TOURISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

AN OVERVIEWl

HELEN BRIASSOUUS
Department of Geography
University of the Aegean
Karantoni 17, Mytilini, Lesvos 81100
Greece

JAN VAN DER STRAATEN

Department of Leisure Studies
Tilburg University
PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg
The Netherlands

1. Introduction

Seven years ago, in 1992, the first edition of the present volume appeared with the
title Tourism and the Environment: Regional, Economic and Policy Issues. For the
most part, it contained modified versions of papers presented at the 30th European
Congress of the Regional Science Association, which had taken place in Istanbul,
Turkey, in August 1990. This was one of the first occasions where conference
sessions were devoted to the tourism-environment relationship. Also non-
conference papers were included as they tackled important regional, economic and
policy dimensions of the tourism-environment relationship. As the first edition was
quite well received by the community of academics and practitioners and as all
copies were already sold in 1996, the publishers requested a second edition. By that
time, however, things had changed. Tourism and the environment gained
importance in academic and policy circles, specialised journals and numerous
books were being published, conferences were organised on this theme exclusively,
and more dimensions of the relationship were being investigated, while the

1 This publication was supported by the Saxifraga Foundation, Tilburg and the Department of Leisure
Studies of Tilburg University, the Netherlands.

H. Briassoulis et al. (eds.), Tourism and the Environment

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2000
2 H. BRIASSOUUS AND J. V AN DER STRAATEN

sustainable tourism development concept had attained top priority. Hence, there
was a need to broaden the scope of the second edition to cover some of the new
developments related to the topic of the book. The new title reflects, in part, these
changes, by the introduction of the 'cultural' dimension. Also, the book now
contains 22 instead of the original 14 contributions. Moreover, most of the old
chapters have been revised to include new data and information which have been
added to the body of existing knowledge in the course of the 7 years since the first
edition appeared (or, even earlier). In fact, this is a new book with an old title.
Linda Bokhout organised and completed the format of the book, and she fitted the
chapters of the authors to this framework.
At the close of the 20th century, tourism's socio-economic profile and its role
bear little resemblance to their original forms a century or 50 years ago. Tourism
is recognised as a major generator of direct and indirect economic benefits -
income, employment, economic activity - in both the countries of origin and the
countries of destination. It is, therefore, promoted and developed not only in those
places endowed with a rich and attractive cultural and/or natural environment but
also in many other places, which possess other, not necessarily traditional, types of
tourist resources. At the same time, tourism is no longer pursued only by the urban
dwellers of the industrialised world, who wish to escape to tranquil and relaxing
places and enjoy their natural and cultural beauties in order to maintain their
physiological and psychological balance. Tourism is considered an obvious social
necessity and right for all people in both the developed and the developing world.
But tourism's relationship with the environment - and, more importantly,
people's perception of this relationship - has changed now as its development has
been and is a significant cause of unwanted social and environmental disturbances.
The issue is critical as the natural and manmade environments are basic ingredients
of the tourist product and, naturally, their quality dramatically affects the quality of
the product. The search for ways and means to maintain a balanced relationship
between tourism and the environment started in the 1970s. But not until the 1980s
and 1990s it became the subject of a systematic academic inquiry and research, that
distinguishes itself from the broader research area of the environmental impacts of
recreation and leisure activities. International organisations, such as the World
Tourism Organisation, the United Nations, the OECD, the European Union and
several others, have organised workshops, conducted studies, and suggested
policies to preserve a healthy and attractive environment, to ensure, amongst other
things, the success of tourism development (WTO, 1980; UNEP, 1987; OECD,
1980). Several international journals began to devote special issues to the tourism-
environment relationship (for example, International Journal of Environmental
Studies, 1985; Annals of Tourism Research, 1987; Land Use Policy, 1988). In the
1990s, journals specialising in the issue also appeared such as the Journal of
Sustainable Tourism. Some of the numerous developments in this area are dealt
with within this volume, which complements several other noteworthy
contemporary publications. The rest of this introductory chapter elaborates on the
tourism-environment relationship, briefly reviews the literature on the
 TOURISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT: AN OVERVIEW 3
environmental impacts of tourism, and introduces the chapters included in the
volume.

2. Tourism and the environment: the relationship

Tourism, a multifaceted economic activity, interacts with the environment in the

framework of a two-way process. On the one hand, environmental resources
provide basic ingredients, critical production factors, for the production of the
tourist product: the natural and/or man-made setting for the tourist to enjoy, live
and relax. On the other hand, tourism produces a variety of unwanted byproducts,
which are intentionally and unintentionally disposed and modify the environment:
negative environmental externalities. Moreover, other economic activities, besides
tourism, use up, modify and affect the quantity and quality of environmental
resources available for tourism purposes. Successful tourism development, on all
spatial scales, depends in many important ways on the proper handling of the
relationship between tourism and the environment; i.e. on integrated tourism and
regional planning providing for optimal allocation of environmental resources and
other production factors to tourism and other competing economic activities. A first
prerequisite towards this purpose is a careful analysis of the tourism-environment
relationship and of the associated principal planning and policy-making concerns
in tourism development.
Tourism development depends on the availability of attractive natural and/or
man-made resources in an area which tourists demand and pay for. It is
questionable if tourism could exist as an economic activity, and could be distin-
guished from other activities, in the absence of a well-preserved and highly valued
resource base. Natural, unspoiled scenery, beaches, mountains, ancient monuments,
traditional, picturesque towns and villages and many more factors constitute the
primary inputs to the production of the tourist product. The specific type of tourism
development of an area (e.g. beach resort, ski resort, etc.) depends primarily on the
nature of its environmental resources. Qualitative and quantitative differences in the
distribution of these resources over space account for differences in tourism
development at the regional, national and international level, with consequent
differences in the spatial and temporal distribution of tourism's economic,
environmental, social, and other impacts. Moreover, an important requirement for
sustained tourism development is the preservation of the quality and quantity of
these resources at levels acceptable to the consumers, the tourists.
It is not so simple to identify and analyse tourism's demand for environmental
resources, as one may think, because tourism is not a single economic activity with
a standard pattern of input requirements, and a standardised output. Instead, it
should be conceptualised as a complex of interdependent and inseparable activities
(travel, lodging, shopping, recreation, and services), each one with its own demand
for inputs and a characteristic output. The demand for inputs and the product of
tourism is, ultimately, a synthesis (not a mere addition) of these individual demands
4 H. BRIASSOUUS AND J. V AN DER STRAATEN

and outputs. Hence, the analysis of tourism demand for environmental inputs
involves analysis of the demands made by its constituent activities as well as the
interrelationships between these individual demands. This analysis is important for
two reasons: (1) tourism development of an area must take into account the
availability of local resources which are necessary for its growth and maintenance,
and (2) tourism-related activities compete for the environmental resources of an
area with each other and with other economic activities (industry, trade, transpo-
rtation, etc.), and as a result, conflicts among different uses arise. These conflicts
either result in deterioration of the quality and quantity of the tourist product
(because of undesirable spill-over effects (externalities) from one activity to
another, and, consequently, losses to the tourism industry), or in a struggle for
domination of the most economically profitable activity. Changes in the physical,
spatial, and socio-economic structure of a tourist area, as well as the existence of
several, sometimes burdensome, environmental problems testify to the presence of
these conflicts. It requests some form of conflict management (resolution or
reduction) which leads to a more desirable allocation of environmental resources.
The other facet of the tourism-environment relationship concerns tourism's
demand for the residual receptor services of the environment. Once an area
becomes a tourist attraction pole, its resources undergo changes simply because
they have been used up, directly for the production and consumption of the tourist
product on the one hand, and indirectly by activities linked to the tourist-related
ones on the other. The residuals generated by these activities are inevitably dispo-
sed in the environment and modify it. The extent and intensity of the modifications
caused basically depend on two interrelated groups of factors: (1) the type and
spatial-temporal characteristics of tourism development, and (2) the characteristics
of the area (UNEP, 1982). The first group includes such factors as the type of
tourist activity, the socio-economic and behavioural characteristics of tourists, the
intensity and spatial-temporal distribution of use, and the strength of linkages
among activities. The second group includes the natural environmental features of
the area, its economic and social structure, the forms of political organisation, and
the level of tourism development. The term carrying capacity is used to denote an
area's maximum tolerance to tourism development before negative impacts set in
(Pearce and Kirk, 1986; Lindsay,1986). Although interest is mostly centred on
environmental carrying capacity, social and physical carrying capacity are also
important in the ultimate determination of the maximum amount of tourism
development an area can tolerate.
The results from the interaction between the two groups of factors mentioned
above are the so-called direct environmental impacts. But there are also indirect
impacts, caused by activities indirectly related to tourism (e.g. local handicrafts,
trade, entertainment, etc.), as well as developments induced by the presence of
tourism in an area (e.g. second homes, recreation and shopping facilities, transport
networks, etc.). Therefore, the total impact of tourism on the environment is the
result of direct, indirect, and induced impacts, of which the latter very frequently
are difficult to distinguish from one another.
 TOURISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT: AN OVERVIEW 5

Overall, tourism's use of an area's environmental resources has two

consequences. Firstly, the quantity of available resources diminishes and sets limits
to further tourism development of the area. Physically and/or economically non-
augmentative resources (e.g. beaches, sites of natural or archaeological interest)
become limiting factors in this respect. For other types of resources, planning and
management are necessary to maintain quantity at levels necessary for continued
tourism activity. Secondly, the qUality of resources deteriorates with negative
effects on tourism. Firstly because the tourist product offered is of inferior quality,
and secondly because the quantity of good quality products, which was the initial
reason for tourism development is reduced. To avoid these negative impacts, it is
imperative to plan tourism such that the tourism-environment relationship occupies
a central position in providing guidelines and determining the limits to growth and
development of the activities involved. The main concerns arising in this context
are briefly discussed below.
Negative externalities generated by tourism, unlike those produced by other
economic activities, must be controlled in the same location in which they arise and
in the short-term, otherwise they have negative repercussions on the tourism
industry itself. Assessment of an area's carrying capacity, at least in relative terms,
is an absolute necessity in order to set some limits to growth and to avoid
undesirable impacts on the economic vitality of the industry. First priority must be
given to the carrying capacity of the natural environment, as defined by its major
components: air, water, terrestrial, and aquatic ecosystems. However, the area's
social and economic capacity must also be assessed for a comprehensive account
of its tourism development potential.
Because tourism is not a single economic activity but a complex of interrelated
activities, planning must encompass all these activities, their interrelationships, and
their demands on environmental resources and services, some of which will be
compatible with one another while others may be antagonistic. Also, despite
measures that have been introduced to reduce extremes, tourism is more or less
seasonal in nature and its impacts also have a characteristic seasonal pattern. For
these reasons, tourism development must be embedded in a comprehensive
planning framework for a given region. This region which will seek to avoid the
unwanted consequences of conflicts over incompatible land use and the over-
development of one activity at the expense of others and the region itself, at least
in the long run. For tourism, specifically, planning should prevent extreme,
seasonal negative impacts and, at the same time, should avoid investments in
environmental protection which remain unused for long periods of time. Finally,
this planning framework should ensure a reasonable allocation of local environ-
mental resources and services to competing uses, directed at maximising local
welfare, and at assisting the area to develop sustainability.
6 H. BRIASSOULIS AND J • VAN DER STRAATEN

3. Environmental impacts of tourism: State-of-the-Art

Until the early 1980s, literature on the environmental impacts of tourism was
considered a luxury, because of the paucity of relevant studies and the diversity of
sources from which they had to be retrieved (Farrell and McLellan, 1987). The first
efforts towards environmental impact assessment basically focused on the impacts
of leisure activities and, especially, outdoor recreation (Wall and Wright, 1977).
The first studies on the environmental impacts of tourism appeared after the mid-
seventies (Tangi, 1977; Baud-Bovy and Lawson, 1977), and were followed by more
research activity in the 1980s. Useful reviews on the subject can be found in
Dunkel (1984), Pearce (1985), Farrell and McLellan (1987), and Farell and Runyan
(1991). Naturally, most studies have concentrated on areas that are experiencing
some form of adverse environmental impacts as a result of tourism development,
for example the Caribbean islands, the Mediterranean, ski resorts. Throughout the
1990s, the tourism-environment issue has been examined, more or less, within the
broader framework of sustainable tourism development. Now, at the end of the
decade, and in no more than 20 years, finding literature on the subject is no longer
difficult. Instead, it is a Herculean task, given the proliferation of studies and
diversity of viewpoints involved, to select relevant literature. The following
discussion has, thus, to be considered as a timid effort to offer a broad and by no
means exhaustive account of the main topics and the most prominent issues covered
in the relevant literature.
The environmental impacts of tourism have been looked at from many
perspectives such as the biological and ecological, the behavioural, the planning
and design, and the policy perspective. The biological and ecological impacts of
tourism have been studied in specific environments - islands, coastal zones, alpine
areas, national parks, etc. (Edwards, 1987; Gartner, 1987; Jackson, 1986; Lindsay,
1986; Miller, 1987; Rondriguez, 1987). The most important consideration is the
assessment of the environmental carrying capacity that is necessary to plan for
tourism development that is in harmony with the environment.
From a behavioural point of view, visitors' satisfaction with an area's
environment as well as residents' perceptions of tourists have received scholarly
attention (Liu and Var, 1987). This viewpoint relates indirectly to the notion of the
social carrying capacity of an area, i.e. the amount of social disruption beyond
which both visitors and the local population experience negative consequences
(Pearce and Kirk, 1986).
Planning and policy-making for tourism development have been heavily
concerned with the goal of attaining a balanced relationship between tourism and
the environment. The most important issues in this respect are: assessment of an
area's carrying capacity and the limiting factors that determine the extent of tourism
growth, proper planning approaches ensuring balanced and sustainable tourism
development (Baud-Bovy and Lawson, 1977; Inskeep, 1987; Inskeep 1991;
Inskeep, 1994), and suitable policies for implementing the prescribed planning
measures (OECD, 1980; UNEP, 1982; UNEP, 1987). The latter borrow elements
 TOURISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT: AN OVERVIEW 7
from the broader class of environmental and development policies and adapt them
to tourism. Their core concerns are: control of tourism growth away from
environmentally sensitive areas, restrictions imposed on types, the extent and
intensity of activities permitted in an area, the proper management of residuals
generated by tourism, and minimisation of conflicts between tourism and
competing land use.
However, in the 1990s, a re-orientation can be observed in the analysis of the
environmental impacts of tourism after the broad adoption of the notion of
sustainable tourism, which followed the introduction of the concept of sustainable
development (Farell and Runyan, 1991; WCED, 1987). This concept is as old as
humanity itself, and has been practised in the pre-industrial age. However, t became
prominent after the publication of the well-known Brundtland Report by the World
Commission on Environment and Development as a governmental-level response
of several industrialised countries to the growing threat to the environment posed
by industrial activities. The definition of sustainable development as "development
which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs", although vague and subject to many
interpretations, has since become the guiding principle and basis for economic and
environmental policy-making in many countries in the developed and the
developing world. Modem industry also became gradually convinced that polluting
the environment was no longer prudent, from an economic point of view, and new
concepts such as 'greening the industry', 'environmental awareness of businesses',
'ecological modernisation' are now widely used in modern management (Mol,
1995; Jiinicke, 1993; Schmidheiny, 1992).
Amongst these broader developments, 'sustainable tourism' became a
catchword in the 1990s. The World Tourism Organisation, in reinterpreting the
definition of sustainable development, defined sustainable tourism as "tourism
which meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and
enhancing opportunity for the future" (Stabler,1997). Many leading tourist
enterprises and government agencies, realising the significance of a high quality
natural and cultural environment as an input factor to the tourist product, adopted
the idea. Changes in consumer preferences - with high value accorded to an
unspoiled environment in holiday destinations - further reinforced the importance
of the environment as the most critical constituent of the tourist product. This has
led to forms of 'alternative tourism' - ecotourism, nature tourism, rural tourism-
which are better attuned to the sustainability dictum. In sum, sustainable tourism
is now the broad research setting within which the tourism-environment
relationship is examined. Several noteworthy publications on the subject have
appeared in the last decade which cover topics such as sustainable tourism
planning, policies and management, sustainable tourism indicators, the role of
national parks, ecotourism, and rural tourism development, as well as sustainable
tourism development in specific geographical settings (Bramwell and Lane, 1994;
Bramwell et at., 1996; Coccossis and Nijkamp, 1995; Clifford, 1995; Lindberg and
8 H. BRIASSOUUS AND J. V AN DER STRAATEN

Hawkins, 1993; Nelson and Serafin, 1997; Smith and Eadington, 1994; Stabler,
1997).
The sustainable tourism movement, in conjunction with broader socio-economic
and political changes, has added more dimensions to the tourism-environment
research agenda. One dimension concerns the integration of tourism with other
activities to achieve greater synergy in achieving the goals of environmental
preservation and socio-economic vitality or, viability. Hence, the focus has shifted
to e.g., agrotourism, especially in the European Union where it is currently
considered to be a viable answer to a host of problems facing rural areas: declining
populations, rural-urban migration, decrease in income from agriculture, landscape
quality, and loss of biodiversity. Low impact tourism, traditional agriCUlture, and
nature protection are concepts in vogue in rural development and planning
(Bramwell and Lane, 1994; Schoute et at., 1995; Winter, 1996; Bramwell et at.,
1996).
Another dimension is the socio-cultural dimension, which has two facets - the
role of societal values and culture in mediating and structuring the tourism-
environment relationship, and material and immaterial culture as an important
tourism resource. The first facet springs directly from the conception of
sustainability as socio-culturally defined and impossible to achieve without broad
societal support of development choices. This has resulted in the focus on
'responsible tourism', 'participatory sustainable tourism' , and the related discourse
(Eber, 1992; D' Amore, 1993). The second facet relates to the emergence of cultural
tourism, which encompasses the older forms of historic and urban tourism and the
exploitation of the cultural as well as the environmental elements of host areas, in
an effort to regain the dual purpose of preserving cultural heritage and boosting
local economies through cultural tourism development (Dixon and Fountain, 1989;
Ashworth and Larkham, 1994; Fortuna, 1997; Stebbins, 1997; Ashworth, 1993;
Ashworth and Dietvorst, 1995; Turnbridge and Ashworth, 1996).
Recapitulating, the study of the environmental impacts of tourism has advanced
considerably over the last two decades and has provided the grounds for corrective
policy and planning actions. Starting from the traditional focus on the biological
and ecological dimensions of the tourism-environment relationship, methods of
analysis have proceeded to incorporate the social, cultural, political, ethical and
other dimensions under the influence, in part, of the sustainable tourism model.
Naturally, several issues still need to be explored as new developments add new
topics to the list. The ecological impacts of tourism remain a difficult issue to tackle
as it varies over space, alternative forms of tourism, including ecotourism, and
across different types of environmental media. Therefore, it may be difficult to
isolate impacts, which can be safely attributed to each one of the activities
constituting tourism, since several activities are commonly shared with the local
population (e.g. shopping, recreation, and travel). It is also difficult to distinguish
the ecological impacts of tourism from those caused by natural processes or other
activities occurring at the same time and in the same place (Mathieson and Wall,
1982). In addition, a lack of reliable and accurate empirical evidence for measuring
 TOURISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT: AN OVERVIEW 9
and explaining the impacts observed, as well as significant variability in the factors
influencing the frequency and magnitude of impacts (e.g. type of tourism activity,
intensity, duration, spatial-temporal distribution, etc.), gives rise to problems of
comparability among regions and makes it difficult to generalise findings from
specific locations and over time.
Similarly, tourist carrying capacity assessments still need to become more
precise and quantitative in nature in order to occupy their proper place, and playa
more decisive role in tourism planning. This effort cannot be separated, however,
from the broader research effort in the area of sustainable development which is in
progress in several fields, including tourism development, to provide working
definitions and guidelines. Placed in this context, tourism development must be co-
ordinated and integrated with the development of the host area along lines dictated
by the goal of sustainable regional development. The implications of this
requirement for tourism policy and planning research are numerous. Firstly, the
spatial level of analysis must not exceed the regional since sustainable development
requires grass roots efforts and co-operation among tourism producers and
consumers in order to succeed. At the same time, co-ordination among spatial levels
is necessary to avoid conflicting actions and interventions. Secondly, the planning
horizon has to be extended without losing sight of the present, and without
forgetting the considerable uncertainty of the future. It seems that a process of
adaptive planning (Holling, 1978) is best suited to this purpose. Thirdly, more
integrated approaches must be developed to analyse tourism's environmental
impacts that are capable of distinguishing direct from indirect impacts and from
impacts resulting from tourism-induced development. This is an important
requirement for developing suitable and effective policies directed not only to
tourism-related but to other economic activities in the area. Fourthly, the proper
planning tools and measures - physical, socio-economic, institutional, legislative,
financial - which will put tourism and regional development on the sustainability
path have to be investigated further, and their introduction and implementation
must be explicitly studied within particular geographic settings. In case such tools
exist but are not implemented, their effective implementation must become an
important research theme. Last, but not least, proper ways to educate effectively
both tourism producers and consumers have to be researched thoroughly 0 mainly
through case studies in various cultural settings. Because only a change in the
mentality of the main actors can guarantee the sustainability of development in
which tourism represents just one of the many interacting components.

4. Organisation of the volume

The chapters in this revised edition reflect the concerns expressed in the earlier
volume and represent further efforts to analyse and understand the various
dimensions of the tourism-environment relationship. The chapters are grouped into
four parts, following the dimensions of the tourism-environment relationship they
10 H. BRIASSOULIS AND J. VAN DER STRAATEN

address and appear on the title of the book: regional, economic, cultural, and policy
issues.
The ftrst part covers broad concerns of the tourism-environment relationship in
regional context. The ftrst three chapters revolve around a common issue; namely,
modelling the environmental and other impacts of tourism. In the ftrst chapter,
Helen Briassoulis focuses on the analytical aspects of the tourism-environment
relationship. She first reviews the literature on the environmental impacts of
tourism and identiftes the main methodological issues involved in environmental
impact analysis for tourism. Drawing on this analysis, she then proposes and
outlines the structure of an integrated economic-environmental modelling
framework based on the materials balance paradigm. Finally, she describes the use
of the modelling framework, for impact analysis and evaluation for tourism.
Jeroen van den Bergh, in the second chapter, employs a dynamic simulation
model to analyse the relationship between tourism development and the natural
environment for an island region in Greece, the Northern Sporades. The model
describes the development of the economies of the three main islands of the region
and their interactions with the terrestrial and marine environment. The relationship
between tourism and the environment is examined on various levels. In addition to
direct tourism impacts on the environment through, for instance, pollution, noise,
and disturbance, indirect, irreversible and long-term consequences are considered
also. In this perspective, tourism development patterns over time, recreational
attractiveness of the region, land use patterns, and the growth rate and direction of
economic development dominated by tourism receive special attention. Finally, the
model is used to test development scenarios in order to ftnd out which scenario can
provide an acceptable level of protection of nature and the environment. In
addition, the effects can be determined of this scenario on the economic and
tourism development of the region.
Patricia Kandelaars uses the same simulation model as Vanden Bergh to
analyse recent development in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, where the well-
known tourist resort Cancun is located. In 1970, the village had only 117
inhabitants, in 1976 it had 18,000 inhabitants, while in 1991, the population had
skyrocketed to 300,000. Tourism development was, and still is, the main reason for
this tremendous growth. As Cancun is located alongside marvellous beaches with
a relatively vulnerable ecosystem, environmental disruptions were, naturally, a
negative side effect of this growth. The model includes ftve modules: economic,
tourism, demographic, environmental, and governmental. Two scenarios have been
developed: a base and an environmental scenario. The latter provides for complete
cleaning of the water. By changing the parameters in the model, several options for
policy interventions and outcomes are identifted for the two scenarios.
Harry Coccossis and Apostolos Parpairis discuss the concept of carrying
capacity. They argue that this concept is difficult to deftne, as many starting points
are possible. Attention should be given to ecological as well as economic,
sociological, psychological, and cultural dimensions. The concept of sustainable
 TOURISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT: AN OVERVIEW 11
development is more or less related to carrying capacity, which is of particular
importance as an operational tool for tourism planning.
Michael Keane discusses the role tourism can play in rural development. He
argues that the mechanism of tourism can only bring about rural development in a
few rural communities. A more effective strategy for rural development is to make
tourism development part of a community integrated development plan. There are
good a priori economic arguments as well as encouraging pieces of empirical
evidence to support this view. A characteristic of rural community tourism is that
it is a community product and that it is developed from local structures. A key
factor in the development of community tourism is local co-ordination, linked to
wider product and market structures.
The contributions in the second part examine selected economic aspects of the
tourism-environment relationship. Jan van der Straaten discusses the problems,
which arise when the economic valuation of nature is at stake as is often the case
in a sustainable tourism approach. The central question is to what extent it is
possible to assign economic value to nature and the environment. If this can be
done, the decision-making process regarding the use of nature and the environment
in tourism activities is facilitated as it is based on sound economic information. In
this context, nature and the environment are different topics. In most cases, the
environment is defined as the abiotic part of the ecosystem, which implies that
water, air, and soil pollution and the use of natural resources such as iron ore,
natural gas, wood, and plastics are the main issues involved. The latter are
economic goods, which are priced as they are exchanged in a market. Water, air,
and soil pollution do not have a price, however, although people are often
economically affected. These costs for consumers and producers can be measured.
With respect to nature, the context is different. Nature, the biotic part of the
ecosystem, is not traded in a market, particularly in tourism, which means that it is
not possible to assign a proper price to represent its economic value. Beautiful
beaches, mountain scenery, and attractive Mediterranean landscapes, for example,
are very important for tourists. They are input in the production process of the
tourism industry and have a high economic value. However, it is not clear how to
measure these economic values. In this chapter the author examines to what extent
it is appropriate to 'construct' a price on using nature. In the first part of the
chapter, the principal questions regarding economic values are discussed, while in
the second part, various methods are discussed which have been developed to
tackle this problem.
In the next chapter, Jan van der Straaten discusses the traditional welfare
economic approaches of valuing nature and the environment. He expresses the
opinion that these instruments are no longer appropriate for describing and
analysing important environmental problems. This is demonstrated in the case of
tourism in mountain areas, which are threatened considerably by erosion and acid
rain. By comparing the impact on nature and the environment of a traditional ski
resort with an ecotourism development in Italy, he concludes that alternative
12 H. BRIASSOULIS AND J. V AN DER STRAATEN

approaches, in which more attention is given to the relationship between economics

and ecology, should be used, and goes on to present such an approach.
Ken Willis and Guy Garrod focus on the recreational value of inland waterways,
which are both private and public goods. Commercial recreation extracts some form
of payment, for example, from cruising which requires mooring licenses and fees,
or from fishing which needs a permit. However, for other types of recreation, such
as walking along the towpath, viewing the canal scene, or watching boats pass
through locks, there is usually no charge. With the help of an Individual Travel
Cost Method (ITCM), the utility or economic benefits are estimated that are
associated with informal, non-priced, or 'public good' forms of recreation along
selected inland waterways and canals in the United Kingdom. Given that no price
is charged for access, considerable benefits from non-priced recreational activity
may accrue to individuals by way of consumer surplus. The ITCM permits
consumer-surplus estimates to be determined of the value of recreation over the
canal system as a whole. At £62 million, this value is considerably higher than the
1989 government subsidies of £44.5 million allocated to the British Waterways
Board. The authors pay special attention to typical problems, which can occur
during sample collection and the processing of results. Truncation bias problems
are quite significant, particularly for recreational visits.
The third part includes contributions related to the cultural dimension of the
tourism-environment relationship. First, Greg Richards discusses the complex
relationship between tourism and culture. In the past, studies of tourism and the
environment have tended to concentrate on the 'natural' environment and did not
pay attention to the role of culture in creating environments for tourism and in
mediating the way in which environments are consumed by tourists. Recent studies
of the tourism phenomenon have begun to redress the balance, by pointing to the
way in which the production and reproduction of 'nature' is highly culturally
determined. The modern production of nature is closely bound up with the growth
of a culture of tourism. National parks and nature reserves which are specifically
demarcating natural areas, came into being only as increasing numbers of people
began to appreciate their value through tourism. This growing demand from tourists
threatens the very wildness that tourists come to consume, causing the adoption of
a range of management strategies to solve the conflicts between the needs of
wildlife, residents, and visitors. But most areas tourists visit today are not a true
wilderness but rural areas. This fact often leads to conflict between urban-based
tourists and their rural hosts.
Modernisation threatens the urban landscapes as well. The rhetoric once
employed against the 'rape of the countryside' is increasingly being voiced by those
struggling to preserve 'unique' urban landscapes and elements of cultural heritage
located in major urban centres. The process of redevelopment in urban areas is
currently seen as a modern scourge. As is the case for natural environments, the
creation and maintenance of conservation environments is increasingly dependent
on tourism and leisure consumption. As a result, interesting parallels emerge
between the processes at work in both 'natural' and 'cultural' environments. The
 TOURISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT: AN OVERVIEW 13

increasing scarcity of certain types of landscape or places imbues them with a

certain symbolic value, which, in tum, generates real economic value through the
commodification process, creating even greater pressure to transform these places
for economic purposes. Tourism is often seen as one of the least harmful ways of
maximising the economic potential of these symbolic places. The chapter analyses
the way in which the environment has been transformed into a cultural product for
tourism consumption. The way in which culture is produced and reproduced for
tourism consumption is analysed in both urban and rural contexts, with specific
emphasis on recent trends in cultural tourism consumption in rural areas.
Theano Terkenli focuses on the broader question of assessing the extent to and
the ways in which tourism contexts have been informed by the essential nature of
the tourist phenomenon, as opposed to the social and cultural histories and
geographies within which they have arisen. She employs the concept of landscape,
as a cultural geographic construct and as a concrete site of human life (the
landscape of Serifos, Greece), to illustrate the role and significance of geographical
and, especially, cultural specificity in tourism analysis. To negotiate the larger
question of the nature of tourism in the Western World in the last century or so, she
analyses the cultural dimension of tourism from a geographical theoretical
perspective and suggests an analytical framework for tourism research; namely, the
study of landscapes of tourism. The landscape is presented as a social interface
where local and global analytical perspectives, public and private life, planning
priorities and consumption patterns come together in the ready construction and
consumption of place identity. She presents a synthetic reading of selected modem
and postmodern symbolic landscapes of the Western World tracing the relevance
of cultural factors in historical tourist space construction and perception. She
discusses a number of distinctive qualities that are prominent in the composition of
contemporary landscapes of tourism as a social phenomenon, such as a convergence
of the public with the private spheres of life and the infusion of visual and leisure
elements into a growing number of local activities and preoccupations. She
concludes with a case study on the island of Serifos, Greece, to assess the impact
of tourism locally, in light of the proposed broader transformations wrought by
tourism onto the landscape of the Western World.
Paris Tsartas analyses the problems and implications of the use and management
of environmental and cultural resources in tourist areas. First, he presents the
development trends in modem tourism which have affected the management of
environmental and cultural resources in tourist areas: development of 'alternative'
tourism, changes in organised mass tourism, organisational and economic changes
in world tourism, changes and reorientation of tourist motives, the emergence of
'socially responsible' tourism, and transformation of tourism into a consumer good
in modem society. He goes on to examine the factors which affect the development
and management of tourist, cultural, and environmental resources: degree of growth
of organised mass tourism, special characteristics of local resources, the massive
development of alternative tourism, tourist marketing and advertising, tourism
policy in sustainable development programs, the definition of tourist resource, the
14 H. BRIASSOULIS AND J. VAN DER STRAATEN

tourism perspective on legislation for the protection and management of culture and
the environment, organisational development of a country's tourist sector, and its
position in the international division of leisure and local actors engaging in tourist
development. He concludes that currently (l) the notion of tourist resource is
differentiated and includes a wide range of elements, infrastructure, and activities
related to the culture and the environment of tourist areas, (2) planning and policy-
making for the management of cultural and environmental resources in tourist areas
is becoming all the more complex because of the special characteristics of these
resources and their significance for modem tourists, and (3) culture and the
environment will continue to form the basic fields in which tourist resources are
produced and will constitute the poles of attraction for more and more specialised
tourist trips.
Joseph Stefanou suggests that experimental iconology can be used for the
analysis of landscape quality, when improvements are necessary to promote a place
to tourists. This approach can help to identify those landscape elements, which
make the greatest contribution to the appeal an area might or might not hold for
tourists. The results obtained in this way are used in synthesis, i.e. in the creation
of tourist images and places which will ensure the sustained appeal of an area, as
well as the design of policies to make this attractiveness pay.
In the following chapter, Joseph Stefanou elaborates on the use of the image of
a place, its landscape, as a principal means for the development and promotion of
tourism in this place. He utilises the postcard, which is simultaneously a
communication medium, a consumer product and mass art, as a tool for the analysis
of the landscape of tourist places. This technique is based on the presumption that
the aesthetic and semantic interpretation of the landscape depends on the way and
mode by which it is formed and perceived as well as on the degree of mental,
psychological and practical appropriation of the landscape by an individual.
The last part of this volume is devoted to policy issues that have been raised in
the context of the tourism-environment relationship. Cees van Woerkum, Noelle
Aarts and Cees Leeuwis discuss the problems and challenges of communication in
the potential conflict between the various users of nature and the environment. The
authors argue that it does not make sense to implement rules without
communication with the potential users of natural assets. They describe two
approaches to communication for sustainable tourism. In the first instrumental
approach communication has the function of influencing behaviour directly or,
perhaps even more importantly, supporting other instruments, by informing people
or by gaining acceptance. In the second approach, communication in the process
of policy-making itself, is regarded as a more viable policy and learning process
regarding nature and tourism. These approaches do not exclude each other.
Interactive policy-making seldom achieves all we wanted. Instrumental campaigns
are still necessary. But the interactive approach and the broad communication it
provokes can provide the basis for more public awareness and understanding.
Unless the whole communication network around tourism is activated in the right
way, the instrumental approach is difficult to pursue. The tourists will still get
 TOURISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT: AN OVERVIEW 15
contradictory messages from different sources. It is unclear which messages appeal
to them most.
Helen Briassoulis presents an ex ante critical examination of the implementation
potential of theoretically prescribed sustainable tourism development policies
within current tourism policy implementation environments. After briefly
describing the tourism system, sustainable tourism development, and the tourism
policy implementation environment, the main policy prescriptions for sustainable
tourism development are screened on the basis of three evaluation criteria:
tractability of the policy problem, compliance, and influence of non-statutory
factors. Conceptual, scientific-technical, economic, socio-cultural, institutional,
legislative, administrative, political, physical, and communication implementation
issues are also identified in this chapter. Three general courses of action are
proposed to, at least partially, address these issues: (1) retain and improve the
positive aspects of current implementation environments, (2) introduce new forms
of tourism policy implementation and (3) feed back into tourism policy to design
policies that can be implemented more easily.
George Ashworth focuses on cities as specific environments, even though the
natural attributes of site, vegetational cover, building material, and the like have
been restructured by deliberate intervention and design. The distinction between the
so-called natural and the built environment is determined by the degree of human
intervention rather than its existence. Which planning strategies can be used to
develop cities from a tourist perspective? Although some examples are offered, no
general lessons for the development of a planning strategy can be drawn. The
difficulty is that the very selectivity of these cases stresses their particular
characteristics. There is no clear-cut blueprint. Neither the size, antiquity, dominant
political ideology, type of commodified heritage environment, nor a particular mix
of functions seems to offer clear guidelines. A high quality urban environment and
urban heritage tourism can be incompatible or mutually supporting opportunities;
the choice between these alternatives is not predetermined by any particular set of
conditions and, thus, remains open to deliberate decision.
Jan van der Borg argues that, when analysing the impact of tourism on the
environment, reference is usually made to the devastating effects mass tourism has
on the natural environment. It is only recently, that the question has arisen whether
cities, originally designed to host people, might have similar problems with tourism.
An affirmative answer to this question implies that a city's policy for tourism
development has to account for the city's limits for absorbing visitor flows. In other
words, urban tourism development strategy has to be compatible with the urban
environment. The aim of his contribution is to discuss the principal characteristics
of such a strategy, as far as environmental issues are concerned. The intention is to
give a comprehensive answer to the question whether, and under what
circumstances, urban tourism may be worth developing, a crucial question for many
cities that are currently considering the promotion of tourism development.
Nikos Konsolas and Gerasimos Zacharatos discuss the problem of
regionalisation of tourism activity and related policies in Greece. Compared with
16 H. BRIASSOUUS AND J. VAN DER STRAATEN

the autonomous character of policies for regional development during the 1974-
1989 period, the exclusive focus on the monetary aspects of international tourism
has gradually been abandoned, and the regionalisation of tourism development has
come to be recognised as the second most basic aspect (after currency) of this
development in Greece. In this perspective, tourism development is now being
promoted as one of the basic instruments of regional policy, especially in
problematic and socio-economically depressed areas.
George Chiotis and Harry Coccossis highlight some of the basic policy issues
relating to the role of tourism in national and regional development, with a
particular focus on the strong interrelationships between tourism policies and the
environment. The basic question in their chapter revolves around the role of
tourism in Mediterranean countries and particularly in certain regions, which are
sensitive to tourism and to the preservation of their natural resources and their
environmental quality. To illustrate the issues involved in the context of tourist
development and environmental protection, the experience of Greece and some of
its regions are used as an example. Special reference is made to the role of the
European Community and international co-operation.
Frank Convery and Sheila Flanagan deal with the relationship between tourism
and the environment in Ireland. The environment - natural and man-made - is of
vital importance to tourism in Ireland. It represents the backdrop to many other
activities and comprises a major attraction in its own right. The purpose of the
authors is to examine the development of environment-based tourism in Ireland,
and its possible impact on the landscape. They discuss rural and urban threats to the
environment in relation to tourism, and examine and compare the tourism
management strategies that are available for environmental protection in Northern
Ireland.
Finally, Theodosia Anthopoulou addresses the question of whether agrotourism
can contribute to the preservation of the rural environment. She focuses on the
mountainous and less-favoured zones of the Mediterranean which, even after the
reform of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union in 1992, are still
penalised. As they cannot compete with the high productivity regions, they are
socio-economically marginalised, and face significant environmental problems.
Diversification of farming into activities other than the production of raw materials,
such as agrotourism, is presented as an alternative for sustainable development in
these areas. The author describes the basic characteristics of agrotourism, describes
its features and assets in the less-favoured areas of the Mediterranean, and identifies
three main types of agrotourism units which can be distinguished in these areas, and
especially in Greece. She describes the introduction and organisation of
agrotourism in Greece and summarises a case study of a women's agrotourism co-
operative in Petra, on the island of Lesvos. Based on this experience, she identifies
the problems which the development of agrotourism in Greece faces, and evaluates
its contribution to the preservation of the rural environment. She suggests that an
agrotourism development policy for the Mediterranean mountainous and less-
favoured areas is necessary as it would take into account the need to retain both the
 TOURISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT: AN OVERVIEW 17
population and the agricultural activities which are gradually being abandoned in
order to preserve the fragile Mediterranean environment.

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