Which One Should We Stop, The Behaviour or The Tourism

Industry?
By Lauditta Nabila Qurotadini
SDP 4 - 201419694
Tourism is one of the largest and developing industry really fast right now.
Tourism developments worldwide have had a substantial impact on the natural world.
Tourism has played its role in destroying the natural environment. Tourism
establishments that fail to protect their environmental surroundings impact such as
soil erosion, increased pollution, discharges into the sea, natural habitat loss, increased
pressure on endangered species and heightened vulnerability to forest fires. Plastic
waste is one of the huge problems were facing that caused by tourism industry.
Should tourists that use plastics be forbidden to enter a destination?
Plastic pollution involves the accumulation of plastic products in the
environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, or humans. The
prominence of plastic pollution is correlated with plastics being inexpensive and
durable, which lends to high levels of plastics used by humans. However, it is slow to
degrade. Plastic pollution can unfavorably affect lands, waterways and oceans. Dr.
Jenna Jembeck, a researcher from Georgia University, USA, sought to know how
much plastic waste circulating in the world's oceans by collecting international data
on population, waste generation, waste management, and errors in managing waste.
For the year 2010, the amount of trash is estimated at 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes. Dr.
Jenna and team set 8 million tonnes as the average forecast. They have made a list of
countries that have contributed to the plastic waste in the oceans. A total of 20 top
countries in the list are responsible for 83% of all waste that ended up in the ocean.
China is on the top of the list, which produces more than one million tons of waste in
the sea.
Tourism is also responsible for plastic pollution that happened in destination.
For example, in mountain areas, trekking tourists generate a huge deal of waste.
Tourists on expedition leave behind their garbage, oxygen cylinders and even
camping equipment. Such practices degrade the environment with all the detritus
typical of the developed world, in remote areas that have few garbage collection or
disposal facilities. BBC.com (05/15) reported theres about 0,5 kilograms waste of
plastic bottles, cans, packages of instant noodles that discarded by every tourist in
Mountain Bromo. In fact, theres 200 untill 500 tourist every day and theres 250
kilogram of litters per day in total. And it also happens in other mountains, beaches
and any other tourism destination in Indonesia.
If tourism destroys the environment with negative impacts, it also plays a very
big role in the preservation of the natural environment of the destination areas. An
appropriate and well managed tourism approach can reduce the pessimistic impact of

tourism on the natural environment. According to UNEP the tourism industry and its
stakeholders can contribute through : 1. Financial Contributions, a) Direct financial
contributions to the conservation of sensitive areas and habitat. Revenue from
destination entrance fees and similar sources can be allocated specifically to pay for
the protection and management of environmentally sensitive areas. Special fees for
destination operations or conservation activities can be collected from tourists or tour
operators, b) Contribution Government Revenues, such as user fees, income taxes,
taxes on sales, license fees for tourist activities; 2. Improved Environmental
Management and Planning, Planning helps to make choices between conflicting
uses, or to find ways to make them compatible. By planning early for tourism
development, damaging and expensive mistakes can be prevented, avoiding the
gradual deterioration of environmental assets significant to tourism. For example,
green building (using energy-efficient and non-polluting construction materials,
sewage systems and energy sources) is an increasingly important way for the tourism
industry to decrease its impact on the environment. And promoting 4R (recycle, reuse,
reduce, replace) method; 3. Environmental Awareness Raising, The tourism
industry can play a key role in providing environmental information and raising
awareness among tourists of the environmental consequences of their actions. Tourists
and tourism-related businesses consume an enormous quantity of goods and services;
moving them toward using those that are produced and provided in an
environmentally sustainable way, from cradle to grave, could have an enormous
positive impact on the planet's environment.
Environmental damage is now a huge problems all over the world. Tourism
plays a big role in the negative impacts for environment but it also has positive role to
the environment. Because plastic is inexpensive and durable so it highly used by
humans, plastic pollution can affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, or humans. Therefore,
that is not tourist that use plastice is forbidden to entering the destination but the use
of plastic and also raise the environmental awareness should be raising more further
in tourism industry or in destination itself. Using three methods above can reduce the
negative impact of plastic pollution. But not only tourist should be the one which
aware of destination environment but also the government, non-government
organizations, tourists and local communities as the tourism stakeholders also
participate in taking care of environment through tourism activities.