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Environmental Impacts of Tourism

Ecotourisrn is one of the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry. The tourist industry looks after holiday visitors by providing them with such things as accommodation, food, transport, entertainment and shopping facilities.

In the last few decades the number of people travelling to foreign countries for holi­days has grown greatly. Today tourist industry became a multisectoral activity that requires inputs from many industries — agriculture, construction, and manufacturing — and from both the public and private sectors to provide the goods and services used by tourists.

Tourism is one of the world's least regulated industries, which has serious implications for ecosystems, communities and cultures. Hotels, tourist transport, and related activities consume huge amounts of energy, water, and other resources and generate pollution and wastes, often in destinations that are unprepared to deal with these impacts. And many communities face cultural disruption and other unwelcome changes that accompany higher visitor numbers.

Once tourists arrive at their destinations, their choices of where to sleep, eat, shop, and be entertained come at the expense of the environment. Natural and rural landscapes are rap­idly being converted to roads, airports, hotels, gift shops, parking lots, and other facilities, leading to deterioration of the scenery, wildlife habitats, and other sites.

At coastal destinations in the Caribbean and elsewhere, construction methods have de­stroyed dunes and wetlands. In Cancun, Mexico, large expanses of mangrove forests, salt marshes, and other wetland areas that harbor wildlife and protect reefs have been cleared and filled to make room for resorts and piers. These areas are often shored up with topsoil scraped from inland wetland savanna areas, resulting in the disruption of two valuable eco­systems.

The world's hotels use massive quantities of resources, including energy for heating and cooling rooms, and cooking meals, as well as water for washing laundry, filling swim­ming pools, and watering golf courses. This resource use damages the environment. Tourist facilities are contributing to the drying up of Israel's famed Dead Sea: in the last 50 years, water levels have dropped by an estimated 40 meters, leaving barren, salty mudflats that are hostile to native plants and birds. Environmentalists predict that the Dead Sea could disap­pear completely by 2050.

At destinations where fresh water is scarce, over-consumption by tourists and tourism facilities can divert supplies from local residents or farmers. In the Philippines, the diversion of water to tourist lodges threatens to destroy paddy irrigation at the 3,000-year-old rice ter­races, an important cultural heritage site.

In addition, tourism creates large quantities of waste. Hotels, swimming pools, golf courses, and other facilities also generate a wide variety of harmful residues. Improperly disposed of, this waste can damage nearby ecosystems, contaminating water sources and harming wildlife.

The presence of tourists in natural areas can affect wildlife behavior and populations. Around the world, whale-watching boats relentlessly pursue whales and dolphins and even encourage petting, influencing the animals' feeding and social activity. Similarly, tourist vehides that approach cheetahs, lions, and other animals in Africa's safari parks can distract these creatures from breeding or stalking their prey. Safari tourists are also the market for illegal elephant ivory.

At particularly fragile destinations, such as small islands, it can take relatively few visitors to leave a mark. Tourists can unintentionally trample vegetation or disturb nesting seabirds, breeding seals, or other animals, and they can bring invasive plants and animals in with their equipment or luggage. The introduction of these "exotic" species threatens to de­stroy the unique flora and fauna of Ecuador's Galapagos Islands.

In mountain areas, resorts and related infrastructure can disrupt animal migration, cre­ate waste that is difficult to dispose of at high altitudes, and deforest hillsides, triggering landslides.

In coastal areas, popular recreational activities such as scuba diving and snorkeling are damaging coral reefs and other marine resources. With their fins and hands, divers and snorkelers break coral colonies at popular Red Sea reefs off Egypt and Israel. Heavy diving at many sites has changed the composition of reefs. Souvenir shops and restaurants also contribute to the destruction, looting reefs for shells, coral, and seafood.

Tourists must be made aware that just as they take souvenirs home with them, so they leave souvenirs behind. Every trip leaves a trace.

1. Give the English equivalents for

помещение, развлечения, обеспечивать товарами и услугами, потреблять огромное количест­во энергии, иметь дело с, загрязнение и отходы, окружающая среда, природный ландшафт, место для парковки, ухудшение среды обитания живой природы, всемирно известный, за­грязненный моющими средствами, заболоченное место, болото, предсказывать, исчезать, разрушение экосистемы, загрязнять источники воды, оказывать воздействие на популяции, топтать растительность, незаконный, особь, разрушать уникальную флору и фауну, миграция животных, горные районы, прибрежный район, высота над уровнем моря, обезлесить холмы, вызывать оползень, оставлять >

II. Are these sentences right or wrong? Correct the information according to the text.

1. The tourist industry provides holiday visitors with accommodation, food, transport, entertainment and shopping facilities.

2. Tourism has serious implications for ecosystems, communities and cultures.

3. At destinations with scarce fresh water over-consumption is harmful for local farmers.

4. Tourism doesn't generate large quantities of waste.

5. Tourism in mountain areas can result in deforestation of hillsides.

III. Answer the following questions:

1 . What is ecotourism?

2. What industries does tourism require inputs from?

3. What does natural and rural landscapes conversion lead to?

4. What changes accompany higher visitor numbers?

5. How can the presence of tourists in natural areas affect wildlife behavior and populations? Give examples from the text.

IV. Mach the words with their definition.

contaminate (v)	the practice of touring natural habitats in a manner meant to minimize ecological impact
accommodation (n)	something supplied for convenience or to satisfy a need: as lodging, food, and services or travelling space and related services
accompany (v)	intended for or restricted to the use of a particular person, group, or class; belonging to or concerning an individual person, company, or in­terest
destination (n)	plant life or total plant cover (as of an area)
vegetation (n)	a place to which one is journeying or to which something is sent
private (adj)	to be in association with
ecotourism (n)	to soil, stain, corrupt by contact; to make impure or unclean

V. Complete the sentences using words from Ex. IV.

life, he was actually very funny and for the whole group.

1. Be careful not to allow bacteria to the wound.

2. At work he was always very serious, but in his

relaxed.

3. They weren't sure if they could provide food and

4. The local is flourishing as a result of the recent rains.

5. He enjoys traveling to remote and exotic .

6. Ten adults the class on their field trip.

7. is one of the segments of the tourism industry.