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Tourism Conflicts & Concerns

Local Opposition & Major Economic Changes

* Local people may resent visiting sportsmen because they are “shooting our deer” or “catching our fish”.

* The price of land has been known to escalate rapidly in popular tourist destination areas. Local residents are effectively “chased out” from the housing market.

 * Tourism injects money into the destination economy but this can also lead to inflation which then affects the price of food, clothing, transportation, and housing.

Destruction of Habitat & Facilities

*Increased population pressures (urban sprawl, the need for more building supplies & greater transportation services, water & sewage needs, etc.) have a direct negative impact on the natural resources of every area

*Certain heavy-impact businesses (mining, forestry, etc.) continue to operate with substandard equipment and non-compliance with environmental laws. The result is degradation of the resources with impacts far beyond the borders of their operations.

* Increased travel to and within the natural areas often leads to congestion which causes a decline in the quality of the experience and leads to degradation of the resource.

* Facilities & parks are sometimes abused by unthinking & inconsiderate visitors. The rule that “if you can’t maintain it, don’t build it” is a cardinal principal of tourism development.

* Local & political pressures tend to transform practically all the coastline of a country into one vast tourist preferential zone. This situation impacts in many areas including the basic ecosystems’ structure & functioning and the needs of migratory species that use the coast

* Tourism can be developed in ways which will not impose heavy costs. Strict control of land use by zoning and building codes is a needed measure.

* Mass tourism in developing countries, if not controlled and regulated, might help to destroy whatever there is left of unspoiled nature and of traditional ways of life.

* The explorer-tourist who discovers “hidden natural treasures” often unintentionally opens the way for more commercialized forms of tourism, the managers of which are always on the lookout for new and unusual attractions.

Images & Expectations

* Studies show that tourist publications & travel literature are ordinarily written in the spirit of the tourist establishment—and often not by a native---whose prime motive is selling, not merely informing. Such literature colors the tourist’s attitudes and expectations beforehand (i.e., alligators and bald eagles at every bend)

*Some tourism promoters and businesses which are simply following a “hot trend” may present erroneous information or “do whatever it takes” to bring in the tourists & get them to the advertised experience. These practices can lead to harmful effects for the entire ecosystem.

* A common comment is that the group-tourist travels in a world of his own, surrounded by, but not integrated in, the host society. They may have seen the natural or cultural site but not really experienced it. The challenge is how to overcome that isolation.

* Economists say that tourism should not be allowed to grow to an extent that the destination area becomes totally dependant on it.