IMPACT OF TOURISM AND MANAGEMENT ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT A STUDY OF OLUMO ROCK
ABSTRACT
Tourism is now one of the world’s largest industries and one of its fastest growing economic sectors. For many countries tourism is seen as a main instrument for regional development, as it stimulates new economic activities. Tourism may have a positive economic impact on the balance of payments, on employment, on gross income and production, but it may also have negative effects, particularly on the environment. Unplanned and uncontrolled tourism growth can result in such a deterioration of the environment that tourist growth can be compromised. The environment, being the major source of tourist product, should therefore be protected in order to have further growth of tourism and economic development in the future. This is specially true with regard to tourism based on the natural environment. Sustainable tourism has three interconnected aspects: environmental, sociocultural, and economic. Sustainability implies permanence, so sustainable tourism includes optimum use of resources, including biological diversity; minimization of ecological, cultural and social impacts; and maximization of benefits for conservation and local communities. It also refers to the management structures that are needed to achieve this.
The research work provides a theoretical framework for sustainable tourism. The first part presents general views on tourism and sustainable economic development, and some opinions on the relationship between tourism and the environment. The second part concentrates on strategies and policy instruments. Also, this research work was supported based on the hypothesis tested and the method of research is a quantitative research method and testing tools is the SPSS data tool and analysis with chi-square using a 0.5 significance difference
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Â Â Â Introduction
In 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, 178 governments approved Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration. Agenda 21 offered a blueprint for sustainable development, while the Rio Declaration articulated the main principles for sustainable development in the 21st century. Both documents challenged organizations, governments and industries to work towards maximum levels of sustainability, a number of countries in Africa and the Pacific consider tourism to be an important vehicle for economic and social development. The tourism industry has the potential to generate foreign exchange earnings, create employment, promote development in various parts of the country, reduce income and employment disparities among regions, strengthen linkages among many sectors of the national economy and help to alleviate poverty. However, this standard view of the tourism industry does not give a complete picture of the potential contribution that tourism can provide for developing countries. A more complete viewpoint can be provided by the concept of sustainable tourism development, because it can help policy-makers make more effective policies and plans designed to realize the full social and economic potential of the tourism industry. Sustainable tourism development is premised on the responsibility of governments and all stakeholders in the tourism sector to ensure that long-term prosperity and the quality of life of future generations is not placed at risk.
In order to sustain tourism, it is necessary for countries to address various issues arising from tourism’s contribution to development in a comprehensive, systematic way. Issues of policy-making, planning, management and the participation of the private sector and other stakeholders must be addressed in terms of opportunities for action and possible constraints that need to be overcome by concerted efforts.
