SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM : THE CASE OF SINGAPORE

Abstract

Since the forming of The Club of Rome in 1968, the notion of sustainable development had picked up increasing acceptance and is widely recognized as an essential form of development. There had been many international efforts in its promotion, given the realization of its importance to the needs of the future generations. The fundamental idea of sustainable development lies mainly in the compromise between economic development and environmental stewardship. Today, the notion of sustainable development is manifested in possibly all forms of development, particularly those that puts undue stress on the environment. The tourism industry is currently the largest in the world, contributing to 11% of the world's GDP. It is also the largest creator of jobs, creating 8% of total world employment. As such, it is seen as one of the major propeller of economic development. However, in order to contribute so substantially to development, tourism activities must more or less be mass-produced. In other words, the economic viability of the industry lies in it being a mass form of tourism. Such a form of tourism is not sustainable environmentally, socially, and to the extent that economic benefits are shadowed by the negative impacts, economically. Given that mass tourism is environmentally unsustainable and to a very large extent, socially unsustainable, various forms of tourism development which incorporates the element of sustainability emerged. One such form of tourism development is known as sustainable tourism. Aiming to achieve an expedient balance between economic viability and environmental sustainability as well as social sensitivity, sustainable tourism has seen an escalating popularity especially in recent years, where sustainable development is itself gaining wide acceptance. This study thus strives to ascertain the relationship between sustainable development and tourism, where the tourism industry being such a crucial component to economic development, should be sustainable in order to promote to the worthy goal of sustainable development. In addition, this study also explores the need for more sustainable forms of tourism in response to the host of negative impacts mass tourism brings. Finally, this study attempts to evaluate the sustainability of the tourism industry in Singapore by assessing the views of the locals on the extent of negative impacts in1posed by tourism activities, as well as the management strategy of an integral part of the industry - the hotel industry. Chapter 1 of this study gives an introduction on the tourism industry. The concept of alternative tourism is also introduced to provide the background for which sustainable tourism can be further elaborated in later chapters. Chapter 2 discussed the concepts of sustainable development and its measurement. Sustainable development in Singapore is also highlighted. Chapter 3 touches on the issues and concepts of sustainable tourism. The prospects of sustainable tourism in Singapore would also be examined. Chapters 2 and 3 thus address the first two objectives of this study - applying the concept of sustainable development to the tourism industry and stressing the importance of sustainable tourism. Chapter 4 then fulfilled the second objective of examining the level of sustainability of the Singapore's tourism industry with the help of a survey. Chapter 5 provides some policy options on how to make tourism more sustainable and Chapter 6 gives a conclusion to this study.