Uni of SA tourism paper

GROWING animosity towards tourism in many parts of the world is an indication that we should be “actively changing the way we travel,” according to a new study published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism.

Dr Freya Higgins-Desbiolles from the University of South Australia has been studying the phenomenon of over-tourism for more than a decade, with her paper urging a redefinition of tourism “in order to place the rights of local communities above the rights of tourists for holidays, and the rights of tourism corporates to make profits”.

She suggested the tourism industry needs to break its addiction to endless growth, and learn to recognise and work within the planet’s finite limits.

“We’re not suggesting everything has to grind to a halt... but just as other areas of industry have had to recognise the importance of sustainability, both socially and environmentally, tourism must stop sacrificing a long-term future for short-term gains,” she claimed.

The academic said in some sectors tourism was arguably an unnecessary activity, “and despite claims to the contrary can be quite damaging to our ecology with its current rapacious practices fostered by a neoliberal growth paradigm.

“In a resource-constrained and stressed world, tourism will have to justify its existence by offering more benefits and value than it currently does,” she wrote.

“Tourism should be reclaimed from an industry that has defined it as a business sector for their profit accumulation, to a human endeavour based on the rights and interests of local communities in welcoming tourists.”

Read the paper HERE.