Sustainable Development Of Tourism

Introduction

1.1. The necessity of sustainable development of tourism

Healthy ecosystems and environments are vital to the survival of life on earth. Environmental stresses are linked to one another, which in its ultimate effect influences the socio economic development fields (WCED, 1987; OECD, 2012). Tourism which is not properly planned and managed can cause stress and leave permanent footprints on the physical, social, cultural and economic environments of tourism destinations (Ceballous, 1996; Glasson et al. 1995; Dwyer & Edwards, 2009, Lemos et al., 2012). The term ‘sustainability’ is a more frequently used in connecting with all systems in the context of future of earth. According to UNWTO, sustainable tourism is defined as, “tourism

One of the significant beneficial faces of tourism is its contribution to poverty eradication by means of livelihood opportunities. Tourism economy is directly linked to social, economic and environmental sustainability. Climate change, a globally perceived issue have significant implications on environmental sustainability, especially in the account of tourism as it is directly related to the alterations in the nature of tourism seasons, destinations and associated activities. As like other developing countries, India is also facing the problem of exploitation of environmental resources in an unsustainable manner. The need of preservation of tourism with its sustainability goals become significant for ensuring the continuity of tourism contribution to the socio economic growth based development (UNCTAD,

SEA has been practiced in different sectors in different ways throughout the world and the application of SEA in tourism sector started since 1990s (Therivel, 2004). SEA has been defined as “the formalized, systematic and comprehensive process of identifying and evaluating the environmental consequences of proposed policies, plans or programs to ensure that they are fully included and appropriately addressed at the earliest possible stage of decision-making on a par with economic and social considerations” (Sadler, 1996). It addresses the three pillars of sustainability (ecological/environmental, social and economic) in an integrated manner (Lemos et al., 2012., Partidario, 2013). The relevance of tourism in terms of its potential impacts on environment has been lead to the practice of SEA globally. Though the Indian economy have strong dependency on the tourism sector, the practice of environmental assessments, especially SEA, is relatively very