{"id":1693,"date":"2020-09-18T16:39:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T16:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/introtourism2e\/chapter\/environmental-stewardship-theory\/"},"modified":"2021-06-04T21:22:04","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T21:22:04","slug":"environmental-stewardship-theory","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/introtourism2e\/chapter\/environmental-stewardship-theory\/","title":{"raw":"10.3 Environmental Stewardship Theory in Tourism","rendered":"10.3 Environmental Stewardship Theory in Tourism"},"content":{"raw":"Some basic concepts of environmental management and ethics, especially as they apply to tourism, include carrying capacity, footprint, tragedy of the commons, and the tourism paradox.\u00a0 This section also outlines some of the key approaches to dealing with environmental and sustainability issues in the tourism industry including sustainable tourism, ecotourism, and responsible tourism management.\n

Carrying Capacity<\/h1>\n[pb_glossary id=\"2531\"]Carrying capacity[\/pb_glossary] is \u201cthe average maximum number of individuals of a given species that can occupy a particular habitat without permanently impairing the productive capacity of that habitat\u201d (Rees, 2001, p. 229).\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1692\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\"]\"People Figure 10.5 A tourist's snapshot of a \"full moon party\" in Thailand, where bottles, trash, and human waste litter the beach for days afterward and noise and light pollution are common.[\/caption]\n\nThis concept has been applied to tourism in the context of a [pb_glossary id=\"2943\"]tourism carrying capacity (TCC)[\/pb_glossary], \u201cthe maximum number of visitors which an area can sustain without unacceptable deterioration of the physical environment and without considerably diminishing user satisfaction\u201d (Salerno, Viviano, Manfredi, Caroli, Thankuri, & Tartari, 2013, p. 116).\n
\n\nTake a Closer Look:\u00a0Vehicle Congestion in Banff National Park<\/strong>\n\nIn late 2014, the Town of Banff approved $70,000 to study the feasibility of introducing a gondola network to connect the Banff Centre, the Banff Springs Hotel, the Upper Hot Springs, and the existing mountain gondola. That summer the town experienced 54 days of congestion that exceeded its threshold of 20,000 vehicles per day, with vehicle waits and idle times of up to 1.5 hours during peak periods. To learn more about the issue and proposed solutions, read\u00a0\"Banff Considers Potential of Gondola Network.\"<\/a>\n\n<\/div>\n[pb_glossary id=\"2531\"]Carrying capacity[\/pb_glossary] factors are determined within a scientific framework and must adapt to various changes and needs of local people and ecosystems. There are many examples of [pb_glossary id=\"2943\"]TCC[\/pb_glossary] being applied in tourism globally and it is important to note that no two areas have the same set of factors to determine carrying capacity. In Canada, national parks use\u00a0the concept to ensure visitor numbers are restricted to a sustainable level along with other wilderness areas, protected areas, Indigenous Territories and waterways, campgrounds, and front country experiences.\n\nAlthough [pb_glossary id=\"2943\"]TCC[\/pb_glossary] is a theoretical concept that is often discussed and utilized for analysis, in reality it can be challenging to restrict the numbers of tourists arriving at a destination.\u00a0 Both determining and managing the carrying capacity of a destination requires input from local peoples and environmental data.\u00a0 One successful approach is to limit access to an area or to simply limit tourist numbers.\n

Ecological Footprint<\/h1>\n[pb_glossary id=\"2621\"]Ecological footprint[\/pb_glossary] is essentially\u00a0a tool to analyze the impact of a population on Earth\u00a0(Rees, 2001). The\u00a0model calculates the total area of land and water resources used\u00a0to support the population, presenting it in a manner that can be easily related to -- usually in terms of the amount of land needed to support an individual at the standard of living that person is used\u00a0to.\n\nMany countries and people of those countries use more natural resources within and beyond their own borders than ecosystems can regenerate (biocapacity). Because of this, these countries and people are essentially running an \u201cecological deficit.\u201d Nations and people can run these ecological deficits by overusing their own (and other Nations'\/peoples') resources, such as by overfishing, taking resources from other areas, and\/or emitting higher levels pf carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than can be absorbed (Global Footprint Network, 2020).\n

Tragedy of the Commons<\/h1>\n[pb_glossary id=\"2957\"]Tragedy of the commons[\/pb_glossary] is an economic theory first proposed by Garrett Hardin in 1968, which states\u00a0that if individuals are given the chance\u00a0to overuse a common property, they will, in order to realize the maximum personal benefits. If every person does this, common property quickly becomes overused and damaged (Hardin, 1968).\n\nFor example, a group of tourism operators may look at a pristine natural area and\u00a0see a chance for economic profit, and in the race for development, little or nothing is done to protect the area.\u00a0If this unchecked development were to continue, the damage to the environment could\u00a0reach\u00a0a point where the elements that attracted tourists in the first place are irreversibly damaged, thus resulting in the \"tragedy\" that Hardin discusses (Hardin, 1968).\n\nThe tragedy of the commons leads to something known as the [pb_glossary id=\"2947\"]tourism paradox[\/pb_glossary],\u00a0a concept that describes the paradoxical nature of tourism\u2019s relationship with the environment.\n

The Tourism Paradox<\/h1>\n[caption id=\"attachment_1692\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"600\"]\"Snowy Figure 10.6 B.C.'s tourism assets centre heavily on scenery. Seen here are the Coast Mountains and the Georgia Strait, as viewed from Neck Point Park near Nanaimo.[\/caption]\n\nA\u00a0common theme promoted by many tourism destinations is their location in some of the most ecologically fragile environments in existence -- coastal, mountain, and river environments (Williams & Ponsford, 2008). Tourism requires these areas to be\u00a0intact to serve as an attraction to visitors. Tourists expect a clean physical environment, appropriate seasonal conditions, and diversity of wildlife. Destinations failing to provide at least some of these elements risk losing their competitive edge in the global market;\u00a0visitors will steer clear of polluted, barren landscapes with unpredictable or uncomfortable weather.\n
\n\nSpotlight On: The Resort Municipality of Whistler<\/strong>\n\nThe community of Whistler relies heavily on natural resources for its local tourism products, such as skiing, and has long been active in sustainability initiatives. The plan, Whistler 2020, sets out integrated community strategies for enhancing community life, enhancing the resort experience, ensuring economic viability, protecting the environment, and partnering for success. For more information about the plan and Whistler's progress with these initiatives, visit the Whistler2020 website<\/a>.\n\n<\/div>\nAt the same time, the tourism industry is itself causing environmental damage through its own development in pristine areas, consumption of resources, and contribution to climate change. This is the paradox: as an industry, tourism both\u00a0creates damage and suffers from it. That's why it's critical for the industry to be\u00a0proactive about\u00a0environmental sustainability in tourism; failing to do so may result in our\u00a0downfall (Williams & Ponsford, 2008).\n\nBefore we gain a\u00a0better understanding of the ways the tourism industry and individual operators can try to mitigate their impacts, let's take a closer look at the overall management of BC's environmental resources.\n

Sustainable Tourism<\/h1>\nThe UNWTO sees sustainable tourism as a set of guidelines and management practices that can be applied to all forms of tourism (from small-scale to mass tourism) and in all destination types (2005).\u00a0 When referring to sustainable tourism, sustainability principles relating to environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development must be addressed.\u00a0 As such, sustainable tourism development requires the informed consent and input from local people and stakeholders and must address the need to:\n
    \n \t
  1. Make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity.<\/li>\n \t
  2. Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, conserve their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute to inter-cultural understanding and tolerance.<\/li>\n \t
  3. Ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty alleviation (UNWTO, 2005, p. 11\u201312).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nMany industry leaders feel that the sustainable tourism movement is fragmented and lacks leadership and accountability due to the fragmentation of the tourism industry itself (Mullis, 2017). Tourists themselves have a large role to play in this equation in that their experiences are generally more positive when experiences incorporate sustainability principles and it has been found that tourists are more likely to visit or make purchases from tourism companies that have sustainability practices in place (Mandala Research, 2015).\n

    Responsible Tourism<\/h1>\nResponsible Tourism is an approach to tourism development that was defined through the Cape Town Declaration in 2002 in an effort to provide practical, evidence-based solutions that sustainable tourism approaches have not succeeded to do.\u00a0 Responsible tourism is defined as \u201cmaking better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit\u201d (Cape Town Declaration, 2002).\u00a0 Responsible tourism approaches focus on identifying important issues to local people and their environments, addressing those issues and transparently reporting and monitoring on those issues.\n\nThe Cape Town Declaration recognizes that Tourism can provide numerous benefits to people and destinations however tourist and industry behaviour must be managed in a way that is defined by local people who know what they need best.\n\nThe Responsible Tourism approach is defined by tourism that:\n