Some may not agree with the taxation policy on the tourism industry, however, why would that kind of policy is nullified? It is clear that the additional tax from the tourist could give a lot of benefits in tourism places by giving some extra money to improve and fix the damage of the environment so that tourist will continue to visit the tourism places. On the next few paragraphs I would like to elaborate more on different kind pollution that caused environmental damage that caused by tourism industry.
The rapid developments of low-cost airline have lead to the tremendous impact on traveller’s behavior. According to the intergovernmental Panel and Climate change, aircraft currently distribute 600 millions tons of carbon dioxide into the upper atmosphere each year, this account around 3.5 per cent of all greenhouses gases. This amount will continue to rise up to 15 per cent by 2050, on present estimate. Another form of transportation that gives contribution to pollution is ships and cruises. According to the fact from the ocean conservancy in United States, apart from the daily fuel burn, 30.000 gallons of sewage and 7 tons of rubbish per day generate from ships and cruises. Last but not least the record of pollution also be taken of many private cars and motorcycles.
Different kind of transportation such as land transportation, sea transportation and air transportation could disturb the serene surroundings of a resort by increasing the noise levels, in both rural and residential areas. This kind of condition could be considered as a form of pollution, known as noise pollution, which definitely created uncomfortable environment for the local resident. Moreover, recreation vehicles such as snowmobiles can also disturb the wildlife; the sound created by the snowmobile could make the animal such as rabbit, raccoon and owl suffer from stress and lead to death.
The biggest threat for global tourism comes from physical pollution. We could see clearly that most common example could be seen in coastal resorts, where beach and offshore water visibly contaminated and could be life threatening to the swimmers and bathers. We can take Bali as an example. Based on the result conducted by the Environment Agency of Bali (BLH) in 2010, there are several types of dangerous substances have been found on at least 13 beaches in Bali. This condition reportedly caused by waste produced by the large amount of hotels nearby the area.
Another problem that caused by the tourism industry is congestion. Congestion is an overcrowded condition when the capacity of an area to absorb tourist have reached its limit. Congestion is a complicated situation because it occurs at both a psychological and a physical level. Beaches, theme parks, marine parks and related components all have a exact limit to the numbers if tourist that they can accommodate on certain time. Congestion forced government or local people to create some extra space for the tourist and most of the time the extra space is taken by draining the coastal wetlands and filled them with soil. One of the countries that are currently doing this is Singapore. In the long term these kinds of activities can lead to chronic disturbance and erosion to the local ecosystem surroundings.
In conclusion, Based on all the things that have been described above, the taxation policy on the tourism industry should be apply. The scope of an environmental tax should ideally be as broad as the scope of the environmental damage. In order to be truly effective, the taxation policy has to be applied globally without any exception.
by
ratths (student)
