Green and Clean Tourism
September 2009
The recent major fires in California and Greece along with other natural disasters around the world ought to remind us that green tourism is essential if tourism is both to survive and prosper in the twenty-first century. In fact, good ecology & beautification and travel & tourism ought to be natural allies. Unfortunately, this natural alliance has not always occurred. Travel and tourism is the largest industry in the world. Tourism’s shear size may make it therefore the most world’s most ecologically damaging industry. In order for mass tourism to be compatible with ecology, travel and tourism officials will have to determine what is the maximum number of people who can visit a specific place and still permit the natural environment to flourish. When speaking about urban tourism, this is often not a difficult equation, but when speaking about pristine and unique regions, the person-to place-ratio becomes and essential component in tourism development.
Almost by definition, many vacationers tend to be careless when thinking of their impact on the environment. For example, consider the amount of detergents that hotels add to the earth’s water resources every time they must change bedding or wash towels. In opposition to these natural concerns, travel and tourism officials often complain that environmentalists are insensitive to natural expansion and the need for economic growth. Were tourism to cease to be a major industry, not only would a great number of people loose their jobs, but also in other aspects, there would be a major decrease in the quality of life. To complicate the issue still further, often basic safety actions are counter to the environmental movement. For example, safety experts encourage tourists and hotel guests to keep lights, and a television or radio on when out of the room in order to provide a safer environment.
The question then becomes how to tourism officials keep beaches from becoming over populated, streets clean, and countrysides pristine while at the same time encouraging hotel occupancy and business development? Furthermore, events and festivals while adding millions of dollars to local economies also tend to produce mountains of garbage. To help all of us protect our natural resources so that our guests will be able to enjoy your locale’s natural here are several suggestions.
- Recognize that even urban tourism settings need to protect the environment. While even the city’s bright lights are an attraction, there is no doubt that urban centers can still be environmentally friendly. Not only should trash be recycled, but also new lighting permits cities to light up the night and still protect the environment. Consider developing a “green tourism council” that can help by implanting such ideas as: certifying environmentally friendly hotels, adding plants and flowers to cityscapes, developing walking paths and routes, providing easy access to public transportation and creating share-a-cab programs that allow multiple same time usage of taxi cabs.
- Develop a green tourism measurement scale for your community. Because most communities have no overall environmental plan, few locales know how well they are doing in creating green tourism. Develop an overall city plan that includes such things as: traffic control, transportation issues, water usage, pollutants emitted into the atmosphere and natural water resources, animal protection, garbage disposal, paper usage. Make sure to tailor your measurement scale to the needs and challenges of your community or location and weight those factors most heavily that have the greatest impact on your community or location. Take the time to review your tourism area. Is it easy or difficult to throw away rubbish? Is protection provided for sensitive foliage? Are people made aware of what is harmful and what is permitted? Remember that in a multi-national, multilingual world signage must be understandable not only by those who speak the native language but also by foreign guests. Also remember to inform while guarding against noise and sign pollution.
- Remind people that good security begins with a sense of environmental pride. Many tourism security professionals emphasize that good security starts with beautification projects and good environmental control. For example, New York City learned that by cleaning up the trash, fixing broken windows, and getting rid of graffiti that it was able to lower its crime rate considerably. In a like measure the more any of us care for out environment, the more pride that we have in it and the lower the chance of crime.
- Turn your environmentalism policies into a form of marketing. All too often people in tourism forget that a clean and healthy environment does not take away from the bottom line it adds to it. Do not define the word in its most narrow sense, but rather in its broadest sense. For example, a restaurant that offers a romantic setting is selling environmental tourism. Few people will spend a lot of money to eat over a garbage dump, but many people are more than willing to spend top dollar to eat in a charming setting, be that setting a table overlooking an ocean, a crystal clear lake, a beautiful garden, or a forest. Tourism officials need to promote their locale’s ecology and be creative in finding ways to protect it and still use it. The wise tourism marketer promotes the ecological health of his/her area in all written, oral and visual marketing efforts.
- Make it easy to be ecologically pro-active. For example consider certifying “green friendly” businesses. Hotels can often a green check-in briefing where guests are told the hotels policies regarding green tourism and guests can ask questions on how they can help the environment. Let businesses know that you promote those business and business partners that promote the environment. Offer guests, patrons and travelers the option of adding a small donation to their bill so as to help repair the environment by cleaning up dirty water resources or planning trees.
- Use the expertise of a local university or college in your area. There is a whole body of knowledge about eco-tourism and environmental tourism. Take the time to learn something about this important field of study, and remember that responsible stewardship of the land not only is a part of being a good citizen, but also makes good business sense.
- Develop ecology tours no matter where you are located. Every part of the world has an eco-system. The problem is that most non-rural areas chose to ignore their eco-system. Make sure that you understand yours; then develop a tour that teaches people the good and the bad about the environment in which you live. The tour can also be used as a means to create a cooperative alliance between tourism and the local ecology groups
