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Abstract
This study had two main objectives. First, to explore, in theory, the role of
environmental awareness as a concept in the evolution of the tourism system
as well as the reconfiguration of tourist destinations to include some of the
long ignored areas. Such areas would emerge as new sources for wealth for
many countries. To sustain this wealth; the second main objective is to
investigate the behaviour of stakeholders involved in the tourism
development process in the light of prevailing environmental awareness as a
means to sustain the environmental resources while attaining the tourism
goals. To meet these objectives, the study is divided into two parts. Part I
provided a conceptual framework against which Part II analysed the case
study.
The main aim of Part I was to highlight potentials accrued to regions, which
were before out of the tourist map. It drew attention that these potentials are
made possible because of the new trends of the tourism system, which were
the products of the shifts in the dominant western paradigm. In highlighting
the importance of these potentials, the first part of the study stressed
simultaneously an early warning, that the discrepancy of environmental
concerns between tourists coming from developed communities and local
communities residing the tourist destinations may hinder the supply side
from playing its role in serving the tourism demand.
Part I had given attention to emphasis the dangers of neglecting this
discrepancy. It ascertains that this discrepancy should be sized in its true
magnitude. Furthermore, it proposed the idea of integrating all stakeholders
involved in the supply side, including host community, into a consolidated
scheme in order to deal with this problem and prevent its detrimental impact
on the development process, and subsequently on realising the anticipated
benefits.
Part I fulfilled its aims through its work on three dimensions. Firstly,
Chapter 2 paved the road for this study, by introducing the main concepts
and theories. Considering complexities of tourism, the chapter applied a
systems perspective to the topic. The chapter earned a deep understanding of
the tourism system by incorporating the ‘stakeholders approach’ of the
tourism system, the ‘spatial approach’ of the basic whole tourism system,
and the ‘demand-supply’ approach of the tourism function system.
Accordingly, components of the tourism system, including tourists, origin
communities, host governments, tourism industry and host communities,
were identified by spatial, temporal and purposive parameters. In addition,
this analysis demonstrated that the components of the tourism system, and
subsequently the whole system, are influence by various physical,
economic, social and other external environments.
Such findings led Chapter 2 to approach environmental awareness as a
concept that would influence the tourism system. Consequently, the study
identified a number of factors affecting the public behaviour to the
environment, such as economic, social and cultural status. Further, these
factors justified variation in environmental concerns among different
communities. Hence, the discrepancy in environmental concerns between
tourists and host communities could be attributed to the difference in
circumstances prevailing at origin destinations, commonly located
developed countries, and those at host destinations, in developing countries.
Chapter 3 employs concepts established in Chapter 2 to analyse the growth
of tourism. It investigated the role of the environmental movement among
the ‘push’ factors which have stimulated the emergence of new patterns of
the tourism system, in both the demand and supply sides. Overall, the effect
of the mounting environmental concerns on the tourism system could be
concluded in two main outcomes. The first is throwing light on regions
which were long regarded as of negligible value for development. The
second is bringing the concept of sustainability and its related topics into the
arena of tourism development. This had significantly determined the
contemporary behaviour of stakeholders involved in the tourism
development process at tourist destinations.
On the light of these conclusions, Chapter 4 examined the behaviour of
stakeholders involved in the tourism development process, in order to
investigate the effectiveness of environmental awareness on their practices.
Through reviewing international examples for each group of stakeholders;
the chapter elaborated the efforts exerted by these stakeholders to
encapsulate the environment as a focal dimension in their behaviour. Efforts
to support sustainability are evident in actions such as laws and regulations
issued by governments; codes of ethics and declarations released by
intergovernmental organisations; certification programmes and codes of
conduct introduced by non-governmental organisations; and codes of best
practice and environmentally friendly procedures adopted by the tourism
industry.
Having local communities in the core of the review; Chapter 4 delineated
various levels of local participation in the tourism development process. It
appeared that neglecting them would lead to destructive impacts not only on
the development process but also the environment, such as in the case of
Plai Phongpang Homestay in Thailand (Box 4.1). Thus, the chapter took the
effort to investigate the perception of governments, as a main player, to
local communities. Comparing the behaviour of governments of developing
countries and that of developed countries revealed some interesting points.
Commonly, developing governments of reviewed countries approached
local communities as a partial component at tourist destinations.
Mechanisms to target their communities in their plans ranged from
organising orientation campaigns, environmental awareness programmes
and offering employment opportunities (Figure 7-1). On the other hand,
governments of developed countries appeared to maximise the concept of
locality as a means to actualise anticipated benefits. Mechanisms to
approach their communities in their plans extended to involve local
communities actively in decision-making and encourage them to own and
mobilise the resources of the destination independently.
Figure 7-1: Tourism Development s a Separate Layer from the Local Community
Source; Researcher, 2006
Reaching this point, it was doubtless that the development process would
actualise the potential benefits without employing an integrated supply
scheme. In particular, this chapter laid the milestones of this scheme by
Text Box: Historical Site
reviewing the role played by actors involved in the tourism development
process. Chapter 4 concluded that governments, particularly in developing
countries, ought to stretch their role beyond the traditional practices.
Therefore, the study recommends that governments adopt a consolidated
mechanism for sustainable tourism development, which integrated local
communities in the tourism development process taking place on their
region, not just as partial beneficiaries but as the real owners of the process
(Figure 7-2).
Figure 7-2: Tourism Development as an Integral Part of the Local Community
Source: Researcher, 2006
Taking these findings into application, Part II comprises 2 chapters. It
adopted the Western Desert region of Egypt as case study; to demonstrate
the new horizons for development in regions which were perceived before
of limited resources. Thus, Chapter 5 examined the multiple facets of the
environment in the study region, to produce an inventory for potential
attractions. This chapter proved that the Western Desert region, which has
been commonly regarded as an endless sea of sand, is a major latent source
for income generation and future development of Egypt. Nevertheless,
Chapter 5 found out that the irrevocable resources of the region, which have
been preserved over thousands of years, would not stand long the intrusion
Text Box: Historical Site
of human beings in their quest for modernisation. Thus, Chapter 6 brings the
discussion to local communities living in the study region.
Capitalising on the conceptual framework drawn from Part I, Chapter 6
developed a questionnaire to investigate the nature of the relation between
those communities and their environment as well as their perception of
tourism; in order to investigate their ability to maintain and guard the
sustainability of tourism development in their region. Despite primarily
reading of the collected data depicted a prominent level of environmental
awareness; cross-examining the answers of respondents elaborated that this
level is not a congenital perception, but rather a toneless parroting of the
media. Furthermore, dissection of their environmental attitude outlined a
high degree of absorption in local immediate environmental issues. The
reviewed sample was not able to recognise the implications of the behaviour
on their environment. Moreover, they had the tendency to sacrifice the
balance of their environment for pecuniary benefits. Such observations were
substantiated when interviewees were subjected to selected items of the
‘New Ecological Paradigm’ scale. Altogether, the attitude of the sample was
hardily towards a pro-environmental orientation (Appendix VI). However,
the high rates of education open a gateway for decision makers to approach
these communities.
7.2 Main Findings
It could deduced that the findings of this research are concerned with
developing tourism in natural areas – particularly desert zones –in a way
that would realise foreseen benefits.
Firstly, any tourist destination has to be regarded in terms of the ecological
zones rather than administrative borders. Regarding the case of the Western
Desert region, the research discovered that this region comprises interrelated
ecosystems. In accordance, identifying these ecological zones should be
done and taken into consideration when providing infrastructure projects as
well as marketing plans. This is crucial to ensure that the limits of carrying
capacity are not exceeded.
One of the important implications in Egypt is that the administrative
divisions of towns/governorates should not limit the integrated vision of the
whole ecosystem running through the tourist destination. Similar to
economic zones which were incorporated in building economic plans, the
governments may consider the concept of ecological zones. Actually, the
Egyptian government has a precedent in considering the Nile valley a
continuous ecosystem regardless to administrative boundaries. Till today,
the ministry of irrigation deals with the Nile banks as one ecosystem, where
the impacts of any irrigation project along the valley is calculated along the
whole length of the valley. By analogy, the Western Desert region should be
treated by the same manner. Here matters are more difficult of to identify
the ecological zones, in desert zones, as in the case of the Nile valley.
However, it is essential to exert this effort since potential benefits are huge.
Secondly, the study ascertains that marketing the Western Desert region in
terms of ecological zones, rather than administrative boundaries, is crucial
to stretch the tourist capacity of the region. The outstanding ecological
regions, which extend form the coast in the north to the deserts of the South,
offer a relevant variety of tourist experiences in the light of the new tourist
trends. For instance, tourists interested in the natural heritage can navigate
the various ecosystems of the region to encounter distinctive experiences.
Also, dealing with the Western Desert region will enrich the experience of
tourists concerned with the cultural heritage. They will be able to take an
exceptional voyage in time and relive the glamorous history of the Earth as
well as the authentic culture of indigenous communities of the region.
Thirdly, it is crucial to integrate tourism development in any destination as a
part of the social and economic context of the area. For governments, this
approach would lead to change the focus from just developing tourism in
the region to considering tourism as a tool for social and economic
development of local communities. That is to say, local communities would
become the core of development plans, and tourism would manifest as an
application to foster development in the destination.
Lastly, developers and decision-makers have to develop economic motives
to integrate local communities according to their social and economic traits.
In developing countries, tourism can encourage greater social mobility
through changes in employment from traditional agriculture and pastoralism
to service industries. Nevertheless, based on inherit traits of a community;
individuals may perceive citizens from other settlements –especially urban
settlements –as outsiders. The same more applies to expatriates. In
consequence, this local community may suffer trembles when the
government attempts to pump external investments to develop the region as
a tourist destination. In such cases, employment may create social tensions,
gap of understanding and irritation towards the government’s actions. In this
case, micro and small loans, technical support to develop community-based
tourism would be preferred to integrate local communities into the
sustainable tourism development scheme.
7.3 Issues for Future Research
The study pinpointed a crucial aspect that would support fulfilling and
actualising potential benefits sought from investment in new tourist
destinations. To resolve the problematic issue of discrepancy of
environmental concerns between local communities inhabiting the new
tourist destinations and the global environmental concerns of demand side-
a new deep integrated process sponsored by national governments in such
destinations should be framed and applied. To maximise the benefits from
this study; further research are crucially needed and invited in very specific
issues pertaining to conclusions of this thesis. The most important issues
are:
. A comprehensive research to identify in a measurable way the power and
effect of each component in the formula of constructing environmental
awareness of a certain society, in addition to derives behind those
components. The nature of such research is multidisciplinary, since it
employs economic and socio-economic factors behind each component.
Nevertheless, conducting such research is crucial to enable policy makers to
correctly frame their interventionist channels as of their strength and
longevity. Besides, proceeding into building the integrated scheme without
appropriate intensive study of mentioned components, jeopardises the
intervention process. Decision makers would not be able to determine the
adequate degree of intervention required, either underestimate or
overestimate the process. In the latter case, resources would be squandered,
when the intervention was more than actually required. Or, in the former
cases, intervention would not be effective, when the intervention was less
than actually needed.
. Moreover, it is critical to trace and investigate thoroughly the stage during
which the shifts in the western dominant paradigm and its repercussions on
the society’s perception of the environment. In the course of this study, the
shift in the social dominant paradigm was exposited. Furthermore, there is a
great need for a detailed historical study on the variables which led to shifts
in the western dominant paradigm. This is important because the world is
undergoing rapid changes, and it goes without saying that the circumstances
through which coincided the shift in the dominant paradigm of western
societies may not identically concur those of today. Accordingly, in
studying the methods to direct the attention of local communities to global
environmental concerns, it is not enough to work on replication of socio-
economic patterns thrusting the shift in developed countries.
. The core of this thesis was local communities in developing countries,
particularly those with authentic heritage and residing in regions with
significant ecological features. For the purpose of the study, community was
regarded as a homogenous construct. However, in reality, a community is
constructed of many heterogeneous segments, of differing degrees of
contrast according to many criteria. Consequently, there is a problem of
obtaining a representation of all points of view of residents. Additionally,
as revealed from the study, the economic and socio-cultural heritage of a
community influences the community’s perception of tourism. Thus,
anthropological and sociological studies, which document the economic and
socio-cultural characteristics of local communities in each region, are
perquisites determine the appropriate mechanisms to integrate the citizens of
each region.
. This thesis shed the light on the Western Desert region of Egypt, a pristine
region hosting a wide range of complex ecosystems. Due to the absence of
an ecological map for the Egyptian territories, the study channelled a huge
effort to explore the various ecological zones in the region. This highlights
the need for more specific interacting ecosystems need to be identified in a
hierarchal system to support decision making and management objectives.
Thus, it is hoped that this thesis will constitute the point of departure for
future intensive research which will study the ecological zones of the
regions and their carrying capacity.