Special Interest Tourism Nicos Rodosthenous PhD 22/10/ /10/20131Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts 1. Introduction  We will examine the potential impacts on natural and social environments of different types of SIT  Key concepts in the practice and provision of SIT  The role and place of tourism as a tool for community development  The issues of visitor impact management 22/10/20132Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts 2. SIT as a more sustainable form of tourism SIT tourist are seeking more “authentic” experiences, closer interaction with host community and more personalised service. This raises an issue of whether tourism is for the benefit of the tourist or for the local economy, and hence the local people. If tourism is part of community development and serves the same role as other industry, providing 22/10/20133Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts employment and income, should it be managed in the same way as other industrial activities? Tourism is growing at faster rate than other industry. (one of the biggest industry) This trend is likely to continue, but the issue for the growth is be managed in a sustainable way. While SIT encourages travel to remote places 22/10/20134Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts E.g. villages, it brings with it the social and ecological impacts of human activity, development and modernity. As a result, the alternative tourist will seek to penetrate even deeper into unspoiled places. SIT is often small-scale and locally based. It can be related to local character through rural tourism; to heritage through cultural tourism; and to the natural environment through ecotourism. 22/10/20135Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts 3. What is sustainable development? A number of factors are increasing our awareness of the real costs of human activity:  Industrialisation in all countries  Population  Globalisation  Air and water pollution  Global warming and sea levels  Waste production 22/10/20136Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts 3.1. A brief history of ESD (ecologically sustainable development) The concept of ESD was established at the UN Conference in Stockholm in This concept set out the urgent need to protect our ecological systems and to support future economic and social development. It has been recognised that sustainability is socially and politically constructed, and agendas and policies differ from place to place. 22/10/20137Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts If tourism development is to be sustainable, it must be environmentally responsible by adapting a more ecological and balanced approach. Tourism usually encourages high and unsustainable energy usage in developing and developed areas. It demands high use of resources like water and prime agricultural land. 22/10/20138Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts Many concepts developed on sustainable tourism and include:  The notion of carrying capacity  Limits of acceptable change and acceptable use  Maintenance of sense of place  Host/guest relationships  Debate on authenticity and commodification of culture and place  Debate on the ethics of tourism 22/10/20139Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts  The idea of the destination life cycle These approaches include supply versus demand, global versus local (goods, services, and labor). The challenge lies in utilizing these concepts to help make the practice of tourism sustainable Defining sustainable tourism In 1995 the WTO (World Tourism Organization) adopted a declaration by which: 22/10/201310Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts  Tourism should help people to live a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.  Tourism should contribute to the conservation and protection of ecosystems.  Protection of the environment should be an integral component of tourism development.  Tourism should be planned at the local level and allow for the participation of local people 22/10/201311Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts  Tourism should recognize and support the identity, culture and interests of local people.  International agreements to protect the environment should be respected by the tourism industry.  4. Impacts of tourism  4.1. Social impacts  Most of the goals of tourism planning are numeric and are measured in visitor numbers 22/10/201312Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts  and yield in terms of investment and spending  On the other hand there are many social impacts: inconvenience, loss of amenity, crowding, congestion and other generally negative social impacts, including increases in crime and pollution.  Investors and staff are often not local; goods and services are often imported and local people do not see tangible benefits. 22/10/201313Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts The concept of carrying capacity set in 1940s was in the fields of agriculture and wildlife management. Today is a useful tool for tourism planning when considering ecological and social impacts (1991) Ecological carrying capacity in relation to tourism-level of visitation beyond which there will be ecological impacts. 22/10/201314Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts  Social carrying capacity for the visitor is the level of visitation beyond which satisfaction is not achieved because of congestion and noise  Tourism needs to be managed to maximize both visitor satisfaction and local distribution of benefits.  4.2. Local people and tourism  Together with issues of the local people are issues relating to the traditional use of resources, land rights and ownership. 22/10/201315Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts Successful models are tourism operations locally owned and managed, so people and culture are not exploited Protected areas and tourism Designated “protected” areas were dedicated for the preservation and enjoyment of natural and cultural heritage, e.g. national parks. Nature-based tourism and ecotourism provide 22/10/201316Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts Incentive for conservation and maintenance of the protected areas Environmental impacts of tourism Tourism has an impact on air, land, water, flora and fauna. Peak periods create pressure on infrastructure, water supply, roads, natural resources/products and community services. 22/10/201317Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts Tourism relies on protected areas and the experiences they offer to the visitors. The growing trend towards nature-based tourism will intensify ecological pressures. 5. Making tourism sustainable Sustainable tourism is not only to maintain environmental assets for the future benefit of tourism, but to become also a mature, responsible and ethical global industry. Tourism must recognize that most of the assets 22/10/201318Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts it exploits –natural, built, social and cultural, have their own value beyond the economic. 6. The place of tourism in community development The relationship between tourism and community involves four stakeholder groups:  Government authorities, who are responsible for the planning, resourcing and maintenance of local infrastructure.  Local business community, who derive an income from the operation of commercial enterprises. 22/10/201319Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts  Local community, who share their area with visitors.  Visitors, who make tourism viable (Bushell 1998)  Tourism operators often forget that they do not own, or have special rights over the basic assets of their business.  Likewise, community members fail to see that improvements made for tourism bring many benefits to the local community. 22/10/201320Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts 6.1 Defining community Local government structures, community groups and businesses work together on environmental, physical, cultural, social and economic aspects. 6.2 Community development Sound community development recognizes the need for a balance between environmental, social and economic needs. 22/10/201321Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts The community vision helps to define what is acceptable change and what is considered to be in the best long-term interests of the whole community, like: The quality of the environment (natural, built) The efficient use of material resources Access to public and private services The involvement of local people in decisions that affect them The health and wellbeing of its citizens. 22/10/201322Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts 6.3 Tourism and community Specific policies, plans and actions are needed to achieve community goals, such as: Safe drinking water Public transport Roads and footpaths Waste disposal Electricity Police and fire protection 22/10/201323Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts Hospitals Libraries and museums Planners and stakeholders need to develop a shared vision and common ground on the future development and nature of a place and on the role that tourism might play in this vision. These can include: the conservation of cultural and natural heritage, awareness of local history and helping to preserve the open space. 22/10/201324Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts 7. Quality of life and the role of tourism The WTO (1990) defines sustainable tourism as a ‘form of economic development that is designed to improve the quality of life of the host community..’ Quality of life, defined as the physical and social attractiveness of a place in influencing people to move to, live in, visit, work or play in an area. 22/10/201325Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts 8. Managing visitor impacts Tourism affects host communities, placing increased demand on services and amenities. The main problem is to identify the indicators that are sensitive to economic benefit and visitor satisfaction and effectively monitoring the social and ecological carrying capacity of a particular place, time and activity mix. Carrying capacity (CC) was adapted to recreation settings in 1965, in an effort to control the max number of visitors accepted in a tourist resort. 22/10/201326Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Practice SIT. Provision and impacts Case study: Tourism planning in Manly 22/10/201327Dr Nicos Rodosthenous