Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'synonymous with resilience'. According to the UNWTO, tourism has the
power to bring about a long-term transformation to a Green Economy, a term
used to describe a proposed change in the way governments direct their
economies. Tourism, it is argued, will also be a major job creator which will
help to alleviate poverty in developing countries (UNWTO, 2009b; World
Travel and Tourism Council, 2009). These are bold claims. The UNWTO
indicates that this transformation will occur principally through 'responsible
energy related consumption' and 'anti-poverty operation patterns' (UNWTO,
2009a, p1). There are, as yet, only sketchy notes as to how this might occur.
The Green Economy Initiative (UNEP, 2009) does, however, hold great
promise, as it seeks to encourage governments and pan-global organizations
to re-shape, refocus and invest in a new economic order, which will act as an
engine of recovery and transform production and consumption patterns. There
are two or possibly three approaches to this new theoretical base for devel-
opment. Critical theorists argue that the only way forward is to remove a
marketing approach which fosters consumption without recourse to sustain-
able development; this requires a paradigmatic change to the wider economic
order, and equally to the tourism system. Development theorists argue that
policy advice which guides governments, consumers and producers towards
more sustainable ways of operating and consuming will bring considerable
environmental gain. There is not necessarily a need to bring about major
changes to the tourism system, but just to make the necessary changes within
it. The third way is to accept that these two perspectives are not entirely mutu-
ally exclusive (Mittelstadt and Kilborne, 2008).
UNEP sets out the strands of the Green Economy initiative which will
involve more of the following across all sectors, including tourism:
•
clean technologies
•
renewable energies
•
water services
•
green transportation
•
waste management
•
green buildings
•
sustainable agriculture and forests.
The aim is to achieve better returns on investment based on reducing GHG
emissions, using fewer resources, creating less waste and reducing social dis-
parities. The initiative clearly has a vision, but how will it be realized? Firstly,
it should be noted that there have been a multitude of limited projects in
tourism spanning at least two decades now, with little or no effect other than
adoption by a number of small-scale individual businesses or destinations
(Weaver, 2007). Nevertheless, sustainable tourism development as a concep-
tual framework is widely recognized as what societies want (Lafferty, 2004).
Dwyer et al (2009) reported considerable commitment to the concept by
destination managers and tourist organizations located in Australia.
Unfortunately, despite this broad consensus, there has not been widespread
adoption of the principles of sustainable development into practice; the sector
