Sustainable Development and Leisure Services: Changes and Trends
11
and beaches, protecting animals near hotels, and reducing environmental impact
through improving eco-efficiency (energy consumption, water consumption, waste
avoidance, reduced land use) in thousands of holiday hotels.
With the same intention, the concept of ecolodge came about as a type of tourist
accommodation that protects the natural and cultural components of its environment.
During construction it has minimal environmental impact, and it is designed to fit into
the specific context of the environment, use alternative, sustainable means of water
consumption, ensure careful treatment of garbage and wastewater, work well with
the locals, implement environmental education programs for both employees and
tourists and contribute to the sustainable development of the local community through
research programs (Uriely and Ron 2004). Visitors are mostly independent travelers
who travel without a tour guide. Local guides are hired, who are usually strongly
motivated to present the natural attractiveness of the homeland to the people visiting,
and due to their knowledge, they are sincerely respected by the visitors. There are
many opportunities for leisure activities: bird watching, canoeing, horseback riding,
cycling, trips to beaches, educational visits to local museums, zoos, butterfly farms,
and some more extreme ones, such as jungle walking or rope trails (Love Travel
2020b).
Another example of a good practice in the fight for environmental conservation
is the action taken by the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, whereby some 400,000
volunteers around the world cleared 27,400 km of coasts, riverbeds and seabeds
during the International Coastal Cleanup Day. More than 3.2 million cigarette butts
and about 1.3 million plastic bags were collected. Volunteers also found 26,585 car
tires, which would be enough for 6646 cars. Of the 104 countries participating in
this 23rd International Cleanup Day, almost half of the volunteers were from the US,
along with significant numbers of volunteers from Japan, the Philippines and Canada
(Love Travel 2020a).
The development of leisure activities cannot be viewed separately from economic
indicators, but it is necessary to understand that these indicators are the only measure
of successful development. Leisure consumption includes all the goods and services
we consume during our free time, such as outdoor recreation, tourist travel, but also
just reading a book or watching television (Gronow and Southerton 2010). According
to Aall et al. (2011), researchers and policy makers have paid relatively little attention to the negative impacts that leisure consumption has on the life span. People are
more inclined to understand how to reduce environmental impact through their daily
consumption than through leisure consumption. This issue has been addressed indirectly, mostly in works dealing with sustainable tourism or the negative impacts of
transport and leisure transportation on the environment. The authors also mention the
link between energy consumption and leisure activities (Becken and Patterson 2006;
Lee and Jan 2019), but this issue is not sufficiently addressed in the contemporary
literature on leisure studies (Ormrod and Wheaton 2009).
Focusing solely on making a profit has led to the degradation of tourist destinations, national parks and some parts of cities, as well as the emergence of environmental problems. The first environmental problems arose with the development
of modern industry and mass tourism. Such activities have had a negative impact
11
and beaches, protecting animals near hotels, and reducing environmental impact
through improving eco-efficiency (energy consumption, water consumption, waste
avoidance, reduced land use) in thousands of holiday hotels.
With the same intention, the concept of ecolodge came about as a type of tourist
accommodation that protects the natural and cultural components of its environment.
During construction it has minimal environmental impact, and it is designed to fit into
the specific context of the environment, use alternative, sustainable means of water
consumption, ensure careful treatment of garbage and wastewater, work well with
the locals, implement environmental education programs for both employees and
tourists and contribute to the sustainable development of the local community through
research programs (Uriely and Ron 2004). Visitors are mostly independent travelers
who travel without a tour guide. Local guides are hired, who are usually strongly
motivated to present the natural attractiveness of the homeland to the people visiting,
and due to their knowledge, they are sincerely respected by the visitors. There are
many opportunities for leisure activities: bird watching, canoeing, horseback riding,
cycling, trips to beaches, educational visits to local museums, zoos, butterfly farms,
and some more extreme ones, such as jungle walking or rope trails (Love Travel
2020b).
Another example of a good practice in the fight for environmental conservation
is the action taken by the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, whereby some 400,000
volunteers around the world cleared 27,400 km of coasts, riverbeds and seabeds
during the International Coastal Cleanup Day. More than 3.2 million cigarette butts
and about 1.3 million plastic bags were collected. Volunteers also found 26,585 car
tires, which would be enough for 6646 cars. Of the 104 countries participating in
this 23rd International Cleanup Day, almost half of the volunteers were from the US,
along with significant numbers of volunteers from Japan, the Philippines and Canada
(Love Travel 2020a).
The development of leisure activities cannot be viewed separately from economic
indicators, but it is necessary to understand that these indicators are the only measure
of successful development. Leisure consumption includes all the goods and services
we consume during our free time, such as outdoor recreation, tourist travel, but also
just reading a book or watching television (Gronow and Southerton 2010). According
to Aall et al. (2011), researchers and policy makers have paid relatively little attention to the negative impacts that leisure consumption has on the life span. People are
more inclined to understand how to reduce environmental impact through their daily
consumption than through leisure consumption. This issue has been addressed indirectly, mostly in works dealing with sustainable tourism or the negative impacts of
transport and leisure transportation on the environment. The authors also mention the
link between energy consumption and leisure activities (Becken and Patterson 2006;
Lee and Jan 2019), but this issue is not sufficiently addressed in the contemporary
literature on leisure studies (Ormrod and Wheaton 2009).
Focusing solely on making a profit has led to the degradation of tourist destinations, national parks and some parts of cities, as well as the emergence of environmental problems. The first environmental problems arose with the development
of modern industry and mass tourism. Such activities have had a negative impact