Assignment #7 - Sustainable Tourism

http://mediaglobal.org/article/2010-04-15/encouraging-sustainable-tourism-for-development-in-zanzibar

The article tells us that tourism in Zanzibar is depleting the natural beauty and resources there. There are a few businesses in the tourism industry who decided that this is an economic problem for them and started to act to create sustainability and change. This tourism and sustainability issue was resolved at the local level, by local business in an effort to protect their economic base and improve the quality of their land.

The increase of tourists coming to Zanzibar since the 1990s has impacted the area significantly. A 2007 feature in National Geographic Traveler Magazine rated Unguja at 53 out of 100 in terms of sustainable tourism and development practices. The reviews of Unguja, written anonymously by sustainable tourism experts indicated that the island was suffering from being developed too quickly with too many large investments without benefiting locals. Panelists rated Pemba 67 out of 100 because of its better-preserved environment and more controlled development. Despite criticisms, there are many in Zanzibar who are encouraging healthy and sustainable development that benefits both area residents and the environment.

The local hotels are making a difference through a series of environmental, ecological and economical sustainability changes. For instance, one hotel is offering accommodations where visitors stay in “eco-bungalows” replete with solar-powered lighting, solar heated water, composting toilets, and rainwater catchment systems. Another is serving local produce and encourages the purchase of local handicrafts and commerce while subsidizing medical care and contributing to education for the local population. The inn is committed to conserving energy and recycling all waste products, in addition to planting trees and shrubs in a nursery and distributing them to locals.

This issue could have been resolved by the local government instituting requirements for sustainable use of the land and resources. The local government could have instituted local law requiring the tourism industry to follow the same sustainable goals that the businesses adopted voluntarily. A state run program with laws determining what the hotels should do to meet environmental sustainability could have easily been implemented and policed.

If the government had decided to implement such policies, there would be several negative effects: business push-back because not all tourism business will want to do this or see it as beneficial; cost of creating an agency to oversee this new policy and implement the rules and regulations; costs would likely increase if the changes were implemented by local government because there would likely be an increase in fees and taxes to support implementation of such a policy. I don't think that the Zanzibar government would have been successful with its implementation of the same things the hotels did here. The hotels saw an economic benefit with increased tourism dollars and the government implementing the same would not have the same altruistic and economic benefits that the hotels are currently enjoying.

Ultimately, even if the government had decided to be the instrument of change in Zanzibar, it would likely have been successful. Although as I mentioned earlier, the businesses would probably not see the same level of income from a government run program due to the additional costs of running such a program. This is a great example of what Wheeler was trying to convey in the text when he said that change has to begin with the individual and then stretch out from there. It is genuinely nice to see the residents and businesses of Zanzibar care about the depletion of their resources and the beauty of their nation that they would (whether it be for economic or altruistic reasons) independently take on and successfully solve the problem.