Tangible ways forward

In many countries, civil society is mobilising against big infrastructure projects, for example new airports or the expansion of existing ones, or facilities for mega sports events. International networking has increased enormously, thanks to the internet, and needs to be strengthened further.

There is an increasing awareness of the need to reduce the negative social and environmental impacts of tourism, also at policy level, as one can read for example from BMZ – German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development: “Expansion of the touristic infrastructure must not result in environmental degradation, excessive resource use, discrimination against the local population or exploitation or expulsion of local peo- ple”. What needs to be done to make tourism-related infrastructure development sustain- able depends on the respective situations in the destinations. Some important aspects are (GIZ 2014, USAID):

• participation of the local population in planning and decision-making processes (no decision-making behind closed doors)
• infrastructure priorities in line with the needs of local residents (roads, buses, energy, water, waste management, health care, housing/accommodation, restaurants, shopping, cultural sites, natural resources, walking trails)
• improvement of capacity building for planning, constructing and maintaining infrastructure
•  access to fair financing and (foreign) investment (e.g. public private partnerships which are reliable and are based on fair conditions)
•  information for the community about expected advantages and possible disadvantages of tourism development (e.g. job opportunities; training/education needed; inflow of people/contact with other cultures, risk of increase in prices, including land and housing prices)
• ‘common fund’ of financial resources (from earnings through tourism), which can be used for community needs
• insurance to cope with weather related disasters (establish affordable insurance pools)