Green tourism, also known as ecotourism is a relatively new type of tourism. It uses various techniques and practices to reduce or eliminate the negative impact of the tourism industry on the environment.
Popularity
Today, there are many tourism organizations who try preserve nature and its riches. In fact, statistics show that ecotourism is becoming more and more popular not only among governments and environmentalists, but also among the ordinary people. It was found that an average 14% of all tourists try to travel and vacate in a more “green way”. About 9% of them decided to give up the comfort of planes and choose a more alternative transportation. In addition, more than 4% of green tourists recycle the waste they produce while they are on a holiday.
Moreover, ecotourism is actually the fastest growing sector in the tourism industry. Various hotels, resorts and even entire countries create their own policies aimed at environmental preservation.
Problems Remain
But despite the positive development of green tourism, there are still many weak spots. The biggest of them is the pollution created from planes and other vehicles like cars and buses. The production of aircrafts, for example, doesn’t stop to grow. However, this problem is one of the hardest to deal with, because without such vehicles there will be no tourism at all.
Also, waste is another major pollutant. It is estimated that annually tourists produce hundreds of thousands of waste on a global level. That is due to the fact that they often use disposable items when they are on a vacation, because they are easy to carry and they don’t require any washing.
The other great problem is the damages which tourism causes to the world flora and fauna. Large areas are being overbuilt. As a result, the natural habitats of many species are heavily destroyed.
Green Countries
There are entire countries and governments which work on the task to make the world a greener place. Among the brightest examples are Australia and Brazil. Only in Australia there are over 600 ecotourism operators. Also, the country invests heavily in the new sector every year. Brazil, on the other hand, is famous with its conservations areas. Currently they are over 150 and 40 of them are national parks. In addition, in 2011 the country attracted nearly half a million foreign green tourists.
Green Tourism in Dubai
Dubai is also going green. Recently, the city started a new initiative for ecotourism. The program will try to improve the service standards in the local tourism industry and increase people’s awareness of the problem.
Despite being very new, the initiative already attracted lots of investors and followers. Many hotels in Dubai went green and now they work in an ecofriendly manner. Among their new green practices are waste reduction, recycling, compost production and green design construction.
Anantara Luxury Resorts & Spa a famous with hospitality luxury hotel chain opened a number of unique five-star properties in the United Arab Emirates aimed at promoting ecotourism. The best of these are : Eastern Mangroves Hotel & Spa and Desert Islands Resort & Spa.
