The Role of Sustainable Tourism in Achieving Development Goals

This essay examines the role of sustainable tourism in achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It highlights how tourism can contribute to poverty eradication by creating employment opportunities, especially for marginalized communities. The essay explores the growth of agritourism and its potential to enhance food security, promote sustainable agriculture, and empower women through increased employment and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it discusses how tourism drives economic growth, fosters infrastructure development, and promotes innovation. The essay also emphasizes the importance of green tourism and ecotourism in the sustainable use of marine resources and overall environmental conservation. The conclusion reinforces the idea that the development of sustainable tourism is essential for achieving global sustainability across various sectors, from community empowerment to environmental preservation. The essay uses data and figures from various sources to support its arguments.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Sustainable tourism
Name of the student
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Author note

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Introduction
In the recent time, tourism in the global scenario is witnessing huge growth and it is also
estimated that growth in this sector will sustain the coming years also. In accordance to that, this
sector is attracting more investments and helping in generating more employment and income
opportunities (Cabiddu, Lui & Piccoli, 2013). However, with the growth in the business
potential, the responsibility of the tourism sector is also increasing towards community
development and sustainability. Tourism sector is flourishing in every corner of the world and
thus, this sector will have more holistic impact in social development.
Figure: 1
Growth of the tourism industry
Source: (blogs.worldbank.org, 2018)

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The above data by the World Bank is showing that tourism sector is growing in both the
developing ad developed countries. Thus, all the major economies are being benefiting from the
tourism development. United Nations have stated six goals in relation to the sustainable
development by the year 2030. These goals are applicable in every business sector including the
tourism sector. This essay will discuss about how tourism development can lead to the
fulfillment of these sustainable development goals.
Goal 1: Eradication of the poverty
According to the report of World Tourism Organization, tourism is the key source of
growing employment opportunities. In addition, it is also being reported that currently tourism
contributes 5 percent of the total gross domestic production of the world. It currently employs
more than 230 million direct and indirect jobs worldwide (Step.unwto.org, 2018). Thus, the more
will be the development of the tourism industry, the more will be employment opportunities,
which will enhance the purchasing power of those employed. Therefore, the rate of poverty will
get down.
Tourism is being considered as a labor intensive sector and employs people from
minority backgrounds and ethnic groups. In the recent time, ethnic groups in different regions are
becoming the focal point of the urban tourists. Thus, compared to other sectors, tourism sector is
more directly attached with the poor section of the society (Zaei & Zaei, 2013). Therefore,
development in the tourism sector will have direct impact on the rural population and will
ultimately help to eradicate the poverty. In majority of the cases, it is being seen that local people
from the communities are being employed in the tourism sector in order to have the real feel for
the visitors. Thus, it helps in eradication of the poverty in the surrounding community.

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Goal 2: Ending hunger, achieving food security and promotion of sustainable agriculture
It is reported that in the recent time, the demand and growth for the agro tourism is
further contributing in the ending of the hunger and achieving food security. A major portion of
the international urban tourist is interested in experiencing the different ethnic foods and the
process of making them (Earth Changers, 2018). Hence, this will help to increase the traffic of
the visitors for the ethnic foods and will made the way of mass production of the food along with
the financial support for the ethnic groups. Moreover, increase in the traffic of the flow of tourist
will further help in creating the supply and demand for the food production in mass scale. This
will help the rural and remote communities to get access to the improved food production
process (Long, 2013). Moreover, urban visitors prefer to buy ingredients from the local markets,
which further increase the demand in the local community and will help in achieving food
security.
Figure: 2

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Trend of growth of Agritourism
Source: (News.cals.vt.edu, 2018)
The above data shows that the income related to the agro tourism is increasing and it is
also being reported that due to the growing popularity of the agro tourism, the income of the
farmers are also increasing, which will ensure the food security.
With the increase in the popularity of the ecotourism, sustainable agriculture can be
effectively promoted by the development of tourism sector. This is due to the reason that, with
the increase in the inflow of the tourist from the developed countries, it is of higher probability
that agricultural sector will be benefited from the flow of the knowledge. Moreover, as discussed
earlier, tourist prefer original and authentic flavors from their tourism destination. Thus, it will
further promote the sustainable agriculture.
Goal 5: Achieving gender equality and empowerment
Development in tourism can also lead to the gender equality and empowerment of the
women. This is due to the reason that, as per the reports, women concentrate the majority of the
workforce in the global tourism industry currently. However, they are mainly low paid or unpaid.
However, development in the tourism will help in promoting gender equality (Ferguson &
Alarcon, 2015). One of the key reasons is the rising popularity of the home stay services. This
provides huge opportunities for the women. Moreover, tourism sector requires less investment
and infrastructure for doing business. It will also enable the women to take up more jobs. On the
other hand, the more women will take up jobs, the more will be their empowerment. In addition,
women from the marginalized communities will be able to empower themselves by promoting
their cultures to the visitors.

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For instance, 3 sisters adventure trekking provides opportunity for the women to become
trekking guide and trains them in dealing with the foreign tourists.
Goal 8: Promoting sustainable economic growth and employment
Figure: 3
Contribution of tourism sector in economic growth
Source: (www.tutor2u.net, 2018)
Development in the tourism sector can helps in sustainable economic growth due to the
reason that, development in the tourism sector will help in developing the heritage and ethnicity
of the tourist destinations and generating power from it. For instance, destinations with having

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sea beaches can develop their economy by sustainable means such as fishing, seafood and water
tourism. Thus, this will enable to earn profit as well as maintaining the sustainability of the
destinations. Moreover, with the recent upsurge in eco friendly tourism, it is more likely the
development in the tourism will help in sustainable economic growth.
It is earlier discussed that tourism is one of the major contributors in generating
employment opportunities. As per the reports, tourism industry is one of the top most
contributors in the global gross domestic production with having produced 3.1 percent of total
gross domestic product as per 2014.
Figure: 4
Industry wise GDP
Source: (skift.com, 2018)

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It is also being reported that as per 2014 data, 105 million people are directly employed
in the tourism industry. Thus, the trend is showing the huge employment opportunities in the
travel and tourism sector. Tourism sector is also being termed as the fourth largest employer in
the world.
Figure: 5
Industry wise employment data
Source: (skift.com, 2018)
It is also being forecasted that tourism industry will be the second largest employment
generator in the world by 2025. Thus, it can be concluded that development in the tourism
industry will help in generating more employment opportunities.

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Figure: 6
Industry wise GDP forecast
Source: (skift.com, 2018)
Goal 9: Infrastructure development, and promotion of industrialization and innovation
The more will be the traffic of the tourist flow, the more will be the supply and demand
in the particular destinations. Hence, it will help the local communities and the authorities to
have the enough foreign reserves to develop their infrastructure. For instance, small island
countries such as Mauritius, revenue from the tourism are helping them not only to develop
tourism infrastructure but also their national infrastructure. The more will be generation of the
revenue, the more will be the capability for infrastructure development.
Development in the tourism will help in developing sustainable industrialization due to
the reason that, as discussed earlier, tourism itself is one of the most sustainable industry. Thus,

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the more developed will be the tourism sector, the more sustainable will be the industry of that
particular region. Generation of more revenue from the tourism will help to invest more in
innovation. In addition, the inflow of the foreign tourist along with the foreign investment in the
tourism sector also helps in fostering innovation (Weidenfeld, 2013).
Goal 14: Sustainable use of marine resources
Tourism concepts such as green tourism and ecotourism will help in sustainable use of
the marine resources and conservation of the seas and oceans. This is due to the reason that these
concepts will help in conserving the natural resources as well as generating profit. Thus, with the
generation of the profit, more investment and development can be made in conserving the marine
resources (Lee, 2013). Thus, with the development of the tourism sector, investment from the
corporate will get increased and this capital can be used in conserving the marine resources. It
also involves empowerment of the local fishing communities and initiating sustainable fishing
processes.
Conclusion
Thus, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that development in the tourism
industry will help in enhancing the sustainability in the global scenario. It is discussed in this
report; tourism industry is efficient enough to adhere to the sustainable development goals being
set by the United Nations. The more development in the tourism sector will enable sustainability
in every steps ranging from the community empowerment to sustainable use of marine resources.

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