The Development Of Tourism: The Impact Of Mass Tourism

The development of tourism, in particular mass tourism, has had immense impacts on host destinations, some positive and others that are detrimental to three factors - economic, social/cultural and environmental. For tourism to continue to flourish in the future, a host destination must create sustainable business practices. Sustainability refers to “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations” (Graci, 2015). Therefore, a destination must implement sustainable practices, in all three factors, in order to prolong the life cycle of a tourism destination. This essay illustrates the negatives and positives of each of the three factors, using the Caribbean as an example of how unsustainable practices can result in tourists negatively impacting a destination; whilst New Zealand is used to illustrate the positive

Tourism can have immense negative effects on the natural beauty of a destination, which is generally due to mass tourism, exceeding a destinations carrying capacity, with high demand new facilities deforestation, and pollution often accompany tourism development. Tourism is also a significant contributor to releasing carbon into the atmosphere, which is heavily associated with climate change. In countries such as the Caribbean, there is no likelihood of altering their current practices, as tourism is vital to these countries, responsible for approximately 25% of the Caribbean 's gross domestic product. However, can be detrimental as the image marketed to tourist is largely based on climate, beaches and scenery, this beauty will begin to diminish. Sea-level rise will affect coastal ecosystems. Beaches will being to away and some will disappear, therefore, coastal beach resorts will be left without their beaches, resulting in the degrading the quality of a tourists stay, and eventually the decline in tourism numbers (Clayton,