Green Tourism Innovation

真理大學專題講座邀請函

水域運動休閒學系
運動資訊傳播學系
休閒事業遊憩學系

William Cannon Hunter, Ph.D., College of Tourism Management,
Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea
January 13, 2010

New Developments in Leisure and Tourism: Green Tourism Innovation

Introduction

Leisure and tourism are closely related fields, or disciplines that are noted for their singular characteristic of flexible growth. As each new phase of social or economic development emerges, professionals, policy makers and academics in leisure and tourism make innovations to meet the needs of markets and local communities. It is in this sense that we meet together today to discuss developments in the field, particularly 'green growth', as it affects tourism and leisure development, as 'Green Tourism'. In the wake of COP 15 which was just concluded in Copenhagen, the world is thinking even more about issues related to environment and climate change.

Tourism is recognized as both a pollutor and an engine for carbon-free development. Smart innovators in the sectors of public policy, academics and professional practice as well as in the environmental and economic sectors are highly interested in how leisure and tourism can re-invent themselves by adapting to various horizontal, diagonal and vertical integration with other sectors, or by innovation. The fundamental change in the leisure and tourism sectors of today and those of a decade ago is 'social responsibility'. Today these fields, or disciplines are expected to contribute to communities, to the sustainability of the environment and to public safety and health. It could be said in many ways, the trend today is a return to our roots, of what recreation and leisure was, before tourism dominated the interest of our academics and practitioners.

Evolution of the Fields or Disciplines of Recreation, Parks, Leisure and Tourism

The evolution of leisure and recreation can be best identified by looking to what happened historically in the United States. Back in the 1960's to early 1970's the field of leisure studies was dominated by academics in the fields of psychology, sociology and physical fitness. They were the ones who developed some of the key theories and constructs that are still in use today, including (in the social sciences): human behavior, motivations, constraints and satisfaction. In the enviromental sciences, the first work was being done on the conservation of forests and wildlife and the notion of sustainability.

In the late 1980's and 1990's the field changed as public administrators infiltrated the universities with a pragmatic vision towards practice and policy over theory. Many departments, once named 'recreation and leisure' became departments of 'tourism management'. Many people believed that the economic potential of tourism outweighed the social responsibilities of leisure science and practice.

In practice, leisure started out as a system of preventative programs that served the community, augmenting police and firefighting. Tourism, a slightly later development that was based entirely on the existence of mass transit systems and commercial profitability eventually took the spotlight. Tourism in the 1950's was called 'mass tourism' and it was a largely 'rich-to-poor' movement of peoples. It was later criticized as 'eurocentric' or 'ethnocentric' bringing with it social, cultural and environmental threats to local destinations. The case has not changed much, but to its credit, practitioners and policy makers as well as academics and other stakeholders in the 1970's and 80's refined the phenomenon (industry) and advocated 'cultural' and 'eco' tourism sectors. Now it is more proper to discuss leisure, recreation and tourism collectively in terms of 'special interest tourism', or SIT. In this sense there are infinite opportunities and niches for the industry and partnerships create more and more nuanced synergy effects.

Today we have come full circle, or at least we have moved beyond such a dichotomy of 'leisure' versus 'tourism' to an outlook that recognizes sustainability as a balance of social responsibility and long term economic and environmental benefits. Nothing brings this understanding into better focus than the recent and ongoing debates on 'climate change'.

COP 15 and the Climate Change Debate

A brief overview of the climate change debate shows will, for most, fail to reveal that the most significant change going on in our world is population growth. When early innovators in the fields of recreation and tourism were just getting started, in the 1950's, mass commercial air travel (via Boeing 707's) was just beginning. The global population at that time is half of what it is today. Now, concerns regarding the environment, ongoing since the hippie movements of the 1960's are now reaching full-scale global significance. The climate change debate and policy implementation has not been successful at a global scale and even the Kyoto Accord is set to expire without a subsequent treaty by 2012. However, the efforts of the UNFCCC have had significant effects on the way we the public perceive the enviromnent (http://en.cop15.dk/frontpage; http://unfccc.int/2860.php). Grassroots or local organizations have also had an effect, such as ICLEI, or 'Local Governments for Sustainability' (http://www.iclei.org/).

Tourism and Green Growth

Never before has tourism been held so accountable for its role in social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts. Tourism is expected to contribute to Carbon-free Economies, to act as an engine of growth while maintaining cultural and environmental sustainability. To counteract these new expectations, tourism has become a vehicle for social change, charity, education and general overall improvement of the world we live in. Tourists are coming to expect exemplary service and minimum carbon footprints during their travel experience. We have moved beyond simply 'learning' about cultures and environments to being expected to contribute to their well being. As tourism slowly encompasses the community-based services once exclusively reserved for the leisure discipline, new projects and 'products' emerge. Several interesting innovations can be briefly touched upon here.

New Tourism Products and Policy

Among the most significant developments in tourism policy are the Davos Report, the UNPFII UN Forum on Indigenous Issues, the ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Charter and the UNESCO World Heritage List. These important policy actions affect the way tourism products are developed and the ways in which destinations manage or control the tourism industry.

Another key resource is the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization) and its Asia Newsletter, a quarterly news and information resource that is available directly from the UNWTO website. The UNWTO has of late been promoting pro-poor or ST-EP tourism (Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty) http://www.unwtostep.org/ with programs to help developing countries create profitable low-cost tourism products and improve community standards of living, such as their 'thank you small library program'.

Destinations are responding to the Green Tourism and Climate Change initiatives by developing mountains, urban areas and waterways. One of the most significant of these developments is the Han River Renaissance Project in Seoul Korea (http://hangang.seoul.go.kr/; http://global.seoul.go.kr/global/view/business/bus05_03.jsp). In this massive project, the entire face of the capital city is being transformed into a 'green' and people friendly environment that will eventually become a fantastic tourism attraction as well.

'Temple Stay' in Korea has recently become a profitable and rapidly growing tourism product. International and domestic tourists visit temples to learn about Buddhist culture and ritual and its benefits. It is a miniature world that successfully implements all the components of cultural tourism into a well-focused product. It is also an example of 'green tourism' as the 'carbon footprint' of this product is small.

Finally, on another level, is the development of highly specialized research institutes and schools. One worth mentioning is the new 'World Environment and Peace Graduate School' in Jeju Island, that will start its international program in Fall of 2011. The school is supported by Korea's Ministry of Environment and Jeju Special Autonomous Government. It will feature an international faculty and student body and will focus on all elements of green tourism.

Implications

Economic constraints due to the global economic turndown, concerns regarding the climate and the enviroment at large, and social movements have combined to influence a new manifestation of the tourism phenomenon. New Tourism, or Green Tourism turns constraints into opportunities because it is an industry that includes multidimensional thinkers who are concerned simultaneously with local culture and communities, the environment, policy and political action and economic profitability. In tourism today, social responsibility, refined curiosity and the pursuit of economic prosperity have combined to influence tourists to seek destinations that clearly perform the 'reality' of ideal expectations. In tourism, the public sector must be held responsible for ensuring the best protection against natural disasters, war, terrorism and poverty (man made disasters), economic stability, public health and cultural or social prosperity. Only then can tourism's entrepreneurship maintain itself as the key green engine of growth for the 21st century. Students in leisure and tourism fields must work over time to develop themselves as well-rounded renaissance professionals in this, the largest industry in the world.