FROM rolling vineyards to stunning beaches, there’s no shortage of beauty to discover in our own backyards.
The University of South Australia is urging travellers to support local destinations and experiences close to home, instead of long-haul international trips, to lessen the impacts of tourism on the environment.
We should be considering more localised travel and doing everything we can to reduce unnecessary emissions.
Space travel, private jet travel and mass travel to remote and extreme environments such as Antarctica are unethical and contribute to a culture of privileged over-consumption.
In these conditions, it is hard to justify tourism to Antarctica.
We have to question our use of cruising or flights in our tourism consumption.
We need to create a cultural shift that sees tourism consumption as a luxury to be savoured and not something we can have every year or multiple times a year, like many have come to expect in the ‘Global North’.
Shifting to an appreciation of local leisure and domestic travels and lower expectations of long-haul international travel is a must.
The ‘Global North’, such as the northern hemisphere, is responsible for 92 per cent of global emissions.
Tourism is contributing to the depletion of natural resources, pollution, over-consumption and environmental destruction.
Travellers need to be more considerate with their choices of holiday destinations and reflect on the impact of their activities on the environment.
Tourism should be defined by the local community, with decision-making controlled at the lowest level and an emphasis on the interrelationships between people, place, ecology and all living things.
We need to slow down – stay longer, stay local, be thoughtful with our holiday choices.
It’s about respecting the destination, looking out for codes of responsibility, and making yourself aware of the culture and what challenges the communities you’re visiting are facing.
I encourage people to try being more conscious on their next trip – stay in one place longer, travel more slowly, go for nature walks, engage with the culture, try to leave the destination a better place than how you found it.
Tourism Research Australia forecasts that over the next five years, domestic travel will see only moderate growth, largely due to increased competition from international outbound travel, which is set to continue to climb.
Dr Freya Higgins-Desbiolles,
Adjunct senior lecturer in tourism management,
The University of South Australia
