Tourism and the Environment

Essay # 45298

Environmental Studies > Environmental Problems
Environmental Studies > Management
Environmental Studies > Urban Issues

An examination of the possibility of tourist attractions not being developed at the expense of the environment.

1,756 words () | 4 sources | APA | 2003 United States

Paper Summary:

Proponents for environmental sustainability and promoters of the tourism industry have long been at odds with each other, both working feverishly to realize their respective objectives, while butting heads the entire way. There is no arguing the fact that man's presence has caused serious and even irreparable harm to the environment, but there is also no way to avoid the continued encroachment inherent to tourism. This paper explores whether the two can find a way to exist in a symbiotic fashion without causing more damage.

From the Paper:

"It has been a problem environmentalists have grappled with for decades: the continuing degradation of public lands by tourists. For example, national and state parks are showing signs of intense wear as people traipse along off-the-beaten-track and do not follow the unspoken law of the land: tread lightly and leave no trace. Also significant to the drastic devastation tourists continue to wreak upon national and state parks is the increased use of motorized recreational vehicles that do nothing more than rip up the land. Not only is the sound of these all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles and personal watercraft imposing upon those who seek the peace and quiet inherently associated with the outdoors, but they also create "lots of environmental problems" (Lloyd, 1998, p. 3), such as tremendous traffic problems, air & water pollution, as well as a considerable cost to society."