Green Tourism Essay

environmental concern is one of the major topics under password by dint ofout the foundation due to its detrimental contact which is inevitable devoted the way in which resources ar drug abused and the environs polluted. Going kibibyte is a concept pick out by several businesses around the world. twain(prenominal) of these businesses be honestly concerned approximately the milieu whereas others have adopted it as a marketing stratagem to make profits. Thus, it is hard to produce whether or non honey oil touristry is a marketing ploy just if undertaken morally and ethically indeed it should non be the vitrine (Kandari & Chandra, 2004).The touristry sedulousness has been under scrutiny for damaging the environment. Hotels and resorts are be constructed in fair landscapes in order to attract customers. Moreover, they undertake jet plane touristry marketing campaigns in order to justify themselves (Weeden, 2002). Is parking area touristry, then a marketin g ploy? In order to answer this headway we wishing to know what chiliad tourism is and what impact it has on the environment (http//www. helium. com/items/1115642-green-marketing). What Is Green tourism?Green tourism is all nearly the purvey of environmentally affectionate tourism services of all kinds ranging from leisure, business and volunteer(a) tourism services. Green tourism has in addition been termed as eco-tourism and sustainable tourism. each of the terms revolves around the same cause i. e. low impact and environmentally friendly tourism. Green tourism is overly cosmos an environmentally friendly tourist itself for e. g. taking a leisure trip to a beautiful resort hardly also, in the processes, have the lowest impact on the environment where you are headed.Generally then green tourism states that we should not only protect and preserve the place in which we live except also the places where we travel. Should Green Tourism Be Promoted? Whether or not green tour ism is a marketing ploy or not is a question we allow answer later but firstly we need to know whether or not green tourism should be promoted or not. The environmental impact of businesses around the world has now become a grave source of concern.As the world realized that most of the all- measurable(a) natural resources are limited in supply, steps are being taken to help prevent environmental damage and to use the hallowed natural resources in the most efficient and effective manner. The tourism industry has been at the center stage of the debate. Let us discuss the versatile impacts that tourism has on the environment and there effects. Tourisms feign on the Environment The environment has a certain limit to the consequence of visitors it screw handle for e. g.rainforest is able to maintain the ecological offset with a few resorts and tourists but if the rainforest gets plagued with resorts, hotels and tourists, the ecological balance will be disturbed and threatened. To urism has three major impacts on the environment i. e. the depletion of natural resources, pollution and physical impacts (Jones & Munday, 2007). Firstly, natural resources such as piddle for e. g. are overused by hotels and resorts. In fact tourists tend to use much piddle at a holiday then they do at home.Golf courses require immense amount of water and contribute to the depletion of water resources. Tourism also puts great stress on topical anaesthetic zilch, vulgar material and water resources for a country (Woodside, 2009). By far, land degradation is the most crucial impact of tourism on natural resources. scenic landscapes and important resources such as minerals, wildlife etceteraare often destroyed finished the construction of tourism facilities such as recreational centers, hotels and resorts. Secondly, tourism also contributes to pollution, especially in environments where pollution lav cause much scathe for e.g. wildlife reserves in Africa, rainforests in Sout h America, beach resorts in Maldives etc. Pollution caused by tourism comes in the form of emissions, noise, sewerage, waste presidency and littering. Moreover, aesthetic pollution is also a major concern, mostly, tourism structures disclose to integrate themselves within the natural landscape and result in the conclusion of the scenic beauty. Lastly, tourism also contributes immensely to the physical destruction of the environment. An ecosystem is a structure of living organisms, their physical surroundings and the natural cycles that sustain them.E actuallything is in perfect harmony but this harmony is often disrupted through tourism. The construction of resorts and hotels calls for land paving, sand mining, terrain restructuring etc. this causes land erosion and handout of wildlife habitats and ecosystems themselves. Deforestation is another very destructive physical impact that tourism has on the environment (Yeoman & Beattie, 2006). Given the immense environmental impact o f tourism it is imperative that action be taken to help resolve the problem.fiscal assistance in the form of environmental aid, improved environmental counseling and planning, environmental awareness raising, protection and preservation and various regulatory measures are essential for environment sustainability (Grubler, 2006). one and only(a) form of achieving all this is green tourism in itself. In several European countries, green tourism is promoted and also sponsored by governments themselves. This reflects the fact that several governments are also promoting the marketing of green tourisms.The aim should be to target responsible citizens who would choose green boldnesss i. e. organizations that are environmentally friendly to purchase goods and services. The Ashdene residence and Radisson SAS Hotel Case Studies To get a better understanding about why organizations and businesses, whether small or large, exact in green tourism we will analyze two fortune studies from Eur ope, The Ashdene House, a quintet room guest house in the southwestward of Edinburgh and the Radisson SAS Hotel in Glasgow, Scotland. Case 1 Ashdene HouseThe Ashdene House is a five bedroom guest house on the south of Edinburgh. It was rewarded the currency allocate by the Green Tourism Business Scheme in 1998 for its lettering towards environmental sustenance. The guest house has worked towards energy and waste management in an eco-friendly manner. They considered the fact that less(prenominal) energy use will lead to less environmental damage and consequently reduction in globose warming. do in recycling is actively pursued with waste being sorted into cardboard, glass, pliant and food.Moreover, energy saving devices and appliances are used to ensure that minimum energy is wasted. Moreover, the guest house also encourages guests to be environmentally friendly by using public transport or walking to the Edinburgh center. To promote biodiversity of the local ecosystem, it ha s installed bird feeds and water equipment. The owners, Mr. and Mrs. Daulby are the masterminds behind this green initiative. They also use recycled material such as recycled toilet paper and consume perfect harvest-tides.The Daulbys have made available an environmental tract to contain the guests engaged in environmental protection. The pamphlet requests visitors to sort their rubbish in such a manner that recyclable material is put separately, the pamphlet encourages the use of public transport or walking instead of crusade and lastly and most importantly it articulates visitors that environmentally friendly activities must not only be engaged in when on holiday but also at home. Case 2 Radisson SAS Hotel The Radisson SAS Hotel in Glasgow takes the environment very seriously.In 2001, it announced a Responsible Business Program which emphasise upon reducing the negative impact of the business on the natural environment. The hotel unresolved up in Glasgow in 2002 with 247 gue st bed cortege. The building design was create in such an architectural manner that it integrated well with the traditional and modern architecture of Glasgow city itself. Soon after inauguration, the hotel in 2003 was awarded the Gold Award for the Green Tourism Business Scheme. The hotel has been a lead musician in environmental sustainability. Water, gas, electricity and waste are managed effectively and efficiently.The hotel is given a sustainability target based on resource usage by the head office and mostly it aims to exceed the expectations of the head office by conserving more energy and utilizing fewer resources. All the lighting, air conditioning and electric appliances of the hotel are controlled through a computer unit. Whenever they are not in use the computer automatically shuts them off to save energy. The hotel also engages in the recycling of glass, paper and cardboard. A pamphlet in all hotel rooms enlightens guests regarding the Responsible Business Program un dertaken by the hotel.The hotel markets its environmental efforts actively in Hotelier magazines, their website and various sponsored events. The hotel believes that the green initiative also gives the hotel an advantage, especially with German and Scandinavian visitors. They believe that companies which are certified with the ISO 14001 environmental standards would choose a green hotel over one that did not pay attention to the environment. One thing to note here is that the green initiative undertaken by Radisson SAS is not a marketing ploy but it is present throughout the organization, at all levels right down till the ground level.Green Tourism A Marketing Ploy or Strategy? We understand that their can be two reasons for green tourism. Firstly, that an organization is rightfully concerned about the environment and has always been committed to go green or secondly, the organization is following the markets trends and faking the whole button green concept. This is also termed as greenwashing where organizations encourage products as eco-friendly where in fact they are not. It is obvious that most of the troupes pursue the go green concept for the profits that organise out of it. At times, companies have to point out the positive aspects of their products.We can say that this is intelligent marketing because given the economic recession and the global environmental crisis, and organizations will do what it takes to do, even if it is green tourism marketing, in order to keep minting money (Becken, 2005). Companies are in the business for qualification money they will do whatever the customers want. The typesetters cases discussed above are examples of situations otherwise. Ashdene House and Radisson SAS were sincerely concerned with the environmental impact of their activities. So should be the case given the severe impact of tourism on the environment as discussed earlier.Companies are now in the race of green marketing, using interpret words such as a ll-organic, pure natural etc to allure customers. It is genuine that most of the companies are not actually going green but yet again, as the cases presented prove, there are some companies that are rattling going green with no strings attached and they are sincerely concerned about the environment. Green tourism marketing has the same scenario legion(predicate) hotels and resorts boast their environmental concern but have little or no prove to support their claims (Mowforth & Munt, 2008).Trade commissions and authorities around the world have made green marketing guidelines stricter so that companies dont use it as a marketing gimmick. The issue of marketing improvidence arises when organizations design products and services which are environmentally friendly, educate customers regarding the environmental efforts and the reasons for their marketing and lastly but most importantly ensure the credibility of the product claims and refrain from making false claims (dAmore, 1993).Con clusion To conclude, we can say that green marketing or the marketing of products that are environmentally safe has been both a ploy for numerous companies whereas for others it is an honest effort to promote environmental awareness and minimize the impact of their operations on the environment. It is hard to tell whether or not a company is actually concerned about the environment or whether it has undertaken the effort to increase revenue and eventually profits.However, stricter rules and regulations and the important roles played by the International Standard Organization through their ISO 14000 support are granting companies the environmentally friendly status. At the end of the day, even if a company is ISO 14000 certified, we will never find out whether it markets its certification for increase revenue or if it is actually proud of its success. References Becken S. (2005). The role of tourist icons for sustainable tourism, Journal of Vancation Marketing, Vol 11, 21 30. dAmor e L. J. (1993).A Code of Ethics and Guidelines for socially and Environmentally Responsible Tourism, Journal of Travel Research, Vol 31, 64 66. Grubler A. , (2006). Doing More with little Improving the Environment through Green Engineering, Environment, Vol 48, 2237. Helium/Jeff Parsons. 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