How Sustainable Tourism Practices Can Protect Cultural and Environmental Heritage
sustainable tourism conservation heritage environment tour, Photo by Stephanie Morcinek
Tourism has not always been the most sustainable endeavor. Some forms of tourism have even led to culturally and environmentally abusive and exploitative practices, from polluting to poaching. The good news is that it does not have to be this way.
Sustainable tourism, alternatively promises not only to support economic development in destinations, but also to facilitate cultural and environmental conservation in heritage sites around the world.
Honoring Local Laws and Regulations
One of the most important ways that sustainable tourism practices support environmental and cultural preservation is through adherence to local, national, and international laws.
For example, international customs laws strictly regulate what items can be brought into and taken out of a country, in what quantities, by whom, and through what means. These regulations have proven essential to protecting countries’ precious resources from the deep pockets of foreign tourists or the nefarious practices of commodities thieves and exotic animal poachers.
Thus, the onus falls on international tourists to familiarize themselves with relevant laws and regulations not only to protect themselves from civil or criminal liability but also to support the sustainability goals for which these laws were designed.
A particularly important example of this is the importance of understanding and respecting relevant statutes designed to regulate shipwreck diving. This might include, for instance, restrictions on the type of equipment that may be used in environmentally fragile areas or the types of “souvenirs” that may be collected from underwater wreckages.
Leaving No Trace
A central premise of sustainable tourism is that visitors should endeavor to “leave no trace” of themselves on the environment. For far too long, ecosystems have suffered from the cumulative damage wrought one visitor at a time on the vast, complex, and interconnected system. This damage leads to profound and often irreversible changes to the environment, often resulting in species loss.
The leave no trace ethos involves, at a minimum, the prohibition on leaving litter and other waste behind. It also involves efforts to avoid contaminating land and water systems through human activities.
In addition to ensuring that humans inflict no damage on the environment through what they do or what they leave behind, the leave no trace movement also pertains to the commitment to not diminish the environment by taking from it. Thus, photographs are preferred in place of collecting samples of shells, flowers, or insects. Memories are made to substitute for physical artifacts.
Choosing Ecotourism Companies
As lofty as the goals of sustainable tourism may be, they’re also not always easy to achieve. Tourists rarely visit a destination site with the intention of causing harm either to residents or to the environment. Often, damage is inflicted inadvertently, unconsciously, and usually with the visitor never realizing the harm they have wrought.
For this reason, it is often not advisable to undertake a sustainable vacation on your own, especially if you are new to the concept and the practice. Rather, engaging with a reputable ecotourism company can be a wonderful way to ensure that you enjoy an exceptional travel experience while also truly supporting the economy, the community, and the environment where you are a guest.
Trained ecotourism guides, for example, can help you experience the wonders of the site while contributing to sustainability in the area. Your tour might involve environmental or cultural education and you may even choose to become proactively involved in sustainability efforts while you are there.
Some ecotourism companies, for instance, don’t just support leave no trace practices but may include guided activities to support sustainability. You may find yourself, for instance, helping to clean litter or other potential contaminants from land and waterways.
Ecotourism companies also prioritize low carbon emission travel practices as a fundamental component of sustainable travel. As such, you are likely to enjoy far greater access to sustainable transport, from bicycles to electric vehicles, when you choose to vacation with a reputable ecotourism company.
The Takeaway
Travel is one of life’s great pleasures. There are few experiences more rewarding than getting out, seeing the world, and experiencing some of Earth’s most breathtaking natural wonders alongside history’s greatest monuments.
Unfortunately, such memories often come at a great price to the people and places where they occur. Fortunately though, you don't have to give up your wanderlust in order to protect precious and fragile destination sites.
The key, rather, is to embrace sustainable tourism practices. This includes rigorous adherence to local, national, and international customs laws and environmental regulations. It also involves embracing the leave no trace ethos. And it may well mean partnering with reputable ecotourism companies to ensure that your goals for sustainable tourism actually come to fruition.
Sea Going Green is a sustainable tourism consultancy working with clients in the tourism industry to develop sustainability strategies to enhance the guest experience.
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