Exploration is a human tendency. Thus, most people love to visit as many places as possible. The longingness to visit places is generated from the studies of history, films that show beautiful places combined with the increased prosperity. Earlier this was limited to only the rich but with increased prosperity of the masses, the yearning has taken real shape from the dreams.
Some news like the need of tourism for economy, damage to the environment from travel, need of fossil fuels in transporting people versus climate change and recently Spanish citizens expressing helplessness and anger at mindless tourism activity in their cities and villages flashed on my news space. This brought my attention to ponder about finding the balance between aspirations of people, rights of citizens and sustainability of tourism per se.
Many times we see a lot of litter and damage to the environment that is thrust on earth due to irresponsible behaviour of tourists, especially in developing countries. Sometimes I wonder whether the purpose of our trip is a show off or if it has a real purpose of taking a break from the routine stressful life of a city and find peace, or to learn or rejuvenate.
The human population has grown so much that it is bound to impact the earth when they move in masses. This brings us to the question of balancing tourism with sustainability. We need to understand that people will always keep on travelling. It is their fundamental right also apart from intrinsic behavior. Economies would want them to move as it helps in generating job opportunities and source of income for millions of people and eventually redistributing the wealth. But this has to be balanced with responsible conduct and like all the activities, tourism too has to adhere to the principles of sustainable living.
Thus, today there is a need to review the intentions with which we travel. This has to happen at the individual level also. We need to ask ourselves when we visit a place - “Is my act causing damage to the environment around?” Thus, even if the travel is for holy purposes then also tourism should be a unique blend of need, desire and sustainability.
