M. T. Dokulil
82
7.2 Environmental Impacts of Tourism
The quality of the environment, both natural and man-made,
is essential to tourism. The relation between tourism and the
environment is complex—many activities can have adverse
environmental effects. Many of these impacts are linked with
the construction of general infrastructure such as roads and
airports, and of tourism facilities, including resorts, hotels,
restaurants, shops, golf courses and marinas. The negative
impacts of tourism development can gradually destroy the
environmental resources on which it depends. On the other
hand, tourism has the potential to create beneficial effects on
the environment by contributing to environmental protection
and conservation. It is a way to raise awareness of environmental values and it can serve as a tool to finance protection of natural areas and increase their economic importance.
This branch called ecotourism is rapidly expanding.
Negative impacts from tourism occur when the level of
visitor use is greater than the environment’s ability to cope
with this use within the acceptable limits of change. Uncontrolled conventional tourism poses potential threats to many
natural areas around the world. It can put enormous pressure on an area and lead to impacts such as: soil erosion,
increased pollution, discharges into the sea, natural habitat
loss, increased pressure on endangered species and heightened vulnerability to forest fires. It often puts a strain on
water resources, and it can force local populations to compete for the use of critical resources.
7.3 Water Resources and Tourism
A lake that is suitable for tourism must:
• Be easily accessible.
• Have the necessary infrastructure.
• Have warm water surface temperature preferably >20 °C.
• Have good water quality (‘clean water’).
The best category to comply with these criteria is an oligomesotrophic lake.
The tourism industry generally overuses water resources
for hotels, swimming pools and personal use of water by
tourists. This can result in water shortage and degradation
of water supplies as well as generating a greater volume of
waste water. Moreover, tourists have a tendency to consume
more water when on holiday than they do at home. The
amount used can be up to 440 L a day. This is almost twice
as much what the inhabitant of an average city uses. Particularly in drier regions, water scarcity is then of particular
concern.
Recreational activities of tourists on lakes are summarized together with their possible consequences and effects
in Table 7.1. The relations between the entities in Table 7.1
are not meant, however, as being 1:1. One form of utilization may have several consequences resulting in a number
of effects. Swimming, for instance, may cause eutrophication and contamination, which in turn can lead to increased
nutrient load, reduced oxygen concentration and finally algal
blooms.
Shallow lakes are usually more vulnerable to disturbances
than deep lakes. Lakes that thermally stratify during summer
act as nutrient sinks with no or little re-suspension. Internal
nutrient load therefore is often negligible. In contrary, shallow lakes do not thermally stratify, nutrients are not permanently buried and re-suspension is common, which may lead
to high internal loading. Short-term weather events and diurnal changes are more pronounced in shallower lakes compared with deep lakes. Morphometry, water level change
and flushing are of much greater importance when lakes are
moderately deep. The littoral zone and the aquatic vegetation
are usually more significant for shallow ecosystems. These
and other factors are summarized in Dokulil et al. (2012).
Off all the consequences mentioned in Table 7.1, eutrophication most severely affects water quality and hence lake
tourism. Because of its importance, it is also one of the best
studied impacts on lakes worldwide. The critical loading
concept developed by Vollenweider (1976) and extended by
Vollenweider and Kerekes (1982) works sufficiently well in
most types of lakes (e.g. Dokulil and Teubner 2003, 2011).
In shallow lakes, which are turbid or dominated by submerged macrophytes, however, chlorophyll concentrations
often tend to be considerably smaller than predicted from
total phosphorus (TP) because much of the phosphorus is
unavailable (Dokulil et al. 2006). In such cases, restoration
efforts can be made successful by applying bistable theory
(Dokulil et al. 2006, 2011).
Disturbances by tourists impact not only the lake but
also the shoreline, the watershed (catchment) including the
ground water and even the airshed (atmosphere). The dimension of the impact in each category depends on a number of
parameters describing the entity and diminishes the further
one moves away from the water body. Effects on the lake
depend on the size (large or small), depth (deep or shallow)
and type (natural, constructed or urban).
Impacts affecting the shoreline are dependent on the nature of the shore (rocky, stony or sandy). In addition, the
aquatic as well as the terrestrial vegetation, the structural diversity and the degree of modifications are important.
The areal size of the catchment in relation to lake area, the
flat or mountainous morphology and the land-use primarily
determine the loading to the lake. The degree of urbanization
and the location relative to the lake in the watershed can influence lakes in many ways through population density and
activity of residents and tourists.
Effects from the airshed can originate from the economic
activity and population density of a wider region because of
long-distance atmospheric transport under the influence of
82
7.2 Environmental Impacts of Tourism
The quality of the environment, both natural and man-made,
is essential to tourism. The relation between tourism and the
environment is complex—many activities can have adverse
environmental effects. Many of these impacts are linked with
the construction of general infrastructure such as roads and
airports, and of tourism facilities, including resorts, hotels,
restaurants, shops, golf courses and marinas. The negative
impacts of tourism development can gradually destroy the
environmental resources on which it depends. On the other
hand, tourism has the potential to create beneficial effects on
the environment by contributing to environmental protection
and conservation. It is a way to raise awareness of environmental values and it can serve as a tool to finance protection of natural areas and increase their economic importance.
This branch called ecotourism is rapidly expanding.
Negative impacts from tourism occur when the level of
visitor use is greater than the environment’s ability to cope
with this use within the acceptable limits of change. Uncontrolled conventional tourism poses potential threats to many
natural areas around the world. It can put enormous pressure on an area and lead to impacts such as: soil erosion,
increased pollution, discharges into the sea, natural habitat
loss, increased pressure on endangered species and heightened vulnerability to forest fires. It often puts a strain on
water resources, and it can force local populations to compete for the use of critical resources.
7.3 Water Resources and Tourism
A lake that is suitable for tourism must:
• Be easily accessible.
• Have the necessary infrastructure.
• Have warm water surface temperature preferably >20 °C.
• Have good water quality (‘clean water’).
The best category to comply with these criteria is an oligomesotrophic lake.
The tourism industry generally overuses water resources
for hotels, swimming pools and personal use of water by
tourists. This can result in water shortage and degradation
of water supplies as well as generating a greater volume of
waste water. Moreover, tourists have a tendency to consume
more water when on holiday than they do at home. The
amount used can be up to 440 L a day. This is almost twice
as much what the inhabitant of an average city uses. Particularly in drier regions, water scarcity is then of particular
concern.
Recreational activities of tourists on lakes are summarized together with their possible consequences and effects
in Table 7.1. The relations between the entities in Table 7.1
are not meant, however, as being 1:1. One form of utilization may have several consequences resulting in a number
of effects. Swimming, for instance, may cause eutrophication and contamination, which in turn can lead to increased
nutrient load, reduced oxygen concentration and finally algal
blooms.
Shallow lakes are usually more vulnerable to disturbances
than deep lakes. Lakes that thermally stratify during summer
act as nutrient sinks with no or little re-suspension. Internal
nutrient load therefore is often negligible. In contrary, shallow lakes do not thermally stratify, nutrients are not permanently buried and re-suspension is common, which may lead
to high internal loading. Short-term weather events and diurnal changes are more pronounced in shallower lakes compared with deep lakes. Morphometry, water level change
and flushing are of much greater importance when lakes are
moderately deep. The littoral zone and the aquatic vegetation
are usually more significant for shallow ecosystems. These
and other factors are summarized in Dokulil et al. (2012).
Off all the consequences mentioned in Table 7.1, eutrophication most severely affects water quality and hence lake
tourism. Because of its importance, it is also one of the best
studied impacts on lakes worldwide. The critical loading
concept developed by Vollenweider (1976) and extended by
Vollenweider and Kerekes (1982) works sufficiently well in
most types of lakes (e.g. Dokulil and Teubner 2003, 2011).
In shallow lakes, which are turbid or dominated by submerged macrophytes, however, chlorophyll concentrations
often tend to be considerably smaller than predicted from
total phosphorus (TP) because much of the phosphorus is
unavailable (Dokulil et al. 2006). In such cases, restoration
efforts can be made successful by applying bistable theory
(Dokulil et al. 2006, 2011).
Disturbances by tourists impact not only the lake but
also the shoreline, the watershed (catchment) including the
ground water and even the airshed (atmosphere). The dimension of the impact in each category depends on a number of
parameters describing the entity and diminishes the further
one moves away from the water body. Effects on the lake
depend on the size (large or small), depth (deep or shallow)
and type (natural, constructed or urban).
Impacts affecting the shoreline are dependent on the nature of the shore (rocky, stony or sandy). In addition, the
aquatic as well as the terrestrial vegetation, the structural diversity and the degree of modifications are important.
The areal size of the catchment in relation to lake area, the
flat or mountainous morphology and the land-use primarily
determine the loading to the lake. The degree of urbanization
and the location relative to the lake in the watershed can influence lakes in many ways through population density and
activity of residents and tourists.
Effects from the airshed can originate from the economic
activity and population density of a wider region because of
long-distance atmospheric transport under the influence of