Tim Forsyth considers the destructive nature of tourism. (1:56 min)

Tim Forsyth: Tourism can be a very destructive force. Over years it can lead to the development of certain coastal areas and other sites, to become dedicated almost entirely to the business of tourism. Once the tourist demand changes and heads elsewhere, all that is left is an area full of hotels, bars and over used parks, that are basically degraded and not attractive for more tourists. One good example of this is the East Coast of Spain, which became very popular with tourists during the 1970s, but during the 1980s Spain fell out of favour. Everyone considered that particular coastline to be very degraded and so the crowds headed to Turkey instead.

This pattern is not just confined to coastal areas. Tribal and minority peoples in developing countries are also targeted by tourism and that has complicated effects on how such people see themselves or how they are treated in the development process. Perhaps one good example of this is the Masai in Kenya who happen to live near the large safari parks.o believe that the influence of tourism on the Masai has not been positive or at least that the Masai have not benefited from tourism as much as they could have. Often they are presented to foreign tourists as part of the safari package and "model" Masai villages have great numbers of tourists visiting to observe their lifestyle. Anthropologists would use the term "staged authenticity" for the idea that because one has travelled long distance, it is important to go and see something that is different, exciting, exotic and remote. Many places such as Peru, Thailand and India practice this. It doesn't necessarily follow that the people who partake in these exercises are necessarily having a bad impact upon the tribal communities. However, sometimes it hinders the integration of these people within wider society and it can also increase barriers between minority and majority groups who live in the country as a whole.

Tim Forsyth

Tribal and minority peoples in developing countries are targeted by tourism. In Thailand, most tribes-people are found in the north and migrated over 100 years ago from the southern part of China into Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam and Thailand. Many argue that they have preserved their way of life. The impact tourism has had on this is controversial. There are six major tribes, the Karen, Hmong, Yao or Mien, Lisu, Lahu, Lawa and Akha. They have maintained their distinctive cultures and tourists do visit these hilly areas to catch a glimpse of their way of life. There are several smaller tribes including the Paduang, or the "Long Necks." (left) The term 'long-neck' stems from the practice of women adorning their necks with brass coils. This tribe has proved to be a major tourist attraction ever since they began fleeing Burma, more than a decade ago. By tradition, girls begin to wear coils before puberty, and these are augmented until they weigh as much as 11 pounds. The coils force the chin upward while pressing down the collar bones and ribs, elongating the neck. Some critics argue that the custom has become distorted and exploited by tourism as busloads are encouraged to come and view the women, with their elongated necks.

Fathom: Has tourism led to any breaches of human rights or the displacement of local communities?

Tim Forsyth looks at how tourism effects local communities. (1:38 min)

Forsyth: This is one of the great controversies of tourism. There are many examples of national parks being formed by removing people to parks elsewhere. For example, to create the Lake Rara national park in Nepal, they had to move some 400 villagers, the Chhetri people, somewhere else. This is a big debate simply because on the one hand ecologists would like to believe that the park should be left to the native animals and plants. On the other hand, anthropologists and sociologists would like to see the people and the landscape together--indeed the landscape wouldn't exist if the people were not there already. Clearly, the problem is how far tourism can be used as a way to put into practise policies for moving people, which wouldn't be allowed under normal circumstances.

There are many examples of national parks, which have people involved: the question is how many people and also what sort of people? The Tambopata reserve in Ecuador is famous for its integration of the indigenous people who inhabit the forests. Tourists come to look at the forest area and observe local practices. Sometimes, the problem is that once a national park is created, there are new incentives for people to move into the area, cut down the trees, cultivate agriculture and then claim special status for being there. One of the real problems in creating a national park is deciding who is going to be included and who is not.

Tim Forsyth illustrates the different types of tourism. (0:44 min)

Forsyth: There are many types of tourism and we should differentiate between them. When tourism simply consists of backpackers moving into a place, living in local houses and then moving on, it doesn't generally have much of an environmental or social impact. However, the other extreme where large hotels and theme parks are developed obviously has huge impacts upon the local environment, employment opportunities and the very nature of development within the region. It is important to differentiate between the two. Although a lot of people believe that once you start having backpacker tourism, over time, gradually it will change and become more like mass tourism, especially once a market has been established.

Tim Forsyth

Many villages in developing countries around the world receive great numbers of tourists visiting to observe their lifestyle. Anthropologists would use the term "staged authenticity" for the idea that because one has travelled a long distance, it is important to go and see something that is different, exciting, exotic and remote. Many places such as Peru, Thailand and India practice this. It doesn't necessarily follow that the people who partake in these exercises are necessarily having a bad impact upon the tribal communities. However, sometimes it hinders the integration of these people within wider society and it can also increase barriers between minority and majority groups who live in the country as a whole. This tour notice board shows a "native" with a bone through the nose. It shows the mainstream view of hill tribes as primitive, using a colonial image of a black man with a bone. It is up to the local authorities and governments to regulate these activities. Some may actively promote such cultural tourism. Others may wish to stringently police tourist behaviour in the presence of these communities.

Fathom: Have governments and NGO's noted the negative impact mass tourism has had in some areas and what is being done about it?

Tim Forsyth discusses what governments are doing about the negative impact of mass tourism. (1:02 min)

Forsyth: Virtually all NGO's have noted the potential negative impact of tourism. The WWF is very keen to regulate the use of safari areas and concerned about the potential damage to wildlife resulting from tourism. Many governments, however, take a very different line. The government of Bhutan in the Himalayas, for example, is unusual because it has imposed a very high tourist tax upon tourists going into Bhutan--it can be something like $100- 200 a day. This is a radical effort to try and reduce tourist numbers but also increase the revenue coming from tourism--a very successful strategy. Nepal on the other hand, just next door, doesn't take that strategy. It has gone for the "high numbers of tourists" approach. This might cause overloading of certain cities and trekking routes. Other countries such as Kenya and Peru are also very keen on increasing the number of tourists into the country.

Tim Forsyth talks about the regulation of tourism. (1:36 min)

Forsyth: I think it is important to define sustainable tourism precisely. Many people talk about sustainable tourism, when they are actually thinking about eco-tourism. Eco-tourism is tourism which focuses upon remote ecological and attractive areas such as rainforests or reefs. It can also look at remote people such as the Masai. Many people believe that this can be an ecologically friendly form of tourism but there is a considerable body of research to suggest that this is not the case and that it can actually wreak a lot of damage on fragile eco-systems or increase the pressure upon remote people such as the Masai. It is much more important, I think, to talk about sustainable tourism which deals with all sorts of tourism from the mass tourism on the beaches of Spain, to the cultural tourism of Stratford upon Avon, as well as travelling to exotic rainforests and reefs.

It is important to somehow try and increase awareness of the potential damages of tourism in particular localities. The trouble is that it is very difficult to achieve and one of the key problems in achieving sustainable tourism is that there is no such thing as "the" tourism industry. Tourism exists because of the juxtaposition of many different industries such as airlines, tour operators, hotels, tour guides and ice-cream sellers, all operating together at the same time. It is very difficult to come up with policy measures to try and integrate all these different people working in the same direction at the same time.

Tim Forsyth illustrates how different countries respond to the issue of sustainable tourism. (4:57 min)

Forsyth: Generally speaking, developing countries have a harder time regulating tourism than the wealthier countries of Europe and North America. This is basically because these countries are much more used to dealing with tourism. They have a much greater local capacity for implementing policy, making decisions and regulating laws whereas in many developing countries it is very difficult to do anything once you are outside the capital city.

That said, there are some interesting initiatives going on. Bhutan is a good example of one country that has decided not to encourage large amounts of tourism. Within other countries there are other measures for managing tourism. One approach, for example, is land use zoning, which basically means you might send one kind of tourist to an area where they might do drinking, beaches, theme parks, and another sort of tourist such as bird watchers or cultural tourists somewhere else, and never mix the two. This can increase the great ability to profit from both sides of the market as long as what happens at each place is carefully controlled.

er, is that many developing countries are largely in the hands of the tour operators: the big international companies such as Airtours or Thompson can dictate the numbers of tourists and how their location is marketed. It is interesting to note that many developing countries are trying to overcome the ability for tourists to pick and choose between places by trying to market each location as distinctively special. During the 1970s, countries would only market places on the basis of sun, sea and sand, which was great, but so many places in the world offer those things. However, if you try and present an image of a country as having not only sun, sea and sand but also offering a specific type of wildlife or culture then this can increase a regular flow of tourists who really want to visit that particular country. For example, have you ever seen an advert for Malaysia which doesn't have a picture of an orangutan in it? This is just one technique with which Malaysia can say, "Look we're different, come here".

	Thinking Point
	What kind of incentives could be offered to companies and resort managers to reduce the negative impacts of tourism?

The World Tourism and Travel Council has set up a number of schemes to try and regulate international tourism. This is a body that has been set up by many large tourism companies to try and regulate tourism and increase communication between different parties and to try and improve the level of tourism throughout the world. In many ways it does a very good job but many developing countries also criticise the WTTC for not doing enough. The WTTC set up an organisation called Green Globe, which was an attempt to try and increase the environmental performance of tourism companies. However, it has also given a lot of awards to hotels in different countries, which have been criticised widely by local NGO's and activists for overlooking the rights of local people. The actual rules by which environmental performance is governed is extremely controversial.

Advertising exactly what environmental performance is remains a major problem, not just in tourism but in all areas of environmental policy. It is difficult to demonstrate that many people make claims about environmental performance, which are highly controversial. It's a sad fact that many high value tourist resorts advertise themselves as environmentally efficient and friendly just because they might use things like low wattage light bulbs or recycle a lot of waste within the hotel, but in fact they may not want to employ local people to work in the place and there might be all sorts of implications for land prices and access to scarce water supplies or fuel supplies which may impact negatively on other people in the area. There has to be a much more holistic approach to integrating tourist development with local communities and local environments.

Tim Forsyth explains how the private sector can help sustain tourism. (1:24 min)