environmental risk management of tourism

environmental risk management of tourism

Environmental risk management (ERM) and ecological risk assessment (ERA) have been frequently studiedin the last decade literature, marking the focus of the modern scholars for the new paradigms and tools used for hazard identification and prospective risk assessment. Since its launch in North America, the concept of risk management evolved from dealing with uncertainty regarding the occurrence of an undesired event to implementation of specific action plans in order to assess and provide an effective response to a certain risk.Being shaped, at the beginning, by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), the ERAvision and philosophy has evolved, nowadays embracing various approaches. Many countries from EuropeanUnion (e.g. United Kingdom, Netherlands, Sweden) or East Asia divagated from the initial stream, beingnowadays more conservative in risk assessment, following the precautionary principle.Making good risk management decisions are often an expression of certain values such as: environmentalconcerns integrated into social and economic decision-making processes and population concerns integrated intosocial justice and consumption reduction. The application of ecological risk assessment within environmentalrisk management has to cont inuously integrate stakeholders‟ involvement (interested / affected parties, and regulators). Additionally, special attention needs to be given to social issues related to the ERAs, in order tofulfill user expectations and use the best information available.Tourism sustainability is a multi- sectoral (travel companies, hotels, restaurants, airline companies, etc.) and amulti-disciplinary (economic, social and environmental) concept. Tour-operators sustainability is related to theirbusiness performance on all aspects, including the entire tourism supply chains (Sigala, 2008).In the promotion of a sustainable tourism, a crucialmrole is played by its long term planning. The planning process involves all stakeholders by partnerships, business agreements and viable business actions. The long term integrated planning can involve governmental and nongovernmental organisms (NGO‟s), advocacy groups, private corporations, all governed by the same principles that cater the natural environment, culture and local traditions.

environmental risk management of tourism

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