Effects of Development and Sustainable Tourism
The social, economic and environmental effects of tourism, both good and bad, the methods used to reduce the harm, and what sustainable tourism means and how it protects a destination for the future.
Justify the choices, the way you are assessed
Free interactive practice on the decisions the assessment actually asks you to justify.
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When tourists arrive
When large numbers of visitors come to a place, they change it, and not always in the same direction. Tourism can bring welcome jobs, money and new facilities, but the same crowds can also push up prices, wear out footpaths and leave litter behind. A good student of tourism can see both sides at once. This module sorts the effects into three kinds: social effects on the people who live there, economic effects on jobs and money, and environmental effects on the land, wildlife and air. For each, there is a positive story and a negative one. It then looks at how a destination can reduce the harm, and at the idea of sustainable tourism: welcoming visitors in a way that still leaves the place worth living in, and worth visiting, for many years to come. The aim is to keep the benefits while managing the costs.
Tourism impact words
Learn these terms before the effects are matched up. They name the ideas used in this topic.
Match each example to the kind of effect
- new jobs at hotels and attractions
- litter and pollution left behind
- a restored old harbour
- loss of local traditions
- higher prices for local people
- an economic benefit
- an environmental cost
- an environmental benefit
- a social cost
- an economic cost
Positive against negative effects
Almost every kind of tourism effect has two faces, and a strong answer weighs them against each other.
Which is a principle of sustainable tourism?
A resort wants its tourism to be sustainable. Which of these is a genuine principle of sustainable tourism?
- Making sure local people gain from the tourism
- Driving local people out to make room for hotels
- Using as much water and power as possible
- Ignoring local culture completely
Keeping the good, cutting the bad
A destination does not have to accept the downsides of tourism as the price of the benefits. Many can be managed. Spreading visitors across the year, and across a wider area, eases the crowding at the honeypot sites. Good planning decides where hotels may and may not be built. Traffic can be steered with park-and-ride schemes and limits on cars in fragile places. Visitors can be taught, with a few clear signs and messages, to take their litter home, keep to marked paths and respect the people who live there. And local residents can be asked what they want, so that tourism is shaped with them rather than done to them. None of this stops the visitors coming; it simply keeps the place pleasant for the people who live there and worth the journey for the people who arrive.
Pick the principles of sustainable tourism
Select every genuine principle of sustainable tourism.
- Bringing economic benefits to local people
- Conserving the local culture
- Minimising harm to the natural environment
- Packing in as many tourists as possible
- Ignoring what residents think
Order how a destination manages its visitors
Put the steps a destination takes to manage its visitors into a sensible order.
- Find out how many visitors are coming
- Spot the problems the crowds are causing
- Make a plan with local people
- Manage visitors with limits, routes and signs
- Review whether the problems have eased
Complete the sustainable tourism facts
Effects of tourism on jobs, income and the cost of living are called _____ effects. Effects on the land, air, water and wildlife are called _____ effects. Tourism that meets present needs without spoiling the place for the future is called _____ tourism. Protecting habitats, wildlife and landscapes from harm is called _____.
Tap the two negative effects
Read these four effects of tourism. Tap the TWO that are negative effects.
- litter left on the beaches
- overcrowded streets in summer
- new jobs for local people
- better roads and services
The goose that lays golden eggs
There is an old story about a farmer who owned a goose that laid one golden egg every day. Growing greedy, the farmer decided that if he cut the goose open he could take all the gold at once, and of course he ended up with no gold and no goose. A beautiful beach, an old town or a quiet mountain is a destination golden goose. Handled with care it can bring visitors, and the money they spend, year after year after year. But cram in too many tourists, let the litter pile up, wear out the paths and price out the locals, and the very thing people came to see is spoiled. Then the visitors stop coming and the money dries up. Looking after a destination is not the enemy of making money from it. It is the only way to keep the golden eggs coming for the long term.
Work out the visitor spend
A resort welcomes 2000 visitors in a week, and each one spends about 50 pounds. Work out the total the visitors spend that week, in pounds. Give the number only.
Make tourism more sustainable
Read each situation and choose the most sustainable answer.
- A honeypot village is jammed with cars every weekend. What would help most?
- A resort wants its tourism to help the people who live there. What should it do?
- Tourists keep straying off paths and damaging a fragile dune. What is the best response?
Build a point about tourism effects
Choose the word for each gap to complete one point about the effects of tourism.
Explain the effects of tourism
A friend thinks tourism is either all good or all bad. Using what you have learned, explain the effects of tourism and how they can be managed.
- Explain one positive and one negative economic effect
- Explain one positive and one negative environmental effect
- Explain one social effect of tourism
- Explain two ways a destination can reduce the negative effects
- Explain what sustainable tourism means