Impacts of Mass Tourism Continued...

             

           Another example I would like to look at is the impacts that improper sanitation systems have on the environment.  In the town of Goa, India they do not have proper sanitation systems so the general public and any tourists visiting that location must use the beach in order to answer nature`s call.  This has shown on some studies to be one of the many causes in the decline in fish populations and fish diversity within daily catches.  The combination of human waste and improper disposal of garbage has left an extremely detrimental impact on the environment.  All waste impacts the environment in a negative way but through knowledge and newfound technology we can minimize that impact and further create a more eco-friendly tourist location. 

                Of the 20 favourite long haul tourist destination in the world, 14 of them are in developing countries.  Most of these tourists travelling to these locations are from rich nations and generally these travellers are accustomed to plentiful resources, and due to lack of information, they aren`t always aware about how limited these resources may be.  Therefore problems begin to arise when travellers maintain their normal consumption patterns in places that simply cannot accommodate them. One of the most serious effects mass tourism has had on developing countries has to do with water consumption.  The average amount of water used by one tourist in one day is equivalent to the amount of water used by a villager in a developing country to produce rice for 100 days.  Tourist attractions such as golf courses require a lot of water in order to upkeep the course and can use as much water in a season as a town of 10,000 people.

                In addition, one of the major contributors to environmental problems is greenhouse gases.  The travel and tourism industry is responsible for about 5% of yearly greenhouse gas emissions.  The impact that climate change has had due to the emissions has already damaged some of the worlds most beautiful and pristine tourism destinations and ecosystems. For example the famous snows on Mt. Kilimanjaro will likely be gone by 2020 (source: independant.co.uk). The tranquil Maldives Islands will fall due to the rising sea levels (source: guardian.co.uk.com).  Finally, the glaciers in Glacier National Park in Montana, USA are rapidly disappearing (source: nationalgeographic.com).