Tourism : Sustainable Tourism – A Brief Comparasion of Application of Tourism and Government’s Support in France and Dominican Republic

"Tourism in International Relations"
Lecture: Drs. Usmar Salam MIS

ROBY RAHMAWAN PN
06/197072/SP/21814
Communication Departement

Preface

Tourism is a major sector with global development impacts. Tourism is also a significant economic and social force in the world, whose current scale and likely future growth have serious implications for local and global environments. Although this may bring opportunities for economic development and poverty alleviation, it will also introduce environmental and social impacts of tourism to areas which may have been unaffected by tourism development.

Tourism depends on and affects the environment and society. Tourists are increasingly looking for attractive, unpolluted places to visit, and involvement with tourism can also make local people more aware of the need to conserve the environment. At the same time, in many tourism destinations, environmental, cultural and social impacts have become apparent, demanding policies, strategies and tools that can make tourism a more viable development option.

Tourism has an enormous demonstration effect. Tourism and leisure are increasingly attractive. While on vacations individuals tend to learn from other cultures, be more sensitive and aware of global environmental issues, and also return home with elements of the lifestyles they experienced at host destinations.

Many countries try to make a better tourism of their own, which can gives a benefit, not only to the governement but also for the their people. One of the best solution to handle this problem is apply the Sustainable Tourism on their tourism. The term ‘sustainable tourism’ - meaning ‘tourism that is based on the principles of sustainable development’- refers to a fundamental objective: to make all tourism more sustainable. Sustainable tourism development is not related only to specific market niches “Sustainable tourism development guidelines and management practices are applicable to all forms of tourism in all types of destinations, including mass tourism and the various niche tourism segments”.

This paper will discuss about a brief comparasion, between two countries, which are the major country’s tourism (France) and the developing country’s tourism (Dominican rep.). The primary aspects of comparasion are how these two countries apply sustainable tourism on their own tourism. We will know the differences of their sustainable tourism from three parameters that I made clearly, which are the application of their sustainable tourism and real supports from the government.

The Application of Sustainable Tourism

The French government pays a lot of attention to the the sustainable tourism issue. Indeed France, the first tourism destination in the world, is granted with a unique natural and cultural heritage and a very diversified offer of tourism. For example : France has developed rural tourism based on its rich “terroirs” as well as tourism relying on the exceptional biodiversity in the tropical forests and atolls of its overseas territories. Conservation of this heritage is a challenge, but first and foremost a chance to attract visitors and develop diversified tourism services. Meanwhile, the demand for a more sustainable tourism offer is growing among the French population.

France people know that degradation quality of nature has comes and need to resolve as fast as it can be. As the first destination of international tourist, France choose to apply sustainable tourism into their tourism. In order to reduce climate change, safe the environment, and fostering employent within tourist destinations areas also.

The focus of the sustainable tourism in Frence not only for the environment and empowering people, furthermore they try to present the better quality in every single aspect of their tourism which has not gives a bad effect. We can see their effort from these things. First, trying to always using biological products to produce foods. When tourist from around the world comes and want to try their legendary foods. It was be important for them to present healthy foods. Second, maximalized public transfortation to reduce the air polution. There are many kinds of public transportation in France, such as tube, train, metro, bus, tramways, taxi, etc. maybe it will occures the new problem about air polution in our mid, how many vehicles because of those transportation?, but France has prepares their public transportation well. We can see that they give a environmentally friendly transportation, such as the making of a hybrid taxis and water taxis as public transportation. One thing that we can trust of France’s public transportation is they always give a good condition of their transportations. In the other side, government also re-invents the way people circulate around town and also helps discover the surrounding areas with the latest concept of 'ecological walks' to reduce air polution in the city.

Third, as the tourist destination for shopping government has makes an Ethical Shopping. Ethical shopping is related to Fair trade which is ethical and eco-friendly. Fair trade is an alternative approach to conventional international trade. It is a trading partnership which aims at sustainable development for excluded and disadvantaged producers. It seeks to do this by providing better trading conditions, by awareness raising and by campaigning.

Little bit different from Frence, in Dominican Rep., sustainable tourism has focus on their environment, in this case is real nature. They have made a tourism from natural environment with less of technological touch. So, the focus of application would be reating and developing new promotion and commercialization channels, direct communication and interaction between "consumers and producers", higher awareness and consciousness of tourism impacts, "quality" control on service and sustainability evaluation, niche market expansion, specialized information access and diffusion, cooperative networking for collective thinking, actions and services, etc

Supports from the government

France Ecotours has been born out of the conviction that tourism in France does not consist only of accommodation and visits of historic buildings, but also involves discovering and meeting with people of regions where the environment has been sustained in its natural aspect. A land rich in its diversity and contrasts, France is a perpetual invitation to discoveries. Government’s mission is to help you make these discoveries in a group or individually in total security and therefore not missing out on the details that are special to these regions or quarters. One of the real support from governemnt is the develompent of France Ecotours, which is the first French tour operator who is committed to sustainable tourism. This can be justified by its affiliation to the pioneering network of small and middle scale European tour operators, for example. Forum Anders Reisen. (Forum travelling with a difference).

Besides that, France Governement also put up some simpe definitions, and also practice of their own sustainable tourism. Those are, reaching your holiday destination preferably by train, travelling in small friendly groups accompanied by an experienced guide chosen for their special skills in communication and pedagogical qualities, being accommodated comfortably at the host’s or at charming, family- like hotels with quality services, meeting local inhabitants and getting to know their way of life, like discovering local traditions or regions that cannot be found in any tourist guides and learn about details found off the beaten track, tasting local cuisine organically authentic, taking whenever possible the public transport, are environmentally conscious and don’t like littering, taking time to appreciate the architecture, landscapes, the flora and fauna on foot or on a bicycle, travelling so that your children or the upcoming generations find these places the way you did, the availability of quality information and detailed roadbook.

Government believes that those kinds of tourism above is possible to practice at a more realistic level daily during our holidays. Authenticity, respect of man and nature are the key principles of sustainable packages. They are created based on a list of criteria that required to respect which is annually inspected by a an external commission comprising of journalists and tourism professionals.

According to Lonely Planet, "The Dominican Republic was once blanketed with lush rainforests teeming with diverse flora and fauna, including some 1,500 species not found anywhere else. Today, many of the swamps have been drained and trees cut down for charcoal, but there are still enough isolated pockets of untamed nature to satisfy the most adamant ecotourist." The problem is widespread poverty. The U.S. Agency for International Development reports that the Dominican Republic is beginning to address that issue, along with the country's relatively weak environmental protection laws. It may not be too late. Robinson says that the Dominican Republic retains 14 percent of its original forest cover, in contrast with Haiti, which is almost entirely deforested due to pressures from extreme poverty and political instability. Therefore, Dominican Republic’s governement has started to pay attention towards its sustainable tourism since 2005, by making DSTA.

The ultimate goal of the Dominican Republic Sustainable Tourism Alliance (DSTA) is to better equip and strengthen local small, medium-sized and community based tourism enterprises, and relevant tourism entities (most notably the existing tourism clusters) to independently sustain efforts once external funding from USAID/DR is removed. This will best be achieved through continued public-private collaboration and outreach to new development partners at the national, regional, and global levels that is subsequently led by stronger, more capable Dominican tourism institutions. To achieve this goal, the DSTA, among other things, will build on, expand, and consolidate the considerable investments already made by USAID/DR in the following principal areas:
1) Moving the tourism clusters developed under the Competitiveness and Policy Program (Romana-Bayahibe, La Vega, Barahona, Puerta Plata, Altagracia, and Samaná) towards self-sufficiency and sustainability; 2) Strengthening municipal environment management capabilities and stimulating small, medium, and community-based tourism efforts; and 3) Improving protected area management initiatives in selected locations originally begin under the Parks-in-Peril Program.

In addition, the DSTA will also help: • Develop a common vision of sustainable development for the Dominican Republic; • Improve local production capacities while enhancing the quality of local tourism offerings, products, services, and handicrafts in selected areas; and • Connect small, medium, and community-based entrepreneurs with the global market place. This will be accomplished by establishing linkages between the traditional tourism sector, international buyers, and local service providers, and developing marketing strategies that achieve long-term financial sustainability.

References

About the Sustainable Tourism and Development in France

http://www.new-paris-ile-de-france.co.uk/follow-the-guide/enjoy/sustainable-tourism-67137.html

http://www.france-ecotours.com/16-1-sustainable-tourism.html

About the Alternative, Sustainable, and Eco Tourism in Dominican Republic

http://www.kiskeya-alternative.org/

About the Dominican Republic Sustainable Tourism Alliance

http://www.gstalliance.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=85&Itemid=113

http://www.sidsnet.org/archives/tourism-newswire/2003/msg00113.html