Impacts of Tourism Industry for
Environment
Bhutan is a land-locked kingdom
situating in the Himalayan Mountains between India and China. Bhutan has
enjoyed the reputation as one of the most pristine and exclusive travel
destinations in the world – popularly known as the “last Shangri-La”. With the introduction
of Tourism Industry in 1974, Bhutan is receiving many tourists every year, but tourism
promotion will not only degenerate our long preserved tradition, culture and
heritage of our country but also bring about adverse impact on our rich environment
such as the creation of physical impacts, garbage trails, destruction of
vegetation, and Erosion of delicate vegetation.
Construction activities and
infrastructure development creates physical impacts on environment. According to
Sunlu, U, 2003, said, “The development of tourism facilities such as
accommodation, water supplies, restaurants and recreation facilities can
involve sand mining, beach and sand erosion, soil erosion and extensive paving.”
It is very intensive risk for losing our beautiful species of animals, plants
and other wildlife inhabitants. This also leads to deforestation of forest. It
affects and declines the natural resources such as woods, medicinal herbs and
energy. Moreover, road and airport construction can lead to land degradation
and deterioration of scenery. According to Kuenselonline, 2010, “Deforestation
and unsustainable use of land Construction of resort accommodation and
facilities frequently require clearing forested land. Coastal wetlands are
often drained and filled due to lack of more suitable sites for construction of
tourism facilities and infrastructure.” These activities can cause severe
disturbance and erosion of the local ecosystem, even destruction in the long
term. It also brings emission, and pollution such as air pollution, noise and
sewage.
The
creation of garbage trails from disposing the non-biodegradable waste.
According to Our
Planet, UNEP magazine for environmentally sustainable development, volume 10,
no. 3, 1999, “In areas
with high concentrations of tourist activities and appealing natural
attractions, waste disposal is a serious problem and improper disposal can be a
major despoiler of the natural environment - rivers, scenic areas, and
roadsides. Solid waste and littering can degrade the physical appearance of the
water and shoreline and cause the death of marine animals. In mountain areas,
trekking tourists generate a great deal of waste.” Today, all around the globe,
tourists throw plastics, bottles, oxygen cylinders and even camping equipment
which hampers the purity of the environment. These non-biodegradable trails
also affect the growth of flora and fauna and indirectly to it reduces the
productivity of ecosystem.
Another major problem of tourism
industry is it gives high destruction of vegetation. According to Dorji, T
said, “the destruction of vegetation through the cutting of slow–growing trees
for firewood. This is particularly more pronounced in Bhutan’s high alpine
regions through which most of the trekking routes are located. The local people
in these areas rely on wood for fuel and tourism adds more pressure on the
forests.” Tourists should visit various sacred places where they need easy
routes clearing all the forest leads to extinct some of the rare species of
plants. There, it will harm the wildlife where it creates imbalanced
atmosphere. Then, naturally it affects the sources of water where some of the
water sources will dry. For instance, the collection of plants, careless use of
fire can destroy plant life. There will be also forest fire, because of smoking
and tourists may throw the fire carelessly.
Moreover, there is also erosion of
delicate vegetation from tourism industry for pristine environment. When there are
drastic development and improvement facilities for the tourists, the tour
operator will surely expands their boundary. According to Dorji, T, “although
tourism activities are not solely responsible for erosion in the high mountain
areas, the uses of horses and yaks during treks have a significant impact. Also
local residents tend to increase the size of their domestic herds for transport
contracts with the tourism industry, which in turn adds to the limited carrying
capacity of fragile mountain ecosystems.” People are craved to expand their
income where they expand trekking routes for transportation. This also leads to
erosion such as soil erosion, land degradation.
The rapid growth of tourism industry
has negative impacts on the country’s cultural and natural resources,
particularly on the environment. On the contrary researchers argued that the
prevention of tourism in Bhutan will be able to protect Bhutan’s environment
from many negative results occurred such as forest destruction, soil erosion
and garbage trail. In order to protect ones valuable nature and environment,
there should be proper study and measure. There are not many articles and
journals on this topic and the peer-reviews ones are very rare. Therefore,
there is an urgent need for more research on the impacts of Bhutan’s controlled
tourism policy.
Reference
Dorji, T. (2001). Sustainability of
tourism in Bhutan. Journal of Bhutan Studies, 3, 84-104.
Sunlu,U. (2003). Environmental
impacts of Tourism. Local resources and global trades, p.263-270.
Our Planet, UNEP magazine for
environmentally sustainable development, volume 10, no. 3, 1999,
Retrieved from, http://www.kuenselonline.com/.
(2010)
Thullen, S.A, (1996). Tourism and
its impacts on the environment. lanham: UP of America
Tenzin Deki Lhendup, Kurtoep.
lhendupt22@gmail.com
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