The Environmental Impacts of Tourism

Okay, everyone. Now we come to the last part of this chapter . Now we come to the last part of this chapter .

As before. I put the Learning objectives at the first place . I hope the knowledge in this section would help you to describe in your own words . The main types of environmental impact of tourism and I hope after this part you could describe in your own words the key tourism management and the planning issue that result from the environmental impacts of tourism. Here are the five main contents in this section. The first of all I will give you a short introduction to the environmental impacts of tourism and followed I will give five aspects of the environmental impact. And then I will explain the factors influencing tourism impacts. .

16 00:01:23.336 –> 00:01:28.008 And the next is the positive and negative environmental impacts.

And the last part, it’s a summary. Okay This section is concerned with the impact of tourism on the environment. The environment is made of both natural and human features human settlements set within the countryside may contain a large number of attractions for tourists. Often the natural environment is referred to as physical environment. The natural or physical environment includes the landscape, particularly features such as rivers, rocks,beaches,and also plants and animals . The environment is being increasingly recognized as the major resource for tourism It has been noted that . It has been noted that . tourism depends ultimately upon the environment as it is a major tourism attraction itself or is the context in which tourism activity takes place.

However, tourism-environment relationships are complex There is a mutual dependence between the two which has been described as the symbiotic. Tourism has become a major cause of damage to environment rather than a force for enhancement and protection in the past 50 years. The term environment is often assumed to mean no more than the physical or natural features of a landscape. the physical or natural features of a landscape. However as this picture shows there are five aspects of the environment. They are the natural environment, wildlife the farmed environment, the built environment and the natural resources.

This figure indicates the components of each of these five It should also be remembered that these five aspects are not separated from each other but linkage to each other.

We have talked the main factors influencing tourism impact in the first sector of this chapter. And it is advisable to reconsider this again. However in relation to environmental impacts the following are particularly significant. First, the ‘where’ factor is important Some environments are more susceptible to tourism impacts than others. Second, the type of tourism activity. The next the nature of any tourism infrastructure will also be important. The next when the activity occur particularly any seasonal variation.

In relation to the ‘where’ factor an urban environment is likely to be affected differently in comparison with a rural environment. An urban environment being a largely built one can usually sustain far higher level of visitors than the most rural environments . This is not just because a city has for example roads and paths which minimize the direction impacts of tourists’ movements. But it’s also the result of the nature of the organizational structure such as the planning process in urban areas . However, tourists are also particularly attracted to sites that are coincidentally fragile, such as cliff-tops,coasts and mountains .

The nature of activities tourists are engaged in will greatly influence the impacts they have. Some activities lead to minimal impacts on the environment that are not resource consumptive. Sightseeing from a bus will have little effects on the actual environment travelled through. although the bus may contribute to the pollution and traffic congestion Off-road vehicles in a mountain environment will have far more direct impacts. Tourism involving hunting and fishing can also be heavily resources consumptive if not carefully controlled.

The nature of the infrastructure that exist for tourism insignificant in relation to impacts . It would appear that the effect of this involved in mass tourism on the French and Spanish Mediterranean coastal area are potentially far greater to a small number of walkers in the Himalayan Mountains . However, if this form of mass tourism is well planned and the groups controlled it can limited impacts to minimum.

Paradoxically a small group of trekkers visiting a relatively remote area of Nepal where there is a little preparation for tourists could be far more damaging to the environment.

In many parts of the world tourism is a seasonal activity . Under these conditions tourism may only affect the environment for part of the year . During the rest of the year the environment may be able to recover However, in some area,despite only seasonal tourism affecting the environment this impact is so serious that there is little chance for recovery. For example there are certain area of Swiss Alps that are heavily used for skiing that they can’t recover fully during the summer period. Over time the inability of a slope to re-grow sufficient vegetation means it is more susceptible to erosion .

Conventionally,the following may be regarded as positive impacts Tourism may stimulate measures to protect the environment and landscape, and wildlife . Tourism can help to promote the establishment of natural parks or wildlife reserves . Tourism can promote preservation of the buildings or monuments. . 118 00:08:33.494 –> 00:08:35.200 These includes, for example

UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Tourism may provide the money. For example entrance charges to mountain historical buildings,heritage sites and wildlife habitats.

Now so conventionally

the following has been regarded as negative environmental impacts: first tourists are likely to drop litter. Tourism can contribute to congestion in terms of overcrowding of people as well as traffic congestion . Tourism can contribute to the pollution of water courses and beaches and tourism may result in footpath erosion . Tourism can lead to the creation of unsightly human structures such as buildings. For example,hotels that do not fit in with vernacular architecture. Tourism may lead to damage, or disturbance to wildlife habitats . Ok, now we finish the core knowledge of this section followed there is a summary. As the summary, the environment is a key resource for tourism. It is possible to sub-divide the environment into human and the natural environment.

The environment provides some of the significant attractions for visitors. Hence,any damage to the environment may contribute to a reduction in visitor numbers. Tourism can also have important negative impacts on the environment. including footpath erosion river and marine pollution litter,traffic congestion, overcrowding and the creation of unsightly structure. It can seriously affect ecosystems. However it can have beneficial impacts . by contributing to an awareness of the need to conserve valued landscapes and buildings and revenue generated from visitor charges can be used to preserve and maintain threatened sites. In relation to assisting with planning and management of environmental impacts the concept of carrying capacity is particularly useful. And in the following chapter, you could gain more knowledge and information about this concept .

155 00:11:15.183 –> 00:11:18.127 As visitor numbers continue to increase

and virtually nowhere on earth remains free for tourists the need for carefully planned and managed tourism in relation to environmental impacts has become and continually to be a critical issue.

In the end of this chapter, I drafty draw two knowledge table for you All this table is about the key knowledge in this chapter I hope these will help you to review what we have learned in this chapter The first table shows the two importance dimensions we analyze tourism impact One dimension is the three aspects as economy, socio-cultural, and environment the other is the negative and positive aspects.

The second table summarizes all the negative and positive impacts in economy,socio-culture, and environment. It could be a helpful toolbox for you for doing any tourism assessment.

The last slide informes the reference book. It is really a excellent book. I believe you could learn more by reading it. Okay, this is all the contents of this chapter .