The Environmental Impact of Tourism

Anvi Anand '27

As the holidays begin, tourism is at its peak, yet it has daunting consequences on our planet. One often associates the word “tourism” with amusing vacations, exciting explorations, and large voyages. But this word entails more than our sugar-coated definition, posing threats to Earth’s biodiversity and aggravating climate change, with future implications on humans, too. From the planet’s current population of 8.2 billion, 1.4 billion tourists were recorded internationally in 2024, a number projected to grow 3 to 5% in 2025 (UN Tourism, 2025). That’s about 17% of people worldwide! The overpopulation of tourists is a major cause of degradation in visitor spots. Degradation is when the number of tourists is beyond the environment’s ability to handle, leading to resource scarcity, aggressive species, and natural habitat loss.

Although tourism accounts for less than 5% of total domestic water use in most countries, the industry disproportionately impacts regions with drier climates and lower water accessibility (Gössling et al., 2012). The root of the problem stems from the establishment of expansive resorts that overuse the freshwater supply through facilities like swimming pools, golf courses, and hotel water. Tourists often consume more water than residents, and the products they buy, like food, beverages, and gifts, constitute a large portion of tourism’s water footprint. This indirect water use is also seen in the constant maintenance of tourism infrastructure and the wasteful nature of all-inclusive resorts, which drive competition to get water. A prime example is the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i, where residents and tourists consume almost the same percentage of water per capita (DeMaagd et al., 2022). O’ahu has been suffering from the Red Hill water crisis of 2021, in which the contamination of jet propellant-5 (JP-5) from the Navy facility created health concerns for local families who consumed Hawaiian water. Since then, water supplies have been low, and the growing tourism in O’ahu—known as “The Heart of Hawai’i”— further exacerbates the water shortage.

Additionally, tourist attractions also intrude on wildlife habitats and disrupt ecosystems by introducing invasive species. In a case study conducted in the Nanwan peninsula of China on macaques, intelligent monkeys found in Asia, North Africa, and Europe, tourism was found to “escalate rather than mitigate community–wildlife conflict” (Cui et al., 2021). Offering food is a deceiving way to attract animals; consequently, by feeding the macaques, tourists have inadvertently increased the monkeys’ intra-group aggression and abnormal behavioral patterns. Macaques grew more habituated to human presence, intensifying resident-macaque conflicts, as these monkeys were no longer scared by the humans living around them (Cui et al., 2021). Other ways tourists have tried to trigger inactive wildlife, like macaques, were yelling, pointing, and threatening, which cost them bites and scratches. There is no benefit from these interactions, as both parties are antagonized by one another and disrupt the peace of their respective ecosystems.

Last summer, there was an abundance of spotted lanternflies in New Jersey, an insect native to parts of China and Vietnam that spread invasively to America along with Japan and South Korea in the early 2000s. Through human activity and movement from tourism, this insect was able to rapidly reproduce and feast on plants and crops across the world. Though they are not directly harmful to humans, their damage to various trees by excreting sooty mold has caused plant species to become vulnerable to disease (Andrews, 2023). Tourism’s large circulation around the world has not only transported humans, but also foreign species that are interfering with native ecosystems.

Tourism does have its cons, but there remain ongoing initiatives in its favor. Eco-tourism efforts have become more prevalent, with their goals focusing on nature conservation, local community benefit, and tourist education. With 63 national parks in the US, eco-tourism efforts are visible through hikes in the beautiful Rocky Mountains and explorations of the diverse geothermal features of Yellowstone, with the money from park tickets going towards trail restoration and resource preservation. These parks have made their history and landscape a new type of tourism that seeks to protect endangered species and promote healthy curiosity towards nature. In essence, tourism notoriously reigns over the planet with looping implications on humans while steadily progressing towards sustainable excursions for the better.


References

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