Sustainability is a major issue in tourism today. The sustainable concept is largely discussed in tourism and therefore you cannot deal without this. It is nowadays clear that tourism has positive and negative impacts on destinations all over the world. Because of large tourism numbers and the negative impacts on destinations like on the natural environment or on the local community, sustainability became necessary in tourism. The aim of this report is to discuss the concept sustainability from the planning perspective on tourism destinations.

First of all I would like to make clear what sustainability is about in this report because the sustainable concept is discussed by many academics in the literature. The World Commission on Environment and Development defined the concept of sustainability as those that ‘meet the goals of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. (Ruhanen, 2004) Secondly the World Tourism Organization defined the following definition of sustainable development; ‘sustainable tourism development meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems’. (Zhenhua, 2003)

It can be said that sustainable development in tourism is introduced due to the fact that tourism is based on resources like the nature and heritage of societies. Looking at sustainable development in destinations is looking at it from one level, the local level. Although this is not sustainable at a global level, which is in my view also difficult to put in to practice and therefore not realistic if you already look at the transportation to a tourism destination.

Secondly it is nowadays clear that tourism has positive and negative impacts on destinations. An example is that in some destinations it has improved the local economies but in others it has damaged them (Ruhanen, 2004) When we are talking about the impacts of tourism on destinations, you can ask the question who is to one to blame? The tourists or the ones that are responsible for tourism planning in a destination. When answering this question I would say the ones that are responsible for the planning in a destination, particular local governments because they have to most direct and immediate control over tourism development in an area. (Hall et al. in Ruhanen, 2004)

Furthermore according to Ruhanen (2004) sustainable planning is based on two key factors; first, the stakeholders involved need to collaborate and second, a strategic approach to tourism planning is necessary. But in real world not all destinations have a tourism plan and some of them already noticed that it is often too late when development already took place. Besides when plans are made they also should be implemented otherwise sustainability cannot be reached.

Finally according to Zhenhua (2003) ‘tourism development is a dynamic process of matching tourism resources to the demands and preferences of actual and potential tourists’. But the sophisticated tourist is nowadays picky and keeps searching for new experiences. This means that the planning and development in destinations should keep changing too. Therefore it is difficult to measure sustainability if the environment keeps changing because it is based on long-term effects.

It can be concluded that tourism planning is necessary to protect a destination from negative impacts and is therefore major. I also personally believe that tourists are not the ones to blame but the destinations it self in the first place. I agree that sustainable planning makes it possible for a destination to reduce the negative effects of tourism and preserve the positive effects as long as possible. In this case experts and collaboration between all the stakeholders involved is necessary for planning and development otherwise it is not reasonable to reach sustainability in a destination.

Resources

  • Faulkner B. 2006, Rejuvenating a maturing tourist destination: the case of the Cold Coast, Australlia, in: Butler R.W. (2006) the tourism area life cycle,p.306-335 vol.1; Applications and Modifications,(Channel view publications).
  • Ruhanen L. 2004, Strategic planning for local tourism destinations: an analysis of tourism plans, Taylor and Francis Ltd, Electronic version viewed 28-10-2010.
  • Ruhanen L. 2008, Progressing the sustainability debate: a knowledge management approach to sustainable tourism planning, Taylor and Francis Ltd, Electronic versions viewed 29-10-2010.
  • Zhenhua L. 2003, Sustainable tourism development: a critique, Journal of sustainable tourism, electronic version viewed on 28-10-2010.