I. General Concepts 4. Quality and sustainability

Section 4.9: Environmental Issues

Environmental issues related to tourism activities can be roughly classified into three large groups: reducing the impact of transport, minimizing the use of resources and production of waste.

Tourism transport, especially air travel, makes extensive use of energy resources and causes a large quantity of emissions but, as small rural entrepreneurs, there is little that we can do concerning these movements of large numbers of people. An aspect in which we are more likely to make a difference is in road traffic and the use of vehicles needed for our activity. Road traffic, when it is excessive, affects the local air quality and noise levels and is related to several medical conditions. The increase of carbon emissions on a global level is a significant threat to the environment and the quality of our lives. Simple steps that we can take to reduce carbon emissions and the impact of our tourism activity are the following:

• Use public transport as often as possible, both for you and your customers. Try to plan out activities that include use of public means of transportation and offer them to your customers as alternative to the coach service and a better way to get to know the culture of your community.
• Encourage your customers to use public transport both in their travelling to your region and within the area of their vacation. Provide them with timetables and routes.
• Include information on public transport in all your brochures or tourist information.
• If you need a vehicle to transport your customers, always try to find the smallest and environmentally friendly vehicle.
• When designing a tourist route, consider the impact of transport and plan the route accordingly.
• Use the local products whenever possible, consider the ecological impact of transport of import goods to tourism destinations.

Leisure and tourism activities extend a great toll on a region's resources (land, energy, water, food) and may compete with the needs of local people. As providers of cultural tourism activities we can ensure that our activities are carried out by making an adequate use of the local resources, but especially by making sure that our providers and the providers of accommodation services with whom we work make use of environmental management tools and do not make overconsumption of the local resources.

Waste production is another area upon which tourism activities have a large and negative impact. Recycling and reusing are solutions to the problem of waste management, but the best environmental option is to reduce our waste. In our business, this can be done in a number of ways:

• When purchasing goods for you and your customers, always pay attention to the packaging and select those products with the smallest amount of it.
• When purchasing goods for your customers, try buying in bulk, which is also a cheaper option, and use non-disposable, reusable packaging (for example, try using cotton bags for picnic lunches instead of plastic ones).
• Collect all waste generated during the development of the activity and try to dispose by reusing or recycling where possible.
• Offer your customers a selective disposal of waste with different bins for every category.
• Talk to your providers and make sure that they are also involved in the minimization and management of waste.

Section 4.8: Standarts and Certifications

References