Examination of the natural impacts to the development of the tourist destination: Lanzarote (ePub)

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Tourism - Miscellaneous, grade: Merit, Bournemouth University, language: English, abstract: There are different impacts that the development of tourism has on a destination, for instance,
natural or environmental, economical, political or socio-cultural. The environment is one of
the most important issues for the development and promotion of a tourist destination, and also
the most fragile (Franco and Garcia, 1999).
Due to the huge influx of tourists known as "mass tourism", the impacts of the development
can be positive and negative. Positive economic impacts are the improvement of infrastructure
and the attraction of more investment in the area; negative the increase of prices and of
income inequality. Positive socio-cultural impacts enhance the increase of cultural exchange
and restoration of buildings; negative socio-cultural like immigration and assumption of the
stereotypes of tourist; and finally, negative environmental impacts like noise, pollution,
destruction of the natural environment, huge buildings in natural areas, overuse of water,
problems with the treatment of wastes, water pollution by liquid waste, destruction of
historical monuments, air pollution from the use of vehicles and heating, changes in the
landscape to promote activities entertainment and sports such as golf; etc. But not only mass
tourism affects on the environment, alternative tourism can also make an unsustainable use of
resources (Garcia and Sancho, 1999).
This essay will examine critically the natural impacts that the development of tourism has
upon the destination Lanzarote. This Spanish island is famous for its unique volcanic
landscape and its biosphere reserve. The island of Lanzarote is within the 10 most popular
islands of Europe (Trivago, 2009) and personally one of my favourite travel destinations due
to family reasons. (1606 words)