Climate change such as global warming, rising sea levels, melting glacier are not just strange words to us any more. From various media we can see or hear that natural disasters caused by climate change has brought devastation to nations. Climate change is caused by human being activities therefore has a close relationship with tourism industry.

On one hand, tourism contributes to climate change. Traveling normally starts with transport from one place to another. Air, road and rail all require burning of fossil fuels which release carbon dioxide, that is the main contributor to global warming. Global warming causes sea level rising, glacier melting, frequent extreme weather events, and impact agriculture and food production which influence food supply. Global warming also has a negative impact on water resources and freshwater ecosystems.  Forests are cleared for building tourist accommodation and infrastructure. The deforestation loosens earth and soil that cause landslides. Tourism related human activities produce waste and decomposing waste emits methane gas contributes to the global warming. Luxury hotels and golf courses have a high demand of water usage which cause the scarcity of fresh water.

On the other hand, tourism industry suffers from climate change. Global warming and melting glacier lead to rising sea levels which endanger costal residents and tourists; the high frequency of extreme weather events such as rain or storm related flooding and landslides bring damages to tourism infrastructure and loss of human lives. As a result, tourist flow will be changed and tourism destination will struggle for survive. Scarcity in reliable fresh water supply can mot meets the needs of tourist accommodation and many other tourism activities, which will result in competition for water exists between different economic sectors.

Climate change caused by tourism industry involves all tourism stakeholders including tourism and hospitality students. Therefore, it is important for them to understand the causes of climate change and recognize that tourism activities are impacted by climate change. Students should take responsibility to reduce negative impacts on climate change brought by tourism.

Reference: Tourism and Implication of Climate Change. By Dr Christian Schott. Victoria University of Wellington. New Zealand.

Lin Deng

Victoria University of Wellington

Hello everyone!

My name is Elisa Tovar, I am a student at Texas A&M University. I am majoring in University studies through Mays Business School and I am a third year student.

I am a Texan, born and raised only 20 minutes from Dallas. However both my parents were born and raised in Cerritos, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, therefore I am a first generation Mexican American. I feel that I have always been able to identify with the Mexican culture because I have had the privilege of being widely exposed to it through both my parents and my aunts and uncles. When I was younger my family took a trip to Mexico City to visit The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary of Mexico City. During my time in Mexico City and at the Cathedral I had an overwhelming sense of belonging and pride. I learned about my family’s beliefs and roots and felt genuinely proud of the connection to the Mexican culture. The experience brought forth a sense of nationalism that I did not really know existed within me.  

Hi Everyone,

This is David from Texas A&M University in College Station, TX, USA. I’m a recreation, park, and tourism science major, and this is my fifth and final year! I’m writing this blog in response to the Tourism and Nationalism TEFI course.

In 2007 I visited New York City for the first time in my life. If you know anything about Texas, we are very proud of our state and country. We’re proud of where we’re from. I had always held the opinion that other people in the US were not as proud about their country as us Texans were. But when I visited New York City, I was very surprised. Many people were proud of the fact that they were from New York, and sort of looked down upon others who were not from there. Something even more surprising to me was that they were very proud of their country. I saw this when I visited The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island – two very historic places. Visiting these sites was actually a very patriotic experience for me. I learned a lot about the history of my country – wars, immigration, feelings and opinions of Americans before my time, etc. The people that lived around these sites embraced the culture and heritage they represented. I was impressed to say the least. I walked away from these sites and my vacation with a greater understanding and appreciation of my national identity.

I chose the travel and tourism industry as my career field because of the constant change and the possibility of travel. My Dad is in the United States Army, so that makes me an Army Brat.  I have moved every two years of my life, and I loved it. The travel and tourism field has the constant change that being an Army Brat does. Because I lived all over the world, my family always traveled and took vacations around where we lived. Tourism feels like home to me, it is a good transition from the Army world. From the TEFI courses I expect to learn about different types of tourism that Texas A&M University does not necessarily teach.

Hi, everyone,

This is Lin from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. I am doing tourism management, second year. This is my first entry and the topic is about tourism and nationalism.

According to Hechter (2000), nationalism is “the attempt to assimilate or incorporate culturally distinctive territories in a given state”. My understanding of nationalism is a shared identity of a group of people. It is can also be understood as patriot feelings, principles or efforts. Historical and heritage tourism sites represent a nation’s past and show how the nation’s identify developed.

My personal experience of encountering nationalism is when I visited Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in Nanjing, China. It is the Memorial Hall built by Nanjing Municipal Government in memory of the 300,000 victims who lost their lives during the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese army in 1937. When visiting the site where thousands of bodies were buried (called a ‘pit of ten thousand corpses’) and seeing historical records, photos, and objects in both indoor and outdoor exhibits, I had a strong feeling of my identity as a Chinese and the past history reminded me how my nation won victory in the war against Japan, and the huge sacrifice with the lost lives. In this museum, there are also tombstones and sculptures donated by Japanese to show respect of the history.

The Memorial Hall is entry free and receives increasing number of domestic and international visitors each year. Events such as organizing school students to pay a visit help them learn history out of the textbook. It also helps domestic tourists at large to form or remain their national identity.

Reference: Hechter, 2000. M. Hechter , Containing Nationalism. , Oxford University Press, Oxford (2000).

Regards

Lin

My comments will refer to The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.  The Alamo is the location of the battle of the Alamo where the Texans were seeking freedom from Mexico during the Texas Revolution.  The soldiers at the Alamo were few, but these approximate 100 men took on over a thousand of General Santa Anna’s soldiers and were able to sustain the battle for 12 days, much longer than anyone would have thought.  The men are known to be brave and to have fought valiantly, they knew they they would likely lose their lives but they fought for Texas and freedom from Mexico.  The slogan “Remember the Alamo” was cried at future battles and General Santa Anna was eventually defeated and Texas earned it’s freedom.

The Alamo, which means Cottonwood, had formerly been a mission.  The State of Texas purchased the land and mission and have turned it into a tourism destination and claim that it is the most popular tourism sight in Texas.  As a visitor, you can walk around the mission or take a tour and hear the stories of these brave men and women who were at the Alamo and believed in Texas and gave their lives for their beloved state.  It does instill a pride in being a Texan and being connected to these brave people.  The stories of their valiant efforts makes you feel pride in your state and the heritage that we have as Texans.

Hi everyone,

Today I would like to talk about stereotypes. A stereotype is when one makes a judgement about the whole “population” of say religious groups, races, nationalities etc. based on actions of a few. They are usually exagerated and are negative.

In the book International tourism, Yvette Reisinger claims that stereotypes influence the way the tourists see the locals hence attract tourists but also could keep the tourism away. For example the stereotype of Scandinavian women being very beautiful attracts perhaps many tourists, whereas the sterotypes of certain parts in africa as being very dangerous may keep them away (a way for marketers to change and influence travel behaviour of tourists).

Also thinking about stereotypes not from the tourists perspective but from the locavs view, can influence the behaviour. “God I hate tourists. They made a mess of everything. Nothing is real anymore. They obscure anything that was there.They stand around droves of them clicking with their blasted cameras. Most of them dont know what they are gawking at.” (Bail,1980:81) Those line were in Bails “Homesickness” which were said by a tourist from a group. An example of a negative stereotype. According to Jafar Jafari, stereotypes of tourists helps the locals “tomake sense of the tourists behaviour.” (Jafari, 2001)

So as a conclusion I would like to say that after this lecture and taking a closer look into stereotypes I believe that if the stereotype is good (which is rarely the case) it can be used as an advantage to locals, tourists AND companies.

Cheers

Jafari, J. (2000), Encyclopedia of tourism, pp. 557

Reisinger, Y. (2009), International Tourism: Cultures and Behaviour.

Pearce, L. P., (2005), Tourist Behaviour: Themes and Conceptual Schemes.

(more…)

The region to be researched reaches from Båvandshuk to the German border and may be defined as the Danish Wadden Sea Area. It comprises of the islands Langli, Fanø, Rømø and Mandø, the sandbank Koresand as well as the towns Varde, Esbjerg, Ribe and Tønder. Today the Danish Wadden Sea region is one of the most popular tourism destinations of Denmark attracting domestic as well as international, predominantly German, visitors. Other visitor countries of origin are Norway, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands. Each year approximately 10 million tourists and 30-40 million day-trippers visit the Wadden Sea Region (Stevens and Associates, 2006).

The generation of tourism revenue is essential for the local economy, where conventional mass tourism may currently be accounted as the major income factor (German Advisory Council on Global Change , 2001). Possible consequences of the partial unbalanced tourism activities include decreasing quality of supply, and, in the long run social, environmental, and economic harm. This study investigates and analyzes the actual tourism situation in the Wadden Sea Area, identifies the barriers and obstacles for achieving sustainable tourism, and presents options of actions to be undertaken to affront the identified problems.

References

German Advisory Council on Global Change . (2001). World in transition, conservation and sustainableuUse of the biosphere . London: Earthscan Publications Ltd.

Hergesell, A. (2007). Pilot analysis: danish wadden sea reagion. Esbjerg: Universityof Southern Denmark.

Stevens and Associates. (2006). A review of relevant experience in sustainable tourism in the coastal and marine environment. Scotish National Heritage.

Hi,

Above , you find some of the information which I am going to put in my literature eview for the above mentioned topic. In order to come up with possible future actions to afront the obstacles for achieving stustainable tourism, it is of high importance to primarily analyze the area to be studied and the actual tourism situation. Possible obstacles and barriers to be approached might include: the increasing  global competition, the change in travel expectations caused by socio-economic factors and the high dependecy on climate and weather for this area.

“[…] the future of the tourism industry will emerge as a result of the evolution that is already taking place on the consumer’s side, as customers are becoming more knowledgeable, informed, sophisticated and demanding.” (Buhalis and Costa, 2006: 241)

Given the evolvement of this ‘new consumer’, an on-going debate on whether consumption is taking precedence over production in the tourism system is present. As argued by Poon (1993), the transformation in consumer behaviour in tourism from a rather passive tourist receptive to mass tourism products to a new type of tourist distinguished by individualism and sophistication, demanding more environmentally conscious holidays, will mandate a more consumer- rather than producer-driven tourism industry. New consumers of tourism products and services are ‘thinking tourists’ with a growing awareness of their behavioural impacts on the environment. Consequently, ‘New Tourism’ is driven by the shifting behavioural patterns of the tourism consumer, wherein the changing tourist preferences and values – how people think, feel and behave – shape the production of tourist products. Therefore, it is argued that competitive success of tourism industries will increasingly be determined by the industry’s ability to putting consumers first (Poon, 1993).

Nevertheless, almost two decades later, there still appears to be a lack of a ‘consumer evolution’ driving sustainable tourism consumption. Hjalager (1999: 5) in her article on “Consumerism and Sustainable Tourism” pinpoints four distinct reasons for the absence of green consumer movements in tourism:

-  There is no concise definitions of a sustainable tourism product; choice is based on individual judgments and limited knowledge;

-  The purchase of travel products is not a frequent and repetitive task; environmental product connotations cannot gradually be introduced;

-  Tourist products with environmental attributes are not readily available and specified on the travel market;

-  The symbolic consumption styles are ambiguous and therefore not setting clear and imitable standards; as a consumer, it is not difficult to slip away with a quite contradictory behaviour.

Whereas the above reasons largely indicate that the consumer is somewhat constrained in his responsibility-driven decision-making rooted in a lack of knowledge, the nature of the tourism product, as well as the initial lack of environmentally-sound products and their proper identification, the question remains, whether consumers actually are ready and willing to be part of this green consumer movement. Reflecting on several studies focusing on ‘green consumer behaviour in tourism’ (e.g. Becken, 2007; Gössling and Schumacher, 2010; Miller et al., 2010), despite the broad consensus among tourists that the world’s climate is changing and a high awareness for the societal need to act more responsibly, there seems to be a gap between tourist’s claimed preferences and actual behaviour. This view is further substantiated by Lee and Moscardo (2005) arguing that an environmentally aware consumer might, not necessarily is, more likely to display pro-environmental behavioural intentions than fellow consumers.

Following from the above my research addresses the question of ‘How does the trend towards ‘green consumerism’ reflect in the actual consumer behaviour of the German travel market? Given the complexity of the consumer’s involvement and related impacts in tourism consumption, the focus of the analysis will be placed on the pre-consumption stage of the tourism consumption model (Gretzel et al., 2008) and hence the decision-making regarding, amongst others, the favoured destination and the means of transport. According to Horner and Swarbrooke (2008) consumer behaviour in tourism changes over time, which is largely influenced by two types of factors: travel motivators and determinants, motivators constituting the underlying reasons for taking a specific holiday and determinants, as the name suggests, personal and external factors determining the type of the trip (Horner and Swarbrooke, 2008).

References

-  Becken, S. (2007) ‘Tourist’s Perception of International Air Travel’s Impact on the Global Climate and Potential Climate Change Policies’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 15: 4, 351 – 368

-  Buhalis, D. and Costa, C. (2006) ‘Conclusion: Tourism Futures’ In: Buhalis, D. and Costa, C. (2006) Tourism Business Frontiers – Consumers, Products and Industry. Butterworth-Heinemann: Elsevier Ltd. Oxford, UK

-   Gössling, S. and Schumacher, K. P. (2010) ‘Implementing carbon neutral destination policies: issues from the Seychelles‘, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 18: 3, 377- 391

-  Gretzel, U., Fesenmaier, D. R. and O’Leary, J. T. (2006) ‘The Transformation of Consumer Behaviour’ In: Buhalis, D. and Costa, C. (eds.) (2006) Tourism Business Frontiers – Consumers, Products and Industry. Elsevier: Butterworth-Heinemann. Oxford: UK

-  Hjalager, A.-M. (1999) ‘Consumerism and Sustainable Tourism’ Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Vol. 8: 3, 1 – 20

-  Horner, S. and Swarbrooke, J. (2007) Consumer Behaviour in Tourism. 2^nd edition. Elsevier Ltd.: Butterworth-Heinemann. Oxford: UK

-   Lee, W. and Moscardo, G. (2005) ‘Understanding the impact of ecotourism resort experiences on tourist’s environmental attitudes and behavioural intentions’ Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 13: 6, 546 – 565

-  Miller, G., Rathouse, K., Scarles, C., Holmes, K. and Tribe, J. (2010) ‘Public Understanding of Sustainable Tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 37: 3, 627 – 645

-  Poon, A. (1993) Tourism, Technology and Competitive Strategies. CAB International. Wallingford: UK

Human beings have undergone long progressive development that took millions of years to reach where they are now in terms of socio-cultural, economic, political and technological advancement. Despite having much positive contribution, the complication and sophistication of different industries have been growing from time to time and are posing threats to human kind especially through affecting the global environment thereby endangering the future health existence of the planet earth.

Middleton and Hawkins (1998:10) stated that, “From farming and fishing to the extraction of minerals and other finite resources such as timber, the impact of human economic activity generally, and the many forms of pollution to which it gives rise, has been pushing the limits of environmental tolerance at an accelerating rate”

One of the fast growing industries in our world is tourism having its prons and cons.  USAID document on Sustainable tourism states that “Tourism, in all of its forms, is arguably the largest industry in the world, having grown rapidly and almost continuously for the last 20 years.” (USAID 2005:11)

Croall explained the negative impacts of tourism in this way: “A spectre is haunting our planet: the spectre of tourism. It’s said that travel broadens the mind. Today, in its modern guise of tourism, it can also ruin landscapes, destroy communities, pollute air and water, trivialise cultures, bring about uniformity, and generally contribute to the continuing degradation of life on our planet”. (Croall, 1995:1)

Therefore, tourism, besides its positive economic and other contributions, has constantly been negatively affecting the general environment that humans have to consider in their daily decision making process.

Agenda 21 of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) emphasized on changing consumption patterns towards bringing about sustainable development through sustainable consumption patterns. The document argues governments, industries and other relevant groups, among other things, should assist consumers and encourage the expansion and design of environmentally related product information so that consumers will make informed choices.

This programme [Agenda 21] is concerned primarily with changes in unsustainable patterns of consumption and production and values that encourage sustainable consumption patterns and lifestyles. It requires the combined efforts of Governments, consumers and producers. Particular attention should be paid to the significant role played by women and households as consumers and the potential impacts of their combined purchasing power on the economy. (www source)

Thus, this gives a glimpse of understanding that there has to be, on the part of local authorities, an effort exerted in creating collaboration between different organs and bringing awareness on the potential impact of their combined effort in ensuring sustainable tourism development that affects the overall general environment. To this end, effective communication strategies have to be formulated and communicated to different stakeholders in order to claim their willful and enthusiastic cooperation in this regard.

In a sustainable tourism development scenario, the various stakeholders have not only the right to participate in the decision-making process, but have also the responsibility to adopt environmentally, socially and economically sustainable behaviors and practices. Communication processes can build awareness of this responsibility and persuade stakeholders that sustainable practices ultimately benefit their long-term interests. (UNWTO, WBD and USAID 2006:8)

Thus, in a view of involving stakeholders in decision making and creating awareness towards ensuring sustainable tourism development, this paper will try to look in to the extent to which the local authorities play their role with respect to promoting and ensuring sustainable tourism development at Fanoe Island in Denmark. Accordingly, the research question is:

What are the roles of local authorities to promote sustainable tourism development at Fanoe Island?

Sources:

Ø  Croall, J. (1995) Preserve or Destroy: Tourism and the Environment. London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Ø  World Bank Development Communication Division – SDO, USAID Development Communication & Sustainable Tourism Unit; United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)Communication and sustainable tourism: the Role of Development Communication in Sustainable Tourism, 2006

Ø  USAID and Sustainable Tourism: Meeting Development Objectives, June 2005 Sustainable Tourism, May 29 – June 9, 2006

WWW Sources

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=52&ArticleID=52&l=en

The World Tourism Organization state that tourism has become a major sector of economic activity since the latter part of the 20^th century and it will continue growing. With this growth, a diversification of tourist products and destinations is taking place, with increased demand for nature-related tourism, including ecotourism, visitation to national parks and rural-based tourism, among others.

 Tourism can support the protection of protected areas, as local residents realize the value of their asset and want to preserve it (Eagles et al, 2002). Nevertheless, at the same time the presence and actions of tourism can present serious problems for its conservation. Therefore tourism has to be managed balancing the costs and benefits of tourism in protected areas. It is also important to find ways for local people and communities to benefit from tourism linked to conservation, as this helps to demonstrate the economic value of the natural resources being conserved (Traper R. and Cochrane J., 2005).

 The literature review shows that the research done in this field is concerned with the following aspects: sustainability in protected tourism areas, environmental effects of tourism in national parks and planning and management of protected areas.

 The report “Sustainability in Protected Tourism Areas” by Mintel Reports describes and analyses the status of sustainable tourism within the jurisdictions of the global protected areas that allow tourism operations. Furthermore, this report contains some methodologies of maintaining and attaining protected tourism areas sustainability. The relevant issues addressed in the book Environment and tourism include tourism’s interaction with the nature; market failure that causes tourism to create environmental problems; environmental management and planning for tourism; sustainable tourism and ecotourism, among others.

 The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has been supporting protected area managers, working with WTO, UNESCO and IUCN for over 12 years by assisting key stakeholders with technical support as well as carrying out projects and publications. Two of the publications that has been use are “Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas, Guidelines for Planning and Management” and “Forging Links between protected areas and tourism sector, how tourism can benefit conservation”, which are useful resources to get knowledge about how to managed protected areas due to the impacts of tourism.  

 Then the main research question is: How should natural parks be managed in a sustainable manner in order to efficiently minimize the negative impacts of recreational activities on its environment?

 References:

 Mintel (2010). Sustainability in Protected Tourism Areas – International. (WWW Document). http://www.mintel.com. (accessed September 2010).

 Holden, A (2008) Environment and tourism, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, London and New York.

 Paul F.J. Eagles, Stephen F. McCool and Cristopher D. Haynes (2002) Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas, Guidelines for Planning and Management, United Nations Environment Programe, World Tourism Organization and IUCN.

 Tapper R. and Cochrane J. (2005) Forging Links between protected areas and tourism sector, how tourism can benefit conservation, UNEP.

 Posted by Laura Perpiñà

The discussion from the last week class on ‘Who is responsible for climate change?’ and the two articles we were discussing in class ‘Public understanding of sustainable tourism’ and ‘Tourists perception of international air travellers impact on the global climate and potential climate change policies’ have inspired  me a lot. I have revised the articles and noticed that most of the respondents in the survey were not only blaming the government and lack of information regarding the impacts of tourism on environment, but they have also made justification on lack of knowledge regarding this matter.

This brought me to the question: Why don’t we learn about environmental issues and impacts of our actions, such as when undertaking travel or holidays, on our environment in our schools? Yet, not taking into consideration higher educational institutions such as Universities where this matter is already introduced.

Based on the Global Development Research Centre’s framework ‘The 7 Triads of sustainability’ as showed below, knowledge represents the core of a community’s ability to become innovative and thus to become aware, to take decisions, to communicate and to act.

The Seven Sustainability Triads

1. Participation
2. Decision-Making
3. Partnership
4. Governance
5. Knowledge and Information
6. Continual Improvement
7. Lifestyles

It is generally know that knowledge is in many cases linked with education and via verse. Several literature and educational resources have come to the conclusion that education plays a keyt role in sustainable development. As it was observed by Gough et al (1999) it is world-wide well known that education has, at the very least, a significant role to play in the achievement of sustainable tourism. Similarly, UNESCO’s Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura had also related view on education and sustainable development:

“Education – in all its forms and at all levels – is not only an end in itself but is also one of the most powerful instruments we have for bringing about the changes required to achieve sustainable development.” (UN-DESD 2005 – 2014)

When browsing through the internet engine, searching for educational programs related to sustainable tourism development such as BEST educational program (BESTEN), UNESCO and Sustainable Travel International are most frequently listed. Yet, these educational programs are mainly generated for adults and students in higher education. When searching for educational program related to sustainable development or environmental studies a much extensive list of programs is provided. Furthermore, many of the educational programs are also co-operating with schools and communities such as EcoSpar, Education for sustainable development (ESD) and Green Street or environmental educational websites such as EcoKids with a primary focus on implementing sustainable development and addressing the environmental issues in schools and other educational institutions. Moreover, the Green Street web-site provided an educational program called ‘children’s garden’ where families learned gardening together and adults were engage in the learning with their kids. What a great idea! to pass-on the knowledge from kids to their parents and also involving them in the process. However, none of the mentioned programs is dealing with the environmental issues caused by tourism.

As it is well know travel and tourism is one of the biggest and rapidly growing industries on the Planet. It is everywhere around us when going out for walk, driving to work, visiting friend and family or just relaxing in the park we can see tourism all over around you. Therefore, it touches up on each person. Moreover, it is one of the main reasons for pollution and climate change which is one of the main concerns for the destinations dependent on tourism. It is generally know that travel and tourism industry creates one of the highest numbers of jobs and thus may perhaps be as important as study of history, mathematics or biology. In my opinion travel and tourism industries should co-operate with schools like the above mentioned educational programs and educate our children about their action when being on holiday or undertaking travel. As it was state in the UN-DESD 2005-2014 report:

‘Basic education needs to focus on sharing knowledge, skills, values and perspectives throughout a lifetime of learning in such a way that it encourages sustainable livelihoods and supports citizens to live sustainable lives.’

Additionally, by developing knowledge on environmental issues, the locals enhance more favourable attitudes towards the environment and they are more willing to adopt sustainable development principles (Pipinos and Fokiali 2009). Yet, it is not anymore enough to be sustainable only where we are growing up or live and this matter needs to be emphasis when our children are studding about sustainable development or environmental issues. Moreover, it is more common that nowadays kids after terminating their high school are not continuing in further education, let it be for reason of not having enough funds, prefer to work instead study or have to help out their families, the main point is when they leave the school they would have the knowledge not only about environmental issues but also about sustainable tourism development. What’s more, such knowledge can be very vital, for example, in tourism industry and thus provide a great advantage in obtaining a work in the tourism industry.

As a result I came up with an idea for my RQ:

How can tourism industry increase the knowledge and awareness of environmental issues caused by travel and tourism in such a way to create a new generation which would be more sustainable?

Sub RQ: Why it is important to study the environmental impacts of tourism from a very young age?

References:

• Becken, S. (2007) Tourists’ Perception of International Air Travel’s Impact on the Global Climate and Potential Climate Change Policies, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 15 Issue 4, p351-368

• Gough, S. et al (1999) Education and Training for Sustainable Tourism: Problems, Possibilities and Cautious First Steps, Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 4, p193-212

• Miller, G. et al. (2010) Public understanding of sustainable tourism, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 37 Issue 3, p627

• Pipinos, G. and  Fokiali, P. (2009) An assessment of the attitudes of the inhabitants of Northern Karpathos, Greece: towards a framework for ecotourism development in environmentally sensitive areas, Environment, Development & Sustainability, Vol. 11 Issue 3, p655-675

• The Global Development Research Centre

Source: http://www.gdrc.org/sustdev/indicators.html

• UN-DESD (Decade of Education for Sustainable Development) 2005 – 2014, ‘The DESD at a glance’

Source: http://www.unesco.org/en/esd/

• BEST Educacional Network http://www.besteducationnetwork.org/
• EcoKids http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/index.cfm
• EcoSpar http://www.ecospark.ca/aboutus
• Education for Sustainable Development http://educationforsustainabledevelopment.com/blog/
• Green Street http://www.green-street.ca/
• Sustainable Travel International http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/
• UNESCO http://whc.unesco.org/en/sustainabletourism

Many years ago author got familiar with one of Oscar Wilde’s quotes stating: “who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing” . It is believed this quote could be an interesting beginning of  assignments in which  discussion will closed within subject of ethics in tourism industry.  In modern world it could be interpret as a way of putting economic benefits  above all other values. When it comes to decision making process , financial aspects seems to be these which are the crucial ones. However research provided by Meyer and Poultney in 2004  proves that in the last ten years consumer demand had increased  in the supply of ethical products in the marketplace including tourism products. For better understanding what actually it is understood by ethics in tourism the idea of companies code of ethics should be introduced.  As might be expected there is a variety of definitions suggesting what code of ethics is all about. However, the essence of code of ethics is based on “internal and external stakeholders regarding how it wishes to be perceived and it is  a guide for employees  that identifies preferred modes of behaviors”(Fennel, Malloy 2007). Fennel and Malloy present code of ethics as a

-statement of beliefs and norms of the organization(Mcdonald and Zepp,1989)

-a short set of ethical principles expressed in the imperative mode(L’Etang, 1992)

-messages through which corporations hope to shape employee behavior  and effect change through explicit  statements of desired behavior(Stevens, 1994)

-a systemized  set of standards and principles that defines ethical behavior appropriate for a profession. The standard and principles are determined by moral values(Ray,2000)

-an attempt to purposively influence or control the ethical dimensions members’ organizational behavior(Cassell, 1997)

Although the code of ethics seems to be very good idea, there is a lot of controversy among that subject regarding organizations own interpretation or even own code of ethics  adopted in their services. The question of  why do companies adopt ethical practices will be investigated in this assignment.

Different point of  view regarding code of ethics,which concentrate rather on tourist issues is presented by Tribe in 2000. He noted that code of ethics is designed change the way visitor acts and what goes further reinforce good behaviour. What is the link between code of ethics and sustainability in tourism will be analysed within this project.

References

Fennell, David A.; Malloy, David C(2007) Codes of Ethics in Tourism : Practice, Theory, Synthesis.London

Meyer,D.;Poultney,D.(2004)Business Implementation of Pro Poor Tourism: Case Study Ethical consumerism in tourism, Oxford.

Goodwin, F(2003) Ethical and Responsible Tourism: consumer trends.UK Journal of Vacation Marketing 9(3), pp 271-284

Weeden, C(2002)Ethical tourism:an opportunity for competitive advantages?UK Journal of Vacation Marketing, 8(2).

Introduction (Draft)

Over the past decades demand in tourism rose dramatically (WTTC 2010). For sure, there have been several fluctuations due to terrorism, natural disasters, health scares, oil price rises, exchange rate fluctuations and political as well as economic uncertainties. For example due to the impact of the worldwide financial crisis and the following economic recession, international tourist arrivals even declined by 4.2% in 2009 to 880 million. Nevertheless tourism demand has constantly been on a high level and Tourism exports are of a very high importance for the world’s economy.

In 2009, tourism accounted for as much as 30% of the world’s exports of commercial services and 6% of overall exports of goods and services (UNWTO 2009). Tourism always has an impact on the economy, the natural and built environment, the local population at the places visited and the visitors themselves (UNWTO 2008). These effects might be beneficial or harmful. Therefore, in the mid 80is the term sustainability was introduced, defined by the “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED 1987).

For the tourism sector, the World Tourism Organisation first defined „Sustainable Tourism“ in 1988 as: “Sustainable tourism development meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social, and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, and biological diversity, and life support systems” (WTO 1988). Thus, environmental resources should be used optimally in order to maintain essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity. Furthermore, the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities needs to be respected and their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values protected. In order to achieve these requirements all relevant stakeholders need to participate. Still, sustainable tourism is a continuous process that requires constant monitoring of impacts, introducing the necessary preventive and/or corrective measures whenever necessary. And one should not neglect to keep tourists satisfied and ensure a meaningful experience to them while raising their awareness about sustainability issues and promoting sustainable tourism practices amongst them (WTO 2004).

But how is sustainability anchored in the hospitality industry?

The following paragraphs are addressed to hotel managers in order to acquaint them with the importance of sustainability and provide food for thought for future innovations in the hospitality industry. The purpose is the reflection as well as the evaluation of sustainable types of accommodation.

In order to create this report and to generate useful information for the stakeholders, several analytic concepts and tools will be applied. This will be beneficial due to the demonstration of the following objectives of this report:

• Analysing the hospitality industry with regard to sustainability
• Identifying specific examples and reflecting them critically
• Exploring different approaches of sustainability in the hospitality  industry
• Determining the impacts of sustainable types of accommodations for the tourists
• Evaluating future challenges for sustainable tourism managers

References

• Bruntland, G (ed) (1987) Our Common Future: The World Commission on Environment and Development, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Harris, R., Griffin, T., Williams, P. (2002) Sustainable Tourism: A global perspective, Elsevier Ltd.
• Kirtges, T. (2004) Sanfter Tourismus, R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 3. Auflage, München
• Miller, G., Twining-Ward, L. (2005) Monitoring for a Sustainable Tourism Transition: The Challenge of Developing and Using Indicators, CABI Publishing
• Sloan, P., Legrand, W., Chen, J.S. (2009) Sustainability in the hospitality industry – Principles of Sustainable Operations, Elsevier Ltd.
• United Nations (2010) International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008
• United Nations (2005) Making Tourism More Sustainable
• UNWTO (2010) Tourism Highlights, 2010 Edition
• UNWTO (2006) World Tourism Barometer, Volume 4, No. 1, January 2006
• Walder, B., Weiermair, K. Sancho Pérez, A. (2006) Innovation and Product Development in Tourism, Erich Schmidt Verlag
• Weaver, D. (2006) sustainable tourism, Elsevier Ltd.
• WTTC (2010) Travel and Tourism: Economic Impact, Executive Summary
• WTO (1998) Guide Line for Local Authorities on Developing Sustainable Tourism

Coming from bottom up approach of sustainability where the sustainable drivers are local (Middleton, 1998), there are two kinds of impacts of tourism in destination (May, 1991). The first is caused by business and the second is caused by tourists themselves. The former as a part of supply in tourism has been discussed broadly within sustainable tourism concept, but not much attention has been brought to demand side (Liu, 2003; Larkin, 2000).

Tourists as the core players of demand side are standing in a forefront in the reports of Commision on Sustainable Development (UN CSD). The commission does not see tourism anymore as “producer driven” but rather “consumer driven” and therefore it is crucial to match supply and demand side as visitors very important stakeholder towards long term sustainability (Cooper, 1993). It is the power of each stakeholder and information provided to them regarding sustainable actions that are determining principles of sustainable tourism management in the destination (Bramwell et all, 1996). United Nations Commission on Sustainable development identified consumers being the core drivers to sustainability with the power of influencing the whole industry towards responsible behavior (UN CSD).

The problem of the sustainable behavior among tourist is the illiteracy of their impacts (UN CSD). Awareness of tourism impact on environmental and social structures must be raised to the visitors so they can contribute to the sustainability (Briggs, 2001).

Nevertheless, most visitors would agree with the concept of sustainability (Butler, 1990) but as highlighted by Commission on Sustainable Development they miss the guidance to improve their behavior (UN CSD). According to the commission, tourists behavior can be changed either by fighting unsustainable aspects of tourism or by promoting good practices in tourism.

Based on these barriers on the way to sustainable behavior, information is the core driver consumer action (Briggs, 2001). He claims that only by informing visitors about their impact on socio-economic and socio-cultural development can awake the awareness of minimizing the consequences. Based on marketing literature from Middleton (1998), Holloway (2004) and Firth (2010) it is the marketing role to promote information about sustainability visitors, because it is marketing that can influence behavior of other people.

I see a lot of attempts from tourism destination management and businesses to behave sustainable. Stakeholders in the destination tend to do many things towards sustainable practices on ecological, social and economic aspects. However, the sustainable approach requires also tourists to be involved in the process. I believe that sustainable destination requires sustainable behaviour from the tourists. Then the research question is as following:

“How does the destination influence sustainable behaviour of the visitors?”

Taking into consideration the case of Fano island I would like to investigate what tools are used to encourage tourists to behave sustainable before and during their visit on the island. It is necessary to look on the promotion of such behavior in all distribution channels.

For the literature review I picked up mostly the resources that are dealing with the marketing of sustainable tourism because promotion is part of the marketing and therefore I found them relevant. For further research I have to search more topics regarding the sustainable behaviour.

References:

• Middleton, V.T.C. and Hawkins, R. (1998) Sustainable Tourism: Marketing Perspective, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
• Briggs, S.(2001) Successfull Tourism Marketing, Kogan Page Limited.
• Buttler, R. (1990) „Alternative Tourism: Pious Hope or Trojan Horse?“ Journal of Travel Research 28(3):40-45
• Buttler, R.and L. T. Ward, L.T. (2002) „Implementing STD on a Small Island: Development and Use of Sustainable Tourism Development Indicators in Samoa“ Journal of Sustainable Tourism 10(5):363-387
• Liu,Z. (2003) „Sustainable tourism development: A Critique“ Journal of International Tourism 11(6):459-475
• Cooper, C (1993) Tourism: Principle and Practice. Pitman Publishing.
• Firth, T. (2010) „Marketing for Sustainable Tourism“ in J. J. Liburd and D. Edwards  IUnderstanding the Sustainable Development of Tourism.Goodfellow Publishers Ltd.: Oxford. pp
• Swarbrooke, J. (1999). Sustainable tourism management. London:York House Typhographic.
• UN CSD. Influencing consumer behaviour to promote sustainable tourism development. (WWW Document). http://csdngo.igc.org/tourism/tourdial_cons.htm: (accessed 28.9.2010)

Case study on the principal challenges of sustainable tourism development in Esbjerg.

Currently the idea of sustainable tourism elevates various areas of concerned and encounters different challenges which need to be overwhelmed if the goals and objectives of sustainability are going to be achieved.

The concepts of carrying capacity, the question of determining potentially harmful intergenerational impacts, lack of contemporary tourism development approach and over commercialization are the practical challenges of sustainable tourism development.  (The environmentalist 17,135-141(1997)).

To understand the notion and principles of sustainable tourism development is quite easy unlike putting into practice .That is why I have chosen this thematic topic so that I could investigate pertinent challenges of sustainable tourism development in Esbjerg and bring solution to the challenges investigated.

Research Question

What are the principal challenges of sustainable tourism development in Esbjerg?

Academic resources

Waver, D. (2006) Sustainable Tourism: Theory and Practice. Elsevier Ltd

WTO. (1998) Guide Line for Local Authorities on Developing Sustainable Tourism

“A national park is a place for preservation, and nobody can live inside it.”

It is time to end this ‘dinosaurian’ paradigm. Human being is a part of ecosystem. At the same time, civilization makes us take steps forward as a development. This can be concluded in 2 points:

- Being a national park does not mean that no people can live in.
- Being people in the national park does not mean that they are preserved people.

However, human tends to utilize natural resource excessively. Today’s economy is highly destructive of natural and social capital, and is characterized by large and growing gaps between rich and poor. (Elkington, J., 2004)  Thus, it comes to my research question that “How people can live sustainably in a national park with social, environmental, and economic achievement at the same time?”

These three aspects can be concluded as natural, social, and financial capital in the triple bottom line approach (Dwyer, L and Faux, J., 2010). As I will state in my paper as “people,  planet, profit”. (Wikipedia, 2010) It shall be the guideline to explore and assess my case study. However, Wayne Norman and Chris MacDonald (2003) have criticized the concept of TBL. They argued that it is in principle impossible to find a common scale to weigh all of the social “goods” and “bads”, at least from a practical point of view. This problem should be, to some extent, solved by discussing in this paper.

For the case study, a perfect one for me is Wadden Sea National Park, Denmark, scoping in Fanø Island. There are few reasons that I choose this case study. It is not only a national park but also one of the most famous tourist attraction in Denmark. Generally, small islands are comprise of small economies that characterized by their unique and fragile biodiversity and ecosystem, which are highly sensitive to development pressures. (Nunkoo, R. et.al., 2010) However, from two visits of Fanø Island given in an EMTM programme, this island seems to be a complete circle of ecosystem in itself. The most important point is this ecosystem includes human residences and, in specific period of time, a huge number of tourists.

Richard Sharpley (2003) stated that “if something is sustainable, it can continue or be continued indefinitely” That means the capacity of the earth to support human existence, also indefinitely. (Sharpley, R, 2003, p.8-15) For the same reason, people who live in Fanø Island, or even in other tourist attraction national park, need to live there from generations to generations. That’s why the sustainable tourism development with the three aspects of TBL is needed to make these ecosystem long lasting, or in other word, indefinitely.

References:

Dwyer L. and Faux J. (2010) “Triple Bottom Line Reporting of Tourism Organisations to Support Sustainable Development” in Liburd, J. and Edwards, D. (eds). Understanding the Sustainable Development of Tourism. Goodfellow Publisher Ltd, Oxford.

Elkington, J. (2004) ‘Enter the Triple Bottom Line’ in Henriques, A. and Richardson, J., (eds) The triple bottom line, does it all add up?: assessing the sustainabiliuty of business and CSR. Earthscan: London, pp.1-16.

Nunkoo, R. et.al. (2010) “Island residents’ identities and their support for tourism: an integration of two theories” Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol.18 No.5, June 2010, 675-693.

Norman, W. and MacDonald, C. (2003) “Getting to the Bottom of ‘Triple Bottom Line’” [WWW Document]. http://www.businessethics.ca/3bl/triple-bottom-line.pdf. (accessed 26 September 2010).

Sharpley, R. (2003) Tourism, Tourists & Society. (3rd ed.). Elm Publications, Cambridgeshire.

Wikipedia (2010) “Triple Bottom Line” [WWW Docoment]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_bottom_line#cite_note-0 (accessed 26 September 2010).

Walailak Trongjittipanya

According to the World Tourism Organization’ definition, sustainable tourism development meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. However, the definition is sufficiently flexible to allow a variety of approaches and interpretations of the concept. (Cernat, L. and Gourdon, J., 2007)

Tourism is obviously related to climate. (Witt and Witt, 1995) It is therefore to understand why tourism literature pays so much attention to climate and climatic change. Kennedy (1963) asserts that change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. Higham and Hall (2005) identified climate change as the number one challenge to tourism in the 21st century, one of the most serious threats to society, the economy and the environment. This seems to be in perfect accordance with the Inter‐Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report: warming of the global climate system is “unequivocal”. Tourism and travel is accounting for approximately five per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and by 2035, under a “business as usual” scenario, carbon dioxide emissions from global tourism are projected to increase by 130 per cent (Cabrini, L. et al., 2009), derived especially from the transport and accommodation of tourists. ( UNWTO, 2008).

For the global tourism industry, climate change brings more risks than opportunities. Amelung, B. and Moreno, A. (2009) think that climate change may provoke shifts in tourist flows, with large economic implications. “Climate change will also have dramatic impacts on how, where and when (and even if) people travel, and will reshape the industry over time.” (Draper et al., 2009) Currently, there is still considerable uncertainty in our understanding of tourists’ preferences with respect to climate and weather conditions. However, it is undoubted that the tourism industry will continue to be a growth sector, despite the challenge of climate change. (Ehmer, P. and Heymann, E., 2008)

In 2007, carbon dioxide reached a record figure of 384 parts per million – a rise of around 35 per cent on levels that existed before the Industrial Revolution. (McKie, 2008) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2009) has warned that such changes could soon have a dramatic impact on the world’s weather patterns. Already, Arctic sea ice is dwindling alarmingly and scientists say the world has only a few years left to make serious carbon-output cuts before irreversible, devastating climate change ensues. Even as it feels the negative effects of climate change, Heymann (2008) believes that the tourism industry will still be a growth engine in the world, experiencing average annual increases of around 3.5% to 4% in international tourist arrivals through 2020.

But is the travel and tourism industry ready for these changes? A recent report by KPMG ranked the transport and tourism sectors as the least well-prepared and amongst the most exposed to the physical risks associated with climate change. (Draper et al., 2009)

Furthermore, during the 2^nd International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism (2007), the need for tourism sector to rapidly respond to climate change was highlighted. According to its main findings, there is an urgent need to seek, find and implement solutions to make tourism a low-carbon, low-impact industry. The industry should seek to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy, and to reduce waste and demands on natural resources. (Draper et al., 2009)

Striving to have world’s first carbon neutral capital Copenhagen and already providing as an example the 4,000 residents island that has completely wiped away its carbon footprint by using a combination of wind & solar power and biofuel (McKie, 2008), Denmark identified the need to protect the environment and to promote sustainable development, decades ago. This means that Denmark now has a lead in tackling issues like sustainable energy generation and efficiency, district heating, environmental health and global issues such as climate change.  (Bigwood, G. et al., 2009) Denmark has gone from being 93% dependent on sources of foreign oil to becoming completely energy self-sufficient with more than 29% of the electricity coming from renewables with 20% of this coming from wind energy. (Cabrini, L., 2009)

Researches and primary analysis regarding the Danish island Fanoe’ reliability to become the next carbon neutral Danish destination have been started. That is why the question of which will be the proper actions to apply with the goal to reduce carbon emissions was established. Soren Harmensen, a former environmental studies teacher states that something like this starts with a few people, it just needs time to spread; the real changes are those in attitude. (McKie, 2008)

As a final research aspect, author will identify possible positive and negative impacts on the local economy of the tiny, but very touristic Danish island.

Bibliography

Amelung, B. and Moreno, A. (2009), Impacts of climate change in tourism in Europe. PESETA – Tourism study

Bigwood, G. et al. (2010), COP15 United Nations Climate Conference Copenhagen, Sustainability report from the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen COP15 (Conference of the Parties 15), Copenhagen, 2009

Cabrini, L. (2009), From Davos to Copenhagen and Beyond. Advancing Tourism’s Repsonse to Climate Change

Cernat, L. and Gourdon, J. (2007), Is the concept of sustainable tourism sustainable? Developing the sustainable tourism benchmarking tool, New York and Geneva

Draper, S., Goodman, J., Hardyment, R. and Murray, V. (2009), Tourism 2023. Four scenarios, a vision and a strategy for UK outbound travel and tourism

Ehmer, P. and Heymann, E. (2008), Deutsche Bank Research report entitled Climate Change and Tourism: Where Will the Journey Lead?, Deutsche Bank Research, Frankfurt

Hamiltona, J., Maddisonb, D.J. and Tola (2005), R.S.J., Climate change and international tourism: A simulation study

 There has been many publications concerning long haul flights and the large role they play in tourism emissions. However there seems to be a gap in research concerning Polar cruises ( Eijgelaar et al 2010) despite the fact that there has been a surge in tourists visiting Polar regions.

Antarctica is a favourite; here cruise ship passengers has trippled from 2000 to 2007 with 37,500 passangers in 2008-2009, ship borne toursim represents over 98% of all trips in the Antarctic (International Association of antarctica Tour Operators, 2009c)

 There has been a tradition of an “ambassadorship” concept, which originates from the 1960′s, where Lindblad started a ship-borne tourism operations in the Antarctic under a strong enviromental ethic that is still applied today ( Snyder, 2007a; stonehouse & Crosbie, 1995) This concept has been embraced by the IATTO(2009a)

“To create a corps of ambassadors for the continued protection of Antarctica by offering the opportunity to experience the continent first hand”

This  idea  is what sparked me towards my research question as the opportunity cost for creating ambassadors of Antarctica is extremely high taking into account the C02 per capia per person.

There has been intresting surveys also which show findings that despite highly educated people taking these educational trips many of the respondents were unaware of their C02 emissions from there long trip to the Antarctic and did not connect their trip as a contributor to Climate change. ( Maher, 2010)

So I pose: ” How are polar Cruises promoting enviromental and social sustainability?”

Sources:

Eijgelaar,E et al, ( 2010) “Antarctic Cruise touism: the paradoxes of ambassadorship “last chance tourism ” and greenhouse gas emissions” Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol .18 ( 3)

 IATTO. ( 2009c) IATTO overview of Antarctic tourism: 2008-2009 Antarctic season and preliminary estimates for 2009-2010.

Maher, P et al ( 2010) ” Risk and a changing environment for Antarctic tourism” Current issues in Tourism , 1-13

McKercher ( 2009) ” Achieving voluntary reductions in the carbon footprint of tourism and climate change” Journal of sustainable tourism, Vol 18 (3)

Synder, J.M ( 2007) The polar tourism markets Prospects for polar tourism, Wallingford, UK: CABI.

Md. Abdul Hamid

As climate change gains global attention from events like the summit in Copenhagen held during December of 2009, the need for sustainable tourism is more important than ever (Deale and Barber, 2010). But the query simply arises who will proceed as the role player to make sure sustainable tourism development (STD)? The thinking is till now in infant level so an inclination of ‘pillow-passing’ among its stakeholders is noticed. Corporate bodies have come forward as ‘self-declared’ accountable faction in this endeavor. Now the concern arises, is it myth or really possible to ensure STD through performing corporate social responsibility (CSR)?

In other industries, more or less, CSR has been recognized as a part of business policy. For an unknown reason, in tourism industry, this is not so apparent yet. Fragmented ventures of societal responsibility is observed, the reason might be…tourism is neither a phenomenon nor a simple set of industries. It is a human activity, which encompasses human behavior, use of resources, and interaction with other people, economics, and environments (Eraqi, 2010). The good thing is that the awareness in this issue is increasing among its stakeholders.

It is universal that the motive of business venture is to earn profit. Besides, it’s true that the actions of business impact the local, national, and global community, so businesses have a responsibility to ensure that the impact is positive (Becken, 2007). For this, this is highly desired that the companies will act in such way so that the natural resources can be used generation after generations. In other words, value cration represents for a firm a basilar survivor factor on the long run, contributing to social needs and benefits (Formisano, 2002).

Though most of the business organizations confess about their responsibility toward society, the basic question is: do the managers perceive CSR in the same way? A study on 1000 managers in eight large international firms concluded that the managerial perceptions of societal responsibilities differ in some respects from the mainstream models found in the CSR and business ethics literature (Pedersen, 2010). If they ‘point their guns’ in different targets, how will it be possible to achieve unique goal from this venture?

On the other hand, while the notion of CSR is increasingly evident in the corporate world, among many civil-society advocates and in public policies it is ambiguous and contested on various grounds (Carroll, 1999), just like the concept of ‘sustainable development’ is contested and disputed. Many different approaches have been identified (Redclift, 1997; Hopwood et al., 2005; Redclift, 2005) and the contribution of CSR to sustainable development can be questioned (Moon, 2007).

Conflict between shareholders and management, on CSR issue, is not new at all. From the very beginning, it is being tough to make the shareholders understand that through CSR practices they will earn benefit in the long run. As most investors expect revenue in the short term, it creates problem in the board meetings! Some educators and researchers also ‘add fuel in this flame’. For example, Friedman argues (1970) that the only responsibility of the managers is to increase shareholder value. As only businessmen have given them money to do business so the executives should ensure desired return for them.

The craze (or appeal) of CSR is being deemed gradually also. Many studies have shown that the corporate decision makers calculate their ‘interest’ at first before launching any social welfare program. And so, aware publics are considering so called CSR as nothing but a ‘strategic weapon’ of gaining marketing goals. On the other side, in a report The Economist strongly criticized “acting ‘good’ and advertising it may elicit charges of hypocrisy, leading other companies to decide that CSR might be more trouble than it’s worth”. The logic behind this dispute is once this social responsibility might be a matter of ‘showcase’ and unfair means can be adopted to gain name and fame by the companies.

Bramwell, B. and Lane, B. (1993) mention that the sustainable tourism is an economic development model conceived to improve the quality of life for the local community, and to facilitate for the visitor a high-quality experience of the environment, which both the host community as the visitors depends. Moreover the pursuit of sustainability is never-ending. Environmental conditions and patterns of resource use are dynamic and interact in complex ways (Lebel, 2010).

In this process the main parties are companies and customers. The corporations are speaking for ‘social responsibility’ but what about customers? The findings do not show very positive somewhat. Evidence in the UK shows that less than 1% of all outgoing holidays booked in the UK give any real priority to the environment (Mintel, 2005). Boon, Flucker, and Wilson (2008) test the effect of a 10 year program of awareness reising to promote ecological sustainable tourism in south east Australia and conclude that the program had almost no effect over the period. In response, different education programs are proposed.

Finally it can be said, only orporate bodies will not be able to take the charge. Even if they try, it will not bring so mentionable output. And very simply, they will not attempt to make annoyed their king (Consumer is the king: Paul Mazur). So, the hope of achieving STD through CSR is very far from the reality. We have to change ourselves to ensure sustainability of nature as well as tourism industry. At last it can be quoted – The behavior change literature underlines the necessity of examining tourism and people’s willingness to adapt to more sustainable lifestyles (Miller, 2010).

*************************************

The study will be conducted to find out the suitable answer of the basic question: How CSR drives sustainable tourism development? Here I hope to focus on these issues actually: How STD is understood by corporations and other pressure groups; do the corporate bodies really doing mentionable something (if yes, how) for the wellbeing of the society, is it possible for corporations to carry out the entire job, what can be done to make CSR more effective to ensure STD?

References:

Barnea, A. and Rubin, A., (2010) ‘Corporate social responsibility as a conflict between shareholders’ Journal of Business Ethics, Springer 2010.

Becken, S. (2007)  ‘Tourists’ perception of international air travel’s impact on global climate and potential climate change policies’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 15 (4), 358-368)

Boon, P., Fluker, M., and Wilson, N. (2008). A ten-year study of the effectiveness of an educative programme in ensuring the ecological sustainability of recreational activities in the Brisbane Ranges National Park, South-Eastern Australia. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol 16 (6), 681-697.

Brammer, S. and Millington, A. (2005) ‘Corporate reputation and philanthropy: An empirical analysis’, Journal of Business Ethics, 61, 29-44.

Bramwell, B. and Lane, B. (1993) ‘Sustainable tourism: An evolving global approach’ Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1, 1-5

Carroll, A.B. (1999) ‘Corporate social responsibility: Evolution of a definitional construct’, Business and Society, 38 (3), 268-295.

Cheung, D.K.K., Welford, R.J. and Hills, P.R., (2009) ‘CSR and the environment: Business supply chain partnerships in Hong Kong and PRDR, China, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 16, 250-263.

Deale, C.S. and Barber, N. (2010), ‘Sustainability: What matters to students, educators, and hospitality and tourism professionals’; BEST EN Think Tank X paper.

Dobers, P. and Halme, M. (2009) ‘Corporate social responsibility and developing countries (editorial)’, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 16, 237-249.

Dorbes, P. (2009) ‘Corporate social responsibility: management and methods’ Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 16, 185-191.

Eraqi, M., I. (2010), Social responsibility as an innovative approach for enhancing competitiveness of tourism business sector in Egypt. Tourism Analysis, 15 (1), 45-55

Fougere, M. and Solitander, N. (2009) ‘Against corporate responsibility: Critical reflections on thinking, practice, content and consequences, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 16, 217-227.

Friedman, M. (1970) ‘The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits’, New York Times Magazine, 13 September, New York.

Hopwood, B., Moller, M. and O’Brien G. (2005) “International codes of conduct and corporate social responsibility: Can transnational corporations regulate themselves?’, Transnational Corporations, 8 (1), 143-180.

Lebel. L., et al. (eds), ‘Sustainable production consumption systems: Knowledge, Engagement and Practice’, Springer Science + Business Media B. V. 2010, 1-12.

Miller, G., et al, (2010) ‘Public understanding of sustainable tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 37 (3), 627-645

Mintel (2005). Ethical holidays. London: Mintel-Leisure Intelligence.

Pedersen, E.R. (2010) ’Modeling CSR: How managers understand the responsibilities of business towards society’, Journal of Business Ethics, 91, 155-166.

Redclift, M. (2005), ‘Sustainable development (1987-2005): An oxymoron comes of age’, Sustainable Development, 13, 212-227.

Redclift, M., (1997), ‘Postscript: Sustainable development in the twenty-first century: The beginning of history’, Policies of Sustainable Development: Theory, policy and practice within the European Union, Baker, S., Kousis, M., Richardson D. and Young S. (eds), Routledge: London; 259-268.

Schwartz, B. and Tilling, K. (2009) ‘ISO-lating’ corporate social responsibility in the organizational context: A dissenting interpretation of ISO 26000’, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 16, 289-299.

Tourism activity has different socio-economic impacts on the host economy and community. One of them and also very important one is employment impact. Visitor expenditures can stimulate jobs not only directly (e.g. hotels, restaurants and airlines) but also indirectly through multiplier effect. In case of rural areas, tourism promotes job opportunities when losses in other sectors occur (e.g. agriculture) (UNWTO, 2004).

Special attention is needed for increasing the employment of women in the tourism industry. It was also indicated in Agenda 21 that the role of women in sustainable development needs to be strengthened. Torkelsson and Tassew (2008) argue that the asset gap between women and men is particularly strong in rural areas, where women receive less education than men, fewer extension services and less access to income and land.

Studies of International Labour Organization (2001) also show that women occupy the lower levels of the occupational structure in the tourism labour market, with few career development opportunities and low levels of remuneration (some estimates suggest that wages for women are up to 20 per cent lower than those for men). They also tend to be the first affected when labour reduction occurs as a result of recession or adjustment to new technology. It should also be noted that women represent the majority of workers in subcontracted, temporary, casual or part-time employment. The study made by ILO in 2010 showed that in EU and developed economies majority of women work in services where jobs are characterized by low pay, long hours and oftentimes informal working arrangements. And even within these sectors where women dominate, it would rarely be women who would hold the upper level, managerial jobs.

Monk et al. (1999) present some barriers when finding employment in rural areas, such as lack of qualifications or skills, possession of inappropriate skills or being over-qualified. There is an option to educate and train people but many unemployed or those with low incomes could not afford to travel in order to attend training courses.

Reading all these articles I noticed that everyone writes about problems women face regarding employment, but nobody suggests solutions. So my research question is how can tourism sector stimulate employment of women in rural areas. I will try to find concrete solutions for this problem in a chosen destination.

Sources:

-          UNWTO. (2004). Rural Tourism in Europe: Experiences, Development and Perspectives

-          Torkelsson and Tassew. (2008). Quantifying women’s and men’s rural resource portfolios – empirical evidence from Western Shoa in Ethiopia (The European Journal of Development Research)

-          ILO. (2001). Human resources development, employment and globalization in the hotel, catering and tourism sector

-          ILO. (2010). Women in labour markets: measuring progress and identifying challenges

-          Sarah Monk, Jessica Dunn, Maureen Fitzgerald and Ian Hodge. (1999). Finding work in rural areas: barriers and bridges

Since 1980s the emergence of sustainable development (SD), series of policies, implementation which related to the sustainable use of renewable natural resources have been formulated (Baker, 2006). To support the policy function in practical approaches, such as ecosystem management, adaptive governance, and landscape management have been developed (Singer, 2007). These approaches indicate the complexity of environmental and social systems, seeking to emphasis the challenges of accommodating multiple users’ claims and interests (Elbakidze, Angelstam, Sandström, and Axelsson, 2010). In order to approach the management toward a more sustainable thinking, research in recent year has highly emphasised the importance of adaptive governance in delivering more environmentally sustainable out comes.

The idea of adaptive governance contains decision making to support the visions of social learning, facility planning, negotiation, and implementation of activities across an entire geographical area; learning from other similar initiatives; and supporting the development through continuous evaluations and synthesis of the results and progress (Elbakidze et al., 2010). Particular attention is paid to actors’ involvement in ‘cross-level’ and ‘cross-scale’ interactions, which allegedly furnish the managerial and learning frameworks to catalyse sustainable development (Clark and Clarke, 2010). In short, the core concepts of adaptive governance include the motivations for collaboration, the emerging partnership and the networks of horizontal and vertical links among different partners, actors, and stakeholders ( Berkes and Folke 1998).

Environmental tax to summer house owner can be described as an instrument to reduce the island resource consumption, moreover its CO2 emissions and thus achieve more sustainable and responsible development by taking into account the external costs of consumption and production. To utilize the adaptive governance in examining the local sustainability projects is noted as longer timescales planning, whilst the approaches or we say environmental policies are essential in determining the capacity of social-ecological to change (Folke, Hahn, Olsson, & Norberg, 2005 ).

Here, the research question considering the approach of “How adaptive governance facilitate local environmental sustainability tax policy?” Firstly, look inside the environmental tax policy on Fano islnd which is a part of Waddean sea national park. Investigation on whether this project adaptive well on local environmental governance as the second step. Conclusion the concept of this article looks over the original local government motivation for cutting the expense of environmental energy, as well as the structure of collaboration among summer house owners in order to adapt the policy management toward a more sustainable living standard on fano island.

Keywords:

Adaptive governance,

Local sustainable project- summer house tax,

Fano Island

Reference

Clarka, A. R. J. & Clarkeb, R. (2010). Local sustainability initiatives in English National Parks: What role for adaptive governance?

Elbakidze, M, Angelstam, K. P., Sandström, C, & Axelsson, R. (2010). Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration in Russian and Swedish Model ForestInitiatives: Adaptive Governance Toward Sustainable Forest Management? Ecology and Society, 15(2): 14, article in press

Folke, C., Hahn, T., Olsson, P., & Norberg, J. (2005). Adaptive governance of social-ecological systems. Annual Review of Environmental Resources, 30, 411–473.

Cleaner production has been practiced for more than 20 years in many countries all over the world. Zwetsloot (1995, p. 64) agrees that it is a strategy that protects the environment, the consumer and the worker while improving the industrial efficiency, profitability and competitiveness of enterprises. It is the continuous application of an integrated preventive environment strategy applied to processes, products and services to increase overall efficiency and reduce risk to humans and the environment. (United Nations Environment program, 2005)

Harris, Griffin, Williams (2002 p.10) describe sustainability as “finding the right balance between the need for development and the need for environmental protection.” Hall, Lew (1998 p.123) alleges “Sustainability is the over development of destinations, with the eventual decline of the conditions that first attracted travelers.” They continue to state that “the past holds the key to the future”. Hall, Lew (1998 p.34)

Cleaner Production is recognized as a tool that can contribute to the sustainable forms of economic development, as endorsed in Agenda 21 adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (Chapters 20, 30 and 34)

 Cleaner production = pollution prevention = waste minimization = eco-efficiency[1]

What all those concepts have in common is an attempt to maintain the same level of output using fewer inputs (e.g. water, energy, raw materials), thereby improving efficiency and reducing pollution.

Although many hotels around the world are beginning to realize the importance of sustainability through different campaigns such as “The green Label”[2], they still haven’t adopted a “cleaner way” to manage their business through all the processes. This is evident in the tones of waste still produced by many of these hotels.

Scandic group has been selected as a focus of study for this research as it has acquired many prestigious awards due to its environmental effort. Since 1994, Scandic profiles itself heavily as an ecologically sustainable business. Employees receive sustainability education and the company offers rooms built in an environmentally friendly way. More specifically, Scandic Olympic hotel, Esbjerg will be used as a case study to answer the research question: How does the cleaner production concept facilitate sustainability in the Tourism service sector industry?

References

v  Kian, L., Sustainable tourism destinations: The importance of cleaner production, Journal of cleaner production, volume 9, Issue 4, August 2001

v  B.E.S.T Sustainable Tourism Think Tank IV Sustainability and Mass Destinations: Challenges and Possibilities, July 1-4, 2004, Esbjerg, Denmark

v  Gerard I.J.M. Zwetsloot, Improving cleaner production by integration into the management of quality, environment and working conditions, Journal of Cleaner Production 3 (1995), pp. 61–66.

v  Schnitzer, H (1995) Environment and innovation: Introducing cleaner production. Vienna: Innovation

v  Schnitzer, H., & Ulgiati, S. (2007). Less bad is not good enough. Journal of cleaner production, 15 (13-14), 1185-1201

v  Yacoub, A., & Fresner, J. (2006). Half is enough: An introduction to cleaner production. Beirut: LCPC Press.

Useful links

• www.greenthehotels.com
• http://www.cehi.org.lc/cp/
• www.environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com/eco-label.html

[2] www.environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com/eco-label.html retrieved on 22-09-2010

In recent years, environmental issues have received much attention, reflecting rising public concern and awareness of environmental problems.(1) We finely started to think about the nature, and came to understanding that if we continue to act the same way we do now, there will be less and less to inherit to next generations. So now we have a new term “green”. We can travel “green”, eat “green” and even dress “green”. But we are a bit ahead of ourselves. Let’s go back and try to understand what is consumer behavior and by which factors it can be affected.

First let’s understand the term: Consumer behavior is the study of the processes involved when individuals or group select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires.(2)

There are many factors that affect our decisions as consumers thus the demand for a good or service: economical (income, other prices), fashion and tastes, advertising, population, value added (3) psychological, political and many more. Those factors can explain our consumer behavior. But now we have new type of behavior – “green” costumer behavior, which means behavior reflected by a concern about the effect of manufacturing and consumption on the natural environment.(1) That means we have a new segment of consumers – “green” consumers.

From all listed above we can see that customer behavior shapes the demand in general and in particular tourism sector is very much depended on demand and customer behavior. Being a “green” tourist means travel with as little affect on the environment as possible, thus being sustainable. Sustainable development of tourism is a key issue nowadays.  And I would really like to know how customer behavior influences the sustainability of tourism.

So my topic of research is: Green Customer behavior and sustainable tourism.

And the research question is going to be: How does customer behavior influence the sustainability of tourism: in case of Rain forest.

1. S.A. Wagner, Understanding Green Consumer Behavior, London and New York, Routledge 1997
2. M. Solomon, G. Bamossy, S. Askegaard, Consumer Behavior A European Prospective; Pearson Education Limited 2002, Second edition
3. J. Tribe, The Economics of Recreation Leisure and Tourism, Elsevier LTD, third edition 2005

Why STD is significant for the economic development of developing countries than that of developed?

Wood (2007) demonstrated that tourism is a powerful potential tool for economic development in lesser developed countries (LDCs).

As quoted by Wood (2007:159), gross revenues from the tourism industry increased 154% per year1990-200 in LDCs, more than double the rate of tourism growth in developed nations.  

‘It is the only service sector that provides concrete trading opportunities for all nations regardless of their level of development and the number one source of exchange for LDCs aside from petroleum (Dias,2000)’.

Luvanga, N. and Shitundu, J. (2003) state:

Tourism is an important opportunity to diversify local economies. It can develop in poor and marginal areas with few other export and diversification options. Accordingly remote areas, particularly, attract tourists because of their origin, cultural, wildlife and landscape value. Thus, poverty may be reduced as tourism creates new employment opportunities and income generating activities. Sometimes the infrastructure and social service facilities are established or improved using earnings from tourism. Using such facilities the poor not only improve their incomes but also their social wellbeing and capabilities. (NB. Blockedly quoted)

Even the role of tourism might be more than this if it was properly managed and sustainably developed taking the local community equal participation and benefit in to account.

Nevertheless, tourism has never been given a due respect and viewed as a serious development derives like agriculture or manufacturing industries by many of the governments of LDCs.

Academic resources

Harris, R.,Griffin T., and Williams, P.(2002) Sustainable tourism A global perspective. Elsevier Ltd.

Higman, J. (2007) Critical Issues in Ecotourism. Elsevier Ltd.

Mowforth, M., and Munt, I. (1998) Tourism and Sustainability. London: Routledge.

Richards, G., and Hall, D. (2000) Toursim and Sustainable Community Development. USA and Canada: Routledge.

Waver, D. (2006) Sustainable Tourism: Theory and Practice. Elsevier Ltd

WTO. (1998) Guide Line for Local Authorities on Developing Sustainable Tourism

Luvanga, N., Shitundu, J. (2003) The Role of Tourism in Poverty Alleviation in Tanzania, Research Report No. 03.4 [www document] http://www.repoa.or.tz/documents_storage/Publications/Reports/03.4_-_Luvanga_Shitundu.pdf (accessed 28/09/2010)

 These academic sources are so relevant as they address and tackle most of the issues and matters (both theoretical and practical aspects) related to sustainable tourism development and are of good quality and reliable since they are published by recognized publishers.

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.”

Robert Frost

What affects our choice? How do we know what is the best destination for us? And what do we mean by saying that the place is a great holiday destination?

Marketing of the destination form the demand and image of the product. The vast majority of people would make their decision based on the quality of the product. Nevertheless there is no clear evidence in the developed world that more than a small minority of visitors understands concepts of sustainability and environmental good practice and draw on them when choosing products, although travelers from countries such as Germany, Holland and Scandinavia appear to be further ahead in this respec which is stated by Middleton V.T.C. and Hawkins R. According to Middleton there is even less evidence that the great majority of visitors are willing to pay premium prices for the products of tourism businesses operating to high environmental standards. But there is convincing evidence that customers turn away from what they consider to be overcrowded, polluted destinations which have allowed their environmental quality to become eroded through over development. This is especially true where health risks, as from air and water pollution, are perceived as problems. There is also convincing evidence that customers generally in the 1990s are more experienced in travel, more demanding, and searching for a combination of quality and good value for money which they are increasingly able to recognize”(Middleton, 1998). It is possible to say that for the beginning of the 21^st century the situation has not changed dramatically. The huge numbers of people are still not aware of sustainable development principals.

The responsible tourism marketing should take into consideration not only the financial bottom line of the company, but also think about social and ecological impacts the development of the industry might have on the area.

There is a trend for a new paradigm in marketing which was described in the article by Ynte K. van Dam and Paul A. C. Apeldoorn. It is called a sustainable marketing. There should be different marketing approaches in promoting a sustainable destination. Fanoe is an example of an island which is trying to create an image of sustainable destination. In the paper there will be investigated which marketing tools are used to promote the island and how can we use the sustainability of the island for the further promotion?

Fanoe island will be given a title of a National park soon and that may change the tourism profile of the area. The article Marketing National Parks: Oxymoron or Opportunity by Alan K. Hogenauer delivers the idea that a national park can be promoted and there are new ways and techniques which might be used. Therefore it has to be investigated whether it can be implemented in the case of Fanoe.

References:

1. ABAC Journal Vol. 26, No. 1 January – April, 2006, pp. 59 – 65
2. Middleton V.T.C. and Hawkins R. (1998),Sustainable Tourism: a Marketing Perspective, Butterworth Heinemann,      Oxford.
3. A.V. Seaton, M.M. Bennett (2001) The Marketing of Tourism Products: Concepts, Issues and Cases,Thompson Learning,UK
4. Alan K. Hogenauer,  Marketing National Parks: Oxymoron or Opportunity
5. Janne J. Liburd, Deborah Edwards (2010) Understanding the Sustainable Development of Tourism, Goodfellow publishers, UK

The Batwa tribe, a subset of the Pygmy group, is a small minority in Uganda (consisting of about 3000 people) that historically lived off the forest with little outside contact and trade. They used only local methods of hunting and food gathering to take only what they need to survive in the forest. They have no access to and do not use any form of technology in their everyday life. But as the Ugandan population expanded, it put more pressure on the Batwa.
They became more and more compressed into isolated areas as the dominant cultures cleared more land and the land became used for agriculture. 
In 1991, when the government forcibly evicted the tribe from two national parks and a forest reserve (Bwindi Impenetrable forest), ostensibly to comply with international gorilla preservation measures, the tribe was denied access to the forest. Now they are often denied basic rights such as the right to education, political representation, and political self-determination.
The tribe was not compensated for this eviction.

Now the Batwa tribe (as well as its culture) is dying out, there is no economic standing since people have literally nothing to live on (only four are educated to some level), and more pressure is being put on the land by other tribes. This is a sad case considering so many tourists flock the forest each year to see the Mountain Gorilla and thereby bring in a lot of foreign income that the Batwa tribe would also benefit from!

I visited Bwindi forest shortly before I came to Denmark but did not know about sustainable tourism before I joined this class. I only had an idea of what eco-tourism is and as most of you will agree, people often confuse these two to mean the same thing. Unfortunately, the above story is my experience on ‘unsustainable tourism.’ I believe the Uganda government would have taken a better approach to this issue by for example massively educating and giving guidelines to the Batwa tribe on how to peacefully exist in the forest, engaging the people in political dialogue and obtaining their views etc. Take an example of Fanoe Island which, even though is inhabited, will be turned into a National Park on the 16^th of October, 2010. (Fanoe is also my most recent sustainable tourism experience!)

When I go travelling, it’s with the purpose of getting away from home and to see and experience another culture. It’s also just to relax and be myself and get my mind of all the everyday things at home.

On my holiday i still bring some elements of my leisure behavior from back home. I don’t set the alarm clock, I sleep until i wake up by myself, I log on to my facebook almost every day to see what’s new, I still text my friends if they text me and I read books ect.

When I was backpacking in Australia I went to a travelling agency to book my travel on the east coast, and the girl behind the desk asked me what I wanted to see, and I told her that I wanted to experience the east coast and all the beautiful places it had to offer me, and then she came up with a couple of suggestions where I had to go and that this also were the places where all the other backpackers went, and then I thought to myself that then I also had to go, but when I then got to the places it was so overcrowded with other backpackers and tourists, so I kind of got the impression that, all right this view is amazing but still it’s just not the same when you are standing in this big crowd of other backpackers.

On the other hand I went to Kangaroo Island with a small group of 5 backpackers and a guide and she was so enthusiastic about her  job and she showed us places, nature and great views where there were only us to explore and that made a much bigger impression on me.

-          Stina

- Stina

Most journeys being undertaken include their sustainable aspects, but, as far as I am concerned, no tourist (even if he/she means to) can stick totally to sustainable principles, as at least any form of transportation involves some environmental harm. Founded on this fact, I would not even account my most basic backpacking trip throughout my home country, Germany as generally sustainable. On this trip, my siblings and I took a train to the rather local mountain range “Rothaargebirge”, where we just went straight into the forest covered mountains, only having taken our backpacks, a camping cooker, a tent, some toilet paper and some food along, striving to stay away from society for 4-5 days. As such, the trip might not have harmed the environment nor any close community worth mentioning, nevertheless, some environmental harm might have been caused, first, by the electricity used by the train, second by the toilet paper left in the bush (other produced garbage was collected in a bag), and, of course by tracking across the country (disturbing wildlife). To return back to a train station we hitch hiked (which I would account as a very sustainable method of travel, as rides are not undertaken for tourists, but would have been done anyway). In comparison to most other trips, I went on so far, I would assume this one caused the least environmental and social damage. BUT, imaging the majority of travelers chose this way of travelling, the environmental harm would be tremendous, untouched nature and wildlife would be reasonable disturbed and destroyed, not all garbage would be collected, nor would local inhabitants/land owners be spared. Although, I prefer nature and adventure from any other tourism activity, I have to admit that, especially if backpacking trips go to further destinations, like developing countries or just Southern European countries (which most likely involves flying) may cause more environmental and cultural harm (when considering –so far- isolated communities) than travelling to well visited tourism destinations being equipped with all the necessary facilities and with a local community living of tourism, anyway.  Still, for the lower costs, the bigger adventure, and the getting to know truly original lifestyles, I still would not change my travel style. Instead, I find it of highest importance to investigate how to carry out this (highly demanded and, by accident, often already associated with sustainability) form of travel in a way where local communities, the environment, and local economies not get harmed, but effectively benefit from it.

I have experienced the best practice of sustainable tourism when I was working in Club Med Cherating Beach in my home country, Malaysia. It is the first eco-nature resort by Club Med. The resort rests in the jungle – home to a number of special animals including rare birds and endangered sea turtles. It has been awarded two important eco-certifications for its involvement in sustainability, namely Green Globe (Bronze) and Earth Check (Silver).

The guest rooms are wooden bungalows built on stilts – constructed in traditional Malay style, exactly like those of ‘kampung’ (village) houses typically found in Malay villages. All rooms are furnished with Malaysian style furniture and colourful handmade batik paintings. This reveals Club Med’s commitment in preserving local culture. The architecture is constructed mainly with local materials. There is no elevator or escalator in the entire resort, aiming to minimize energy consumption. Other than that, energy is also recovered from the resort’s air-conditioning system to fuel boilers for hot water which will then be channeled to guest rooms. This system saves a lot of energy as well as lessens the amount of carbon emissions released into the atmosphere.

Apart from energy conservation, the resort also develops a watering system that uses water from a lagoon for watering plants. It is an efficient way to treat natural waste water. In the bathroom of all guest rooms, there is a ‘Save Water’ sign to remind the guests on importance of water saving.

In addition, the resort is committed to an active policy of environmental stewardship. It establishes a partnership with the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary to help educate the public about turtles and the need to protect this endangered species, alongside with the support of releasing turtles back into the wild. Polo T-shirts with the Turtle Sanctuary logo are being sold in the boutique of Club Med and a percentage of proceeds from sales of the T-shirts will go towards the Turtle Sanctuary to support the turtle conservation programme.

Early in this year, the resort also starts a Mini Club Nature Concept to inculcate a sense of appreciation for nature in its young guests. The children are presented with a story book ‘Rainforest Treasures’ to get them aware of their precious environment. Worth to be mentioned this book is produced with environment-friendly recycled paper. Kids would also have chance to meet the local animal, for instance visiting to Turtle Sanctuary.

Restaurants in the resort provide food with a focus on healthy, natural choices. Organic products are used extensively. Foods are clearly labelled, without additives or any chemical treatment. For the kids, wholesome kid’s tray that offers balanced meal is provided. Kitchen waste management is made more eco-friendly by recycling and composting. Information regarding what is recyclable or compostable is clearly displayed at strategic locations. Furthermore, a project to recycle waste from public areas is also being developed by the Housekeeping service.

Besides from having a Sustainability Policy in place, the resort also communicates its environmental policy to all suppliers to make them aware of potential opportunities for ‘green’ business. This sustainable purchasing policy indicates that local and environmental friendly suppliers are more preferred. Within the resort area, trees are cut only when necessary and even then, to ensure sustainable development, a new tree is planted for every one that is cut. No straw will be provided for drinks at the bar, unless requested by the guest. Bottled waters are only sent to guest rooms upon their arrival, and on the bottle there is a label stating that guests are encouraged to refill drinking water from the bar using the same bottle.

All the employees in the resort are trained on environmental issues. In accordance with implementation of sustainable tourism, Club Med is revising the outfit of G.O., offering us the uniform made from organic fair-trade cotton.

There are also the signs of ‘Saving Energy’ and ‘Eco-Initiative for G.O. Room’ put on our room’s door to raise our conscious of resources preservation and sustainability.

I would say Club Med has put a great effort to minimise environmental impacts in order to achieve sustainable tourism in line with its development to position itself as a high-end, upscale, yet an eco-friendly resort.

Link: Club Med Eyes the Green Globe

A couple of years ago, i did an internship at Corinthia Hotels – Malta. During this period, I was tasked with writing a plan that will help the hotel improve  it environmental situation and become a more environmental friendly hotel as well as archiving eco-friendly standard of operation and earn them an eco-certificate from the Malta Tourism Authority. Before I could come up with a concrete eco-friendly plan, I did a lot of desk research on greening in hotel’s as well as primary research in the hotel to acess the current situation, (what is missing, what can be changed and the sort). The research also took me to other hotels around Malta to find out what was really going on regarding this subject.In the end, I was able to put up a plan and made recommendations that will go a long way in saving the hotel some amounts in operational cost as well as earning them the proper eco-certificate. Some of the basic recommendations that were made are:

Establishment of a an eco-friendly group to review and access  the hotel’s environmental friendly activities

Waste Management (Garbage separation except oil waste that was already in place)

Sving printing paper in the office’s by simple printing front and back

Corporate Social Responsibility that will help the immediate community around the hotel area. Including an employee fund raising dinner that will go into cleaning of the community beach resort.

In doing this project, I found an ironic relationship between “greenness” and “luxury.” People have often mentioned to that luxury means the right to be wasteful and that green experiences are necessarily characterized by deprivation. But the truth is that, the myth and discussions after my research suggested otherwise. A little research outside the hotel I worked for found out that some of the nicest, most luxurious hotels, such as Hilton and Radisson successfully follow many “green” standards. These hotels, however, still managed to maintain a luxury feel to the hotel.

Probably, one of the rarest experiences of sustainable tourism I had, was when we went with my parents and some friends of my parents’ to hot springs. We went just with 2 cars, about 10 people. The place is almost untouched, just some little places, like basins,are done so people would be able to sit there, and that’s all. No roof, no nice look, just 2-3 chairs and a door. Although everything is covered with cement, not very sustainable, but was probably the only invasion into nature. After spending there about 30 minutes we got hungry! So we went to the village, to the house of some person they all (my father and his friends) knew. He was very hospitable, even though we came totally unexpected. He gave us some home-made bread and «macun» (Armenian yogurt), also home-made, form the milk of their own cow.

It was a great day and I will never forget it! This kind of tourism is just perfect to escape the everyday noisy, busy city life!

In my country the sustainable tourism is in its very early stage at the moment. Although we have some destinations which I would call sustainable. I want to tell you about one amazing place. Few years ago I went to a little village called Martinovo. It is an isolated place where local people try to preserve their livestyle and keep all traditional crafts alive. As in many other places there was a tendancy of young people moving to bigger cities. So local Government decided to create a centre of sustainable tourism in the village in order to support local people and attract the attention of tourists.

As a tourist i was surprised that I couldn’t find any shops with fast food. And in my opinion it’s more advantage then disadvantage. We had a unique opportunity to try traditional food which was prepared in the old-style oven. It was such a change from the fast food and all these frozen products we are used to nowadays. Some roads are wooden, all the houses are built just in the way they were built two and three hundred years ago. 

When I was walking along dark road on the way back to the coach ( which was the only possible way to get to Martinovo ) I felt as if I was back in past- no cars, no noise, no banners. It was the incredible experience. I really hope that place will not be the only one of the kind. People should preserve and value their heritage. Modern is not always the best.

Like most young europeans, I guess, I never really thought that much about sustainability when it comes to tourism and travelling. That’s why I have no idea of what to write about when it comes to my own experiences with sustainable tourism. I don’t really have any!

I’ve always cosidered travelling and seeing other cultures  more or less as a right. Especially because I come from a “rich” country, it’s almost an obligation to see how the rest of the world is doing and that’s why I’ve never really felt guilty… until now.

Like the people beeing interviewed in the resent two articles, I don’t know that many facts about global warming, GHG and so on and I don’t know how much damage I cause when I hop on an airplane to some exotic destination. More iformation could be a way of creating awareness about sustainable tourism and making myself and other people feel responsible for their actions. But I also agree that the problem is so huge, that we as individuals feel very powerless and therefore we do nothing.

For now travelling to far destinations has become my prerogative and I find it really hard to give up.

Within my Bachelor studies, I had the great pleasure of completing a 6-months internship at Fairfield Tours South Africa (PLC) Ltd. (www.fairfieldtours.com). The inbound operator was founded as part of the Fairfield Group in 1996 serving the overseas leisure market with scheduled tours, tailor-made tours and day tours, driven by the company’s vision of ‘Being the preferred tourism travel company in Southern Africa, setting the standard in value, trusted relationships, quality travel solutions, and quality service, in a sustainable way’.

With one of its core values being ‘to operate in a socially and environmentally responsible manner’, the company provides funding for a number of community projects in the greater region of the Western Cape and places a high focus on being engaged in several environmental initiatives, e.g. the support of the Saasveld Nature Conservation Department (SNCD) of Saasveld Campus (part of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University), providing education in conservation policy. Moreover, the company has realised it cannot promote the fact that it is working in an eco-friendly and sustainable way without starting by doing so at its very own offices. Within that, Fairfield is dedicated to build awareness internally by integrating and promoting ‘a green way of living’ at the workplace. Amongst others, the Green Policy of Fairfield incorporates the subjects of water conservation, energy efficiency and effective waste management. In order to enhance the actions and behaviour encouraged by management, all employees of the Fairfield Group (including myself) took part in a Green Workshop, aimed at providing information and feedback on how to pursue an environmentally responsible lifestyle, both at home and at work, effectively.

With the pursuit of a business strategy that is sustainable through and through, i.e. taking on responsibility not only visible to the outside, but also internally, the Fairfield Group has recently been awarded the ‘Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa’ Certificate.

I have been a little hesitant to write this blog on a(n) (un)sustainable tourism experience as it seems there are some common views on the topic of sustainable tourism development that one has to share – especially when studying tourism. But getting to the point: There are two aspects which seem to be a little overlooked in the field of sustainable tourism: the cultural and social aspects.

When I was a child my parents always took my siblings and me to different places in Denmark (my home country) to spend a week of our vacation. At that time I envied a lot of the other children who got to go to far away exotic destinations – or Disneyland – but today I really appreciate what my parents did; they wanted us to get to know our own country, the people, nature, history and traditions.

To sustain the local or national culture it is important in my opinion to pass it on to future generations and make sure that they get to know it first hand as well as appreciate what is their home to make sure that traditions and so on exist in the future also and to create a sense of home that will exist no matter where in the world one goes.

My own experience with sustainable tourism is very limited, but still I have taken some action as a “sustainable tourist”.

When I fly somewhere for vacation I pay a special extra fee that is used for research on how to keep CO2-emission low when using an airplane. This special service is offered by some airline companies. In my opinion this is a good start to make people aware of how they pollute the environment when they fly somewhere. Due to globalization people travel much more and more frequent then in former times so everyone should try to keep CO2-emission as low as possible.

Another example of how I try to be a sustainable tourist is that I use these cards for the light some hotels provide. So that there is no energy wasted while I’m not in my room. Besides that I use my towels more than just once in order to avoid unnecessary use of washing liquid and water. Especially in very dry regions I try not to use too much water.

Furthermore I mostly use the public transport system in order to avoid needless CO2-emission. In most European cities there is a very good public transport system that’s not too expensive, so you’re not in need of a car.

I think the most important issue in connection to sustainable tourism is to inform people about how they can protect the nature and how to avoid any harm for the environment they travel to. It’s really a basic thing to inform people so that our wonderful world with all it’s different species and places to visit gets preserved for future generations, so that they can life in a healthy and beautiful environment.

honestly, I have chosen to study tourism because I had no idea what to do after school. I thought, if you study tourism, it could be fun, but I had any expectation.

Now I am really happy that I chose to do that.  I havent been much around in the world, and I never dared to go somewhere by my own. But I always wanted to see other countries, learn something about other cultures and most of all, loose my fear being in other countries, doesn’t now where to go and just enjoying it anyway.

I also hope to improve my english, which its quiet important to me, because I never really had to use it but always wanted it.

What to do after the 3 years, again I have no idea. But actually I want to travel around, because I haven’t done that after school, what I really regret. Maybe their will be a opportunity, how I can combine business with pleasure.

Originally, I was studying social work in Esbjerg but I quickly found out that it wasn’t  what I expected it to be and I didn’t want to continue something that I didn’t feel was the right choice for me.

I always wanted to work with different kind of culture and language and meet exciting people and communicate with them and as it was time for me to find an education,  I was probably influenced by people around me,  telling not go down that road because getting a job in that field and actually make a decent living was almost non-existing for them.

So I took their advice and dropped the idea and chose social worker as I still could work with people but as I mentioned before I Quickly grew tired of that but then I was introduced to this education  through a friend, who was already on her 2. semester and she was bragging how great of an education it was, learning stuff that was far more interesting than what I learning about.

I immediately new this was something for me, so upgraded some of the subjects that I didn’t fulfill and here I am now happy and exited.

I don’t really have any experience like the other people in class. I didn’t really travel in the two years a had a break, basically just working  and earning money , of course I have been to some places in Europe and Asia but it was more family related  visits than traveling and experience new culture.

I hope to learn more about tourism and just basic knowledge,  economically and industry wise and I want to help create  better  circumstances  for Danish tourism.

Hi ,

My name is Lonni and i’m from southern Jutland,  i’m 20 years old.
I haven’t travelled much, because my family hates going on vacation, in they’r mind ‘home is the place to be’, I have a different opinion!
My first trip, went to Lissabon, amazing city! -just walking down the streets, listening to the diffent noises of the city I just knew that travelling was a new passion of mine.

The reason why I wanted to study tourism, is mainly because the tourisme industry is a expanding market and i the future its only going to be even bigger and more exiting, there will loads of jobs to fill and many different work areas. And a wise man told me:  ”What ever you choose to study- or work with in your life, you have to find it interesting and exiting” and then I with confidence chose this course.

I expect to have a basic knowlegde about the industry and types of tourisme after finishing the course. I hope i’ll get loads of inspiration to what line of work Iwant to start after finishing school.

Lonni

Talking about unsustainable tourism destination, there is a good example in the area called “Pai” in northern Thailand. During these past few years, Pai has been very famous for the tourists who look for a peaceful nature and artistic town at the same time.

Although it is only a small village in valley along a small river in northern Thailand, its romantic atmosphere together with the tourism marketing (We have even a teenager film called “Pai In Love” info at: http://www.paiinlovethemovie.com/.) make this place become more and more desirable, both for tourists and tourism investors.

As a result, restaurants, souvenir shops, pubs, guest houses, and all accommodations for tourists emerged. Constructions are all around the place. Unfortunately, there was no regulation to control this fluctuation of tourism growth. Number of shops and buildings increases around 100 – 200% in only 2-3 years. And no one can imagine what it will become in the next 2-3 years from this over usage of natural resource. Owners of these tourism business are not local people. So the place has become completely crowded that people around the village center move themselves to the outskirt area.

Look at the other side, this change provoke action from native. Instead of being un-participate people, the local community has become more active to protect their homeland and call for protective policies from the government. They cannot stop the change indeed, but it is possible to establish the balance between this excessive growth and their culture together with natural resource.

Originally I come from Northern Jutland, where the tourism is limited to renting out vacation houses and to one major fun park. The fun park is often connected to they, who already rented the houses. Of course this is the tourism I’m used to, but after working in Aalborg Airport for the last couple of years and travelling in South East Asia, India and most of Australia I got to know a new kind of tourism and I simply fell in love with it. I went back to work for a travelling agency on the East Coast in Australia. The traveling industry was expanding at the moment and therefore very busy. Nothing like the tourism we got anywhere in Denmark. It was amazing to be a part of and I wanted more for myself, but also for Denmark. Denmark is like the sleeping beauty. We got so much to give and show, but is so poor at disseminate it further on. It seems like we only have tourism in Denmark because we every year get guest which no one invited?!

I went home with a good feeling inside, now I knew what I was going to spend the rest of my life trying to sort out. Friends often made fun of me when I told them I was moving to Esbjerg. Ha-ha the city the smells of fish, but yeah also the only University in Denmark to offer a Bachelor in International Tourism. Then they laughed even harder – tourism in Denmark, what a joke! I’m planning to go abroad for two or three years as part of my education. I’ll show them!

I’m going to need some help from the rest of you, and I have a lot to learn before it’s even a reality, but learning about the industry, tourism in general, economics etc. will help me to reach my goal. I would really like to compare the Danish tourism to other parts of the world, hopefully through lectures and lessons in my education.

I don’t know whether I’ll be working within events or if I’ll be working for the Government. In about five years I can work wherever I want, with whatever I want – how great is that? And then I get to help building up a new income source, what more can you ask for?

Unlike some of my group mates, I have never lived in a sustainable village or visited a national park developing in a sustainable way. My experience with sustainable tourism is only limited to some of my actions, which I have or have not performed in regards to sustainable travelling.

An illustrative example of my sustainable behavior as a tourist would be the fact that my mom and I used the special “lights out cards” while staying at a hotel in Tunisia this summer. This way, we helped reduce energy waste by allowing hotel management to cut energy consumption when the room was not occupied.

Another instance of my sustainable behavior while travelling was my unforgettable experience of snorkeling in the Red Sea. In order to prevent precious coral reefs from being wiped out, I tried not to touch or disturb them in any way. However, I could not resist feeding the local fish living in the reefs with some bread:) That is of course an example of my unsustainable tourist behavior since the marine life can only be fed under expert guidance and following established guidelines.

I would like to share with you about an unsustainable tourism experience during the Olympics Games 2008 in China which had created a negative impact in their economic and social sectors.

The cottages

In my second blog I am going to say something about my experience of sustainable tourism development in Ethiopia. But before that, may I use this opportunity to bring you to one of the African countries found in the Eastern part of the continent with very long history and tradition, having its own alphabet and calendar (Julian calendar, which consists of twelve months of thirty days each and a thirteenth month of five days, six days in a leap year. Of course the calendar is about seven years behind the Western (Gregorian) calendar) and the only independent country never been colonized?

Ethiopia is a land of wonder and enchantments, a country with one of the richest histories on African continent, a land of contrasts and surprises, of remote and wild places, a mosaic of people with more than 80 languages, different life styles, costumes and cultural dances, the birth place of organic coffee and finally the country of ‘Lucy’, the world’s oldest known almost–complete human kind skeleton more than 3.2 million years old. (Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 2009)

This is just to offer you only some insights. Now let me come to my point. Actually on this blog I am going to talk about my sustainable tourism experience in one the most fascinating lodges of Ethiopia found in the southern parts of the country called Bishangari Lodge.

Lake Langano and its shores

The lodge has been designed on sound environmental principles utilizing solar power and biogas for energy. The cottages have been constructed mostly using natural local materials and traditional techniques, without compromising on the quality and luxury of the accommodation. It is a natural retreat of outstanding beauty that combines five ecological zones; wetlands, beach and lake, the forest, the dry pumice rocks and the acacia shrub, with a secluded setting that  hosts  over 400 bird species, a diverse range of wildlife, spectacular array of plant life and unspoilt biodiversity.

It is really possible to support this fact by taking testimonial evidence from one of the tourists who has visited and spend some time in the lodge.

I have just stayed at Bishangari for a couple of days. The access road is a bit rough, but bush experience and done purposefully to maintain the tranquillity of the area.
After being taken to my room by horse and cart (no vehicles allowed – it is an Eco Lodge after all!) I was left to chill out. The views of Lake ‘Langano’ are stunning and the sound of the bird life and insects lulls you to sleep.
The staffs are all extremely helpful and have been trained to a high standard and the food is extremely good.
The rooms are large in the ‘Godjos’ and the adorable bathroom is perfectly adequate with hot water from solar heaters. There are no sockets in the rooms, but you can charge laptops, phones etc. at the bar or reception. The only power source is solar energy, so you don’t have that constant hum of a generator. They even have a couple of biogas to cooking!
Will definitely return and spend longer in the forest with the guide. It was a great and marvellous experience!

 My ratings for this eco-lodge,

   Value(4/4)

   Rooms(4/4)

   Location(4/4)

   Cleanliness(4/4)

   Service(4/4)

   Sleep Quality(4/4)

• Date of stay June 2010
• Visit was for Leisure
• Travelled with Solo Traveller
• Age group 35-49
• Member since June 12, 2010
• Would you recommend this hotel to a friend? Yes ( a tourist from UK)

Reusing, recycling and reducing waste production as well as safe and proper ways of waste disposal techniques are practiced here. Making noise, using vehicle, littering…are prohibited. It is the place very quiet, undisturbed, soundless, and aesthetic where you wonder about nature and listen yourself deeply too.

 In addition to this, the lodge is actively participating in the socio-economic development of the area. It is taking part in funding sustainable projects designed to assist local communities and therefore has established ‘The Bishangari Community Fund’. Through the Bishangari Community Fund it is believed to raise sufficient funds to launch sustainable initiatives for development in the area.

The lodge has plans to set up income generating scheme for the fund through the sale of various souvenirs and artefacts inside the lodge to benefit the community. This is because one of the most important principles of sustainable tourism development is addressing the issue of fair and equitable share of all the benefits that are generated out of the tourism development.

To conclude, I would like to appreciate what the lodge is currently doing to sustain the development of tourism and to make its progress eco-friendly.

Till now, very tiny and individual endeavors are noticed, different parts of the world for ensuring sustainable tourism development (STD). In Bangladesh, a south Asian country with huge natural beauty and potential for tourism, last year I have a wonderful experience which is really outstanding among I have viewed the STD efforts. It’s a resort which is currently under development; now provide limited services, with the slogan “a boutique eco resort in southern Bangladesh”.

To practice STD, I think, the main challenge is combining ‘profit venture and less harming to the nature’. Balance between these two significant variables has been ensured more effectively in ‘Panigram Resort’ near to the Sundarbans (the largest mangrove forest of the world). This eco-resort is offering to experience what responsible hospitability and high quality customer service could be in Bangladesh. It is presenting itself as “a taste of Bangladeshi village life” and managed both environmentally sustainable as well as socially responsible.

The architectural design is done by mud and bamboo-ancient, local building materials that are extremely sustainable. Alternative energy, composting, organic farming, and grey water recycling are just a few of the eco-friendly aspects of the resort. Drinks made of local fruits and lemon-scented towels they provide to wash off the tiredness of journey and craft pottery is used in the restaurant and sold in the gift shop at fair price. Hand fan made from palm leaf; organic gardens where fruits and vegetables are grown for using in the restaurant of the resort.

Although Bangladesh is still in the early stage of developing an international tourism industry, socio-economic and environmental sustainability will fit through Panigram Resort in much better way with the local culture than typical ‘big box’ hotels with nightclubs and casinos would, I sturdily wish.

Md. Abdul Hamid

Panigram Resort: An Example of Sustainable Tourism Development

The best sustainable tourism experience for me was cycling on Camino de Santiago. This is a 900 km long pilgrim path from French border in Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Every day from May until the end of September there are more than 1500 people walking or cycling on this way. The path goes mostly through the rural parts of Spain and all the villages there would probably already died if there wouldn’t be pilgrims. But the locals still live there because of the income that pilgrimage brings (through accommodation, food). Furthermore on this way pilgrims are getting to know cultural and historical monuments. Travelling on foot or by bicycle is of curse also the best way of protecting the natural environment. Last but not least, the government gains a lot from pilgrimage, since there is less unemployment in the rural areas. So this tourism experience is really in every aspect (economic, social, cultural and environmental) sustainable.

‘Sustainable tourism’ is presently a buzzword not only to me but also all over the world. Gradually its gaining popularity to the stakeholders but the rate of practicing is really slow. Besides, there is the scope of ambiguity of the meaning of this phenomenon. Fortunately, I have an experience which truly make me hopeful for eco-tourism and highly pronounced sustainable tourism development.

Within few decades, Thailand has become a favored destination for adventure seekers and eco-tourists. The Tourism Authority of Thailand as well as the private sector investors has been able to response to the fast-changing demand of back-to-nature activities.

Last winter, I was travelling in Khao yai national park, a wonderful creation of Thai government, is under the control of the Royal Forest Department. They provide trekking trails for nature explorers. There are also arrangement of many camping sites for those who want to stay overnight in the parks. Trekking and camping are available in the mountainous areas. Everything here has been tried to do in natural way. By giving priority of the geographic and biological instruments, the layout of the park is developed.

Moreover ‘bird watching’ in the lake of the park is increasingly being popular which bears significant value to niche travelers. The establishment of the Bird Preservation Society of Thailand has helped promote public awareness of this activity. For me, I think this is the best experience of sustainable tourism that inspires me to do better something for this beautiful earth.