Negative Impact of Tourism
Air travel
-
Over 1/5 of the world’s population are using the air for their
travel because it’s a fast way to get to a destination;
- Airplanes
need airport to operate their flights which means that construction of
airports is an important thing, this is affecting the environment
because they are constructing new airports or expand them, for example “Frankfurt’s
third runway resulted in the felling of half a million trees.”(Page and
Connell,2009:425);
- Aircrafts are
using kerosene which is affecting the environment. “Like all fuels, on
combustion kerosene produces:
- carbon dioxide (…)
- water (…)
- carbon monoxide (…)
- hydrocarbons (…)
- nitrogen oxide (…)
- sulphur dioxide (…) ”(Page and
Connell,2009:425)
The impacts of the emission of these types of
compounds in the atmosphere can create a lot of damage to the environment.
Tourism activities that affect the
environment
Ecotourism – too many tourists that
get involved in this type of tourism, some of them might not be qualified or
specialized which can lead in damaging the environment :
for example Kenya, Galapagos Islands and Thailand are suffering from the
overcrowding of the ecotourists (Page and Connell, 2009).
Boating, diving, walking and others
activities have a negative impact on the environment , for example tourists
feeding wild animals affect the animals lives because they can get sick and
they become violent towards the residents and tourists, this can influence
their breeding as well. Another example is the tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt
which is suffering severe damage because of the large number of
visitors, 5.000 visitors a day, that are bringing inside the tomb
moisture , dust and different bacteria’s (Gee, et al. 1998).
Tourism cannot exist without
tourists, tourists have an impacts from every point on a destination, the
environment if one of the reasons of the tourists wanting to travel to a
destination, if the environment is destroyed the tourists will not be
attracted to the destination. The tourists have an impact on all types of
environments because they are not managed by different laws or by tour
guides, depending on their holidays.
Physical impacts
-
waste
-
reducing levels of biodiversity
-
pollution of inland water
-
pollution of marine and coastal zones.
There are different impacts related to the
development of attractions such as : “inappropriate development, loss of
habitat, extinction of species, pollution, and loss of spirit.”(Page and
Connell, 2009:425).
a.“Inappropriate development” (Page and Connell, 2009:428)
Burac(1996) cited in Beech and
Chadwick (2006) describes the view of the coast line from Guadeloupe and
Martinique islands, not only that it doesn’t have the real architecture style
of the destination but also that there are different buildings in
construction which are affecting the coast line.Different pubs,
restaurants that are built either on the coast line or on the beach
affect the environment because they damage the quality of sand and also it
damages the soil that need to be prepared for construction .
In Hawaii there has been a
development of golf courses, for sports tourists and some of them were built
on the agricultural land which had a direct impact on the environment it
destroyed the agricultural land to build new courses(Holloway, et al. 2009).
b. Impacts on the natural habitat and wildlife
c. Pollution
d. Overcrowding and traffic congestion
e. Wear and tear
References:
Negative Impact of Tourism
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Air travel
There has been an increased number of transport
on road and by air in the past years which has an influence on the
environment and the health of humans. Transport is an essential tool for
tourism; the negative effects of the transport are the pollution from
emanating different gases and the damage created to the environment (Page and
Connell, 2009).
The impacts of the emission of these types of
compounds in the atmosphere can create a lot of damage to the environment.
The pollution of air is due to the development of
airports for the tourism industry (Beech and Chadwick, 2006).
Basically if there will not be a reduction of the
gases released by the air planes the environment will be affected on long
term.
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Skiing/alpine tourism –tourism
products have to be created such as hotels, resorts etc which have a big
impact on the mountains, because this means that there has to be prepared the
ground for new constructions (Page and Connell,2009).
Ecotourism – too many tourists that
get involved in this type of tourism, some of them might not be qualified or
specialized which can lead in damaging the environment :
for example Kenya, Galapagos Islands and Thailand are suffering from the
overcrowding of the ecotourists (Page and Connell, 2009).
Boating, diving, walking and others
activities have a negative impact on the environment , for example tourists
feeding wild animals affect the animals lives because they can get sick and
they become violent towards the residents and tourists, this can influence
their breeding as well. Another example is the tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt
which is suffering severe damage because of the large number of
visitors, 5.000 visitors a day, that are bringing inside the tomb
moisture , dust and different bacteria’s (Gee, et al. 1998).
Tourism cannot exist without
tourists, tourists have an impacts from every point on a destination, the
environment if one of the reasons of the tourists wanting to travel to a
destination, if the environment is destroyed the tourists will not be
attracted to the destination. The tourists have an impact on all types of
environments because they are not managed by different laws or by tour
guides, depending on their holidays.
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Physical impacts
“Tourism destinations comprise a wide diversity of
environments, from purpose-built resorts to remote natural areas. ”(Page and
Connell,2009: 425)
According to the European Environment Agency(1998)
cited in Page and Connell(2009:427) tourism has a contribution in the following
impacts:
-
waste
-
reducing levels of biodiversity
-
pollution of inland water
-
pollution of marine and coastal zones.
There are different impacts related to the
development of attractions such as : “inappropriate development, loss of
habitat, extinction of species, pollution, and loss of spirit.”(Page and
Connell, 2009:425).
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a.“Inappropriate development” (Page and Connell, 2009:428)
The tourism development whether is
on a large or small scale can be improper if it affects the environment.
There are different habitats that are influenced by the improper development
of the tourism industry and its products.
Burac(1996) cited in Beech and
Chadwick (2006) describes the view of the coast line from Guadeloupe and
Martinique islands, not only that it doesn’t have the real architecture style
of the destination but also that there are different buildings in
construction which are affecting the coast line.Different pubs,
restaurants that are built either on the coast line or on the beach
affect the environment because they damage the quality of sand and also it
damages the soil that need to be prepared for construction .
In Hawaii there has been a
development of golf courses, for sports tourists and some of them were built
on the agricultural land which had a direct impact on the environment it
destroyed the agricultural land to build new courses(Holloway, et al. 2009).
b. Impacts on the natural habitat and wildlife
Development of tourism products
that will be used finally by tourists have a great impact on the
environment.
For example:
-in Nepal, trees are being cut off
so that they can be used for constructing lodges, for heating the water that
tourists use in their accommodation and cooking had a very big impact on the
country’s forest.
- in Amboseli National Park in
Kenya, cheetahs behaviour changed because of the visits of tourists in their
natural environment, that’s why cheetahs avoid appearances while tourists are
visiting and this affects the animals lives because the animals change
temporary the location which is affecting the feeding process and all other
activities (Page and Connell,2009).
Improper management of tourist
groups is affecting the environment in the destination they travel to,
because they are interested to live the experience of their life so they go
close to the wildlife, they produce a lot of litter.
Another matter is the removal , for
purpose of selling or just to keep as souvenirs of the corals and rare shells
from Pacific region (Holloway et al, 2009).
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c. Pollution
The water is being polluted from
the sewage being pumped out in the sea. The sewage is affecting
the aquatic life. Marine wildlife is being affected by this type of pollution
and of course people that are bathing in the sea (Page and Connell,2009).
There is noise pollution
created by all types of transports and activities:
- the airplanes taking off and
landing at the airports disturbs tourists and residents;
- boats can disturb the residence
and tourist from the coasts with the noise made from their motors; these
boats also affect the aquatic environment because of the oil spills in the
sea.
- ski jets and other types of bikes
for water disturb the residents and locals while being on the beach (Holloway
et al, 2009).
d. Overcrowding and traffic congestion
Overcrowding is a major problem
because it affects the environment through erosion, too many people visiting
at the same time the same place has an impact on the soil and not only.
Traffic has a big impact as well
because , cars and other types of transport on the road put pressure on the
road. The road traffic can damage the built environment through pollution and
vibration of the buildings, and also noise. Another problem is parking spaces
which are not available everywhere and drivers could park their cars off-road
which will affect the vegetation (Page and Connell, 2009).
For example, Venice has a network
of canals and tourists are using this type of transport while travelling to
attractions or just to see the buildings . Because of the overcrowding of the
boats the water is flooding the pavements of the city (Holloway et al., 2009).
e. Wear and tear
Tourists have different activities
which influence the natural environment, this type of activities can be
horse-riding, mountain biking and many more which damage the vegetation
because of the disturbance created to the soil, no matter of the location
(Page and Connell,2009).
In the United States many of
the sand dunes got destroyed or eroded because of the frequent use of beach
buggies (Holloway, et al. 2009).
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References:
Beech, J. and Chadwick, S. (2006), The business of
tourism management, Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Holloway, J. C. , Humphreys, C. and Davidson, R
(2009), The business of tourism , 8th edition,Essex:Pearson Education Limited.
Page, S. J. and Connell, J. (2009), Tourism a modern
synthesis, 3rd edition. Hampshire: Cengage Learning EMEA.
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