The need for alternative tourism can be summed up as follows. Some travellers are getting bored and dissatisfied with traditional mass tourism destinations, and hope to seek out unique, pristine destinations. Also, the growth of global environmental awareness and the conservation movement increases travellers’ awareness of problems associated with mass tourism. Increasingly, destination populations and governments are increasingly aware of the dangers arising from the negative impacts of tourism. Lastly, there is increased acceptance by tour operators of changing demands, attitudes and the need for greater environmental awareness.
Alternative forms of tourism have both its positive and negative impacts. Looking at the positive impacts, most alternative forms of tourism are seen as more desirable than mass tourism. They tend to have low impact on the physical and social environment on the area due to the smaller volume of tourists. Also, some of the alternative forms of tourism give emphasis to the contact and understanding between the hosts and the tourist, as well as the environment. Most alternative forms of tourism involves the locals in its planning and management, allowing the locals greater participation in the tourism activity and in many cases, locals benefit more through alternative forms of tourism than mass tourism. Benefits include revenue and conservation of their environment. Alternative form of tourism can be a form of tourism that is consistent with the natural, social and community values and that allows a positive relationship among locals and tourists. Moreover, the concept of sustainability underlies some alternative forms of tourism, allowing for long term viability of these tourism areas. Lastly, some alternative forms of tourism are educational in nature, enriching tourists about for instances, the culture of the local communities, the beauty of the nature environment, or the need for conservation. An example of which is photographic safari in Masoka, a small village in Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, looking at the disadvantages, alternative tourism usually penetrates far deeper into the personal lives of residents and are often carried out in environmentally sensitive area, and thus tend to have a greater capacity to generate a range of negative impacts. For instance, some tourists tend stay away from designated trails to explore even less accessible area where there are no proper paths for them to follow and they had to thread through vegetation. Over time, the cumulative damage they do can cause significant damage to the very environment that attracted them. This problem had been recognised by many agencies operating tourism in natural areas, for example Footprint Vietnam Travel. Other examples include littering by climbers at Mount Everest in Himalayas and plucking of coral reefs by divers at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Also, compared to mass tourism, the benefits brought about by alternative forms of tourism, for instance in the case of revenue and employment, tend to be much lesser due to the smaller scale and not seen to be a viable tool for development. In addition, where there is lack of expertise in catering for alternative tourists, inappropriate practices could be implemented and local resources over-exploited for short term gains. Lastly, there is evident risk that alternative forms of tourism simply represent the pioneering stages in new practices of mass tourism. In this way, alternative tourism simply becomes a mechanism for constructing new geographies of travel and its associated impacts, centred on the exotic and the distant. For example, there is ample evidence that destinations such as the Himalayas and sub-Saharan Africa, both alternative tourism locations, are now being opened up to the mass tourism.
In conclusion, it is a mistake to just look at the perceived advantages perceived from developing alternative forms of tourism and disregard its disadvantages. Alternative forms of tourism can be said to be an infant form of tourism development and will require much care to avoid it from developing out of control and cause much negative impacts to the destination.
