Examination of the natural impacts to the development of the tourist destination: Lanzarote

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Tourism - Miscellaneous, grade: Merit, Bournemouth University, language: English, abstract: There are different impacts that the development of tourism has on a destination, for instance,

natural or environmental, economical, political or socio-cultural. The environment is one of

the most important issues for the development and promotion of a tourist destination, and also

the most fragile (Franco and Garcia, 1999).

Due to the huge influx of tourists known as ¿mass tourism¿, the impacts of the development

can be positive and negative. Positive economic impacts are the improvement of infrastructure

and the attraction of more investment in the area; negative the increase of prices and of

income inequality. Positive socio-cultural impacts enhance the increase of cultural exchange

and restoration of buildings; negative socio-cultural like immigration and assumption of the

stereotypes of tourist; and finally, negative environmental impacts like noise, pollution,

destruction of the natural environment, huge buildings in natural areas, overuse of water,

problems with the treatment of wastes, water pollution by liquid waste, destruction of

historical monuments, air pollution from the use of vehicles and heating, changes in the

landscape to promote activities entertainment and sports such as golf; etc. But not only mass

tourism affects on the environment, alternative tourism can also make an unsustainable use of

resources (Garcia and Sancho, 1999).

This essay will examine critically the natural impacts that the development of tourism has

upon the destination Lanzarote. This Spanish island is famous for its unique volcanic

landscape and its biosphere reserve. The island of Lanzarote is within the 10 most popular

islands of Europe (Trivago, 2009) and personally one of my favourite travel destinations due

to family reasons. (1606 words)