Sustainability in Tourism Flashcards
Value Chain
- Agencies (Environmental Certification)
- Tour Operators (Specialized + Mainstream)
- Service Providers (Airlines + Cruises)
- Destinations (Animal welfare + CO2 Compensation)
- Hotels (Management + Ecology)
Human Affects on the Earth
Critical resources becoming scarce
Ecosystem are increasingly degraded
Pollution and waste
Four Major Implications
Global water use
Conversion of Lands for Infrastructure
Global Food Consumption
Emissions of Greenhouse Gases
BUCKLEY’s Assessments (5)
Parks
Pollution
Prosperity
Peace
Population
Definition for Sustainable Tourism
Practice within tourism that acknowledges all impacts (+/-) and aims to minimize the negative and maximize the positive
Three Elements of Sustainability
Social
Environmental
Economic
Goals for Environment aspect of Sustainability
Preserve nature and Environment for future Generations
* conservation of biodiversity
* reduce climate change
* maintenance of cultural and natural areas in their original form
* careful use of the natural environment.
Environmental Effects (+/-)
Positive - building an ecologic understanding and sensitivity, supports nature parks and biospheres
negative - Infrastructural (destruction of landscape + effects on sensitive biospheres), Activity related (physical, resource loss, waste), Emissions
Goals Society and Culture aspects of Sustainability
development that enables a community
- balance of social forces
- long term sustainable, livable society
Social and Cultural effects (+/-)
Positive -Intercultural understanding
- Protection and preservation of cultural heritage and traditions
- Local Pride and Self-determination
Negative- Acculturation, cultural conformity
- “Airport-art”
- Child prostitution
- Petit thefts, begging
- “Staged authenticity”
- Migration
- Internal conflicts for resources and wealth
Goals Economy aspect of Sustainability
Employ existing resources optimally
so that a responsible and beneficial balance can be achieved over the longer term
- protection of economic resources from exploitation
Economical effects (+/-)
Positive - Foreign currency effects
- Employment effects
- Multiplication effects
- Enhancement of infrastructure
- Regional development impulses
Negative - Rising price levels
- tourism dependencies
- Regional disparities
- Loss of land rights
Connections between elements of Sustainability
Econ + Enviro = equitable
Econ + Social = Viable
Enviro + Social = Acceptable
Average international tourist revenue
US $700 pp
Travel and tourism represent how much of GDP and world employment
GDP = 10% global
World employment = 10%
Sustainable Contributions (positive effects)
- less impact on environment
- appreciation of local culture
- positive role in consumer commitment
- Econ incentive to conserve natural Enviro and habitat
First Tour
Thomas Cook 1841
View on Nature in the 1800s
Special and beautiful
North America pristine lands discovered
Beginning Concept of Sustainable Development
1860s - National Parks established in US to take protective measures against economic and individual exploitation and preserve the natural beauty of a specific area
Industrial Revolution downsides
- Exponential growth with more and more resources being consumed
- Domestic/industrial waste released into air and water system
- London’s nickname “the Big Smoke”
- Consequences: Increased population, morality and destruction
Importance of Sustainability in Tourism
- Tourism has huge capacity for generating growth
- often used for development of destination regions
- Increasing impacts lead to range of evident/potential problems and envior/social/econ/political issues
SDG - Sustainable Development Goals
- 17 goals
- broad and interdependent
- each separate list of targets (169 total)
- cover Social and Econ Development issues
Social and Econ Development Issues
- Poverty, hunger, health, education
- Global Warming, gender equality, water
- Sanitation, energy, urbanization
- Envior and Social Justice
Sustainable Development Goals (list)
- No Poverty
- Zero Hunger
- Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being
- Quality education and lifelong learning
- Gender equality
- Sustainable water + sanitation MNGT
- Access to sustainable, modern energy
- Econ growth & productive employment
- Industry, innovation, infrastructure
- Reduce inequalities
- Sustainable cities and communities
- Responsible production and consumption
- Climate action
- Life below water
- life on land
- Peace, justice, strong institution
- Partnership for the goals
History 1960-1980
- limit growth: research into Carrying capacity (CC)
- CC = basis for approaching/mngt negative impacts
- CC – could be problematic in both theory/practice
History 1980-1990
research/development discourses by idea of Sustainable tourism
History 1990-today
- Increasing criticism of ‘sustainable tourism’
- Difficulties w/ practice and usability
- unrealistic expectations/conceptually fragmented
Limits of Growth 1987
Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations needs
the three elements come into play
Limits of Growth - 1992
United Nation - Earth Summit
- need to enforce principles within wider econ/social processes
- tourism potential for advancing social and econ develop
Over-tourism and Overcrowding
- Intense tourism growth in one area
with Locals or among visitors - 2 components (cognitive and emotional)
Cognitive Component
Component of Crowding - Perceiving situation
Emotional Component
Component of Crowding - Evaluation crowding as unacceptable
Level of Crowding
- Situational characteristic of the environment
- Personal characteristics of the visitor
- characteristics of other tourists
Carry Capacities
The max number of people a place can handle at a time without causing damage and depleting resources
To Avoid over tourism
- know the Carry Capacity of a tourism system
- Consider Seasonality
What is involved in Carrying Capacity
- certain resource
- certain number of tourists
-intensity of the factual impact - question of human values
- individual (changing) perceptions
- highly dynamic
3 Dimensions of Carry Capacity
- Physical-Ecological - charac. of Destination
- Socio-Demographic - charac. of people
- Political-Economic - charc. of types of destination
Social Demographic dimension
highly difficult to measure
related to value dimensions
highly dependent on psychology of tourist and locals
Tipping Point
- Quality of experience that visitor will accept before seeking alternative destinations
- While balancing the degrees of tolerance of the visitors related to the number of other tourists.
Three Theoretical Approaches
- Resource-based
- Activity-based
- Community-based
Resource based theoretical approach
- limits to growth
- un-negotiable limit for each system
- carrying capacity
- Ecological/Nature centered
Activity based theoretical approach
- tourism = tool for development
- Industry perspective
- Rational/Economic use of environment
Community based theoretical approach
- Relations between two
- discourses and negotiations
- Empowerment
- limit of growth from the perspective of local culture and economics
Methods/Tools to assess potentials of Overtourism
- Estimating CC is important to manage value of destination of the tourist
- Estimating population destiny based on level of tourism
- Evaluate environment and Social CC
- Look at factors such as length of stay, charac. of tourist/host, degre of seasonality, ect
Use predictive analytics to calculate visitors needs effectively
Solutions for a better tourist experience
- increased/improved infrastructure
- use visitor mngt effectively over time and space
- Eval vacation preferences/customer profile charac.
- use mrkt and/or new tech (VR) to influence emotions/perception/behaviour
- when individuals are more aware/educated about tourism destination, capacities can be managed + crowding better balanced
10 pledges for a better tourist experience
- mng waster during travel period
- switch AC/lights off when leave room
- look for eco-friendly accom
- try to manage CO2 ftprint
- refuse hotel amenities
- shop locally
- go to lesser know places
- pick up litter at beach
- request no toiletries in room (bring own)
- reef friendly beach products
Main areas of negative impact in a Hotel
- Waste (Food, Paper, Glass, Plastic)
- Water (Black/Grey)
- Energy (Kitchen facilitates, heating/cooling, lightning)
3 Principles and 6 areas of Sustainable hotel mngt
Principles - Reduce, reuse, recycle
Main areas
1. waste reduction
2. water consumption
3. Energy consumption
Secondary areas
4. Landscape/architecture
5. Carbon emissions
6. Social enviro.
5 approaches to reduce Ecological footprint when building a hotel
- Preserving local vegetation and landscape
- Consider the effect of the sun
- Maximize natural lighting
- Make use of the stack effect
- Use sustainable construction materials
adv of Preserving local vegetation and landscape
- local trees more valuable in terms of biodiversity
- Local vegetation needs less water.care
- local vegetation cheaper to buy
Consider the effect of the sun
- Orientation of building (location and climate condit)
- Glazing (allows 90% of energy in - but poor insulator)(3 pan glaze)
- Thermal mass (brick, concrete, stone)
Maximize natural lighting
- Orientate the building, open construction concept, special material
- saves energy/lighting
- better working conditions
- more pleasant enviro for guests
Make use of the stack effect
- hot air rises + escapes through small gaps in building fabric at top
- escaping air draws in new cold air through gaps in bottom of house
Use sustainable construction materials
reused material in construction projects
Embodied Energy
Energy needed to produce and supply product
extraction – manufacture – transport – Build – operation
Problematic Situations - Maldives
- Trash rarely separated
- 400 tons of trash dumped daily
- It is being burned/dumped into the ground
- Increase land area by square meter per pay (Thilafushi)
Problematic situations - Everest
- in 2011 volunteers collected rubbish for six weeks
found 8 tons of O2 cylinder, empty cans, tent, etc.
Best Practices - Mallorca
- waste mngt system: incineration, recycling, dumping
- raising local awareness by informing about projects
- Enviro. Tech. Park
Best Practices - Egypt
- waste mngt system: avoidance, collection, separation, disposal
- Recycling farm, extensive urban waste separation
- training of locals & information for tourist
Waste in Hotels - where is it from
Food prep - 45%
Spoilage - 21%
Customer plates - 34%
What should be done about waste mngt
- Prevention
- Recycling
- Recovery
- Disposal
waste mngt: Prevention
- raw material/product reduced (measured in overall reduction in waste)
- redistribution
- sent to farms (animal fed)
waste mngt: Recycling
- anaerobic digestion
- composted
waste mngt: Recovery
incineration - energy recovery
waste mngt: Disposal
- incinerated w/out energy recovery
- landfill
- sewers
4 areas of waste in Hotels
- Office
- Restaurants
- Kitchen
- Rooms
Benefits of effective waste mngt
- biggest: less purchasing, saves time, reduces waste disposal bill
- noticed by customers and green initiative
- helps enviro
- saves natural resources
saves raw material, energy, reduces pollution
Ways hotels can mange waste
- develop enviro policy
- ask staff how to reduce
- set policies w/ goals (accountability and training plan)
- consider incentives and staff commitment letter
- keep monthly stats
- control/audit
“how” to reduce waste
- refillable amenities
- high concentrated cleaned
- LED bulbs
- Restaurants (washable cloth, reusable coffee filters, bulk condiment dispensers)
- carpet square to replace single area
- no un-requested newspaper
- print double sided (small fonts/margins)
-ask to reduce excess packaging - donate linens/blanket/uniforms/reservable food/re-use
How to “recycle”
- install bins
- fryer oil for bio-diesel/bio-electricity
- separate and give to respective areas
Importance of Water in tourism
no hotel is possible w/out water
- direct – pools/showers
- indirect – food
- 70% of earths surface (2.5% fresh/1% usable my man)
Links between water and tourism
- higher consumption than at home
- tourism often in places with water stress (eg: Capetown)
- Travel periods often match periods of lowest rainfall
Types of Water
- Blue water
- White water
- Grey water
- Black water
Blue water
- rain/river/lake water
- used for anything (not drinking/cooking)
White water
- purified/controlled water
- can/should be used for drinking/cooking
Grey water
- used water (not chemically/biologically/physically polluted)
- can be used for irrigation/toilets
Black water
- came in contact with faecal matter
- needs to be cleaned (can’t be used for irrigation)
Direct water consumption
- water used everyday
- mostly white water (drinking/hygiene)
Indirect water consumption
- used to grow/produce
- white/blue typically used
- very difficult to specify/quantify correctly
Water footprint definition
Direct = total volume of freshwater used immediately by consumer
Indirect = total volume of freshwater used indirectly/virtually for production/services
Water Footprint = total volume of freshwater sued in/directly to run business
Products by water consumption level
Highest to lowest
- Bovine meat (beef)
- nuts
- sheep/goat
- pig
- chicken
- eggs
- cereals
- milk
- fruit
- veggies
Indirect water consumption in tourism
- Tourist consume 6,575 L/day (most in food use)(buffet requires the largest amount of water)
Water consumption in hotels (areas)
Highest to lowest
1. Food
2. Accommodation
3. transpot
4. energy at hotel
5. activities
Methods for water mngt
- Meter installation
- Detecting Leaks
- Measuring flow rates
- Towels/bed linens - no single day use
- Garden irrigation - local plants
- Pools - cover, inspect regularly
Risks if water problem not solved
- Operational - things not available (ie: showers)
- Regulatory - only during specific times
- Financial - high costs of transport
- Reputational - negative media
Desalination
Process of turning sea water into drinking water
- high cost of operation
- high emissions
- higher salt level in sea
why is energy mngt important (and growing more so)
- raising energy consumption
- Raising energy cost per k/Wh
- increase demand for mngt
Five-step-process of energy mngt plan
- Mngt/planning -assign team (manager, housekeeper, tech, finance)
- energy assessment - audit
- Benchmarking - compare
- Measures - id and implement
- Evaluate - monitor and eval
Areas of Electricity use (main areas)
highest to lowest
1. HVAC (heat, vent, AC)(51%)
2. lighting (14%)
3. how water (13%)
4. kitchen/food equip (11%)
5. other (6%)
6. laundry (5%)
Energy mngt - three important areas of focus
- Rooms
- Public area (reception, lobby, bar, restaurant)
- Service area (kitchen, office, laundry)
Obstacles in energy save mngt
- lack of awareness
- mrkt doesn’t have what is needed
- perception (‘needed for comfort’)
- confusion/misuse of slogans
5 benefits of energy conservation
- Financial saving
- reduced emissions
- conserves resources
- reduced maintenance
- improved comfort
5 dimensions of sustainable food concepts
- Econ
- Ecology
- Culture
- Health
- Society
Importance of more sustainable food in tourism
- uses many resources (land, water, energy)
- production contributes to green house gases
- Agriculture is an important econ factor
- Farmers should get a fair share of profits
- Food is an important component of the holiday experience
- Health aspects of food consumption is a major concern
- Maintaining food supplies is a relevant global issue
- Protection of food cultures and traditions
- Tourism sometimes in difficult food production destinations
Food miles
The distance food is transported from time of production to reach consumer
Why source local food?
- Quantity
- Quality (better)
- Availability
- Hygiene level (HACCP)
- Bigger selection
- Better prices
- Customer taste/local support
Why source seasonal food?
- full quota of vitamins and flavour
- often the healthier and tastier option
- Empowers local producers and enhances an understanding of the local food culture
- reduction in food miles and CO2 emissions
Principles of organic food
- low use of external energy (e.g. through fertilizers)
- use of natural self-regulating mechanisms (e.g. crop rotation)
- closed resource circles
- use of natural plant protectants
- higher animal welfare
- less danger of intoxication (pesticides) for the farmer
- more labour intensive (creates more jobs)
Fair Trade
trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency, and respect - seeks greater equity in international trade
- offers better trading conditions to (and securing rights) marginalized producers/workers
Reality check for Organic food in hotels
- Play only a minor role
- Only between 2%-10%
- Mostly used for “organic corners”
- Fair trade largely unknown
Problems:
- Higher prices
- Uncertainty about organic certification
addressing problem of organic food in hotels
- Look for fair trade and organic labels.
- Don’t start with most expensive products.
- Buy directly from the producer.
- Advertise your organic products.
Purchasing for F&B managers
buy less
- beef
- deep-sea fish (30% overfished, 57% facing extinction)
- farmed carnivorous fish
- out of season food
buy more
- local
- potatoes
- grains
- chicken
- longer shelf life food
Food waster reduction
- Buy food with reduced packaging waste
- Emphasize quality over quantity
- Put more sustainable food at centre of buffet
- Present as many as possible attractive vegetarian and/or vegan alternatives
- Install special areas (e.g. table with organic food and/or local specialities)
- Set up service and communication strategies for your staff and train your employees
- Reduce portion and plate sizes at buffets, with more regular replenishment
Ways to inform guests about food offers
- Focus on certain information
- Create informative food tags
- Put information also on the tables
- Use the technique of story telling
- Try to inform your guests in a positive way
- Organize special food weeks (days)
Development of Cruise Ship tourism
- Oldest cruise line: P&O Cruises (1844)
- Caribbean biggest key deployment area
- 8% average annual growth since 1980
- Fastest growing sector in the tourism industry
Top 10 cruise industry facts
- 2022 rev of $18B
- 2021 total # passengers at 13M
- 2023 expected to reach rev 25.1B
- supports over 1M jobs
- costs average $214 per passenger daily
- worlds fleet cruise ship total 430
- 2021 US national made up 43% passengers
- 6 in 10 return to destination visited during cruise
- 2030 seeks to reduce CO2 emissions
- emits more greenhouse gases daily than 13M cars
Environmental issues on Cruise ships
- Emissions
- Waste
- Water
- Ballast water
- Noise Pollution
- Anchoring
- Impact on destinations
Bunker Fuel
Problem # 1
- toxic by-pass product of oil refineries
- needs to be heated to become liquid
- no filter on ships
Emissions of Cruise Ships
Primary
- Nitrogen Oxide
- Sulfur Oxide
- Carbon Dioxide
Secondary
- Ozone
-Particular matter
- Acid rain
Effects
- Higher sickness/death
- over fertilization
- disruption of ecosystem
- Global warming
Scrubber (open Vs Closed loops)
Open - takes water from sea, circulates it and dumps it (unfiltered) back into the sea
Closed - tank with freshwater that is continually circulated
Cold Ironing
‘solution’ for harbour emissions
shore to ship power (alternative to maritime power)
Cold Ironing pros/cons
Pros
- local power supply
- generators on board
- reduce nitrogen oxide/particulate emission by 95%
- CO2 reduce by 30%
noise reduction
Cons
- ships need to be retrofitted
- diff volt
- only sustainable when guaranteed electricity is renewable
- Expensive for ship and port
- not common by now
Waste treatment/disposal on cruise
- generally separated and brought to respected site on shore
- food: some shredded and dumped into the sea
Ballast water
water in ship to provide stability
- takes organisms from seas into ship, some die, those that don’t discharged into new environment and could be harmful
Work on cruise ships
12+ hr day
70 hr week
24 on call
7 day a week
30 day a month
~$550/month ($2/day)
6 month contract
health insurance
shared living/working environment
food/bed/uniform incl
limited rec tim
