Chapter 5
The environmental impact of
tourism
Learning Objectives of this Lecture
• To gain an understanding of the physical impacts
of tourism on the environment (direct and
indirect)
• To review strategies and techniques that may be
implemented to measure the impacts of tourism
on the environment
• To gain an appreciation of the difficulties of
assessing environmental impacts; and
• To examine some real-life examples to encourage
the application of theory to practice.
The environment and tourism
• The environment whether it is natural or
artificial, is the most fundamental ingredient of
the tourism product.
• However, as soon as tourism acticity takes
place, the environment is inevitably changed or
modified either to facilitate tourism or through
the tourism production process.
• Environmental preservation and improvement
programmes are now an integral part of many
development strategies
The environment and tourism
• Relatively little search has been undertaken within a
standardized framework to analyse tourism’s impact
on the environment.
• The empirical studies have been very specific case
studies – such as the impact of tourism on wildlife,
the pollution of water, or on particular coastal areas
and mountains.
• But the diverse areas studied , the varying methods
used to undertake those studies make it difficult to
bring findings together in order to assemble a
comprehensive framework within which to work.
Fundamentals for the Study
of Environmental Impacts of Tourism
• In order to study the physical impact of tourim, it is
necessary to establish a framework and we need to have
an understanding of the following basic issues:
– The physical impacts created by tourism activity
– What conditions were like before tourism to derive
a baseline
– An inventory of flora and fauna, together with
some unambiguous index of tolerance levels to
impacts
– The secondary levels of environmental impact
associated with tourism activity.
Fundamentals for the Study
of Environmental Impacts of Tourism
• The environmental impacts associated with tourism
development, just like the economic impacts, can
be considerd in terms of direct, indirect and
induced effects
• Again some of the impacts can be positive and
some negative
• It is not possible to develop tourism without
incurring environmental impacts, but it is possible,
with correct planning, to manage tourism
development in order to minimize the negative
impacts while encouraging the positive ones.
Environmental Impacts
of Tourism
• There is a tendency to get exaggerated in the
literature – focused on the negative and limited with
respect to positive impacts
• It is difficult to determine tolerance levels and limits
of acceptable change in the environment.
• As mentioned before, tourism’s environmental
impacts occur at 3 levels, and what examples can be
provided for positive and negative environmental
impacts at each level?
Examples of
Positive Environmental Impacts
On the positive side, the direct environmental impacts include
the followings;
• The preservation/restoration of ancient monuments, sites
and historic buildings (the Great Wall-China, the Pyramids)
• The creation of national parks and wildlife parks
(Yellowstone Park-USA, the Maasai Mara Park-Kenya)
• The protection of reefs (Australya) and beaches (Grand AnseGrenada)
• The maintenance of forests and other natural sites (New
Forest-UK)
Positive Environmental Impacts
• Conservation and preservation may be rated highly
from the point of view of researchers or even
tourists.
• However if such actions are not considered to be
importance from the host’s point of view, it may be
questionable as to whether they can be considered
to be positive environmental impacts.
• When evaluating the net worth of preservation
activities the opportunity costs associated with such
activities must also be taken into consideration.
Negative impacts
• On the negative side, tourism may have direct
environmental impacts on the quality of water, air and
noise levels.
• Sewage disposals into water will add to pollution
problems.
• Increased usage of internal combustion engine for tourist
transportation, oil burning to provide to the power for
hotel equipments all add to diminution(diminish) of air
quality.
• Noise levels may be dramatically increased in urban
areas through nightclubs, and other forms of
entertainment as well as by increased roads and air trafic
Negative Environmental Impacts
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Physical deterioration of both natural and built
environment acn have serious consequences as the
followings;
Hunting and fishing impact on the wildlife env.
Sand dunes(hills) can be damaged and eroded by overuse
Vegetation(flora) can be destroyed by walkers
Camp fires may destroy forests.
Ancient monuments may be disfigured and damaged by
graffiti, eroded or literally taken away by tourists
The construction of tourism superstructure utilizes real
estate and may detract(lessen) from the aesthetics
The improper disposal of litter can detract from the aesthetic
quality of the env. and harm wildlife.
Examples of
Negative Environmental Impacts
• The erosion of paths to the Pyramids at
Giza –Egypt by the camels used to transprt
tourists
• The dynamiting of Balaclava Bay
(Mauritus) to provide a beachfor tourist use
• The littering of Base Camp on Mount
Everest- Nepal, by tourists and the erosion
of the pathway to this site.
Negative Environmental Impacts
• The building of high rise hotels on beach fontages is an
environmental impact of tourism that achieves headline
status.
• Tourism activites can put scarce natural resources such
as water, under severe pressure.
• Tourists tend to be far more extravagant with their use
of water than they are at home.
• Tourism is responsible for high levels of air and noise
pollution through the transportation networks and
leisure activities.
• For ex. Air transportation is claimed to be a significant
factor in global warming and tourism is responsible for
the vast majority of intarnational transport.
Environmental
Impact Assessment - EIA
An EIA will examine:
– environmental auditing procedures
– limitations to natural resources
– environmental problems and conflicts that may affect
project viability
– possible detrimental(harmful) effects to people, flora
and fauna, soil, water, air, peace and quiet, landscapes,
cultural sites, etc. that are either within the proposed
project area or will be affected by it.
Motivations for
undertaking EIAs
• to determine a development’s impact upon a
specific ecology
• to determine the financial costs of environmental
correction
• to compare alternative developments in order to
allocate resources
• to raise the profile of environmental issues.
EIA Process
Figure 6.1 The environmental impact assessment process
Early EIAs are Important at the
Development Stage Because…
• It is easier to avoid environmental damage by
either modifying or rejecting developments
than it is to rectify(correct) environmental
damage once a project has been implemented;
• projects that rely heavily upon areas of
outstanding beauty may become non-viable if
such developments degrade the environment.
Environmental Indicators
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There is a wide range of EI’s that can be used. However few countries
have investigated data collection procedures to monitor these
environmental variables (indicators).
The criteria for indicator selection are that they should;
Provide a representative picture of conditions or society’s response
Be simple, easy to interpret and able to show trends over time.
Be responsive to to changes in the environmentand related human
activities
Provide a basis for international comparisons
Be either national in scope or applicable to regional environmental
issues of national significance
Have a threshold or reference value against which to compare it.
Environmental Indicators
If we take look at the basic necessary
characteristics of the indicators, they should be;
– Objective
– Measurable
– Transparent
– Unambiguous (unclear)
and they should also have their strengths and
Weaknesses
Environmental Auditing
and EIAs – the Difference
• environmental audits are generally voluntary in nature
while EIAs tend to be written into the legislature and
required as part of the planning approval process
• environmental audits are part of an ongoing process –
even a sense of attitude – rather than the one-off EIA
studies
• environmental audits are concerned with performance
and focus on how well a process is functioning. In this
sense the environmental audit should become part of the
organisational structure of private and public sector
bodies alike.
Environmental Audits - Aspects
1. An assessment of the system, how it
functions and the implications of its
operation.
2. A rigorous(hard) testing of the system to see
how its performance compares with some
optimal ideal or benchmark performance.
3. The certification of the results from the above
comparisons.
Environmental Action Plans
• Examples can be found at global, regional,
national and sub-national levels
• Generally implemented in order to enhance
the net effects of tourist activities and move
towards some consideration of environmental
sustainability
Environmental Impact Statements
• Similar to EIAs and are often the outcome of
an EIA
• Studies that estimate the potential or expected
environmental impacts of proposed actions or
developments
Environmental Management Systems
1. An environmental review – base line impact studies
that produce environmental inventories of the
businesses’ activities and functions.
2. An environmental policy – a publicly stated set of
identifiable and achievable objectives.
3. The design of an implementation and
environmental system – setting out the mechanisms
by which the objectives will be pursued.
4. An environmental audit – which can be used to
measure the business’s actual performance against
its declared objectives.
Conclusion
• Environmental impacts are not unique to tourism
• Tourism receives a disproportional share of criticism
for its negative environmental impacts
• Environmental impacts manifest themselves at the
direct, indirect and induced levels
• No single unified framework available yet, but
• Impacts should be studied within a single framework
that integrates environmental with other types of
impacts