Tourism and the Environment - Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies - page 381

TABLE 17.2 Sustainable Development (SD) in Tourism: A Possible Allocation of Responsibility

Level/Organization Responsibilities

Host community/region De ning the tourism philosophy and vision for the community/region

Establishing social, physical, and cultural carrying capacity for the host community/region

Destination management/community organization Coordination of implementation of community SD plan for tourism

Monitoring of levels and impact of tourism in the community/region

Individual tourism rms and operators Fair contribution to implementation of SD plan for tourism

Observance of regulations, guidelines, and practices for SD

Host community/region Encouragement/acceptance of tourism within parameters of SD plan

Visitors/tourists Acceptance of responsibility for minimal self-education with respect to values of host region

Acceptance and observance of terms and conditions of host community SD plan for tourism

Allocating Responsibility for
Action

It should be apparent from the nature of
the foregoing discussion that the alloca-

tion of responsibility for tourism-related

sustainability issues and decisions will
not be a neat and tidy exercise. The
highly interdependent, multidisciplinary,
multisector, and political nature of the
decisions does not allow for simplistic
answers. However, as long as this caveat
is taken seriously, it may be possible to
provide some guidelines as to how the
process might be conducted and how the
prime agents might be assigned to dif-
ferent areas of responsibility.
All this said, it then becomes neces-
sary to propose an operational alloca-
tion of responsibility that remains true
to the democratic model and the con-
cept of resident-responsive tourism. See
Table 17.2 for a proposed allocation of
responsibilities.

Although perhaps not the
traditional image that most
people might have of
ecotourism, these kayakers
in Lake Powell, Utah, are
pursuing a low-impact
activity that respects the
well-being of the region
they are visiting

the
essence of the ecotourism
concept. Photocourtesyof
LakePowellResorts
andMarinas.

—

MAJOR CHALLENGES FACING THE ACHIEVEMENT
OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

While the previous sections have provided an understanding of the nature of sustainable tourism and
the kinds of policies necessary to support its achievement, there nevertheless remain a number of
major challenges that stand in the way of establishing and maintaining a sustainable tourism system.
Five of these are identi ed here. Although they do not encompass all of the challenges facing
tourism

— and although they are not all of equal importance — they serve to illustrate the nature and