Green Traveler Guidebook Making Tourism a Sustainable Activity

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Green Traveler GuidebookMaking Tourism a
Sustainable Activity

• Faculty Advisor
• Dr. Ranjan Bandyopadhyay
• Student Project Members
• Reuben Thibodeau
• Robert Tompkins
• Tracy Doan
• Ho Chung Yeung

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World Tourism

• Not only is tourism affected by a changing
  climate, at the same time it contributes to
  climate change by the consumption of fossil fuels
  and resulting greenhouse gas emissions
• -United Nations World Tourism Organization, 1st
  International Conference on Climate Change and
  Tourism in Djerba, Tunisia, 2003.

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Overview

• Impacts
• Economic
• Socio-Cultural
• Environmental
• Responsibility
• Contributing to the Solution
• Green Travel Guidebook

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The New Face of Mass Tourism

• Benidorm today
• High-rise hotels and bus-loads of tourists

• Benidorm beach 1963

http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/740260
3.stm
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Unsustainable Growth
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Destination Lifecycle

• Cumulative and Cyclical
• Threatens Environmental and Social Limits for
  Economic Exploitation
• -Blessing and Blight- (Young, 1962)

Butler, R.W., 1980. The Concept of a Tourist Area
Cycle of Evolution Implications for Management
of Resources.
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Ecological Footprint

• Average 14-day holiday EF from .02gha to 4.25gha.
• In one case, a 21-day scenario produced a net
  negative EF.
• Long Haul Flights account for nearly 90 of the
  overall EF

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Put it in Perspective

• -The pollution from just a two-minute 747 takeoff
  is equal to operating 2 million lawnmowers
  simultaneously.
• -The air pollution levels from one Boeing 747
  takeoff is similar to that of a gas station being
  set on fire.
• -A Boeing 707 consumes on the average 12300
  pounds (about 5600 Kg) of fuel per hour.

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Future of Tourism

• Improved Building Design
• Global Standards
• Energy Efficient Transportation

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Involved Parties Their obligations and rights.
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Whose problem is it?

• Origination Governments
• Destination Governments
• Service Companies
• Local Populations
• Tourists

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Origination Governments

• Provide education to the citizen/tourist
• Adequately regulate local service companies
  providing international/inter-regional services

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Destination Governments

• Regulate local service companies
• Protect the long term and short term interests of
  the local population and tourist service
  companies
• Provide education to the local population

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Service Companies

• Many different types of service companies
• Have the right to reasonable profits from the
  services provided
• Have the obligation not to privilege the economic
  interests of their companies over the long term
  environmental, social, and economic interests of
  the local population

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Local Populations

• Provide a safe location to which the tourist
  travels
• Provide services in a culturally,
  environmentally, and economically sustainable
  manner
• Have the right to an environment free from
  pollution and an indigenous culture not
  excessively influenced by mass tourism
• Have the right to benefit economically from the
  services provided to the tourist industry

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Tourists

• Obligated to act in a manner which respects the
  interests of the local populations and travel in
  such a way as to minimize environmental damage
• Have a right to safety at their destination and
  safe travel methods

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Potential Conflicts of Obligations and Rights

• Essentially a balancing of short and long term
  interests
• Short term economic gain causing long term
  environmental damage is not in anybodys interest

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Green Traveler Guidebook Making Tourism a
Sustainable Activity.

• Purpose
• Content
• Distribution

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Purpose

• Influence the behavior of the traveler, who is
  central to all the relationships, environmental,
  cultural, and economic, discussed previously.
• Resultant changes in the behavior of local
  populations and service companies will produce a
  greater aggregate affect than attempting the
  influence the behavior of any one of the other
  involved parties.

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Content

• Best practices for sustainable tourist prior to
  departure, traveling methods, and behavior while
  at destination
• Informational aspect of the effects of mass
  tourism and rationale for behavioral modification
• Airline ticket dimensions with pocket and section
  for notes

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Distribution

• Direct Mail
• Via request from website, phone, or post
• Point of Sale
• Mailed directly to traveler at the time tickets
  are mailed. (though not a common procedure)
• Point of Departure
• Collaboration with specific airlines to allow for
  distribution at the time tickets are picked up at
  airport.

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...tourism is one of the fundamental ways in
which we express our humanity and culture and it
is also an increasingly vital way in which we
explore the world and ourselves.
(Robinson and Phipps 2003).