Challenges with tourism sustainability

Welcome back to my blog!

Today I will explore the first question from my “food for thought” section in my introduction post.

What are some challenges with tourism sustainability?

There are numerous challenges with tourism sustainability that I identified through research. Today we will explore the following topics:

1. Heavy water consumption

2. Waste management

3. Energy use

Heavy water consumption

Water is essential for all of us regardless of where we are. Whether we are traveling or at home, we require water to live.

Through researching sustainable tourism, I learned that there is a difference between our regular water use to the use in touristic places.

In the article Advances and challenges in sustainable tourism toward a green economy, the authors argue that popular places mainly use water in “golf courses, irrigated gardens, swimming pools, spas/wellness facilities and guest rooms (e.g., shower)” (S.-Y. Pan et al, 2017). Highly frequented places already have the local population living there, can you imagine how much more water is consumed in peak season when hotels are at full capacity?

Waste management

Another challenge to take into consideration when we are learning about sustainable tourism is the way that waste is managed.

The authors of the same article mentioned before stated that “over one kilogram of solid waste is daily generated for every international tourist in Europe, and up to two kilograms per person per day for the United States” (UNEP, 2003) (S.-Y. Pan et al, 2017). That means that if we travel to Europe for 1 week, we will be producing 7 extra kilograms (which is about 15.43 lbs). It may seem like a small quantity, but if you consider the amounts of people that visit popular places the numbers will quickly add up.

Energy use

Unfortunately, we need to take planes and/or cars to reach our destinations. That makes tourism an activity that significantly contributes to greenhouse gases emissions in the atmosphere.

According to S.-Y. Pan et al, the energy consumption associated with tourism includes travel, transport, accommodation, and other activities.

In the research article that I found, it is mentioned that “the tourism sector accounts for about 5% of global CO2 emissions but, considering the radiative forcing of all Green House Gases, the overall contribution of tourism activities to global warming potential is estimated to be 5.2–12.5%” (UNEP and UNWTO, 2012) ( S.-Y. Pan et al, 2017). In other words, without even realizing it, we are negatively contributing to environmental impacts on the planet.

Some initiatives that you could take next time you travel are:

1- Try not to take super long showers

2- Dispose of your waste wisely

3- Carpool with friends or family if possible

I thought this picture of The Great Wall of China was a good idea to get us thinking about the amount of water consumption, waste production, and gas emissions that this many people cause when they travel.

My next blog post will explore the following question:

What are the implications of Covid-19 in sustainable tourism?

As always, thank you for your interest in my blog — “see” you soon!

WORK CITED

Pan, S.Y. et al. (2018). Advances and challenges in sustainable tourism toward a green economy. The Science of the Total Environment, 635, 452–469.