLAYERS IN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT

The following are some of the key players that have specific roles which may induce positive or
negative impacts with regards to sustainable tourism development and management.

Tourists

They are considered as the primary consumers of tourism products and services, including the
environmental aspect. They are often viewed as the major causes of problems in tourism. In the
perception of the host community, tourists can be blamed for the negative consequences tourism
brings. However, there are efforts to establish regulations and policies to influence tourist behaviors.
There are also attempts at educating tourists about the impacts they make in tourism sustainability so
they can be utilized as contributors to the sustainability of tourism.

Local Communities/Residents

They can be described as a diverse set of people in geographical and political boundaries. They can be
made up of several people coming from different ancestry, attitudes, backgrounds, and beliefs.
However, they share a mutual understanding of preferences in various aspects of life and way of
living. They can be a major attraction to tourists as they offer their cultural manifestations, which
include artworks and crafts, music, dance, and religious festivals. There are also cases in which the
tourists’ purpose for traveling is to experience life with the local community.

It is argued that tourism is a beneficiary of a community’s resources (natural or man-made). Therefore,

 The involvement of the local community in sustainable tourism is a part of the democratic
process where they actively participate in the decision-making process.

 It gives the local community an avenue to ask questions and raise concerns regarding the direct
effects of tourism in their community.

 The knowledge of local community can provide accurate information and proper guidance to the
decisions that will be made regarding sustainable tourism.

 It can reduce potential conflicts between the tourists and the local community.

Public Sector (Government Agencies)

They represent the views of taxpayers and electors. They are not commercial organizations whose
goals are to make profit. Instead, they are democratically elected presidents who are in charge of
running the sector with the support of paid civil service workers.

The public sector is involved in sustainable tourism due to the following reasons:

 They are mandated to be representatives of the whole population.

 They focus on the benefits of all affected by tourism development.

 They can make long-term plans for sustainable tourism development than the private sector.

 They also have the ability to regulate and market tourism.

 There are chances that government agencies will use marketing and promotion of tourism as a
controlling measure for sustainability reasons. For example, an ecotourism site is advertised only
to domestic tourists in order to limit the number of visitors and meet its capacity to prevent
damage.

Tourism Industry

The tourism industry, by definition, is very complex as it contains many dimensions—some of which
don’t even consider themselves as part of the industry. Following Leiper’s model (1990), the tourism
industry is composed of these three (3) sectors:

 Generating Zone – This includes entities that generate or produce tourism products and content
such as travel agents, tour operators, and travel media.

 Transition Zone – This is mainly composed of the travel sector, such as airlines and rail
companies.

 Destination Zone – This contains the greatest variety of tourism industry organizations as it
includes many forms of hospitality, entertainment, and visitor attraction providers like hotels,
restaurants, and tourism sites.
The industry is often blamed as the culprit of the damage to destinations and has no regard for its
sustainable development and well-being. However, due to the complexity of the industry, it is not
easy to consider it as the direct cause of the problem. It can be argued that the damages are often
caused by the private sectors of the tourism industry. They provide bulks of tourism products and
services because their main objective is to gain profit by exploiting the resources of the destination.

The private sector within the tourism industry manages its operation through the marketing mix,
which comprises the four (4) P’s: product, price, promotion, and place. In 1998, Middleton and
Hawkins added another “P” was added to the mix, which is “people.” The addition of another P into
the mix presented the idea of managing tourist behavior.

This suggestion of people as part of the marketing mix helps in establishing relationships between
tourism product or service providers and the consumers (tourists). This helps influence a tourist’s
view of a destination as more than just a product. Tourism organizations are now initiating to raise
awareness on the impacts of tourism through environmentally sound activities such as recycling,
promoting “green” holidays, and giving information. The local communities highly support these
activities; some are even involved in some form of partnerships.

Other Players

Voluntary Sector Organizations – These are composed of pressure groups, voluntary trusts, charities,
and industry organizations that address concerns about the impacts of tourism.

Media – A wide sector of the media is directly involved in tourism. They provide tourism content
made available to the public through television, radio, print, Internet, etc.

References:

 Cruz, R. G. (2016). Tourism impacts and sustainability. Manila: Rex Bookstore, Inc.

 McCool, S. F., & Bosak, K. (2016). Reframing sustainable tourism. Dordrecht, Netherlands:
Springer.

 Mason, P. (2016). Tourism impacts, planning and management. New York: Routledge.

 United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (2015). Integrating the
three dimensions of sustainable development: A framework and tools [PDF]. Retrieved from
https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Integrating%20the%20three%20dimensions%20of
%20sustainable%20development%20A%20framework.pdf on April 2, 2019