Does development mean employment and social welfare, or the natural environment, ecosystem, and biodiversity? The answer to this question is sought worldwide while trying to solve the dichotomy between ecological sustainability and the development sustainability. The authors observe a series of pursuits under the names of ecological tourism, environmentally friendly tourism, and socially responsible tourism that emerge in order to overcome this dichotomy in the tourism discipline. They all merge around the common idea of offering a framework that examines economic activities for this dilemma. Meanwhile, this chapter examines the pursuits within the scope of sustainable tourism based on the assumptions of principal ecological approaches (e.g., environment protection, shallow ecology, deep ecology, and social ecology) and determines the position of sustainable tourism within these ecological approaches. It is deduced that sustainable tourism is actually sustainable at very low levels from the perspective of ecological sustainability.
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Today the world questions the environmental social and cultural consequences caused by economic development on a global scale today. The concept of whether economic development may be sustained or not in the current situation preoccupies non-governmental organizations, nations, and ordinary citizens. The concept of sustainability, which we know today has been developed in parallel with the development of environmental awareness since the 1970s, is offered as a remedy for the destructive impacts of economic development. Tourism, which is one of the largest economic activities in the world, is questioned based on this argument, and there is an endeavor in the literature to determine whether sustainable tourism is possible or not and arguments aimed for practice.
According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 2014), tourism has exhibited a striking growth for the past 60 years. While approximately 25 million people on the average travelled for tourism purposes in the world in 1950, this figure reached 278 million in the 1980s, 528 million in 1995, and finally 1 billion 87 million in 2013. The diversification of tourism activities, and the advertisements and incentives, have been particularly effective in increasing these figures. When we review the objectives of tourist trips, we observe that recreation and vacation activities constitute the highest proportion. A total of 52% of touristic trips are made for recreation, leisure, and holiday purposes; additionally, when reviewing the proportions of the remaining trips, health, religion, and touring activities for other purposes consume 27% of all trips. Other than these two main purposes, the proportion of trips for business and trade purposes equals 14%, followed by trips made for purposes that could not be determined equalling a share of 7%. Approximately 3.3 billion people were transported to some 50,000 different locations in 2014 (IATA, 2014).
Tourism activities constitute one of the largest industries in the world that generate revenues on a global scale and create employment in the tourism sector when seen from the perspective that brings economy to the forefront. This aspect is primarily identified by accommodation, wining-dining, entertainment, and similar activities carried out under the name of “mass tourism”. The most obvious example that may be given for mass tourism is the holidays in the all-inclusive concept offering standard products and services in which tourists generally spend most of their time at a certain accommodation facility. Besides mass tourism, alternative tourism emerges with a different understanding and is identified by alternative tourism activities where the tourists harmonize and interact with the natural, cultural, and social entities and life at the places they visit and adopt this as an experience that is different from mass tourism.
In the sustainability approach that has been in discussion in tourism research, establishment of touring policies and tourism practices since the 1980s is one of the most important components of sustainable tourism which seeks a balance between nature, social life, and cultural assets and economic gains. This approach also examines principles and practices that could also be applicable for future generations in ecological tourism (ecotourism).
In addition to the increase in the tourism phenomenon, tourism activities are supported by economic justifications and worldwide expansion of tourism areas is being encouraged. The economic benefits of the quantitative increase in tourism events in parallel with the expansion of tourism are under scrutiny today due to the ecological damages caused over the past 40 years, and there is an endeavor to generate “intermediate formulas” that would not impact economic development, but would not damage or at least cause minimal on nature. One of these intermediate formulas generated for tourism during the recent years is the concept of sustainable tourism that bears the characteristics of development literature.
Sustainable tourism, which has been developed by setting off from the damage caused by ecology by mass tourism, claims to use tourism instruments by taking ecological assets into account (Briassoulis, 2002). It aims to serve through different destinations in a certain region, as different from traditional (mass) tourism primarily with the demand to sustain development by maintaining the ecological balance. Therefore, it is believed the damages caused to ecology by mass tourism will be reduced, while significant economic opporrtunities are offered to newly established/created environments. In that sense, sustainable tourism contributes to the social welfare by creating a variety of employment opportunities and meeting the demands of different segments through the opening of new tourism areas.