Tourism has a significant share of the global growth, although recent pandemic crises have decreased the number of travels. Thus, with the rising concerns on climate change and global warming and to reduce these crises’ impacts on society and the environment, the “sustainable tourism” movement had begun. Sustainable tourism is simply based on the idea of positively impacting societies, economies and environments of destination cities, as well as the world. Besides, ecotourism and sustainable tourism should not be considered synonyms. While sustainable tourism is about creating travel opportunities with minimal impact and positive benefits for destinations and their communities, ecotourism focuses on educating tourists about nature and the environment and travellers taking part in conservation and cultural activities. However, although Sustainable Tourism justifies fighting the touristic activities’ impact on the environment by choosing the right travel modes and decreasing the effect on destination points, the term brings a paradox.

Although there are scientific data that emphasise the transportation sector’s carbon emission rates, the ability to move freely around the world, brought by globalisation, creates question marks on the possibility of implementing “sustainable tourism” in real life. Hence, policies and strategies to attract tourists to sustainable tourism are now important to decrease climate change’s impact on the world. Some of the solutions can be summarised as follows.

1. Create awareness

Knowledge is a critical tool in fighting against any obstacle, and in this issue, awareness-raising activities play a vital role. Training tourist operators, educating people on responsible tourism and working on regulations at the decision-making level can encourage societies to build thriving communities.

2. Increase the Use of Direct Travels

Nowadays, travelling abroad cannot be prevented by governments or environmental activists as global citizenship is a reality. Therefore, direct flights or routes to destination places should be encouraged to decrease the contribution to carbon emissions. 

3. Support Local Businesses

Local small businesses try to survive against globalisation and McDonaldisation, so tourists should support the local businesses as Tourism services, and products can create opportunities for skilled people to have a chance to showcase their talents. In this way, local economies can also be encouraged.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash