UNSUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Tourism can have negative environmental and social effects on the rainforest and its inhabitants. The growing interest in travel to developing countries has spawned a boom in the construction of resorts and hotels on rainforest and mangrove forest lands. Demand by these hotels for tropical hardwood provides another market for woods logged from primary rainforest. Some hotels lack proper waste management and instead send sewage and trash a few hundred yards offshore where it can spawn algae blooms, affecting coral reefs and contributing to eutrophic dead zones.

Tourists can have profound social effects on local and Indigenous communities. In vying for tourist dollars, traditions can be forgotten and conflicts can arise between members of the community. In some areas, poor villagers turn to prostitution to earn cash from tourists. If tourism is going to provide long term benefits to local people it must be sustainable.





Continued / Next: Fuelwood, Roads, Climate