The Global Code Of Ethics For Tourism Case Study

Endorsed by UN in 2001, the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism (GCET) is a set of guiding principles for stakeholders in the tourism industry across the globe towards sustainable development (UNWTO, n.d.). In the light of GCET, this essay will look into three main major responsible tourism issues of tourism development in the Tourism Town discussed in Week 7 including seasonality, limited economic impacts and environment destruction and suggest strategies to manage these issues.

Firstly, having the peak tourist season for just four months in a year during summer has caused multiple problems to the environment and the economy of Tourism Town. In fact, the influx of tourists which is 7.5 times more than its population indicates a serious problem

Particularly, there is a lack of protection and controlling measures to core tourism resources such as coral reefs and forest areas, leading to some degradation such as coral removal or trampling of natural areas. As these resources are “common pool resources”, there exists the tragedy of commons when everyone try to harvest these resources as much as they can before everyone else does (Holden, 2016). Heaving relying on natural environment for tourism products, it is critical that Tourism Town should control the negative impacts of tourism on the environment for the sustainability of the industry. Thus, it is recommended that Tourism Town government put in place regulatory measures such as entry fees and permit. Delicate areas charge an entry fee on tourists to support conservation and operators need to acquire permit to operators in these areas which requires them to meet certain environmental standards and pay a fee (Eagles, McCool, Haynes, Phillips & UNEP, 2012). This would in return contribute government revenues (Eagles et al., 2012) to support