TOURISM'S

RELATIONSHIP TO THE

NATURAL

ENVIRONMENT:

BUILDING A NEW

FUTURE?

Professor Andrew

Holden

Key Questions

• What do we understand by the

ontology of nature- 'our' environment?

•How do we assimilate scientific reality

and cultural constructs?

•How does tourism have positive and

negative impacts on nature?

How do we form our

understanding of the

environment ?• Changing paradigms and framings of

understanding- spiritual/religious; scientific and cultural

• Pagan belief systems emphasise the presence of spirits in nature and surroundings

• Christian- ‘Man’ is made in the image of God- ‘Great Chain of Being’-God was removed to a celestial high

• Nature loses its spiritual value- therefore can be used in an instrumental and utilitarian mode

• Notion of stewardship in the Bible

• Enlightenment- scientific enquiry- Descartes

• Industrial Revolution

• Romanticism

An age of the 'environmental

turn'

• 1960s- ‘Spaceship Earth’; Carson’s ‘Silent Spring

• 1970’s- ENGO's e.g. Greenpeace;; Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania; Limits of Growth Report

• 1980s- global warming; ozone depletion; Chernobyl; rain forest depletion; origins of green consumerism; Brundtland Report; ecotourism

• 1990s- GM crops; animal rights; growth in organic crops; Earth Summit- PPT; responsible tourism; ST-EP

• 2000+– ‘Green Consumerism’, Climate Change; Plastic in the Ocean; Paris Accord; Global protests agains climate change-Extinction Rebellion; Greta Thunberg

Think Point

• What does the term 'natural

environment' signify to you?

• Which characteristics and

emotions do you associate

with nature ?

• Does it have a value in itself

(intrinsic) and a right to

existence or is

its value determined only

by human benefit?

How is tourism associated

with nature?

• Provides both the focus and eco-support services for recreational tourism

• Images of the ‘unspoilt’ by human agency

• Symbolic of the antithesis of modernity and urbanisation

• Relaxation/emotional experience

• Setting for dreams and actions

• Nature provides ‘resources’ for tourism e.g. climate, water and ecosystems

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

In

te

rn

atio

na

l A

rr

iv

als

(

millio

ns

)

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2005 2010 2020

Year

International arrivals : (1950-2020)Acutal and projected figures

The economic link

between nature

and tourism

• Recreational tourism is dependent on high quality natural environments e.g. mountains; oceans, seas, lakes and rivers; wildlife; and coral reefs

• Often the quality of the environment is the main attraction for tourists-value of the aesthetic

• In an anthropocentric framing there is an economic logic to conserve nature for tourism offering sustainable development and providing pleasure

BUT TOURISM CAN

HARM NATURE

WHY?

• Absence of policy and planning for tourism- incremental and cumulative impacts

• Tourism's over-use of 'public goods' at varying spatial levels: e.g. atmosphere and oceans

• Lack of legal protection for nature- no acknowledgement of an independent right to existence

• A weak environmental ethic of society-the ‘instrumental’ use of nature

• Incremental and cumulative impacts of tourism

• Construction of tourism as a liminal activity in relation to everyday life-transitory in time and space

Categories of

pollution: global to

local

• Air- air travels contribution to

GHG emissions and global

warming; car travel- reliance

on carbon based energy

• Water- sewage; cruise ships

• Aesthetic

• Noise

Over-use of resources

• Water- social/economic

issues

• Wildlife – rights of nature

• Nature as a sink- pollution

THINK POINT- Issues of

natural resource usage

• Have you visited a place where

you thought there was too much

tourism?

• How would you identify too much

tourism?

• Why does it matter if tourism

harms nature and the

environment?

Issues of assessing

tourism’s impacts

• Sometimes it may be difficult to attribute negative impacts caused by tourism vis-à-vis other sources

• Incremental and cumulative

• There is often a lack of a baseline to manage change against

• Tourism’s relationship with nature will reflect shifting paradigms of constructs of nature and environmental values

• Tourism's rapid growth and spatial extension makes it a key determinant of how anthropogenic activity impacts on nature

• Need for a sustainable relationship between tourism and nature across spatial dimensions

Summary

Seminar Video- Safari

Kenya• https://www.youtube.com/wat

ch?v=RDCk9SgdEZY