Developing a Sustainable Tourism Industry: Involving the Tourism Sector in Biodiversity Conservation Planning

3.1 Basic Principles
3.1.1 Integrated Management
Overview
In every case, tourism should pay attention to the "triple bottom line": economic, environmental and social factors must be attended to simultaneously. This implies the need for integrated management and the adoption of an ecosystem approach, as advocated by the CBD. Continuous management of tourism is just as important as proper planning and development. It is imperative to provide incentives for the wide range application of environmental management systems. The only viable relationship between tourism and nature conservation is a symbiotic one. It is not enough to have a situation of coexistence and certainly nobody benefits from a conflictive relationship. Tourism management needs to form part of biodiversity management planning.

The allocation of land uses must be carefully coordinated and inappropriate activities that damage ecosystems should be strictly regulated. This may be done only by strengthening and developing integrated policies and management that cover all socio-economic activities in the different ecosystems, including terrestrial, coastal and marine zones. Management solutions are also needed for simple, but persistent, problems such as litter.

It must be emphasised that enjoyment of biodiversity and natural areas is not only for rich foreigners, but for all national inhabitants. Ecotourism is made up of visitation by both national and international tourists. The former component is usually more sustainable than the latter if a sufficient standard of living exists in the country (i.e. domestic tourists possess the financial means to visit, and consequently support, protected areas).

The different sectors must understand the tourism market for cultural and natural heritage products, and how this is linked to tourism's ability to support conservation through product demand. Understanding the experiences and products tourists are looking for, enables protected area managers to tailor certain aspects of the destination for the desired type of tourist. Accurately forecasting the amount of anticipated visitors enables planners to lobby for and develop sufficient infrastructure.

Selected protected areas (including World Heritage Sites and other areas with international protection status) should be promoted as ecotourism destinations for their biodiversity values, in those cases where tourism is allowed by their management plans.

It is important to demonstrate how the private sector can implement environmental management plans, using low cost methods first, and then use any left over money to retrofit, making the tourism facility more sustainable. It is necessary to show the large hotel chains that environmental management brings a profit. Using environmentally friendly techniques saves money for hotels and all other tourism service providers.