Damage to ecosystems

Besides the consumption of large amounts of natural
resources, the tourism industry also generates considerable
waste and pollution. Disposal of liquid and solid
waste generated by the tourism industry has become a
particular problem for many developing countries and
regions that lack the capacity to treat these waste materials.
Disposal of such untreated waste has, in turn, contributed
to reducing the availability of natural resources,
such as freshwater.
Apart from the contamination of freshwater from
pollution by untreated sewage, tourist activities can also
lead to land contamination from solid waste and the contamination
of marine waters and coastal areas from pollution
generated by hotels and marinas, as well as cruise
ships. It is estimated that cruise ships in the Caribbean
Sea alone produced more than 70,000 tonnes of liquid
and solid waste a year during the mid-1990s (UN,
1999a). The fast growth of the cruise sector in this and
other regions around the world has exacerbated this problem
in recent years. In fact, it is sometimes argued that
the rapid expansion of cruise tourism calls for “the
enforcement of an environmental protection ‘level playing
field’ across the world’s oceans and between the
world’s maritime tourism destinations” (Johnson, 2002).
In addition, relatively high levels of energy consumption
in hotels—including energy for air-conditioning,
heating and cooking—as well as fuel used by
tourism-related transportation can also contribute significantly
to local air pollution in many host countries and
regions. Local air and noise pollution, as well as urban
congestion linked to intensive tourism development, can
sometimes even discourage tourists from visiting some
destinations.
Uncontrolled tourism activities can also cause
severe disruption of wildlife habitats and increased pressure
on endangered species. Disruption of wildlife
behaviour is often caused, for example, by tourist vehicles
in Africa’s national parks that approach wild cats
and thus distract them from hunting and breeding; tour
boat operators in the Caribbean Sea that feed sharks to
ensure that they remain in tourist areas; and whalewatching
boat crews around the world that pursue whales
and dolphins and even encourage petting, which tends to
alter the animals’ feeding and behaviour.
Similarly, tourism can lead to the indiscriminate
clearance of native vegetation for the development of
new facilities, increased demand for fuelwood and even
forest fires. Ecologically fragile areas, such as rain
forests, wetlands and mangroves, are also threatened by
5 A New Approach to Sustainable Tourism Development
intensive or irresponsible tourist activity. Moreover, as
will be discussed below, it is increasingly recognized
that, the rapid expansion of nature tourism (or ‘ecotourism’)
may also pose a threat to ecologically fragile
areas, including many natural world heritage sites, if not
properly managed and monitored.
The delicate ecosystems of most small islands,
together with their increasing reliance on tourism as a
main tool of socio-economic development, means that
this environmental impact can be particularly damaging
since the success of the tourism sector in these islands
often depends on the quality of their natural environment
(UN, 1999b). In addition, pollution of coastal waters—in
particular by sewage, solid waste, sediments and untreated
chemicals—often leads to the deterioration of coastal
ecosystems, notably coral reefs, and thus harms their
value for tourism.
The equally fragile ecosystems of mountain
regions are also threatened by increasing popular tourist
activities such as skiing, snowboarding and trekking.
One of the most serious environmental problems in
mountainous developing countries without appropriate
energy supply is deforestation arising from increasing
consumption of fuelwood by the tourism industry (see,
for example, CDE/SDC, 1999). This often results not
only in the destruction of local habitats and ecosystems,
but also in accelerating processes of erosion and landslides.
Other major problems arising from tourist activities
in mountain regions include disruption of animal
migration by road and tourist facilities, sewage pollution
of rivers, excessive water withdrawals from
streams to supply resorts and the accumulation of solid
waste on trails.