principles

Statements and Declarations of the World Tourism Organization related to the Sustainable Development of Tourism:

From my point of view, the solution to unsustainable tourism is to develop studies that will evaluate how many visitors a site can carry without degradating. It is what we would call its « load capacity ».

What are the solutions to stop the damages caused in certain places by an uncontroled tourism ?

To prohibit tourism. As an example, the « grotte de Lascaux » (cave of Lascaux) located in France, have amazing prehistoric paintings on the walls. In order to protect them from the constant flow of tourists, the owning company decided to close the original cave and to build a replica a couple of hundred meters away with the help of the French government.

To limit tourism. Quotas of visitors could be established or visits can limited by the price. An interesting example is the Bhutan, where GDP is replaced by GDH = Growth Domestic Happiness, and tourists are compelled to spend something like $200 or $250 a day. This way, it both limits the number of tourists, and it makes sure that the country benefits from tourism.

To regulate the consruction. An example of how danageable tourism can be on the skyline is the seaside resort Benidorm located in Spain. It was once well known for its beautiful beaches, it is now famous for is horrendous skyline of high ugly buildings. Some coastal countries or cities now try to avoid this king of development, and some laws have been passed, such as simple ones that do not allow constructions higher than coconut trees.

A big issue in tourism is related to airline transporation. The Kyoto Protocol does not take into account the emissions of greenhouse gases by airplanes, and thus misses a big part of pollution.
An association for the environment in favor of the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions by airplanes has a website www.co2solidaire.org where you can calculate the CO2 emissions of your trips and their environmental cost. You can then donate as much to projects in favor of the environment.