Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation Educational Institute: Aalborg University Programme: Tourism MA Module: Developing Tourism Supervisor: Peter Kvistgaard Student: Panagiotis Spanoudakis Date of Submission: 29/5/2008 Characters excluding bibliography and annexes: 57283 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation Cover page image from University of Manitoba. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 3 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................... 5 INTERVIEW METHOD ....................................................................................................... 6 THE CYCLE OF INFLUENCES .............................................................................................. 7 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS ............................................. 9 CORE SET OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS ............. 10 TOURISM CARRYING CAPACITY ASSESSMENT .......................................................... 13 THE TOURISM CARRYING CAPACITY ASSESSMENT OF RHODES ISLAND ...... 17 INTERVIEW FROM BO IMMERSEN OF VISIT NORDJYLLAND ................................... 19 INTERVIEW ANALYSIS................................................................................................... 19 CONCLUSIONS...................................................................................................................... 31 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 36 ANNEX 1................................................................................................................................. 37 2 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation INTRODUCTION The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) which is known also as the Brundtland Commission named after its, then chairman Gro Harlem Brundtland with the publication of the report about development and international economic co-operation on August 4 1987 Our Common Future introduced the term Sustainability and defined sustainable development by the statement that “Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED 1987: 24). “The ‘Sustainable Tourism’ concept derives from the concept of ‘sustainable Development’ applied to the tourism sector” (European Communities 2006: 31). Moreover according to the European Communities (2006: 31): Sustainable development, thus, implies a balanced relationship among human beings, economic development and environment. It means to integrate the economic, social and environmental dimension at the same level of consideration. The implementation of this concept implies thinking about the future of humankind; it is about creating a vision. Many development patterns applied on modern economies aim on the coverage of economical needs that provide the conditions, services and products demanded for not only the preservation of life but also the way of life that is dictated from our societies. Until now human development causes major changes that degrade our physical environment. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007: 2) which is a scientific intergovernmental body set up by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed preindustrial values determined from ice cores spanning many thousands of years (…) The global increases in carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land use change, while those of methane and nitrous oxide are primarily due to agriculture. 3 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation However there are industries within our economies that their existence is greatly related and depended on the preservation of our environment, such an example is the tourism industry that in many of its various forms the actual product is the environmental quality and unique characteristics of a destination. Moreover it is considered as a very profitable one also! According to Eurostat (2007): tourism accounts for 4% of the Community’s GDP, with about 2 million enterprises employing some 4% of the total labor force (representing approximately 8 million jobs).when the connections with other sectors are taken into account, tourism's contribution to GDP is estimated to be around 11% and it provides employment for more than 12% of the labor force (24 million jobs) Still, in the context of tourism which is an industry heavily motivated to advance environmental equilibrium and at the same time economically sustainable enough to attract entrepreneurial attention, development and planning tends to show characteristics demonstrated by unsustainable sectors of human development. Since the IPCC has proved that human development is evolving through planning (or through chaos) that it is unsustainable, then, what happened? Somebody failed to reach short term objectives and was simply allowed to continue or somebody failed to place the right long term objectives and simply got lost somewhere in the way? Or maybe there is an issue about awareness on sustainable development? Explicit example of tourism development and planning that lacks awareness is the trend of boosterism which “has long been the dominant tradition towards tourism development and planning since mass tourism began” (Hall 2000: 21). Boosterism demonstrates no consideration at all to the limit of a destinations carrying capacity given that the necessary consideration to the management of resources and experience quality is not implemented resulting in the establishment of the provocative slogan that Bigger is better. Plans about sustainable development that lack awareness, could easily be regarded as utopia and even of ritualistic nature. The pitfall is serving what everybody acknowledges and nobody can follow. In order to follow “a journey towards sustainability” (Kernel 2004) there is a need for awareness in order to influence also those involved. 4 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation PROBLEM FORMULATION How can we become more aware of our quest as explorers in the journey towards sustainable tourism development in order to infuse influence to all others involved and finally get them onboard this journey? METHODOLOGY CONTENT VALIDITY This study is developing existing scientifically documented knowledge which is retrieved by research conducted to academically credible sources and literature in relevance with the researched subjects that includes: academic research journals, articles and books, online resources and second hand statistical research retrieved from credible statistical agencies. The proposals developed through this study, proceed carefully in order to exclude biased personal views on the subjects analyzed, and the relevant conclusions produced. The use of scientifically inadequately supported sources and material has been avoided and a significant effort has been made in order to ensure that all sources used for the development of this study are properly acknowledged. The literature review conducted for this study emphasized in topics about sustainability in the context of tourism and in particular about sustainable development indicators, (an approach that could be characterized as quantitative) awareness and influence. The reason behind the establishment of indicators as a focal point at first, is that in the vast literature about Sustainable tourism development, indicators stand out due to the specific suggestions that they provide to a topic that despite that it is exhaustively researched, the interest is kept vibrant because of the difficulties that sustainable development encounters to the actual implementation, and this is also the reason that the interview research of this paper establishes awareness and initiation on sustainable development as a focal point. Theory is being deducted to the research area through an effort to understand rather than only to explain the findings since there is a constant feedback between the phenomena that are to be researched and social actors. 5 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation INTERVIEW METHOD According to Biber et al. (2006: 119) “In-depth interview uses individuals as the point of departure for the research process and assumes that individuals have a unique and important knowledge about the social world that is ascertainable through verbal communication.” Biber et al. (2006: 125-126) distinguishes three kinds of in-depth interview: 1. Structured interview means that “the interviewer will ask each participant the same series of questions”. 2. Semi-structured interviews “rely on a certain set of questions and try to guide the conversation to remain, more loosely, on those questions”. 3. In low-structure or even open-ended interviews “this is taken even further. While the researcher has a particular topic for the study, he or she allows the conversation to go wherever the research participant takes it and each interview becomes highly individual.” For the purpose of this study the knowledge of an individual with significance experience on the matter researched is very important. A quantitative analysis is not necessary for this study and consequently the interview doesn’t have to be structured, however because there are a lot of questions to be answered, the Biographic character of an open-ended interview is not ideal either, even though that this interview doesn’t need to retain a structure in order to be quantified, making the character of the research qualitative and a semi structured design under these circumstances is ideal. The interview data analysis strategy proceeds through analytic induction that “begins with a rough definition of a research question, proceeds to a hypothetical explanation of that problem, and then continues on to the collection of data” (Bryman 2008: 539). The Interview content analysis is progressing through coding which according to Bibber et al. (2006) proceeds through the identification of segments on the interview text and assignment of a label or code. 6 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation The qualitative data after the initial preparation which, in this case is the creation of a transcript out of the 44 minutes digitally recorded phone interview which took place in 22/4/2008 will be transferred word by word with minor reductions and the necessary corrections and then organized on a table in order to be coded, meaning that assigning a code will be the first step, followed by formation into concepts and finally categories. THE CYCLE OF INFLUENCES Economic sustainability can be elaborated as the Human production activity of both services and goods triggered by various resource exploiting entities and entrepreneurs in the prospect of gaining more commodity, fiat, credit monetary units than the estimated equivalent of the resources consumed by the production process and the partially reinvestment of the produced profit with the prospect of advancing shorter either longer investment plans. Social sustainability is the integration of the social factor into the economical development and planning process by taking into account the various social parameters and mostly those that receive the most impact from development processes. The social impact of development if neglected by the actors that are being involved in the development process, results in a solipsistic approach from the actor’s part to the process that will be proven weak to stand up to the social challenges that will arise sooner or later since development takes place more or less inside our societies. Environmental equilibrium may be described as the striving to recreate the resources that human activity consumes at least on the equal rate of their consumption before their depletion occurs in order to make the impact of our activity a reversible intervention. Hall (2000) refers to the three dimensions of sustainability (social, economic, environmental) as prerequisites for the discussion of sustainability goals. Each dimension represents challenges for the realization of sustainable development that have to be met simultaneously. However the influences that exist between these dimensions are still obscure. At an effort to identify these influences, the existence of three philosophies can be hypothesized as depicted on figure 1 and elaborated below: 7 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation 1. Collectivism in relevance to our case is the mentality of the whole into which development has to aim and this is achieved through propensities to the social and environmental goals often neglecting economical needs. This philosophy is easily realized through the initial steps towards development due to the simple and not so competitive character of the field, and the need to join forces in order to initiate development 2. Solipsism in this context is the tendency to develop by taking for granted the stability of the physical environment and pursuing development in terms of mostly economic and social prosperity, thus establishing the perception of the sole self. This is a philosophy that often develops until consequences appear. 3. Realism as a concept in that case emerges as a reaction to possible consequences caused by preexisting development patterns and stresses the importance of environmental and economical considerations in terms of development, and may occur as an initial movement towards sustainability. The hypothesis made is that there is an in-motion cycle of prevailing influences (collectivism, solipsism, realism) that is set in-motion by impacts emerging from the environmental, social and economical dimensions, that everyone involved is experiencing and primary are responds to applied development patterns. This constant mobility is achieved by mental shifts that in the same way that they become an influence, they can be influenced as well. A graphical representation of the above concept exists on figure 1 of the next page. 8 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation Realism Economy Environment Sustainability Collectivism Solipsism Society Figure 1 Cycle of influences (after Hall 2000) SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS According to Eurostat (2006a) there are specific indicator sets developed from organizations already active on the process of establishing tourism sustainable development indicators, among them the European Environment Agency (EEA) the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Tourism Organization (WTO) as well as countries like Spain. Eurostat in cooperation with these organizations and countries in order to cover the need for the creation of a core set of tourism sustainable development indicators in an applicable way for European countries and to guide future demands on specialized data in a greater regional and local level has proposed the DPSIR1 framework: One tool to select relevant indicators to the core set is the integrated assessment structure for analyses of data on human activities and the environment, the DPSIR framework, advocated by the Environment Agency (based on the OECD Pressure State Response (PSR) model). Using the DPSIR framework, principal interactions 1 DPSIR acronym stands for Driving forces, Pressure, State, Impact and Responses 9 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation between tourism and the environment can be identified e.g. different types of natural resources (energy resources, biological resources, media/land resources etc). (Eurostat 2006a: 8) Based on the DPSIR framework which is depicted on figure 2 Eurostat (2008a) produced the core set of tourism sustainable development indicators. This is a set of 20 indicators that measure aspects of the three major dimensions of tourism sustainable development namely environmental, economical and social. A difficulty in the integration of the social dimension on this framework is acknowledged by Eurostat with the suggestion of six more indicators with social orientation that may be included in the future. The Core set of Sustainable Development Indicators for Tourism is presented below: Figure 2 Source: Eurostat 2006a CORE SET OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS Driving Forces 1. Number of beds in hotels and similar establishments 2. Number of trips by means of transport 3. Tourism-related employment (% of total employment) 4. Household consumption expenditure on tourism 10 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation 5. Tourism share of GDP Pressure 6. Number of tourist overnight stays in various types of accommodation 7. CO2-emissions from energy use in tourism facilities 8. Water use by tourists, per person and day in relation to use by residential population 9. Generation of municipal waste by tourists 10. Discharge of sewage water due to tourism State 11. Areas used for specific leisure activities, e.g.: marinas, golf courses, ski areas etc., time series 12. Areas covered by forest and other wooded land (%), time series 13. Protected land and water areas (% of land area in tourist regions), time series Impact 14. Tourists exposed to noise in hotel and similar establishments 15. Bathing Water Quality, time series Response 16. Sewage water treatment plants -volumes of water treated- time series 17. Percent of tourist business establishments participating in recognized environmental schemes 18. Expenditure to maintain/restore cultural and historical heritage 19. Eco-labeled tourism facilities (as % of total) 20. Existence of land use or development planning processes, specifically referring to tourism activities Source: Eurostat 2006b: 4 11 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation However still, this core set of indicators according to Eurostat (2006a) is lacking towards its social dimension and it could be enhanced with the following indicators in the future: Crime rate during high season in relation to crime rate during off – season. Social Assistance Demand (see Calvia Local Agenda 21 indicators in Mr Anthony Ellull’s (Turkey) article “Impact of tourism on the regions and the population; social, economic and environmental indicators”) Frequency of water-borne diseases: number of visitors reporting water-borne illnesses during their stay (WTO) The resident’s health in the tourist regions The share of poor people living in tourist regions Accessibility for disabled people in tourist regions Source of indicators: Eurostat 2006a Eurostat (2006a: 10) explains that “Data on sustainable tourism is seldom available for a whole country and only a few countries and organizations have built up sustainable tourism indicators” and later on identifies existing indicator sets for sustainable tourism in Spain, Austria, Germany, UK, OECD, IF SIP, EEA and WTO. However these data collections are not available through the online databases of Eurostat and the national agencies of the countries and organizations mentioned. According to Eurostat (2008) The Council of the European Union adopted a Directive on the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism (Council Directive 95/57/EC) on November of 1995 that received amendments in 2004, 2006 requiring the national governments of the EU Member States to provide a regular set of specific tourism statistics which later are grouped under the available data collections for tourism statistics section of the Eurostat portal which main categories are: Capacity of collective tourist accommodation: establishments, bedrooms and bedplaces Occupancy of collective tourist accommodation: domestic and inbound tourism Tourism demand: domestic and outbound tourism (excluding day-trips) Employment in the tourism sector 12 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation These are also the statistical data that Eurostat offers for the tourism activity in the European Union. The most probable reason that the data required for the Core set of Sustainable Development Indicators for Tourism are not available is due to the fact that most countries provide the mandatory data required from the council directive on the field of tourism from the European Union. Currently data available from most countries are of economical orientation to statistical standards such as the tourism satellite account of WTO. The four categories that Eurostat provides that also have an economical orientation with only exception the category of employment that has both an economic and a social character. According to Weaver & Lawton (2006) sustainable tourism indicators face the following challenges: The holistic nature of tourism development which is making it hard to distinguish from civil activities. The continuously evolving social and political conditions that might derail long term schedules used by indicators. Weakness to calculate small changes that gain magnitude through multiple chaotic meta influences (butterfly effect). Difficulties to define carrying capacity limits. Incompatibility between the three dimensions of sustainability for certain cases. TOURISM CARRYING CAPACITY ASSESSMENT The tourism carrying capacity assessment (TCCA) is the practical implementation of Sustainable Tourism Development Indicators (STDI) that provides valuable awareness on destination development and management. According to PAP/RAC (2003) TCCA as a procedure until now has been applied mostly to tourism destinations that due to high tourism demand (Majorca, Rhodes, Rimini, Elba, Maltese Irelands) have developed a capacity to accept visitors that resulted to environmental deterioration followed by reactive social propensities and negative economic impacts. 13 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation The awareness about sustainable development in the context of tourism goes even further by the assessment of the actual capacity of a destination to accept tourists and draw development patterns. Moreover Coccossis et al. (2002: 29) explains that: Sustainable development provides the general policy framework for tourist development. Applying the concept of sustainable development to sustainable tourism we find that the idea of carrying capacity or else the desirable, feasible and allowed, level of tourist development are deeply embedded in both concepts. Carrying capacity could be considered as a measure of sustainability. Criticism about the idea to actually measure the carrying capacity of a destination by providing a maximum number of visiting tourists by the argument that this is a fragile hypothesis on a dynamic process that is evolving continuously can be avoided if it is made clear that “TCCA should be a guiding tool for implementing the strategy of sustainable tourism development only, while the quantifications should be made whenever possible” (Trumbic 2005: 4). Coccossis et al. (2002: xii) makes clear that: Overall measuring Tourism Carrying Capacity does not have to lead to a single number (threshold), like the number of visitors. Even when this is achieved, this limit does not necessarily obey to objectively, unchangeable, everlasting criteria. An upper and a lower limit of TCC can be of more use than a fixed value. TCC assessment should provide not only the maximum but also the minimum level of development, which is the lowest level necessary for sustaining local communities. Defining limitations on complex issues is something that can be difficult and unsuccessful, still development beyond limitations seems to be the problem on destinations that TCCA has taken place, in an effort to establish sustainability. Moving towards sustainability is neither about staying passively within ‘objectively defined’ limits nor is it about doing what the markets dictate; it is about a dynamic, integrated and, most importantly, democratic and participatory process of managing socio-environmental change. This provides a new perspective on the concept and application of tourism carrying capacity. (Coccossis & Mexa 2004) 14 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation Trumbic (2005) when he refers to a workable definition of the TCCA cites that: The World Tourism Organization (WTO) was the first to propose a workable definition of TCCA, which has been adopted by many, including the Priority Actions Programme (PAP/RAC) of UNEP/MAP. It states that TCCA is "...the maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic and socio-cultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors' satisfaction" The definition from the WTO explicitly refers to the upper limitation and implicitly to the lower limit by implying to the economic viability of the destination and draws upon the three dimensions of sustainability (Social, Environmental, Economical) that shape the practice of TCC. DEFINING THE TOURISM CARRYING CAPACITY The procedure of defining TCC based on the framework of Shelby and Heberlein as described by Coccossis et al. (2002) is divided in two parts presented below. DESCRIPTIVE PART: describes the state of the destination in the context of tourism mostly in terms of social, economical and environmental dimensions with an emphasis on the identifications of: a) Constraining factors that cannot be easily manipulated trough management and planning e.g. land use, drinking water scarcity b) Bottlenecks, referring to limitations that can be manipulated through management such as density of tourists in space and time. c) Impacts on the destination caused by tourism deployment that later on will determine the type of carrying capacity e.g. Social, environmental, economical. EVALUATIVE PART: evaluates the appropriate management approach for the destination by taking into account the impact tolerance from the deployment of tourism. The tourism development policy has to be established at this level in order to proceed to the TCC assessment. At this point it is vital the identification of a) Goals and objectives for the tourism deployment e.g. type of tourism and provided services 15 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation b) Evaluative criteria for the assessment of acceptable levels of change caused by impacts. A set of Indicators is being established in order to guide the TCC implementation and adaptation when necessary to the evolving circumstances. Coccossis and Mexa (2004) present three main categories of TCCA possible indicators (Physical –ecological, Sociocultural, Political –economic) presented in table 1 below that can be used for TCC assessment TOURISM CARRYING CAPACITY INDICATORS INDICATIVE LISTS ISSUES INDICATORS 1. PHYSICAL-ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS Area of key ecosystems (wetland, forest, etc)/total area Number of tourists per km of (accessible) coastline Natural environment and biodiversity sq m of (accessible) coast sq. km of natural site Number of tourists/ protected key ecosystems surface Tourist infrastructure Tourist beds/ permanent population Average number of days during tourist season in which Air quality pollution standards are exceeded per year Average number of days during tourist season where Noise pollution noise pollution standards are exceeded Energy consumption of tourism related activities/local Energy capacity for energy supply Water consumption of tourism related activities/total consumption Water Water consumption of tourism in respect to total available resources Percentage of coastal water quality samples, which conform with bathing quality standards per year Daily average solid waste production in peak period/ daily annual average solid waste production Daily average liquid waste production in peak period/ daily annual average liquid waste production Daily solid waste production during peak season/ Daily Waste solid waste collection capacity or capacity of the disposal systems Daily liquid waste production during peak season/ Daily liquid waste treatment capacity Share of tourist beds in TU served by waste water treatment plants Urbanized land for tourism (second houses, hotels, recreation centers, etc)/ total urbanized land Land Density of tourism development (No. of beds/ tourism 16 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation urbanized land) Rate of coastal erosion Average travel distance and time per tourist to reach the destination Transport and mobility Waiting time to use facilities (i.e. waiting time at ski lifts, museums entrance, etc) Number of parking places/ average number of cars per day, coaches etc in critical areas (i.e. along a beach, historic centre, etc) 2. SOCIO-CULTURAL INDICATORS Tourists/inhabitants: Max value (peak period) Min-Average value Number of beds places per 100 inhabitants Tourist flow Number of over-nights per 100 inhabitants Number of arrivals per 100 inhabitants Number of tourists per square meter of site/ key area (i.e. beach, square, museum, natural/cultural Site, etc.): Max value (peak period) Min-Average value Tourists/ density area: Tourist flow Max value (peak period) Min-Average value Tourists/ month (distribution during the year) Tourist bed places/ local people employed Employment Migrant labor/ local population Comparison with national average Number of tourists' complaints Number of residents' complaints (i.e. from noise) Rate of residents which benefit from tourism (local Psychological issues employers + local employees /total population) Displacement of members of local population due to tourism development 3. POLITICAL-ECONOMIC INDICATORS Tourism earnings and investments Average per capita income in catering and tourism Percentage of seasonal labor force in the total number Employment of workers employed in tourism Table 1 Source: Coccossis & Mexa 2004: 79-90 THE TOURISM CARRYING CAPACITY ASSESSMENT OF RHODES ISLAND According to MIO- ECSDE (2008) The Coastal Area Management Programme (CAMP) approach, on the concept of Carrying Capacity Assessment which completed in 1993 used a number of factors among them: 17 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation Water (construction of waterworks or a desalination plant or some other type of infrastructure) Labor force (immigration, education) Categories and type of tourists (increase or decrease of the quality level of tourist experience) The Rhodes Carrying Capacity Assessment (CCA) according to MIO-ECSDE (2008) estimated the maximum number of people that can simultaneously visit the central-eastern zone of the island. Examples of spatial standards applied by the CAMP CCA in Rhodes were: Tourist density 50 guests per 1 ha in high-category hotels and similar establishments, 90 guests per 1 ha in medium-category hotels and similar establishments Density of users on sandy beaches 6 m2 per bather for medium-category hotels and similar establishments, 8 m2 per bather for high category hotels and similar establishments The scenarios and final results of the CAMP TCCA for the Central-Eastern Zone of the island of Rhodes are summarized in table 2 Table 2 A framework of tourism development on the overall carrying capacity of the CentralEastern Zone of the island of Rhodes (according to CAMP 1996) 1992 20000 6800 Unavailable Unavailable 1992 13500 3600 400 144 0.67 50 1992 13500 CONSTRAINTS Population Local labor Migrant labor (i) Migrant labor (ii) SCENARIO I Number of beds Number of bed nights (in '000) Number of arrivals (in '000) Tourism receipts (in million US$) Tourist/Local population Average daily tourist expenditure (US$) SCENARIO II Number of beds 18 2000 25000 9200 1300 3300 2000 21000 6020 670 391 0.82 65 2000 25000 2010 33400 11700 500 6300 2010 25000 7300 811 584 0.95 80 2010 36000 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation Number of bed nights (in '000) Number of arrivals (in '000) Tourism receipts (in million US$) Tourist/Local population Average daily tourist expenditure (US$) Source: MIO-ECSDE 2008 3600 400 144 0.67 50 6844 760 410 0.97 60 10250 1138 717 1.08 70 According to PAP/RAC (2003) The CCA was presented to the decision-makers in two alternative scenarios, with a then, present estimation of 1992, an intermediate estimation for 2000 and a target year of 2010: a) With a maximum of 25,000 beds oriented towards middle-class tourists. b) With a maximum of 36,000 beds, targeted at lower to middle-class tourists. RESULTS UNTIL 2003 According to PAP/RAC (2003) from 1993 until 2003 all available information show that the TCCA was not implemented in the area and on the contrary the area was subjected to a cement onslaught. INTERVIEW FROM BO IMMERSEN OF VISIT NORDJYLLAND In order to research how influences towards sustainable tourism development are initiated a research based on an in-depth interview with someone who has significant experience on the matter can be very valuable. Bo Immersen is a project coordinator in visit Nordjylland organization with educational background as service economist that participated in a project that aimed on creating and implementing a model for sustainable development in tourism enterprises. That project was implemented in mid and northern Jutland of Denmark and it was based on influence towards small and medium companies to “integrate economical, social and environmental issues in tourism planning” (Kernel 2004) INTERVIEW ANALYSIS Interview Text Interview Analysis Q# = Question number BI = Bo Immersen PS= Panagiotis Spanoudakis Code 19 Concept Category Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation Q1: How do, influences towards sustainable tourism development are initiated? BI: The last six years we have some money from the Danish government, from the EU system to help companies become more sustainable, to save energy and [reduce] water consumption Influence initiation EU Money↑ PS: So it is mostly economical incentives that are being used? BI: Yes, the initiative started before my time here at visit Nordjylland and the exact reasons… we saw an opportunity, a business opportunity in the future because we thought that more and more tourists select the hotels which have an eco label. So we started this initiative with got the money from the EU, the Danish government to help these companies be more sustainable. Business opportunity: More tourists prefer eco label Opportunity PS: So it was mostly the economical incentives that you had, and the measurements that tourists are going to prefer eco labeled businesses? BI: Yes... we didn’t have any analysis. It was a hunch mostly and after we started there were a few analyses to show that about five percent of the tourists chose a hotel because they had an eco label. So, partly because we had the opportunity to do it and because, it was a business opportunity and advantage for the future. First hunch. After 5% choose eco label hotel Q2: How and by which priority do the social economical and environmental dimensions influence a Company’s decision to become more sustainable? BI: It was mostly economical. Many of the companies liked the fact that they could save some money on their Ranking of influential dimensions Save money from consumption. 20 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation water and energy consumption. Most of them also had the heart on the right place and they wanted to do something for the environment. But mostly it was economical reasons. PS: So, on the first place there was the economical incentive, then environmental considerations and on the third place social incentives like enhancing their image on the market maybe? Heart on the right place 1 Economical 2 Environment 3 Social 1 Economy 2 Social 3 Environment BI: Yes Q3: How do problems emerge when influences towards sustainable development are exercised? Influence problems BI: Mostly because we used the official eco label, the EU flower, there is a lot of paperwork involved and this is a big disadvantage because they Paperwork↓ have to spend a lot of time to fill out the forms and papers. And that’s where I come in; I help them with all the paperwork and of course implementing the environmental management system. So, first of all the paperwork is a big problem and second, to fulfill the criteria sometimes they had to make investments and most of the companies thought it was ok to make small investments but if there were Small invest↑ big investments they didn’t want the eco label PS: So they had to proceed to big investments in order to receive the eco label? BI: A few of them had to make big investments, so they didn’t want to proceed. Only small investments were accepted. Big Invest ↓ PS: This is very interesting because this certification is very important and they didn’t want to spent more than, 21 Easy short term small investment is ideal Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation what we could call the average investment? BI: Yes I think so; it is also interesting that most of the companies that wanted to get the eco label were small companies, none of the big companies that participated in this project. That’s partly because few of the big companies that wanted to proceed with sustainable development had their own expertise and they didn’t want our help so, it was mostly small companies that needed our help SME’s are important Small companies were interested Small companies needed help PS: So, bigger companies were depended on their own? Big companies BI: The bigger companies yes. The don’t need biggest company that we helped was a help hotel with about fifty rooms. Q4: Which part made the first move, In the case of these companies that you helped? Initiation BI: We made the first step. We contacted them and asked them: do you want to have an eco label, we can help you with this, let’s make a partnership? Public initiation SP: It was an initiation from the regional authority then? BI: Yes it was the former Vyborg and Nordjylland counties. Counties made the first step Q5: What makes stakeholders realize that they have to develop sustainability if they do realize this at all? BI: I don’t think that many of them realized that they have to do this. It was mostly a business opportunity for them. They had this opportunity to be different from their neighbor, so they took it but as I’ve said earlier most of them had the heart on the right place, they wanted to be more environmental Realism Don’t realize sustainability Be different from your neighbor Low ability to 22 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation friendly but it was not ok if it was too expensive and this is because they are not professional in the way they were controlling the company. SP: So they didn’t have any tools to evaluate their investments? BI: No, They haven’t just with their own hands maybe. realize and evaluate Small companies have difficulties to evaluate investment Q6: What benefit do they see in sustainable development? Benefits in sustainability BI: they saw the opportunity in the future to get more guests also Eco some of them wanted to lower label=more their cost on energy, water supply, guests garbage and so on. They wanted to have the working process in the company PS: Were there any environmental impacts they possibly felt that made them more open to the idea about sustainable development? BI: I don’t think so. It was mostly a business initiation. It was just a few of them, perhaps two of them that really wanted the environmental change in the first place and then the social and economical advantages They feel no environmental impacts Few of them place environment first No environmental impacts experienced Q7: Is there mostly long-term or shortterm benefit that attracts their attention? BI: Mostly short-term benefit Long term or short term benefit Short-term profit↑ Q8: What is the role of innovation in the process towards sustainability? Innovation BI: It is important that the companies feel that they are riding on a new wave; they feel that they are in the font of this development. So innovation is important because companies feel important it’s not the technical Short term 23 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation innovation that it is important, it is Being part of the feeling of being part of something something new. new New and attractive Q9: What problems do you see in the process of generating innovation? BI: Well the main problem was that not enough companies wanted to be a part of this project. I can’t recall any problems between the companies. Inside the companies, the employees, I could see that there was a big difference in the way they approached the problems and the changes. There were a few companies that involved all of their employees and this is where we had the best results and this very important and there were a few companies that didn’t change as… Just the leader, the director was involved in all the changes so the employees didn’t feel like a part of the project so there were just a few environmental differences and I saw that there was a big difference when all the employees were involved. Problems for innovation Employees are scared of the New and scary change Involve employees↑ Change Not only the leader Holistic participation Q10: What problems mostly come up during the change process in the company? BI: there were quite a few problems with investments in some of the necessary hardware, that’s one problem. Implementing the system, the changes in the organization, of course there were problems in the companies by the employees to agree with the changes, and it was mostly because they didn’t get enough information when they were involved. That’s the two main problems with the changes. Problems for change Hardware↓ Employees Information must be diffusion informed when involved to accept change PS: Do you think that the 24 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation employees would have reacted differently if that change wasn’t stated as a change but rather as a need to evolve and adopt? IB: it would be much easier to get the employees to understand that we have to do this because there are consequences but in this case there weren’t any consequences. There was not so much focus on CO2 and climate change just three-four years ago. So it wasn’t seen as something that we have to do, it was seen as a choice, something we can do in order to get more customers. I agree with you that there is a big difference between something you like to do and something you have to do. Replace change with adaptation Easier if understand consequences Social awareness Not a change an adaptation Q11: How does collaboration influencing the development process towards sustainability? Collectivism BI: I think it is very important to collaborate for innovation and sustainability Collective journey PS: Do you thing that they are doing better when they are working all together? BI: Yes. These are changes and innovations that companies cannot handle on their own, so they have to share the problems with other companies to get the best solutions. Share problems and resources↑ PS: So they share resources in a way and they help each other maybe? BI: Yes. This is partly the way we do it. We gather the companies together in small groups and we give them all the information together. We also had a few companies that I helped face to Collective meetings Meet them in groups↑ 25 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation face and I can see now that this was not the best solution. It worked better when there were a few companies together so they shared the same goal so it was easier to talk to them. PS: So it was more complicated when you tried to approach each one of them? BI: Yeah… yes and no. It was harder to motivate the whole company but it was easier to make them fulfill the criteria because I had only one company to concentrate on. So the face to face communication about fulfilling the criteria was better but the motivation aspect was harder because it was easier for a single company to let me do the work for them, if I can say that. Face to face for the criteria Motivation all companies PS: So there was a kind of synergy they realized when you approached them altogether? BI: Yes, you can say that they shared the same goal. Motivation enhancement Collectivism create synergies Q12: Is sustainability a matter of collective initiation? BI: Yes, I think so. Q13: What are the common interests that stakeholders realize mostly? BI: It was easier for them to fulfill the goals because the neighbor company or the person next to them also pursuit the same goals, so if he did it, I must do it as well, they thought so. Also when it is a new thing it’s… just very few companies had done this when we started. As I said earlier it’s that feeling of being part of something new that drove them, so if we can Motivate each other Leader to show the way to the 26 Synergies Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation get the companies to work together in these innovations, in pursuing sustainable development it is easier to reach the goal. others PS: Do you thing that influence by certain stakeholders is important also? BI: It is always important that the leader is showing his or hers enthusiasm about the project. If the top leader is not excited and involved it’s bound to be a bad project. Leader to show enthusiasm Q14: Were there efforts by single stakeholders to exercise influence over the other companies? BI: Yes. I had a few top leaders which tried to get other companies to participate in this project. So, sometimes it was successful sometimes it wasn’t Solipsism They tried to get associates onboard PS: So, actually they tried to get more people onboard and not to influence all others involved? BI: There wasn’t so much cheering between the companies in the project, it was mostly trying to get more companies into the project. Q15: Do stakeholders have considerations about seasonality when they are asked to make investments? Investments independent BI: No From seasonality SP: Do they consider seasonality a constant state that it is not a matter to be discussed when talking about investments? Seasonality is BI: Yes a constant Seasonality Unemployment Relocation Q16: What problems, does seasonality 27 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation creates? BI: The main problem is that the employees are fired when the season is over, so we have just a few of the employees who can stay there all year round. Seasonality leads to unemployment leads to relocation Q17: How does networking help stakeholders achieve Sustainable development? BI: I think that it is important that they can help each other. There are two groups of companies. There are the small companies that can get a lot of help from each other by meeting in these networks and there are the bigger companies who have the competence inside them to do these changes because they have to do a lot of changes and they are on ongoing changes, so they have this kind of competence inside them. So, if we talk about smaller companies, the networks are important. The networks are not so important when we have bigger companies. Networking Small companies need networks Networks For SME’s Big companies on their own Q18: What is the role of trust in the collaboration process between you, them and among them? BI: they have to believe that my company is a competent leader of the network. In that way they have to trust me. But also sometimes that we need to talk about some of their economical data which are confidential and in that case they also have to trust me and I didn’t feel that this was a problem. Trust Initiator to be trusted as a competent leader Trust the leader PS: Did you saw any problems into working with trust? BI: Few of the companies hesitate about sharing their energy Trust welcomed 28 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation consumption figures, but mostly they didn’t have any problems Q19: What kind of knowledge do you provide, explicit, implicit? BI: Paperwork and both ways to save energy. We showed them different ways to organize their work and fulfill these criteria. PS: So both scientific knowledge and simple “know how” on how to do things and was important in this process? Knowledge Explicit implicit internal external knowledge All types BI: We also… when there issues we didn’t had the expertise; I took in external experts on water saving for example. Q20: Are there any indicators that show, who is sustainable and who is not Indicators BI: Well, there are the official eco Eco labels labels if you are only talking about water consumption Indicators can be introduced PS: About the general image of the company? BI: We have an internal tool as well, a questionnaire with yes and no questions. Internal questionnaire Q21: You mention on the beginning that it was a hunch to influence companies into investing in an eco label. But how difficult was it to involve the highest levels of public authority in the process with something that it is not documented in numbers? Public involvement BI: well, we didn’t have to involve the government. In this case they just ok, that we could have this money from the EU to develop this project. It was mainly We have to the tourism companies that we had convince the 29 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation to convince that this is a good idea. companies The public bottom-up initiator PS: So the government didn’t have to pay anything for that process? BI: Yes, they didn’t have to pay anything. They just said ok that we could Use those funds. Q22: Do you thing that there is something important about this process that I forgot to ask you? Importance of social influence BI: Hmm… I don’t think so. Maybe But I don’t really know what you need this for SP: Mostly about how to influence stakeholders to invest in sustainability and to understand which of the three dimensions of sustainable development (social, economical, environmental) influences them the most, in which you have answered that it is mostly economical incentives then social and then environmental. BI: Well I think there is a change because there are some analyses claiming that social factors… There are more and more quests that want to stay in an eco labeled hotel. So I think that the social factors are becoming more and more important and that’s one of the areas that I need some more information I need some facts on how many guests will choose a hotel because it has an eco label. That’s some information that is really nice to have when you need to convince the companies too to be a part in a project like this. Social influence is the key Social influences rising Companies need social statistics to invest PS: So it is very important, how tourism demand is becoming more 30 Need for social statistics Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation and more sensitive towards the environment? BI: Yes. We need that information We need that information PS: Does your organization gather information like this? BI: Not on this specific area. We gather a lot of different information, well I have… two years ago (2006) we made a little analysis, we asked seven hundred people and eighty percent of them thought it was positive that a tourism company has an eco label. But we didn’t ask them if they would choose a hotel because of an eco label. They were only positive about it and that’s the only information that I have. There was an analysis from 2001 about the Danish label, the green key which showed that about five percent of the guests chose their hotel because it had the green key. Reaction to the needs 2006 700 people 80% positive about eco label on hotels Initiated, can be amplified 2001 5% chose hotel with green key CONCLUSIONS The research indicates that influence diffusion towards sustainable forms of development is much more effective when there are not so many bureaucratic difficulties and technicalities. The amount of the required investments is relatively quantified on a level that could be commonly regarded as a small investment and the time span of the investment is relatively low-termed. These factors of course depend on the majority of the companies that most influence plans focus on which is small and medium, since bigger companies often have relevant capabilities integrated within them and depend on their internal structures. This is maybe why SME’s show more interest in relevant initiations, leading to the conclusion that SME’s are very important for the development of plans based on influence. 31 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation The difficulties that SME’s however have, to evaluate the efficiency of their potential investments and their internal processes play an important role on their decisions both regarding the size of the possible investments and time span. THE PUBLIC BOTTOM-UP INITIATOR A bottom up organizational model triggered by public initiatives is ideal considering that it will be easier to earn the trust of stakeholders and integrate the local actors inside an organizational structure that understands their own needs and rises from within them, providing the confidence that they are drawing their own pathways. The model of the public bottom-up initiator could achieve positive results in many destinations in terms of influence. A top to bottom organizational model would be an excessive intervention in a process that already strives to diffuse influence. The needs for turning into more sustainable forms of development is not easily realized and the research indicates that there are no consequences experienced yet, from possible environmental impacts that could initiate a considerable response capable of influencing development patterns and that very few companies placed their environmental sensitivities before economical and social considerations.. An important factor that makes companies from the tourism sector to consider environmental certifications and eco labels is the prospect of receiving more guests. The role of innovation in a process that strives to create influences towards sustainable forms of development seems to have strong roots on mental perceptions about being part of something new and attractive. That very new and attractive state can also be scary for employees that fear the change that innovation implies, employees must participate in the change process in a holistic manner with the top management in order to ensure a transition without turbulences and relieve the top management of the company from carrying the weight alone. An effective way to get the employees onboard is to keep them well informed when involved in order feel more secure about their role and accept the change. Moreover change processes can be much more easily realized when employees understand that there are consequences if the company doesn’t change and become more sustainable, and this is one more point that rising social awareness by time, can contribute. 32 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation Ultimately it would be better if a company realize that switching to more sustainable patterns of development doesn’t have to do so much about changing, meaning that maybe it is necessary to change and maybe it is not necessary to change something that works anyway, but mostly that this is a necessary adaptation. Change =) Adaptation Collaboration between companies plays a vital role to process towards adaptation to more sustainable patterns of development since the sharing or problems and resources is being realized making the process a collective journey. Meetings between the process leader and the companies are more productive when the companies are grouped and the procedure doesn’t have to be face to face since this kind of collective motivation creates synergies considering that companies share the same goal and even motivate each other: If he did it I must do it as well! Moreover it is important that the leader companies show enthusiasm about the initiation. The research showed that companies that participated tried to get associate companies onboard also, revealing that a good start may ignite further than expected. Networks between the companies contribute to the collaboration advancements and especially between SME’s that need them most. The initiator has to be trusted as a competent leader and relationships that build on trust tend to be welcomed. All types of knowledge are going to be needed to the companies that participate in such processes from simple know how to scientific knowledge and even knowledge from relatively external sources. The more that it is possible to be provided by the process initiator the better. Seasonality didn’t seem to be in the way, when companies were asked to make investments and companies appear to perceive seasonality as a constant, and this is interesting since according to statistical data from the national statistic agency of Denmark, depicted in figure 3 below (Detailed table in Annex 1) there is a high rate of seasonality in the region of Nord Jylland. However a possible result of high seasonality is unemployment that may even lead to relocation. 33 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation AWARENESS The presence of sustainable tourism development indicators (STDI) and tourism carrying capacity (TCCA) didn’t seem to appear on a destination level (Region Nordjylland) beyond the use of eco labels and an internal questionnaire about corporate environmental management that Visit Nordjylland had prepared. The introduction of indicators could enhance the awareness about the development of the destination both at SDTI and ideally as TCCA. TCCA however tends to appear in tourism destinations that experience excessive demand and develop beyond their carrying capacity. Such an example is the case of Rhodes Ireland TCCA which was completed in 1993 and even 10 years after was not implemented due to excessive demand that was not left unsatisfied. A very efficient way to initiate propensities towards sustainable development is by inducing funds as incentives for specific development purposes. However monetary funds are often a limited kind of resource and by staying on the economical dimension, sustainability can be addressed also as a business opportunity when customers swift their preferences to more eco-friendly products and services. 34 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation The idea of saving money through the limitation of electricity, water etc consumption simply by utilizing more efficient environmental management is welcomed also by stakeholders. The idea of investing just for the sake of the environment even though that it may be addressed to people with the heart on the right place cannot stand on its own but it can be an important contribution. Initially most of the influential capacity seems to be found on economical incentives, then to social considerations and at last to environmental awareness as depicted below. Injecting money into a system to make it more sustainable however doesn’t seems to be the way that systems are meant to be, developed at all. Systems develop their own balances through their evolution and drastic interventions should be the last resort. The interview with the project coordinator of Visit Nordjylland revealed that an empirical measurement in 2001 which pointed out that 5% of those asked would prefer an eco labeled hotel over another hotel, was a strong asset that prove to be very useful in convincing companies to adopt to more sustainable development patterns. This is actually how the cycle works without external money injections. Social awareness changes consumer behavior and impacts directly to a company’s economical prosperity which will eventually realize that it has to adopt to more sustainable development patterns. Concluding, cultivation of social awareness and empirical research to the consumer’s preferences can result in a very valuable asset with great potential to enhance the natural flow of influences on the system and help it adapt faster to the challenges of the future. 1=) Social Awareness 2=) Economical Impact 3=) Environmental Adaptation 35 Sustainable Tourism Development Awareness and Initiation BIBLIOGRAPHY Bryman, A. (2008) Social Research Methods, 3rd ed., New York: Oxford University Press. Coccossis, H., A. Mexa and A. Collovini (2002) Defining, Measuring And Evaluating Carrying Capacity In European Tourism Destinations, University Of The Aegean: Department Of Environmental Studies. Coccossis, H., A. 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WCED (1987) Our Common Future, Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Oxford University Press. Weaver, D., L., Lawton, (2006) Tourism Management, Australia: John Wiley & Sons. ANNEX 1 Overnight stays for all types of accommodation in region Nordjylland by period and time from 2004 to 2008 Source: Statistics Denmark 2008 Notes: Holiday houses not geographical distributed before 2007 and not monthly distributed before 2004. Youth Hostels first included in 1998 2004 2005 2006 2007 January 80277 84167 73815 90603 February 150278 163698 146555 147131 March 184359 252398 188117 207705 April 350105 312756 359365 354862 May 454953 432720 419169 484548 June 570205 556145 569737 591503 July 1610560 1535099 1579100 1486021 August 864450 895950 917178 910669 September 331382 347917 371326 365292 October 221097 236883 229552 233987 November 140494 134419 145978 154522 December 150395 155892 153912 162305 37 2008 84776 147091 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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