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4.4 Forms and Approaches of Tourism
Throughout the last century, the societal issue of tourism has grown into one of the
most important wealth providers while at the same time being one of the main
causes for environmental degradation. These issues will be problematized in this
section, and ways forward for the informed Environmental Citizen will be suggested.
The development of tourism after WWII was generated primarily by raising the
average income in developed countries (especially in Europe, the United States, and
Canada), more free time (paid holidays), and technological advances in transport
(especially in road and air transport). Growing tourism demand in mass or conventional tourism predominantly is based on an inexpensive and standardised tourism
product that enables a greater volume of tourism, particularly within the areas of
coastal (sun and sea) and ski tourism (Cavlek et al. 2011). However, in the 1980s
after only 30 years of intensive development, mass coastal tourism (particularly in
the Mediterranean) started to experience slower growth and stagnation. On the supply side, the stagnation was partly due to outdated infrastructure and, significantly,
the degradation of the environment in all tourism areas particularly in developing
and sensitive areas. Those destinations could not compete anymore to new
Mediterranean and long-haul destinations. On the demand side, responsible were
the changes in the demographic structure and travel preferences at tourist markets.
New generation of tourists, that was more conscious of environmental degradation
and unhealthy way of living in the large cities, preferred destinations with preserved
environment, which consequently imposed new environmental standards in tourist
destinations.
Tourism had many positive effects, especially on the agile economic development and raising income and living standards (Sulc 2016, 2017). However, environmental degradation in tourism regions soon threatened tourism itself by damaging
the main attraction basis.
Faced with these problems and having adopted the paradigm of sustainable
development, new concepts of tourism development were introduced, ranging from
diversified and sustainable coastal tourism to new, soft, or alternative tourism.
Most of them are under the umbrella of sustainable tourism, introduced as a new
approach to tourism development that takes full account of its current and future
economic, social, and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the
industry, the environment, and host communities (UNWTO 2005). It can be applied
to different forms of tourism, ranging from mass coastal tourism to specific forms,
like ecotourism, and it refers to the environmental, economic, and sociocultural
aspects of tourism development (UNWTO 2005). Sustainable tourism requires all
stakeholders to:
1. Make optimal use of environmental resources as a critical element in tourism,
maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity
I. Šulc et al.
4.4 Forms and Approaches of Tourism
Throughout the last century, the societal issue of tourism has grown into one of the
most important wealth providers while at the same time being one of the main
causes for environmental degradation. These issues will be problematized in this
section, and ways forward for the informed Environmental Citizen will be suggested.
The development of tourism after WWII was generated primarily by raising the
average income in developed countries (especially in Europe, the United States, and
Canada), more free time (paid holidays), and technological advances in transport
(especially in road and air transport). Growing tourism demand in mass or conventional tourism predominantly is based on an inexpensive and standardised tourism
product that enables a greater volume of tourism, particularly within the areas of
coastal (sun and sea) and ski tourism (Cavlek et al. 2011). However, in the 1980s
after only 30 years of intensive development, mass coastal tourism (particularly in
the Mediterranean) started to experience slower growth and stagnation. On the supply side, the stagnation was partly due to outdated infrastructure and, significantly,
the degradation of the environment in all tourism areas particularly in developing
and sensitive areas. Those destinations could not compete anymore to new
Mediterranean and long-haul destinations. On the demand side, responsible were
the changes in the demographic structure and travel preferences at tourist markets.
New generation of tourists, that was more conscious of environmental degradation
and unhealthy way of living in the large cities, preferred destinations with preserved
environment, which consequently imposed new environmental standards in tourist
destinations.
Tourism had many positive effects, especially on the agile economic development and raising income and living standards (Sulc 2016, 2017). However, environmental degradation in tourism regions soon threatened tourism itself by damaging
the main attraction basis.
Faced with these problems and having adopted the paradigm of sustainable
development, new concepts of tourism development were introduced, ranging from
diversified and sustainable coastal tourism to new, soft, or alternative tourism.
Most of them are under the umbrella of sustainable tourism, introduced as a new
approach to tourism development that takes full account of its current and future
economic, social, and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the
industry, the environment, and host communities (UNWTO 2005). It can be applied
to different forms of tourism, ranging from mass coastal tourism to specific forms,
like ecotourism, and it refers to the environmental, economic, and sociocultural
aspects of tourism development (UNWTO 2005). Sustainable tourism requires all
stakeholders to:
1. Make optimal use of environmental resources as a critical element in tourism,
maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity
I. Šulc et al.