Sustainable Tourism: Green Passport as an Effective Concept

The provided content discusses the importance of achieving sustainable development and planning in countries, particularly through tourism initiatives. It highlights the role of stakeholders, including government, local communities, and tourists, in promoting sustainable tourism practices. The papers and reports reviewed emphasize the need for cultural sensitivity, environmental conservation, and community engagement to ensure that tourism contributes positively to economic growth and social development.

Sustainable
Tourism
Development

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Benefits to stakeholders from tourism development planning .............................................3
1.2 Advantages and disadvantage of public-private sector partnerships in tourism development
planning ......................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1Steps of tourism development planning process ....................................................................5
2.2 Interactive planning and their significance in tourism development.....................................6
2.3 Impact of tourism and methods to study them.......................................................................7
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................8
3.1 Concept of sustainability in tourism in France......................................................................8
3.2 Factors preventing sustainable tourism..................................................................................9
3.3 Stages of sustainable tourism development planning............................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
4.1 Methods to resolve the conflict of interest...........................................................................10
4.2 Implications of sustainable tourism development ...............................................................10
4.3 Moral and ethical issues for developing enclave tourism....................................................11
TASK 5..........................................................................................................................................11
5.1 The current issue in tourism development in France...........................................................11
5.2 Recommendations for future tourism development for India and France...........................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
Tourism is the fastest growing industry which contributes to a great extent in global
economic development. The sustainable tourism industry refers to growth of tourism industry
without damaging environment. With this aspect, tourism industry ensures that their working
practices and their customers lay positive impact on the surroundings, society and economy. This
leads to overall positive impact on tourism industry (Sustainable tourism, 2015). In the present
report, significance of sustainable tourism development has been explained. In order to facilitate
the study, France has been selected as the tourist destination. Further, the report highlights
significance of tourism development planning in France. Thereafter, the concept and stages of
sustainable tourism development has been explained. In addition to this, it describes the current
issues in tourism development in France.
TASK 1
1.1 Benefits to stakeholders from tourism development planning
Tourism development planning is a government function to promote the tourism industry,
frame objectives and develop strategy to achieve them. The tourism development planning
further facilitates the sustainable development of tourism. It ensures the overall growth and
development of tourism (Scott and et.al., 2008). Thereafter, the tourism development planning
provides benefits to the stakeholders in several manners. Stakeholders represent those individuals
or groups that have interest in tourism industry and can impact or be impacted with its
operations. Therefore, stakeholders involve government, tourism organizations, tourist and
society. Therefore, the benefit to stakeholders is explained as follows.
 Government: Government earns revenue in the form of tax so they are benefited with
tourism development. The industry providing tourism services pay service tax while,
tourists pay VAT on goods purchased during their visit. Therefore, government plans
infrastructure like building transportation and accommodation that will further promote
the tourism in France (Byrd, 2007).
 Tourism organization: There are many organizations whose business depends upon the
growth and development of tourism. It involves hotels, restaurants and transportation
business that are operating in France. The tourism development planning has direct
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impact on the success of these organizations. It further increases their productivity and
profitability.
 Local residents: It represents the individuals that are residing in tourist destination who
get their livelihood from tourism. Therefore, tourism development planning will increase
the tourism which will lead to the increase in their income and standard of living. Further,
it increases the employment opportunities for residents (Lansing and De Vries, 2007).
 Tourist: They are the key people that are having major interest in tourism development
planning. Their major concern is getting maximum satisfaction from their visit in France
and getting value for the money spends. Therefore, tourism development planning helps
in providing high quality of tourism services to guests.
1.2 Advantages and disadvantages of public-private sector partnerships in tourism development
planning
There are many public and private organizations that operate in tourism industry of
France and provide valuable services to visitors. Public organization involves government
transportation facilities; accommodations etc. whereas private organizations involve hotels,
restaurants and transport facilities owned by private individuals (Timur and Getz, 2008). Further,
public and private sector can combine and form partnership to provide effective services to
guests. Thereafter, different advantages and disadvantages from such partnership in tourism
planning are explained as follows:
Advantages:
 Optimum utilization of resources: With the partnership of public and private sector in
tourism industry, there can be optimum utilization of resources of France. Therefore, the
natural, cultural, heritage and human resources of country can be utilized in the best
possible way.
 Cost reduction: The government of France can minimize the cost incurred in
construction of infrastructure, projects and in maintaining services. Therefore, the cost is
shared among public-private sector which eventually reduces the cost (Ayuso, 2007).
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 Risk share: In partnership, the overall risk can be reduced and shared among public and
private sectors. Therefore, the risk of failure of capital project, excess cost and issues in
meeting with environmental regulations can be reduced.
Disadvantages:
 Loss of government control: The public-private sector partnership involves sharing of
risk and cost between both the sectors. It further involves sharing of decision making
power which dilutes the control of government.
 Reduced quality: If the public and private sector partnership fails, it may result in the
reduction in the quality of tourism services (Tao and Wall, 2009). This may further
causes a negative impact on the tourism business and decreases the visit of international
tourist in country.
 Political risk and labor issues: The lack of political stability in country may adversely
affect the overall operations of public and private partnerships. However, the strict labor
laws of country can also impact the tourism
TASK 2
2.1 Steps of tourism development planning process
The main objective of tourism development planning process is to define the objectives
for tourism sector and ascertaining ways to achieve those objectives. The purpose of tourism
planning is to identify the approaches that are required for tourism development and for availing
the upcoming opportunities in tourism industry (Bramwell, 2011). The major responsibility of
tourism planning is of government, local community, tourism business operators, etc. Further,
the major steps involved in tourism planning are as follows:
 Background analysis: It involves studying the environment and factors that will help in
promoting tourism. Further, it involves policies and programs framed by France
government. It also involves analyzing the current tourist destination and their popularity
among tourists. Thereafter, the demand of tourism is studied along with the strengths,
weaknesses, problems and issues involved in tourism.
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 Research analysis: It involves analyzing the resources, market and competition within
tourism industry. This research further helps in satisfying the tourism demand in a better
manner.
 Setting goal and objectives: In this step of tourism planning, long term and short term
goals for tourism development is framed. Thereafter, strategies are designed to achieve
those objectives.
 Plan development: In this step, tourism plan is developed which describes programs,
activities and budget of tourism (Lansing and De Vries, 2007). Thereafter, planning is
done regarding development projects and their marketing initiatives. Thereafter, the roles
and responsibilities of various individuals and groups associated with tourism
development planning are defined.
 Implementation and evaluation of plan: In this step, the prepared tourism plan is put
into action by the responsible authority. Thereafter, plan is monitored and evaluated
regularly. The performance of planning on the basis of attainment of goals is measured.
Further, the successful implementation of aforementioned planning will help at different
levels, that is, international, national and regional. For instance, it will increase the international
tourists and would enhance the national income of France. Thereafter, it will benefit the people
that are residing in tourist destination and would increase their income and education level.
2.2 Interactive planning and their significance in tourism development
Interactive planning refers to cooperative and participatory planning done by stakeholders
of tourism industry. Therefore, the opinion, ideas and knowledge of stakeholders is integrated
into planning and development of tourism. The interactive planning helps in reaching at
consensus decision (Miller and et.al., 2010). This further helps in attaining successful planning.
Interactive planning for developing tourism is considered as an ongoing improvement of
destinations so that large number of customers would get attracted towards the destinations. For
the chosen destination, France, interactive planning will increase the image of destination
through designing brochure. The brochure must possess required information regarding different
tourist attractions in France and different facilities that are available in the destination and
services to meet the requirement of current and future visitors.
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However, it has been stated that whenever tourism is efficaciously planned and managed,
the tourism development results in rendering huge improvement as well as it also proves to be
beneficial both for travellers and local people that are residing in the destinations. However, the
significance of interactive planning is that it supports France in raising their tourism and also
results in enhancing their economy (Byrd, 2007). Therefore, with the increase in visitors and
traveller demand, it is effective for the tourist destination to focus on the interactive planning as
it will result in encouraging and attracting tourists from different countries to prefer their
destinations. In addition to this, tourism planning can also be termed as the way of enhancing and
extending tourist destination by investigating new opportunities for the destinations and through
adopting current demand that is Eco-tourism, responsible tourism etc.
2.3 Impact of tourism and methods to study them
The tourism has range of positive and negative impacts on different factors. These
impacts are explained as follows:
 Economic impact: Tourism has direct impact on the economic viability of France. It has
been identified that tourism contributes to the economic development at global level.
Thereafter, it also creates job for various candidates directly in tourism industry and also
in related industry (Sims, 2009). The employed people spend their earning on
consumption of goods and services which again creates multiplier effect. To study the
economic impact of tourism change in GDP, employment rate and household spending
are used.
 Social impact: Tourism also impacts the society in several ways like it involves
development of infrastructure which benefits the society. Thereafter, it also leads to
development of leisure facilities that are advantageous for community. Further, tourism
promotes preservation of customs, traditions and heritage of France. Thereafter, it also
increases the demand of local crafts, products and food. To measure the social impact,
surveys are used. Thereafter, change in disposable income and household questionnaires
are used.
 Environmental impact: The natural beauty and environment are the major reason for
tourism attraction (Lansing and De Vries, 2007). Tourists mostly visit to see the wildlife,
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gardens, etc. Due to this; there is pressure on authorities and tourism organization to
conserve the habitat. Therefore, tourism helps in conserving wildlife, natural resources,
forest, etc. Further, government of France adopts different policies that are pertaining to
sustainable development as well as to protect and safeguard the environment. To measure
the environmental impact, wildlife is monitored and deforestation rates are analyzed.
TASK 3
3.1 Concept of sustainability in tourism in France
Sustainable development will help in increasing the tourism in country along with
managing the resources and in ensuring the well being of France (Edgell Sr, 2013). The concept
of sustainable development of tourism will help in meeting the present needs with effective
planning to meet the future needs. The justification of sustainable tourism is explained as
follows:
 Green passport: France has introduced the concept of green passport for sustainable
tourism. Main objective of introduction of this aspect is to educate the tourism guests to
safeguard the natural habitat and biodiversity (Miller and et.al., 2010). Thereafter, its aim
is to maintain the affluence of marine life and natural sites and landscapes. Further, green
passport is available on international airports.
 Marrakech Task force: It is the initiative that is done at global level by government of
different nations to support and promote the implementation of sustainable consumption
and production program. France is the part of this task force with its main focus on
sustainable tourism development (Byrd, 2007). Main objective of this task force is to
develop the tools and techniques to support the environment friendly tourism and to
ensure maximum satisfaction to tourists.
 E- tourism: France is using e-tools and internet portals to spread the awareness and
information to stakeholders about the significance of sustainable tourism. Thereafter,
training is also provided to stakeholders so that they can effectively contribute in the
implementation of appropriate e-business models.
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3.2 Factors preventing sustainable tourism
There are many internal and external factors that prevent the sustainable tourism in
France. These factors are further explained as below:
 Lack of awareness: There are many local communities that are still not aware of benefits
of sustainable tourism. The local communities exploit resources for increasing their
tourism business. Therefore, it is important for France to increase the awareness among
local communities to enhance their profitability keeping in consideration the
sustainability (Girard and Nijkamp, 2009).
 Low profit and high cost: The implementation of sustainable programs involves heavy
cost. Therefore, government has to incur more expenditure. Thereafter, government of
France recovers this amount from tourism service providers and tourists in the form of
tax. The increased tax burden results into low profit and high cost for stakeholders
(Dodds and Butler, 2009).
 Lack of coordination: There is lack of cooperation and coordination between
government bodies and other stakeholders of tourism industry. The policies and programs
of sustainable tourism are ineffectively coordinated which results into failure to meet the
objective of sustainable tourism.
 Economic priority: The major priority of tourism organizations is to increase their
income therefore; they would show less interest in sustainability. Thus, their main focus
is to increase the number of tourists which hinders the sustainable tourism development
in France.
3.3 Stages of sustainable tourism development planning
There are different stages of sustainable tourism development which are explained as
below:
 Objective: In this stage, the government and other authorities whose objective is to
promote sustainable tourism define objectives. Main purpose of setting objective is to
ensure the purpose of doing sustainable development. For instance, the objective of
France is to safeguard the natural beauty and to protect the marine life and wildlife.
Thereafter, it also wants to reduce the increasing deforestation and pollution.
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 Policy: In this stage, policies are made to achieve the aforementioned objectives
smoothly (Hunter and Shaw, 2007). It serves as the guide and assists in decision making
process. Thereafter, policy made for sustainable tourism in France should be flexible so
that important changes can be done if required.
 Plan: It is an important stage in which planning is done to achieve objectives that are
aligning with the policy. However, it is important for the government to involve
suggestions from stakeholders of tourism industry.
 Strategy: Main objective of strategy is to accomplish the policy and plan effectively. In
this stage, strategy is prepared which helps in conserving the natural sites, preserving
resources, etc.
TASK 4
4.1 Methods to resolve the conflict of interest
Tourism faces many problems out of which the major problem is conflict of interest.
There is conflict of interest between different parties like, between government and private
bodies. For instance, the government of France wants to promote sustainable tourism. For this
aspect, it has asked hospitality organization to make investment in sustainable development
projects. Thereafter, the tourism organization is asked to manage the waste and set up waste
management plants. However, the major objective of tourism business is to increase their
profitability. This further leads to conflict of interest between government and other
stakeholders. Thereafter, to promote sustainability, various restrictions are imposed on tourists
that further cause dissatisfaction among tourists. Furthermore, to resolve the problem of conflict
of interest, it is important for the government of France to involve the stakeholders in planning
process. Thereafter, tourism business should understand the growth opportunities that are related
with the tourism.
4.2 Implication of sustainable tourism development
With sustainable development, it is important for government to meet the tourism
demand and supply. This will further help in ensuring the economic development of France.
Therefore, it is important for government to analyze the tourists visit in past to be able to make
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the prediction of upcoming tourists. The prediction will help in meeting the coming tourism
demand in an effective manner (Gössling, Hall and Weaver, 2009). Thereafter, to meet the
demand and supply, government can impose limit on tourist demand. For instance, too much
overflow of tourists can impact the local communities and will result in too much traffic in the
tourist destination. Therefore, hotels, restaurants and transportation will not be able to meet the
sudden increased demand. Hence, imposition of tourist limit will help in meeting the demand and
supply of tourism.
4.3 Moral and ethical issues for developing enclave tourism
Enclave tourism is a new concept under which tourist activities are provided in specific
location to provide overall experience of travel at specific location without moving to other
places. For instance, cruise ship is the example of enclave tourism as it provides many services
like, local food, music and experience in their cruise (Ballantyne, Packer and Hughes, 2009).
Therefore, tourists spend most of their time and money on cruise which restrict the opportunities
for local communities, hotels and restaurants of France. Therefore, the major moral and ethical
issue in developing enclave tourism is that it negatively impacts the business of local
organizations. Thereafter, it reduces the communication between tourists and local people
therefore; tourist would not get to know about the local people, customs and traditions. Enclave
tourism is generally done by wealthy individuals for instance, owner of resorts, cruise ship, etc.
This further creates a gap between wealthy owners and poor local businessmen.
TASK 5
5.1 The current issue in tourism development in France
Following are the issues that are faced by France in its tourism development.
 Social- cultural issues: Due to increasing tourism, the change in society and their values
has been witnessed. Many a times, tourist destructs the heritage and disrespects the
customs and traditions of France (Ayuso, 2007). Thereafter, there is increase in terrorism
as terrorists enter in the country as tourists and spread violence and terror.
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 Environmental issues: Tourism adds in the environmental issues like they use
transportation facilities for visiting different destinations which increases air and noise
pollution. This further increases the ecological disruptions.
On the contrary, the issues faced by emerging country like India are different.
 Lack of infrastructure: Being a developing country, the major issue faced by India is
regarding lack of infrastructure facility for tourists. Still, there is no proper road- railway
and airway connectivity. Additionally, there is less number of international airports as
compared to France (Bramwell, 2011).
 Lack of funds: India is facing economic downturn. In addition to this, there is too much
fluctuation in currency; Rupees. Therefore, country has lack of funds to invest in tourism
development programs and promotion at global level.
5.2 Recommendations for future tourism development for India and France
Some of the recommendations for future tourism development for India and France are as
follows:
 Shoulf introduce the concept of sustainable development to protect the environment
while promoting tourism.
 Should spread awareness among stakeholders of tourism about the advantages of tourism
development.
 Must make an optimum use of its resources for tourism development and planning.
 Tourism promotion and marketing will help both the countries in increasing international
tourists.
 Tourism should be promoted in peak seasons while in rest of the months; steps should be
taken to conserve the environment (Recommendations for sustainable tourism, 2009).
 Tourists should be encouraged to consume local food and to purchase local products.
This will promote the cultural values of country.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that tourism is the fastest growing sector and
contributes to a large extent in economic development of nation. The sustainable tourism will
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help France in protecting its rich culture, biodiversity and environment. Thereafter, by including
the stakeholders, government can make proper planning in the direction of sustainable
development. Green passport is an effective concept that will help country to achieve its
objective of sustainable development and planning.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ayuso, S., 2007. Comparing voluntary policy instruments for sustainable tourism: The
experience of the Spanish hotel sector. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 15(2). pp. 144-
159.
Ballantyne, R., Packer, J. and Hughes, K., 2009. Tourists' support for conservation messages and
sustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences. Tourism
Management. 30(5). pp. 658-664.
Bramwell, B. 2011. Governance, the state and sustainable tourism: A political economy
approach. Journal of sustainable tourism. 19(4-5). pp.459-477.
Byrd, E. T., 2007. Stakeholders in sustainable tourism development and their roles: applying
stakeholder theory to sustainable tourism development. Tourism Review. 62(2). pp. 6-
13.
Edgell Sr, D. L., 2013. Managing sustainable tourism: a legacy for the future. Routledge.
Girard, L. F. and Nijkamp, P., 2009. Cultural tourism and sustainable local development.
Ashgate Publishing, Ltd..
Gössling, S., Hall, C. M. and Weaver, D., 2009. Sustainable tourism futures: Perspectives on
systems, restructuring and innovations. Routledge.
Hunter, C., and Shaw, J., 2007. The ecological footprint as a key indicator of sustainable
tourism. Tourism management. 28(1). pp. 46-57.
Lansing, P. and De Vries, P., 2007. Sustainable tourism: ethical alternative or marketing ploy?.
Journal of Business Ethics. 72(1). pp. 77-85.
Miller, G. and et.al., 2010. Public understanding of sustainable tourism. Annals of Tourism
Research. 37(3). pp. 627-645.
Scott, D. and et.al., 2008. Climate change and tourism: Responding to global challenges. World
Tourism Organization, Madrid. pp. 230.
Sims, R., 2009. Food, place and authenticity: local food and the sustainable tourism experience.
Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 17(3). pp. 321-336.
Tao, T. C. and Wall, G., 2009. Tourism as a sustainable livelihood strategy. Tourism
management. 30(1). pp. 90-98.
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Timur, S. and Getz, D., 2008. A network perspective on managing stakeholders for sustainable
urban tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 20(4).
pp. 445-461.
Online
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<https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/25162/1/MPRA_paper_25162.pd>. [Accessed on
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Recommendations for sustainable tourism. 2009. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.unep.fr/SCP/marrakech/taskforces/pdf/POLICY_RECOMME>. [Accessed
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Sustainable tourism. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Portals/24147/scp/tourism/activities/
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