The Role of Guests in Contributing to Green Tourism

Document Type:Thesis

Subject Area:Tourism

Document 1

In this particular research study, the researches utilized a descriptive research design whose main objective was mainly the determination of the various key roles of the tourists towards the realization of the idea of green tourism in the society. In this research study two departments were chosen and they included the hospitality and tourism departments, in which both had a total of one thousand guests. The stratified random sampling method was utilized in the sampling process where 0ne hundred guests were sampled out and they became the representative of the larger group. The primary data and information was gathered by the use of open and closed questionnaires. 1: Background Information The tourism industry is one of the global industries that are experiencing a massive growth in recent years.

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Hospitality department: they constitute service providers such as hotels where their main role is to serve the tourist and at the same time ensuring that their services are friendly to the environment and species. Tourism department: they include all parties who run tourism facilities such as game reserves and the tour guides. Their main role is to ensure that they take care of the environment at the same time giving a tourist a chance to explore and enjoy the conserved environment and species. The three stakeholders must work together in order meet the goals set by the green tourism program. The main challenge facing green tourism is lack of awareness of its impact on the environment. This program tries to expose areas that need improvements in the environment, and it offers guidelines to how the tourists can take part in the restoration process.

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The program also highlights how tourists can avoid practices that pollute the environment. The main part of the thesis will be dedicated to the roles of guests in contributing to green tourism. 2: Statement of the Problem Currently, the world is in crisis because of global warming, and thus all measures possible are put in place to reduce carbon emission to the environment. The tourism sector is one of the sectors in the world that contribute to air pollution through various means. Green tourism cannot work without the efforts of the guest, and thus their role is crucial. However, the problem is that most of them have not yet accepted and some do not have any knowledge on green tourism. This means that a lot has to be done starting from education tourist and later involving them to green tourism program.

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The main problem, in this case, is to come up with roles of guests towards contributing to green tourism. On top of that, the project also explores how the guest can be fully involved in green tourism. To start with, local people are the key players in green tourism. These are the host community who welcome tourists and tourism services providers to their areas (Lawrence, 2015). They are directly affected by tourism both positively and negatively and thus they are key players when it comes to tourism. On the side of green tourism, these are the people who know the endangered species and environments and they are also the ones who are negatively affected by unsustainable tourism. Their main role in green tourism is to raise awareness on the endangered species and fragile environments within their local areas (Richards, 2017).

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Tourists who are also called guests are the main stakeholders in green tourism. Their roles in contributing to green tourism are divided into three main sections. The first one entails the part they play in exploring endangered species in particular environment. Exploring and identifying these species helps the party involved to intervene and help in the restoration or protection of these species. Tourists also help in identifying fragile environment where they help in rebuilding the environment (Lawrence, 2015). All parties involved have pledged to embrace responsible tourism in this year in the process of enhancing green world. This shows that green tourism is part of the current trends in world. On the other hand, ecotourism has been taken to another level compared to other years.

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In this case, tourism providers in collaboration with many other parties in tourism department have spent their time in identifying areas that need intervention. After identifying these areas, they have named them as fragile areas and they have further created a platform where tourists can identify these areas (Richards, 2017). In this case, green tourism comes into place through tourists’ behavior of exploring new areas and also their behavior of making the explored news areas better for tourist attraction. In this case, tourists in their exploration can identify endangered species or fragile environment and work towards restoration (Ayala, 2015). On the other hand, the same tourists can attract more tourists and other stakeholders in the industry where the combined effort can be of great help towards green and sustainable tourism.

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2: Plog Theory The theory states that tourists are different and their traveling and destinations preferences are different. The theory divides tourists into three main categories. In this case, allocentric tourists are the key stakeholders in green tourism because they are not after comfort and thus in the process of exploration, they can meet endangered species and fragile environments and they can work towards restoration (Ato Arthur, 2006). On the other hand, they can improve environment of various places in their efforts of making their experience new. Midecentric tourists can also be involved in green tourism in one way or another. 3: Cohen’s Theory Cohen theory is similar to plog theory but it deals with behavior of tourists rather than personality of tourists.

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The theory explores how different tourists behave. Embracing green tourism through increasing environmental awareness and emphasizing low carbon emissions in the society enables people to save energy, resources, money and also attracts a number of tourist and local travelers to natural areas that conserve the environment. Tourist therefore greatly impact green tourism and the environment in ways such as: Economic support, improves environmental management ,conservation and planning, increases environmental awareness, employment, encourages green living among people and businesses and finally results to regulatory measures and policies (Font, 2011). Tourist have a direct impact on a country’s economy due to foreign exchange. Revenues collected by the government from national reserves, game parks, museums, zoos and other natural conservation areas are very vital towards green tourism.

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These revenues are allocated to manage conservation areas and pay employees working in such areas. Since green tourism is all about implementing friendly environmental policies and acts, tourism has the potential of increasing public appreciation and reception of the environment. It helps to spread awareness about the problems facing the environment by bringing people close contact to the environment and nature. This may heighten awareness on the value of nature and hence lead people to an environmentally mindful behavior. Such behaviors include, no littering, no polluting the air with harmful gases, no polluting river water with harmful chemicals and using less fossil fuel based materials. Having being fully aware of the environment one lives in and practicing good environmental techniques would therefore improves green tourism.

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Due to tourism, regulatory measures have been put in place to reduce negative impacts on the environment. Regulatory councils regulate the number of tourist events and activities within protected areas. They also monitor tourist movement within natural and conservation areas so as to reduce the impacts on the ecosystem and enable maintenance of sites. Regulatory measures help reduce cases of animal poaching for ivory especially in Africa (Dodds, 2012). In places such as, Galapagos Island, the number of ships allowed to cruise around that area is limited and only specific islands can be visited. 1: Introduction In this particular chapter the main objective is to give a presentation of all the key methods that were utilized by the researcher and the affiliate group in conducting the study that was aimed mainly at explaining some of the most important roles that the relevant guests contribute to the Green Tourism.

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Within this chapter, it has outline of the research design, sampling technique, target population, data collection and data analysis (Jarvis, Weeden, & Simcock, 2010). 2: Research Hypothesis • Guest play a huge role in green tourism All the activities of tourism the most important being the maintenance of sustainability are based in the guests themselves. Therefore, it is important to consider and define the roles and responsibilities of the guest tourists in observing the guidelines of sustainable tourisms else termed as green tourism. • Many tourists do not know that there is fun behind green tourism The observation and maintenance of the guidelines is based in the understanding of the guest tourists and other stakeholders about the value and the practices that define green tourism. Thus in this research study, some key techniques on case study were utilized (Maxwell, 2012).

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After the collection of the most relevant data, it was then measured, categorized, analyzed, and lastly it was interpreted. 4: Target Population In this particular research study, the target population was the guest tourists considering the general objective of the research which was to understand the role of guest tourists in contributing to green tourism. The population was to be obtained from the Siloso Beach Hotel. The hotel was chosen in consideration of the fact that that it hosts a wide range of tourists from different parts of the world. 6: Data collection Primary data was collected for the research study through the face to face survey method which was used as the main data collection technique. The survey was conducted in the Soloso Beach Hotel where interviews were done by the use of questionnaires.

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From these interviews, the major focus is on how green tourism is concerned with the improvement of the environment, social-economic environments as well as the lives of the local communities. The questionnaires basically consisted of the open and closed questions. The choice of questionnaires was made because they allowed the researcher to gather a large volume of relevant information over a relatively short period of time. What is the meaning of green tourism? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Have you learnt any green tourism guidelines? Yes ( ) No ( ) 5. If yes, to what extent have you practiced the green tourism measures? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Section B Who are some of the key stakeholders in Green Tourism do you know? Which roles does each one of these stakeholders play towards the enhancement of the Green Tourism? What are some of the key roles do you play as a guest tourists and as the key stakeholders in Green Tourism? What are some of the effects of the roles of the guests in Green Tourism How can guests be engaged towards the contribution of a sustainable Green Tourism? 4: Results and Discussion After critical analysis of the results that were gathered using various methods, data was obtained that enriches the research with relevant information was obtained.

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This section will summarize and analyze these results and this is the most important section in the paper. They educate the local people on the various techniques that they can employ in order to take good care of the natural environments and the nature that they live in. The tourist groups are also known to organize educative seminar with the help of the local government agencies and other Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) with the main aim being to train the local citizens on the various ways the can enhance green tourism. In such seminars which are mainly on topics about environmental conservation, the tourists act as the facilitators in educating the target groups. The concept of the green tourism is also referred to as the sustainable tourism since it entails the act of visiting a particular place by an individual as tourist and in the process trying hard to register as more positive impact on that particular environment, the involved economy and the society at large as much as much as one possibly can.

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With tourism, it mainly involves numerous events of primary transportation of the visitors the general destinations and other specific locations, accommodation facilities, entertainment joints, recreation sites, nourishment facilities well the various shopping centers. Through most of these contributions of the tourists to the tourism sector, they greatly impact on the environmental conservation and awareness, they also increase on the employment opportunities, they greatly impact on the strategies meant for the encouragement of green living among the tourist groups as well as among the locals who live within the tourist attraction areas which becomes their main destinations, and they also impact the businesses within their areas of interest and they also influence some of the important regulatory measures and green tourism policies.

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Tourists as they are key drivers of the tourism industry in any country across the world, they have undisputable and a very direct effect and significant influence on the economy of the involved country and this is in connection to the money they bring to the country in form of foreign exchange some of the revenues that are collected by the government through the relevant government dockets such as the tourism ministry from the various game reserves, museums, game parks, zoos and many other national conservation areas which are of great tourist attraction becomes very vital in their usage towards the establishment of sustainable green tourism (Ballantyne, Packer, & Sutherland, 2011). These funds and other resources that come from the tourists are allocated by the national government through their transparent resources allocation channels to manage all the conservation area which are the key tourist attraction sites.

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In so doing, the tourists, to some great extent contributes greatly towards the establishment of effective and environmental friendly measures which are aimed at reduction of pollution and environmental degradation activities which are as a result of tourism activities in a country. These funds from the tourists are also utilized for the payment of the employees who work in the tourism sector. In doing so, the tourist will contribute to the general cleanliness of the environment as they reduce environmental pollution by disposing off their product wrapping which are non-biodegradable and food refuse which rot and cause foul smell in the environment. The revenue is also utilized in the making of print posters and educative banners which are aimed at educating the people in the society on adhering to the best environmental practices so that they also can be part in the efforts focused in the reduction of events of environmental degradation not only in the conservation areas but also in their residential areas.

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In all these activities that involves the collection and allocation of the foreign exchange from the tourists, it becomes the main responsibility of the government to keep a close monitor so as to make sure that there are no cases of corruption that leads to loss of the tourism funds in the hands of corrupt individuals so as to ensure that all the natural areas within the country are well kept and that enough resources are always readily available to ensure environmental pollution is maintained at the minimum (Gmelch, 2010). Additionally, the tourists have a great role in the activities associated with the provision of the most accurate and relevant information concerning the state of the environmental health and in the increasing of the general awareness of the green tourism in the country.

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Since the tourists are the people who usually have great access to the natural reserved areas, they end up obtaining the very first hand information about the real image of the respective natural reserves that they visit and in the end, they can offer quite good information or report to the relevant government agencies which could then know about the most appropriate steps to take on the improvement of the status of the sector and how to counter the effect of environmental pollution by embracing the green tourism strategy. From the current research studies, it has been revealed that the number of tourists by the year 2020 will have risen to about 1. 9 billion people. This has the implication that, as the number of the tourists increase with time, their influence in the advancement of green tourism is tremendous.

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In regard to the green tourism, all the involved shareholders including the tourists have outlined their pledges with the main aim being to uphold the concept of responsible and green tourism currently as well as in the years to come. From these events, this is a good and clear indication that the green tourism campaign has become a worldwide trend (Fletcher, 2011). The other group of tourists is comprised of the individual mass tourists. In this particular case, the tourist makes his or her own independent decision on which places they should visit and they also make their own decisions on whatever they should do (Prayag, & Ryan, 2011). The other group of tourists is made of explorers. These are a category of tourists travelling either as an individual or a group and their main goal is to traverse and identify new areas that have never been identified by other tourists before.

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The last classification of the tourists is made up of the drifters who after failing to find fun with the company they are with, decide to stay alone away from the rest. As a result the money collected is taken by the government and used to cater for the development of the country and for provision of needs of its citizens. The money that is collected from the tourists after they pay for their services and products is used by the tourism ministry to improve on their activities. Some of these activities that are funded by the activities of tourism include sourcing projects of conservation. These projects include coming up with natural parks and natural reserves and conservations. The change in the dynamics of the world and the relationship between man and nature has greatly affected the behavior and existence of wild animals.

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To access the parks a good transport system is important therefore it has to be developed in that case the local community is advantaged and can carry out their economic and trade activities with ease of transportation (Jalani, 2012). Secondly, the communication and network coverage must be developed and maintained to ensure that there is effective information exchange between the tourists. This also is advantageous to the local people who use the communication infrastructure for their benefits. These infrastructural developments in these environments are as a result of ecotourism or green tourism. Ecotourism has improved the relationship between the local community and the tourists. Also continuous planting of trees will result to the increase of the number of forests that are a natural beauty to the surrounding and that is home to many animals and sources of clean air (Zhang & Lei, 2012).

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Ecotourism promotes the use of clean energy in order to prevent pollution and its effect on the environment. Clean energy popularly known as renewable energy is collected from resources that cannot be diminished from the environment. Some of these resources include sunlight, wind, tides and heat from geothermal sources among others (Coria & Calfucura, 2012). These resources are naturally generated and therefore are not a source of pollution if used to generate energy. The destruction of habitats creates interferences in the normal life of the animals and some species tend to flee and move deeper into the parks and others die and as a result the biodiversity is destroyed. The infrastructural developments also promote the cutting down of trees both indigenous and exotic hence deforestation.

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Deforestation also affects the habitats of the animals and other organisms and as a result it affects their livelihood which can result to their death. The other negative impact of ecotourism is based on the activity of the tourists in these areas. During site seeing and camping tourists tend to cut twigs and branches of tress so that they can light fires during the night when camping. Also the habit of feeding the animals can change the nutrition pattern of the animals hence creating an unbecoming behavior in the animals whereby they attack and steal food from tourists who are on picnics (Coria & Calfucura, 2012). It is natural for animals to fear human beings however this is not the case today for many animals because of the increased interaction between them that goes as far as feeding them.

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Ecotourism encourages the viewing of wild animals, sit seeing, and bird watching among other activities however these activities can have a negative impact on the normal life of animals. Typically animals are very shy organisms therefore overexposure can lead to interference of their daily routines. Human beings are known to adventurous and would like to follow the behavior of an animal throughout its cycle therefore they over watch the animals which is not good. Both the tourists and the entire tourism industry are required to play a very crucial role in order to overcome most of the emerging environmental problems since in the recent past as well as currently, world environmental problems which includes impurity, climate change and the ozone layer depletion among many other environmental degradation issues as well as the adverse effects of these problems on the nature has been constantly on the rise.

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Most of these environmental pollution problems have severe adverse impact on almost all life forms of plants and animals which results to poor health of animals’ plants and humans. Most of these environmental pollution events come as a result of disposal of various pollutants to the natural ecosystems including water bodies, on the soil, forests among many others. The tourism industry has not been left behind in the contribution of these events since the tourists who are the key stakeholders are involved in travelling whereby they heavily relay on vehicular means of transports whose exhaust fumes emissions are among the greatest sources of environmental pollution as they release huge volumes of carbon dioxide in the air. The tourists are also involved in environmental degradation by disposing of the various wrappers which are mostly plastic materials which are not biodegradable.

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In this view, the chance of exploration of some of these environmental sensitive and yet highly protected natural environments and to view and appreciate the beauty of the wildlife and other natural ecosystems in a relatively closer proximity has become a phenomenon of increased value. The concept of green tourism is basically all about becoming an environmental friendly tourist by practicing all the best practices in the interest of reducing or eliminating all forms of environmental destructive practices in the course of tourist activities. The whole idea of green tourism would increase on it overall appeal to the tourism industry and its operators only after an increase in the governmental pressure aimed at the improvement of the performance of the natural environment by way of adopting the most tangible and effective environmental management and other approved techniques.

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Additionally, promotions and other forms of achievements globally recognized awards on environmental conservation from green tourism would be very important to the concept of green tourism in the activities that are aimed at marketing their tourism services that are also environmental friendly in nature. Furthermore, capacity building becomes another important and an imperative strategy in the creation of the very fundamental platform that would lead to sustainable green tourism development by way of increasing the awareness among the locals within the villages and equipping them with relevant skills to the various groups of individuals who work in the industry. Together with the tourists who are the guests, the locals are able to pay some respect to the natural environment that is surrounding them in every other moment of their stay in the area.

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As they go out with various activities as fishing, exploring, while using the local traditional tools including creels and baskets that are manufactured from rattan or bamboo, these group are able to share vast knowledge on how they can together achieve much in the sustainability of green tourism in the society. 6: Conclusion In this particular study was done by utilizing a mixed methodology approach in which case all data and information were collected from various rich sources including the questionnaires survey method which actively involved the participation of tourists groups, in some semi structured interview interactions as well as discussions with the various groups of tourist guides and other different stakeholders as well as the utilization of personal observation. Furthermore, some of the comments from the tourists on the topic that were posted on the website page of TripAdvisor were retrieved and reviewed so as to get a comprehensive understanding about the entire topic on green tourism, directly from the perspective of the tourists.

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In this paper most of the objectives were well achieved since the various techniques that were utilized were able to provide adequate information for making accurate recommendations and drawing sound conclusions. The tourism industry has not been of any exemption in this issue as it has been identified to contribute significant amounts of environmental pollutants that lead to air pollution in various ways. Since it involves a lot of travelling of visitors from one region of the world to the other, the aircrafts and vehicles used in these activities are important sources of carbon emission into the environment leading to depletion of ozone layer and consequently resulting to global warming. The paper was able to utilize the various sources of information including books, journals and other academic materials on the green tourism.

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The concept of the green tourism works on the bases of the various actions of the key stakeholders who are directly involved in all tourism activities. All the individuals and institutions that are referred to as the stakeholders in green tourism are those that are interested and concerned with activities that are mainly aimed at conservation, restoration, or protection of all the threatened natural environments and endangered species of both plants and animals in the society. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 21(4), 43-54. doi:10. Naumov, N. , & Green, D. Mass tourism. Cooper C, Hall MC (2008) Contemporary tourism: An international approach. Boston, Butterworth-Heinemann. Lawrence, K. , Munasinghe, M. , & McNeely, J. Ato Arthur, S. N. , & Mensah, J. V.  Urban management and heritage tourism for sustainable development; The case of Elmina cultural heritage and management programme in Ghana.

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, & Tribe, J. Promoting green tourism: The future of environmental awards.  The International Journal of Tourism Research, 3(1), 9. Dodds, R. , & Joppe, M. O (2012). Local people’s perception on the impacts and importance of ecotourism in Sabang, Palawan, Phillippines. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences. Zambrano, A. M. A structural model of residents’ intention to participate in ecotourism: The case of a wetland community. Tourism Management, 33(4). Ballantyne, R. , Packer, J. , & Sutherland, L. Fletcher, R. Sustaining tourism, sustaining capitalism? The tourism industry's role in global capitalist expansion. Tourism Geographies , 13 (3), 443-461. Prayag, G. , & Ryan, C. The benefits and challenges of sustainable tourism certification: A case study of the Green Tourism Business Scheme in the West of England. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 17(1), 83-93. Chou, C. J.

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