Page 22 - Social_Sustainability of Culture

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The World Tourism Organization defines tourism more generally, in terms which go “beyond the common
perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only”, as people “traveling to and staying in
places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less
than 24 hours, business and other purposes”. Tourism can be domestic (within the traveller’s own country)
or international, and international tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country’s
balance of payments. There are a number of ways tourism can be defined, and for this reason, the United
Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) embarked on a project from 2005 to 2007 to create
a common glossary of terms for tourism. It defines tourism as follows: Tourism is a social, cultural and
economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual
environment for personal or business/professional purposes. These people are called visitors (which may be
either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some
of which imply tourism expenditure (United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2008). Using this
definition, we can see that tourism is the movement of people for a number of purposes (whether
business or pleasure).
1

Transformative Tourism

In 2015, the secretary of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Taleb Rifai, already pointed to
transformative tourism as one of the main trends of the future, coinciding with the World Environment
Day in 2015. The sustainability and cultural diversity are two elements which influence the travellers in the
21st-century. They became temporary citizens of the regions they visit, not just tourists, they integrate into
the community participating in local activities and events. Transformative tourism consists of a new way
of traveling with destinations where the tourist experience became a meeting point between the visitor
and the visited so that their interaction results in a positive impact on the world. Authenticity, altruism or
ecology are also some of the values that appraise transformative tourism, which goes far beyond leisure as
it connects with the great challenges of today’s society.

4.2 Sustainable Travels

Sustainable tourism is the concept of visiting somewhere as a tourist and trying to make a positive impact
2
on the environment, society, and economy. Without travel there is no tourism, so the concept of
sustainable tourism is tightly linked to a concept of sustainable mobility. Two relevant considerations are
tourism’s reliance on fossil fuels and tourism’s effect on climate change. 72 percent of tourism’s CO2
emissions come from transportation, 24 percent from accommodations, and 4 percent from local
activities. Aviation accounts for 55% of those transportation CO2emissions (or 40% of tourism’s total).
However, when considering the impact of all greenhouse gas emissions, of condensation trails and induced
cirrus clouds, aviation alone could account for up to 75% of tourism’s climate impact.

What do we mean for responsible tourism?

According to the Center for Responsible Tourism, responsible tourism can be defined as, “tourism that
maximizes the benefits to local communities, minimizes negative social or environmental impacts, and
helps local people conserve fragile cultures and habitats or species.”

1 https://opentextbc.ca/introtourism/chapter/chapter-1-history-and-overview/
2 http://www.gdrc.org/uem/eco-tour/sustour-define.html