We live in a closer world today than those of our forefathers. Opportunities to travel especially in the last decade has given us more opportunities to explore our world. Tourism now is a leading contributor to some economies and its growth potential is phenomenal. However travel and tourism has a price. It affects culture, society and the environment of a country and not just its economy. The difference is that we can make a positive change instead of one that is destructive. We can do that through sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism has to be implemented in order to ensure that the tourism industry growth is not short lived.

When we speak of sustainable tourism, we are dealing with three aspects of the concept:

i) Environmental – any activity that gives minimum damage to the environment including flora, fauna, soil, water, energy use and contamination of waste treatment, etc, not only by minimizing, but trying to raise the most benefit to the environment.

ii) Social and cultural – the activity does not harm the social structure of the local community where it is located or damages its culture either in the urban or rural area.

iii) Economic – the activity does not simply begin and then rapidly die because of bad business practices; more importantly, it contributes to the economic well-being of the surrounding community.

“ The World Tourism Organisation (WTO) declared in 1988 that Sustainable Tourism is ‘envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining culture, integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems.’”

We hope that by sharing our knowledge, it will benefit both travelers and the environment.