Position paper
of the German NGO Forum on Environment & Development
on the environmental and social responsibility of tourism in the context
of sustainable development

Presented to the seventh meeting of the Commission on Sustainable
Development (CSD-7)
in New York, April 1999

Prepared in November 1998
by the Tourism Working Group of the Forum

Edited by Christina Kamp, Tourism Watch

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1. Background

Tourism is a worldwide phenomenon and currently one of the fastest  growing sectors of the global economy. The number of international arrivals has more than trebled since 1971, from 179 million to 613 million in 1997. The World Tourism Organization (WTO) forecasts annual growth rates of 4.3 percent during the next two decades and expects the figure to rise to 1,600 million international arrivals by the year 2020. Domestic tourism is not included in these figures and has a volume that is several times larger than international tourism.

Despite the growth in long-haul tourism, tourism activities continue to mainly take place among and in the countries of the North. Europe (59 percent) and North America (14 percent) are the destinations for more than 70 percent of international journeys. The share of the 'Third World' in international tourism has risen from approx. 10 percent in the mid seventies to some 30 percent today. The East Asian and Pacific region has experienced the largest growth rates. In 1975 its share in
international journeys figured 3.9 percent, in 1997 this had reached 14.7 percent.

The impacts of tourism are extremely ambivalent. On the one hand, tourism plays an important and certainly also positive role in the socio-economic and political development of many countries. It can contribute to socio-economic development and cultural exchange and can further promote international relations and peace by creating an awareness that respects the diversity of cultures and ways of life.

On the other hand, many hopes that were placed on tourism as a motor of economic development have been disappointed. At the same time, in many tourism destinations partially massive negative impacts upon the environment, culture and society are becoming apparent that are calling into question whether tourism is a viable development pathway.

2. The impacts of tourism

2.1 Economic aspects: Jobs and foreign exchange ­ but often the money is drained away

According to figures of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism contributes 10.7 percent of the total GNP of the global economy, and, at 653 billion US dollars, is the most important source of tax revenue. Many countries, in particular in the South, are increasingly relying on tourism as a motor of economic development. They hope for foreign exchange revenues, income and jobs, multiplier effects in upstream sectors and a levelling of economic and social disparities between peripheral regions and the economic centres.

However, this has meant that more and more countries are becoming dependent upon tourism, with all its risks. Tourism is usually a seasonal business. It reacts sensitively to political instability and environmental disasters in the destination regions, and is subject to economic fluctuations in the countries of origin of the tourists. Civil unrest, epidemics, natural disasters and criminality in combination with fierce competition among the individual destinations and their increasing interchangeability from the perspective of the tourists can lead to demand for a certain destination country collapsing from one day to the next.

In many countries, international tourism is now one of the most important sources of foreign exchange and offers an alternative or supplement to foreign exchange revenues from raw materials, agricultural produce or industrial exports. The income generated by international tourism has increased twenty-fold since 1971 (1971: 21 billion US$; 1997: 444 billion US$). The WTO expects further annual growth rates of 6.7 percent. In 1997 the five states earning the most from tourism were, in this order, the USA, Italy, France, Spain and Great Britain. China was number eight on the list, being the developing country with the largest revenues from tourism.

However, a considerable amount of these foreign exchange revenues leaks back out of the destination countries for tourism-related imports. These leakages vary greatly from country to country. They depend upon the size, structure and state of development of the national economy and upon the predominant types of tourism. The more goods, services, physical capital and human capital a country must import for its tourism services, the higher are the leakages; in remote, scarcely developed
regions they can amount to 90 percent. This concerns particularly the small, poor and scarcely industrialized countries, such as many Caribbean and Pacific island states, where leakages are generally well above 50 percent. In luxury tourism the share of foreign exchange that leaks out of the country is particularly high, as here a particularly large amount of imported goods and a sophisticated infrastructure are demanded. The hotels are frequently foreign-owned, so that profits, interest and wages are being repatriated.  The liberalization of global trade and services under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is increasingly undermining the possibilities of individual countries and regions to control their tourism industries and the economic gains realizable from tourism.

The tourism branch provides many jobs. Worldwide, 255 million people are employed in tourism, i.e. every ninth employed person. For well-trained people, the service sector offers an opportunity for sustainable employment. However, jobs in tourism in fact are often poorly paid and unqualified. Creating a job in tourism costs significantly more than e.g. in agriculture or in small businesses. The multiplier effects of tourism in e.g. agriculture and fisheries or in artisanal crafts are far less significant than is often assumed. Furthermore, tourism also destroys jobs by displacing traditional sources of income such as agriculture or fishing.

2.2 Socio-cultural aspects: Codetermination and human rights are often not respected

International tourism catalyses the transition from traditional ways of life to the modern, Western form of society. Within relatively short periods, the meeting of very different cultures triggers processes of change. While many members of host communities assess such changes quite positively ­ for instance in terms of more rapid modernization ­ these changes lead on the other hand to a loss of cultural identity and a collapse of traditional value systems. Thus, for instance, family and social cohesion breaks apart; activities in the primary sector (agriculture, fishing and cattle breeding) lose status vis-à-vis those in the service sector; criminality, prostitution and alcohol/drug abuse increase.

In many countries, tourism development is associated with violations of human rights. In order to realize (large-scale) tourism projects, local populations are expelled from their land ­ often without adequate compensation. Beaches are reserved for hotel guests while access is barred to residents. The possibilities of residents to make an income in the primary sector are curtailed. In many countries, child labour is commonplace in the tourism industry, particularly in the informal sector. According to estimates of the International Labour Organization (ILO), 13 to 19 million children and youths work in the tourism sector. A particularly abominable form of violation of children's rights is the veritable child slavery that is taking place in the booming sex industry of many countries, e.g. in Thailand and the Philippines. In these countries, tourism has led to great increase in prostitution and also in the sexual exploitation of children.

2.3 Ecological consequences: Tourism is not a 'white industry'

Tourism is ever more frequently praised as an important instrument of nature conservation. Income from tourism can help to finance protected areas and to safeguard ecologically sensitive regions against more environmentally damaging alternative uses. Nature-based tourism can contribute to promoting the environmental education of both tourists and the local population.

However, tourism is not the 'white industry' that it likes to call itself. Tourism is responsible for a considerable proportion of
burgeoning global transport volumes and the associated environmentally damaging pollutant emissions. The arrival in a holiday destination is generally by car, bus, aircraft or railway. Tourists consume about 90 percent of the primary energy required during a holiday for transportation during their arrival and return journey. The emissions generated by this are one of the main environmental problems of tourism. Particularly the pollution caused by air transport ­ which is largely for tourism ­ is continuously rising, with an annual growth rate around 5 percent. Air traffic is expected to double over the next 15 years.
Worldwide civilian air transport already consumed 176 million tons of kerosene in 1990, releasing 550 million tons of carbon dioxide and more than 3 million tons of nitrogen oxides. While it has been possible to halve energy consumption per aircraft over the past 20 years, the rapid growth in global air traffic has meant that absolute energy consumption has nonetheless risen by 50%.

As do other sectors, tourism consumes resources and generates wastes. It is frequently in conflict with other forms of resource use, sometimes it is complementary. An intact balance of nature is one of the essential foundations of the tourism sector. However, the environmental damage caused by tourism can go so far that the region loses its attractivity as a destination and is no longer visited by tourists ­ as has already happened in certain Mediterranean regions. The high water demand of tourists is a major problem, particularly in areas where water resources are scarce, as here the tourists are often supplied at the cost of the
local population. In most tourism regions in developing countries, wastewater and solid waste disposal are not properly managed. Tourism centres with greatly increased solid waste and wastewater arisings are already sources of serious ecological damage and health risks.

The land requirement of tourism is enormous, as it often develops separately from autochthonous infrastructure and land use. Thus the construction of land-intensive hotels and camps, camping sites, golf courses and sports facilities or of tourism-oriented transport infrastructure (access roads, parking lots, funiculars and airports) only indirectly has a positive effect for the local population, while leading to massive environmental damage: Coastal areas are dammed in, wetlands are drained, dry areas are irrigated, forests are cut down and coral reefs are blasted. The great demand for building materials in the tourist centres leads to construction sand being extracted in large quantities from the beaches, limestone from the coral reefs and construction timber from the coastal mangrove forests, whereby the ecosystems involved suffer massive damage. Where tourists or dealers collect corals and shells, this impairs coral reefs and the species composition of ecosystems. The trade in products of endangered animal and plant species is frequently in violation of species conservation laws.

Many tourism activities such as skiing, skin diving, boating, mountain hiking and trekking stress natural areas and their animal and plant life. In many cases it is precisely nature-based tourism, which opens up previously undeveloped natural areas to tourism activities, that causes or exacerbates ecological degradation. Thus for instance trekking tourism creates environmental stress in mountain regions through wastes and logging.

3. The challenge: Sustainable tourism

With the intention of minimizing the negative impacts of tourism and enhancing its positive contribution to sustainable development, the "Earth Summit + 5" Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly held in June 1997 in New York requested the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) to elaborate an action-oriented international programme of work on sustainable tourism.

Sustainable tourism is guided by the principles set out in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and the recommendations contained in Agenda 21. It must be structured so as to be in harmony with the relevant international agreements and declarations (see Appendix).

Sustainable tourism needs to meet social, cultural, environmental and economic criteria of viability and acceptability.

Sustainable tourism has a long-term perspective, relating to both present and future generations, and is
    a.. ethically and socially just and culturally appropriate,
    b.. environmentally/ecologically sustainable and
    c.. economically profitable and feasible.

These dimensions of sustainability are closely related and interact with each other, and need to be considered and addressed in an integrative manner.

A vision of sustainable tourism

Only when the above conditions of sustainable tourism have been satisfied can it make a positive contribution to:
    a.. international understanding and peace,
    b.. preserving the natural preconditions of human life,
    c.. safeguarding the cultural identity of host communities and
    d.. economic and social development and justice.

Sustainable tourism requires universal recognition of "The right of everyone to rest and leisure, reasonable limitation of working hours, periodic leave with pay and freedom of movement without limitation, within the bounds of the law" (WTO Tourism Bill of Rights, Article 1, Sofia 1985).
 
4. Objectives, measures and actors for sustainable tourism

4.1 Focal themes for the CSD

To move towards this vision step by step, the German environment and development organizations joined together in the German NGO Forum on Environment & Development call upon the CSD to focus on the following issues of tourism:

Integrative aspects of sustainability

Establishment of sustainable tourism as the overarching concept
   a.. Elaboration and adoption of guidelines / a protocol for sustainable tourism, preparation of programmes for implementation, monitoring of and reporting on the results, and initiation of a process of exchange of experiences, knowledge and best practices
 
Ethical/social/cultural sustainability
Respect for human rights
   a.. Abolition of child prostitution, abolition of exploitative child labour

Political control and participation by host communities
    a.. Observance of the subsidiarity principle (securing possibilities for political influence and control at the level closest to the
individual citizen)
    b.. Establishment of cooperative and participatory mechanisms and structures for participation of host communities, with an equal standing, in planning, implementation, monitoring and assessment processes relating to tourism policies, programmes and projects

Just and humane working conditions for persons employed in tourism
    a.. Ensuring minimum social standards for persons employed in tourism

 
Ecological sustainability
Preservation of ecological carrying capacity, preservation of the ecological balance of particularly sensitive regions
    a.. Accounting for tourism-induced environmental externalities in national tourism statistics through linking SICTA - Standard International Classification System of Tourism Activities with SEEA - UN System of Environmental and Economic Accounting

Sustainable transport development
    a.. Ecologically appropriate pricing, taxation of aviation gasoline
    b.. Promotion of environmentally sound modes of transport and transport concepts

Economic sustainability
Increasing the income of local populations, reducing foreign exchange leakages
    a.. Limiting foreign ownership/shareholdings in tourism facilities
    b.. Integration of tourism development in local/regional economic activities
 

4.2 Programme of action for sustainable tourism
In the context of a comprehensive programme of action for achieving the objectives of sustainability in tourism, we propose the following measures and call upon the CSD to make efforts to ensure that the actors concerned implement these measures.

Objectives
             Measures
             Actors

Integrative aspects of sustainability
Establishment of sustainable tourism as the overarching concept

Ethical/social/cultural sustainability 
Respect for human rights Improvement of the quality of life of all people
Equitable distribution of the economic gains of tourism Political control and participation by host communities Just and humane working conditions for persons employed in tourism Equitable access to natural resources Preservation of the cultural heritage and integrity of tourism destinations in all parts of the world, no destruction of  traditional social structures

Priority for the protection of the cultural identity of the population (traditions and ways of life), in particular of indigenous
communities, over the interests of tourism

Free access to information, training and technology transfer for tourism authorities, managers and employees and for interested
segments of  the population No discrimination Ecological sustainability
Preservation of ecological carrying capacity

Preservation of the ecological balance of particularly sensitive regions

Sustainable resource use, e.g. no exhaustive extraction of wild animals and plants Sustainable transport development Economic sustainability
Increasing the benefit derived from tourism by developing countries

Increasing the income of local populations

Reducing foreign exchange leakages

Increasing multiplier effects

Creating and securing jobs, above all for the regional population Avoidance of economic dependence  

Appendix

Sustainable tourism needs to be implemented in harmony with the following relevant international agreements and declarations:

    a.. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations

    b.. the International Convention on the Rights of the Child

    c.. the various United Nations declarations on tourism, environment and protection of cultural heritage,

        a.. including the 1963 United Nations Conference on International Travel and Tourism

    d.. the international agreements impacting upon tourism, including the

        a.. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

        b.. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC)

        c.. World Heritage Convention

        d.. Ramsar Convention

        e.. Washington Convention (CITES), and

        f.. various regional agreements;

    e.. declarations in the field of tourism, such as the

        a.. Manila Declaration on World Tourism

        b.. The Hague Declaration

        c.. Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code

        d.. Charter for Sustainable Tourism (Lanzarote 1995)

        e.. WTO Manila Declaration on the Social Impact of Tourism

        f.. Berlin Declaration of the International Conference on Biological Diversity and Tourism (March 1997)

        g.. WTO/WTTC Agenda 21 on Environmentally Sustainable Tourism

        h.. Global Code of Ethics for Tourism currently to be developed by the WTO

        i.. Agenda for Action adopted at the World Congress Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (Stockholm 1996).
 
 

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