Sustainability
What is sustainability?
The word “sustainable” refers to continuing without interruption. As you can guess, sustainability is about creating a world that will endure in the long-term future. More specifically, a world that is able to persist on its own and satisfies the current population without taking away from future generations. This includes elements from the resources we fabricate, all the way to our education systems. Sustainability is often perceived as solely ecological sustainability; however, it is much more. Remember, we live in a large system
of humans and nature that are all connected.
Why is sustainability important in tourism?
Sustainability is important in our everyday lives and is particularly important to the existence of the tourism industry in the future. The World Tourism Organization defines sustainable tourism development as “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 key to sustainable tourism is finding a balance between social, economic, and environmental elements, as well as between tourists and locals. It is important to understand how to manage our destinations’ carrying capacity, the maximum number of people that can visit a destination without causing destruction, to prevent detrimental long term negative impacts on a destination that will prevent it from existing in the future.
For a comprehensive understanding of sustainable tourism watch the video below where Doug Lansky discusses the following four tips for tourism success, along with important terms including destination capacity and overtourism.
Protect quality of life for locals
Maximize the local economic impact
Elevate visitor experience
Protecting the key assets