THE GOOD LIFE

by: Megs S. Lunn

Sustainable Tourism

Green tourism is a good practice, defined as tourism that respects the environment and community (Stephen Page). Like many other environmental civic groups in the country, green tourism in our province is now a practice through fun runs and walking for a cause,through regular clean-up drives, cycling or using local transportation, eating local food, staying in an Eco-Inns, and many others. These are also the same practices that our tourism marketers are encouraging tourists and visitors alike.

Tourist and visitors these days would rather go hiking, camping, mountaineering or what we refer to “communing with nature” of which is also best for their health, rather than staying in high rise hotel buildings and the like. That is of course with the exception of those businessmen who need to stay in 5-star hotels.Most visitors would opt to relax in a natural environment, or the combination of both would do, depending on the need or wishes of the tourist.

In the many typhoons that we had, and for sure we will have in the next few months. Green tourism is considered the most relevant aspect to the relationship between the visitor and the natural environment. Meanwhile, many towns and cities have adopted the Ecological Solid Waste Management or RA 9003 into local ordinances, hoping to teach and guide the community to be responsible for their own waste materials. The local people have also a major role to play in a sustainable tourism. In both academic and economic circles, this has been a practice for promoting sustainable tourism.

In tourism planning, we try to involve the community. Thus, the makings of the laws or ordinances on environmental impacts have been drafted and it keeps improving. It is one The host community should be responsible, and visible to getting themselves involved in all the decision-making, too. It is crucial that local people should help to promote sustainable tourism in their own home and in the community. The contribution of the local people or host community will create greater impact on visitors, so that they in return will also respect our environment while we are hosts to their needs.

Awareness of pollution from smoke (the right to breathe clean air) , proper disposal of waste (ecological solid waste management),the support of the local enterprises, the respect and integrity of the local environment, culture, people and infrastructure and the monitoring of strategies for minimizing negative impact are the best green tourism practices that we should support. The challenge of sustainable tourism is in have been drafted and it keeps improving.Recently, I saw in Boracay Island the mountainous garbage in the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) from year 2006 to the present that still need to be segregated.Local government and its people are doing its best to address them. Kudos to the people who are behind it, for other towns are yet to emulate your initiatives.

A variety of niche markets from the start of 1990’s have adopted terms like “eco-tourism”, “green tourism”, “sustainable tourism”, “nature tourism”, “soft tourism”, to name but a few and these have become an integral part of marketing promotion by many tour operators, not only the Philippines but also worldwide.Moreover, involvement of stakeholders is a must for long-term sustainable tourism.

To maintain high levels of tourism satisfaction and their awareness of the sustainability issues, the WTO (World Tourism Organization) has outlined that sustainable tourism should:

1. Make optimal use of environmental resources (while maintaining the essential ecological processes and helping to conserve the natural heritage and biodiversity).

2. Respect the socio cultural authenticity of host communities (helping to conserve the cultural heritage and traditional values as well as seeking to engender intercultural understanding and tolerance)

3. Ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio economic benefits to all stakeholders (stakeholders should monitor the impact of tourism).

How much time should it take a town leader to implement the ordinances that have been piling upon their desk? How many research studies would our students and graduates need in order that we see the truth behind those papers, and implement them sooner? How much typhoon damage would we need to experience before we move our butts off our chairs to be visible and to get ourselves involved? Why must so much efort be wasted in order to accept the changes that we should have done instead of waiting for any political leader to show us the way? Honorable ladies and gentlemen, just in case we don’t recognize it, We are the way to sustainable tourism.
Act now!/TE