Geography

Tourism Impact:

Environmental impact:

Positive Impacts:

Tourism has the potential to increase public appreciation of the environment and brings people into closer contact with nature. This heightens awareness of the value of nature and lead to environmentally conscious behavior and activities to preserve the environment protection and preservation and this is a way to raise theimportance of environmental values. Tourism can contribute to environmental protection and conservation. It can finance protection of natural areas and increase their economic importance: by direct financial contributions, tourism can contribute to the conservation of sensitive areas and habitat. This is due to the revenue from park-entrance and similar sources which can be allocated specifically to payfor the protection and management of environmentally sensitive areas; by contributions to government revenues: some governments collect money that is not especially linked to specific parks or conservation areas like income taxes, taxes on sales or rental of recreation equipment, and license fees for activities such as hunting and fishing can provide governments with the funds needed to managenatural resource (used in conservation programs and activities, such as park ranger salaries and park maintenance). It also helps generate funding for maintaining animal preserves and marine parks through entrance charges and guide fees. Tourism contributes to the conservation of wildlife and natural resources such as rain forests. By creating alternative sources of employment, tourism reducesproblems such as over-fishing and deforestation in developing nations.
For example in Spain, there is eco-tourism which has grown in popularity during the international environmental movement of the ‘90's. The organized Eco-tours that are offered in Spain are quite varied. Yet, the most popular subjects for tours are birds, butterflies, and plants.

Negative Impacts:

Tourism involves manyactivities that can have adverse environmental effects. Many of these impacts are linked with the construction of general infrastructure such as roads and airports, and of tourism facilities, including resorts, hotels, restaurants, shops, golf courses and marinas. The negative impacts of tourism development can gradually destroy the environmental resources on which it depends. Tourism poses a threat to aregion's natural and cultural resources, such as water supply, beaches, coral reefs and heritage sites, through overuse. It also causes increased pollution through traffic emissions, littering, increased sewage production and noise. It can put enormous pressure on an area and lead to impacts such as soil erosion, increased pollution, discharges into the sea, natural habitat loss, increasedpressure on endangered species and heightened vulnerability to forest fires.
The tourism industry generally overuses water resources for hotels, swimming pools, golf courses and personal use of water by tourists. This can result in water shortages and degradation of water supplies, as well as generating a greater volume of waste water. In dryer regions like the Mediterranean, in Spain for example,because of the hot climate and the tendency of tourists to consume more water when on holiday than they do at home, the amount used can run up to 440 liters a day. This is almost double what the inhabitants of an average Spanish city use.
Air pollution and noise:
Transport by air, road, and rail is continuously increasing. Tourism now accounts for more than 60% of air travel and is thereforeresponsible for an important share of air emissions.
Air pollution from tourist transportation has impacts on the global level, especially from carbon dioxide emissions related to transportation energy use. There is also the noise pollution from airplanes, cars, and buses and as well as recreational vehicles such as snowmobiles and jet skis. This causes distress to wildlife, especially in sensitive...