Sustainable tourism
The blueprint provided by World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) for new tourism offers a strategic approach which strives to ensure that travel and tourism will be beneficial in the future to all stakeholders. In accordance with the new blueprint, tourism and travel will focus on how it can benefit the tourists as well as the locals and the communities frequented by tourists both in the short term and the long term as well (WTC, 2018). To achieve these long term benefits for all stakeholders, the framework for the blueprint takes into consideration the impact that tourism and travel activities has on natural resources, the local people and also the social and cultural environment of the regions frequented by tourists. By regulating how tourists interact with the locals and the community they travel to, the blueprint will be able to draw attention to issues that may affect the sustainability of the tourist attraction sites (WTTC, 2018). Since both tourists and locals enjoy the benefits of tourism and travel, the approach is expected to create an environment where tourism and travel activities are not only enjoyed in the short term, but over a long period of time.
One of the strategic priorities included in the blueprint is the need for the government to recognize the tourism and travel sector as a major sector and prioritize approaches made towards its improvement. The tourism and travel industry is a major boost to a country’s economy, not to mention the employment opportunities it creates (Blanke, 2008). As such, boosting tourism and travel in a country is likely to promote economic growth and the government should therefore focus on maintaining its sustainability. Another strategic priority is finding a balance between the business side of tourism and travel and the impact its operations have on locals, their culture and the environment in which the activities take place (Grimaldi, 2019). Rather than focusing on just the business end, the sustainability of tourism and travel relies on good relationships between the tourists and the locals and maintain good relationships is likely to benefit all parties involved. Lastly, the blueprint calls on all stakeholder to develop a shared quest for long term growth of the industry as a way of sustaining its prosperity. If tourists, locals, the government and other relevant authorities work together to enhance the sustainability of tourism and travel, their joint effort will gather enough support and create awareness on the importance of properly maintaining tourist destination sites.
In 2018, the tourism and travel industry was responsible for creating 319 job opportunities on a global scale and it generated 8.8 trillion dollars through tourism related activities (WTTC, 2017). At present, the industry is responsible for one out of every five jobs created across the world. If the same trend continues, WTTC has predicted that tourism and travel could create over 100 million new jobs across the globe in the next 10 years to reach 421 million jobs by the year 2029 (WTTC, 2017). Among the countries expected to benefit the most from tourism in future include Asia, Africa and the Middle East. This is especially because they have the infrastructure, resources and tourist destination sites that will increase traffic to the region (WTTC, 2017). In the case of Asia, the strong economy and wealth of countries like China will help fund sustainability efforts as well as promote local tourism. Africa on the other hand has various tourist attraction sites that will attract tourists from different parts of the world.
References
Blanke J, (2008) “The travel and tourism competitiveness report 2008: Balancing economic development and environmental sustainability” Geneva, Switzerland
Grimaldi E, (2019) “Travel and tourism continues strong growth above global GDP” retrieved from, https://worldtourismwire.com/travel-tourism-continues-strong-growth-above-global-gdp-4038/
Word Travel and Tourism Council, (2017) “Travel and tourism economic impact 2017” retrieved from, https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/regions-2017/world2017.pdf
World Travel and Tourism Council, (2018) “Travel and Tourism: Global economic impact and issues 2018” retrieved from, https://www.wttc.org/
