User:Coprolitedelight/Cultural tourism

Environmental Impacts of Cultural Tourism

Negative Impacts

As Climates change and water levels rise, tourism will have to continue to adapt. Seen here with raised platforms to help tourist and locals get around a flooded Venice, Italy.

In communities with an uptick in tourist traffic, an increase in litter and pollution increases with it. This runs a risk for important cultural landscapes, a combination of physical heritage and the living culture, to be exposed to higher rates of damages from human caused wear and tear, vandalism, pollution and litter. In many ancient European cities, such as Rome, Paris, and Florence, the build up of air pollutants from exhaust from cars and gas powered motors has caused white stone to be covered in pollutant and turned to a grey or black color. These toxic exhausts can also be contributed to the acceleration of corrosion to culturally important stone monuments, statues and heritage buildings.

Despite being regularly flooded, tourists still visit and enjoy Venice, Italy

Changing environmental conditions can have large impacts on human environments and heritage sites. Cultural landscapes can be lost to rising waters and increasingly severe storms. This deterioration, and in worst case destruction, can be a major issue with coastal communities and low-lying islands. Floods and raising water levels can also be a direct threat to archaeological sites, historic budlings that hold cultural values and heritage gardens.

Positive Impacts

For a lot of communities tourism can bring economic growth to the area from job creations and tax revenues that can come from ticket sales and to Festivals, museums, ancient ruins, religious sites and historic hotels. This increase in economic growth is welcomed by heads of conservation sites as it often a major source of revenue for important cultural sites were government assistance is lacking. "Tourism can act as an impetus for creating public awareness of the need to preserve the built environment. The establishment of national parks, national monuments and other protected areas is often justified by the existence of tourism"