12 Aims For Making Tourism Sustainable

The World Tourism Organization (WTO) declared in 1988 that sustainable tourism is [1]

"envisaged as leading to 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.”

Making Tourism More Sustainable

The twelve aims for making tourism sustainable were described in “Making Tourism More Sustainable: A Guide for Policy Makers” as [2]:

1.Economic Viability: To ensure the viability and competitiveness of tourism destinations and enterprises, so that they are able to continue to prosper and deliver benefits in the long term.

2. Local Prosperity: To maximize the contribution of tourism to the economic prosperity of the host destination, including the proportion of visitor spending that is retained locally.

3. Employment Quality: To strengthen the number and quality of local jobs created and supported by tourism, including the level of pay, conditions of service and availability to all without discrimination by gender, race, disability or in other ways.

4. Social Equity: To seek a widespread and fair distribution of economic and social benefits from tourism throughout the recipient community, including improving opportunities, income and services available to the poor.

5. Visitor Fulfillment: To provide a safe, satisfying and fulfilling experience for visitors, available to all without discrimination by gender, race, disability, or in other ways.

6. Local Control: To engage and empower local communities in planning and decision making about the management and future development of tourism in their area, in consultation with other stakeholders.

7. Community Well-being: To maintain and strengthen the quality of life in local communities, including social structures and access to resources, amenities and life support systems, avoiding any form of social degradation or exploitation.

8. Cultural Richness: To respect and enhance the historic heritage, authentic culture, traditions, and distinctiveness of host communities.

9. Physical Integrity: To maintain and enhance the quality of landscapes, both urban and rural, and avoid the physical and visual degradation of the environment.

10. Biological Diversity: To support the conservation of natural areas, habitats, and wildlife, and minimize damage to them.

11. Resource Efficiency: To minimize the use of scarce and non renewable resources in the development and operation of tourism facilities and services.

12. Environmental Purity: To minimize the pollution of air, water, and land and the generation of waste by tourism enterprises and visitors.

It can be conclude that "making tourism sustainable" or "sustainable tourism" is the drive to make every tourism business and traveler ecologically and culturally sensitive by building environmental awareness and practice into all aspects of the travel product and its consumption.

Three aspects of sustainability

Three main aspects usually mean that we do "sustainable" activities or the activity in the same or similar way for the indefinite future (sustainable in time):

1. Environmentally – the activity minimizes any damage to the environment and ideally tries to benefit the environment in a positive way (through protection and conservation).

2. Socially and culturally – the activity does not harm, and may revitalize the social structure or culture of the community where it is located.

3. Economic – the activity does not simply begin and then rapidly die because of bad business practices; it continues to contribute to the economic well-being of the local community. A sustainable business should benefit its owners, its employees, and its neighbors.

The principles of sustainability, can be applied to any type of tourism – mass or specialty; city, beach, or wilderness; large or small. They also can be applied to all sectors of the tourist industry: lodging, tours, agencies, ground operators, guiding, and transport.

Ecotourism is one kind of sustainable tourism, based on nature, and usually following the principles of sustainability.

References:
1. World Tourist Organization (2004), Indicators of Sustainable Development for Tourism Destinations, Available at: www.worldtourism.org.
2. United Nations Environment Programme – World Tourist Organization (2005), “Making Tourism More Sustainable: A Guide for Policy Makers”, available at: http://www.unep.fr/scp/publications/details.asp?id=DTI/0592/PA

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