INTRODUCTION TO TOURISM &

HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Lecture 11
 Course Objectives

• Recap the Guest Cycle in a hotel

• An understanding of the idea of sustainable tourism
• The various concepts and definitions of sustainable tourism
• Appreciation of the different types of sustainable tourism
• Understanding of the underpinning principles of sustainable tourism
• Awareness of contemporary approaches to implementing sustainable
tourism
Challenges of Sustainable Tourism
• To plan and manage tourism growth to minimize negative impacts and
promote the positive impacts of tourism

• This is particularly important for vulnerable destinations such as

coasts, wetlands, mountains, deserts, the Polar Regions and areas of
significant cultural heritage

• To use tourism to help alleviate poverty in the world

Challenges of Sustainable Tourism
• To take action on climate change, firstly, demanding adaptation on the
part of destinations and, secondly, shifting patterns of demand by
stressing tourists’ individual responsibility for their behavior

• Ensure that sustainability is financially attractive by developing new

ways of operating

• As a sector including public/private partnerships, embracing the

principles of the ‘green economy’ and developing environmental
accounting techniques
 Pillars of Sustainability
1. Economic sustainability revolves around the concept of the enterprise
supporting jobs and delivering income to communities in the long
term. Without this, destinations and their communities cannot survive
2. Social sustainability focuses upon sharing benefits fairly and equitably
and respecting the quality of life of communities and of human rights.
It will increasingly involve ‘living within our means
3. Environmental sustainability focuses upon stewardship of resources
and managing and conserving the environment, and will involve the
notion of ‘limits to growth’
 Concepts & Definitions
• Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social
and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry,
the environment and host communities’
• The scale of tourism that can occur in a spatial unit without doing any
serious harm to the natural, economic and socio-cultural elements at
destinations
Concepts & Definitions
• Brundtland World Commission on Environment and Development (1987)
• The Brundtland definition comprises three parts:
1. Development – here the issue is the compatibility of sustainable
development with economic growth
2. Needs – focusing around issues of equity and distribution of resources
3. Future generations – where the issue is that the income of future
generations should not be less than the current generations and that
current generations have a responsibility of stewardship for both social and
natural ‘capital’
 Sustainable Tourism
• Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social
and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry,
the environment and host communities"
• Sustainable tourism can be defined as a kind of tourism that has more
benefits than negative impacts, especially relating to the environment,
the economy and communities. Truly sustainable and responsible tourism
should make destinations better for people to live in as well as visit
Types of Tourism Sustainability
1. Very weak sustainability/strong tourism imperative. Here the
emphasis is on satisfying the demands of the tourism sector and
tourists, sometimes at the expense of destination resources. Often this
occurs in the early stages of tourism at a destination where growth is
encouraged
2. Weak sustainability/product-led tourism. This scenario is where
tourism remains dominant and sustainability secondary to the
development of new products, although the need for resource
conservation and the management of growth is recognized
Types of Tourism Sustainability
3. Strong sustainability/environmental-led tourism. This is a familiar type
of sustainable tourism where environmental management lies at the heart
of destination management and niche tourism products include
ecotourism
4. Very strong sustainability/limited tourism. Here, tourism activity is
small in scale, and in places discouraged if it could cause environmental
damage. The use of both renewable and non-renewable resources is
limited through the use of environmental management techniques. The
general view is against economic growth
Colin Hunter (an adaptive paradigm)
• The main lesson of Hunter’s paper is that ‘Sustainable tourism should not be
regarded as a rigid framework, but rather as an adaptive paradigm which
legitimizes a variety of approaches according to specific circumstances’
I. Sustainable development through a tourism imperative. This type of tourism is
concerned with satisfying the needs of tourists and developers and does not
prioritize environmental concerns or planning. Hunter suggests that this form of
tourism could occur in three situations –
(i) where tourism is a priority for poverty alleviation
(ii) where tourism replaces an environmentally degrading activity such as open cast
(iii) where the development of tourism can prevent the development of other
environmentally degrading activities
An Adaptive Paradigm
2. Sustainable tourism through product-led tourism. Here,
the development of new products and expansion of the
distribution channels through the use of intermediaries takes
precedence over environmental concerns except where they
can be seen to sustain the development of tourism products.
This situation can occur in wel developed tourism destinations
where the economic benefits of tourism sustain the local
community
An Adaptive Paradigm
3. Sustainable tourism through environment-led tourism.
Here concerns for the environment and host community move
more to the center of the stage in tourism development, often
in areas where tourism is being newly introduced, or where
tourism is highly dependent upon the quality of
environmental resources to be successful
An Adaptive Paradigm
4. Sustainable development through neotenous tourism. In
this approach environmental concerns are paramount and
tourism may be actively discouraged, or heavily managed
through, say, the use of access permits. The exploration or
involvement stage of the tourism area life-cycle would be an
appropriate stage for this type of development
Principles of Sustainable Tourism
1. Ensure that all forms of tourism are sustainable – sustainable tourism
is not a discrete type of tourism, all tourism should be sustainable
2. Take a long-term view
3. Take a ‘whole of destination’ approach – this ensures balanced
development and that one element of the destination mix does not
surge ahead of the others. It is important not to take a tourist-centric
approach as was done in early debates on sustainable tourism
4. Balance global and local impacts – for example, local initiatives to
reduce carbon emissions will have a positive global impact
Principles of Sustainable Tourism

5. Ensure tourists are aware of the issue and pursue sustainable

consumption

6. Make optimal use of environmental resources

7. Develop cultural richness of the destination by respecting the socio-

cultural integrity and authenticity of host communities

8. Conserve tangible and intangible heritage

Principles of Sustainable Tourism

9. Ensure that businesses are economically viable over the long term

10. Involve all stakeholders at the destination

11. Ensure community well-being such that communities benefit from

tourism

12. Provide a high-quality tourist experience to maintain high levels of

tourist satisfaction
Strategy for long-term Destination Competitiveness

• Five key dimensions

1. Influencing the location and form of tourism development through land use
planning, design control, building codes and planning regulation
2. Empowering local communities through ensuring participation in decision
making, building local tourism expertise and capacity through training and
ensuring the economic viability of local businesses through financial assistance
where necessary
3. Ensuring a high-quality tourist experience by managing the destination
elements of safety, access, information and interpretation
Strategy for long-term Destination Competitiveness

4. Conserving and managing destination heritage by site and visitor

management techniques
5. Integrating environmental management into tourism facilities
including energy, water and waste management and strategies for
minimizing carbon emissions. This should be n the basis of ‘reduce,
reuse recycle
Implementation of Sustainability
Questions Please