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Systems Thinking in Developing Solutions to Sustainable Challenges
The Tourism Trap
INTRODUCTION
OVERVIEW
Sustainability is a major challenge of the current era. If we look at environmentalist and major corporations such as Unilever, they all speak of sustainability. Suitability is the ability to develop and meet the current era needs without compromising the resources for the future generations. Sustainability and “go Green” are two words we hear more than often floating around us. The Michigan University professor, Tom Gladwin, teaches sustainable enterprises has raised concerns regarding the state of our global environment and how we are yet to work towards a sustainable solution.
Systems thinking is more complex. It allows us to view the system at hand from a wider perspective. This allows us to identify the patterns of change and the interrelationships among things rather than viewing them as individual elements. This allows the viewer to view the system as a whole in terms of understanding behavior and patterns instead of studying each event in isolation.
THE WICKED PROBLEM
Wicked problems are unique in nature and are often problems related to sustainability or the environment. If not, then the wicked problem is one that has negative impact on sustainable environment. A wicked problem is one that is often addressed, however, no consensus define the problem. Solutions to these problems are controversial or unproven most of the time.
A wicked problem is not necessarily a problem that is evil or is morally wrong in nature. These are issues that are global, experienced by all, however, few to almost no sustainable solutions are formed (Becker, 2013). They are complex in nature, human created and are known to be the toughest world problems. Some of the most common wicked problems are the climate change, global warming, drug trafficking, pollution management, terrorism etc.
Tourism is one of the wicked problems of the current era. Since the global recessions of about 14 years ago, economies are working towards being more stable (Jakulin, 2016). More of the rural area citizens are moving into urban cities to form a better life and living. The world is experiencing more middle-class income levels than lower middle class. In fact, China wills on be known as the country that has the largest pool of middle-class income earning households. Technology advancements and the convivence n travelling has attracted more tourism globally. Countries are now more focused on promoting themselves as attractive tourist holiday sights as tourism has becomes one of the greatest exports and form for earning income.
This has been termed as a wicked problem (Pollock, 2016). It is an industry that is known to be the largest global employer, yet, each country that experiences high levels of tourist activities faces problems in their societies. Were tourism is known to help poor nations come out of poverty, it is also blamed for environmental destruction of coral reefs, raise in the level of prostitution, upending local cultures and bringing more damage to the overall environment. Over tourism is known to overwhelm the infrastructure of the country and create sour relations between the local citizens and international visitors.
TERMS
Keywords: Wicked, tourism, environment.
PURPOSE
The paper is based on the research to justify whether apply systems thinking is critical in terms of developing a solution for the wicked problem of the tourism trap. The research aims at discussing in detail the issue at hand, the various perspective while analyzing and summarizing the main points.
RESEARCH STRUCTURE
The research will first dive into explaining in detail the problem with sustainability and the wicked problems itself. It will move to presenting the various perspectives and opinions arising through historic research and move the conclusion and analysis of the findings.
CHALLENGES WITH SUSTAIBILITY
There are two types of global problems that can be categorized into routine problems and sustainable problems. A routine problem is simpler in nature and often comes with a fixed solution that can be attained through a procedure or adequate and effective planning. On the other hand, suitable problems are more complex and often termed as adaptive challenges as no fixed solutions can be gained. As these problems are global, they cannot be solved by a single leadership or individual, they need to be solved through a more self-evaluating and sophisticated system that takes in account the diversity in culture, environment, lifestyle and values. It comes through making individuals around the globe more self-aware.
This is where systems thinking steps it, it does not observe a problem as an issue that needs a root cause, diagnostics and implementation plan, rather, it focuses on understanding the connections, relations between events and finds the patterns in behaviors (R, 1990). It allows these wicked problems to find a near possible solution.
A system does not need to be analyzed, it needs synthesis. It needs to be viewed as a whole with its complexity in its existing environment. The raise in systems thinking approach has led researchers to understand and work towards developing a sustainable tourism strategy. Global tourism is estimated to raise at an average rate of 3.3% till 2030. Australia alone has experience a rapid growth in tourism over the past 10 years as demonstrated in Figure 1 (Australian Tourism Statistics 2019, 2017).
The challenge to sustainable tourism is not just the global transport infrastructure to support this demand but also, for the economies that look towards tourism as a major source of revenue, the challenge arise to protect and manage the natural heritage and limited resources of the world.
If we look at history, sustainable tourism became a concern with the convenience of travelling become easier. Countries, especially 3rd world economies started to benefit from this new and growing industry. Business were being set up in order to support as aid the tourist growing economies (KAY, 2018). Large investments were made into tourism activities and marketing campaigns. The economies would flourish through job creations and increased in disposable income. At the other end, the same economies struggle to maintain their infrastructure, transport infrastructure and manage the utilization of efficient resources. Social issues of substance abused, prostitution, harm to natural heritage and resources began to occur as a result of the diverse population visiting. Thus, the idea of sustainable tourism began in the mid-1990s, focusing on creating a more viable tourist industry.
CREATING SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
In order to create a sustainable tourism model, we need to understand the elements that go into the system. Elements that are involved in management of tourism industry involve the development of small business, exhibiting culture, local events, festivals and overall, how income is being generated for the local, especially the rural citizens (Colledge, 2000).
We need to consider three pillars for sustainable tourism. In order for tourism to be considered as sustainable, it needs to be truly sustainable in the environment, socio culture and economic sense. In order for global tourism to be sustainable, economies need to reduce the negative impacts on consumption pattern, environment, pollution and social system.
When we speak about the natural environment, both the man built historic sites, building and ruins and the natural environment such as forests and beaches are included. All these need to be managed with a sustainable model. Bringing environment sustainability is to ensure that there are resources for the future generation. It is not limited to staying “green” or reducing carbon footprints. Tourism may have a positive impact on the environment such as creation of better infrastructure. However, this comes with the cost of increased pollution, green house gas emission and increased littering of the forests and oceans. In order to create and support infrastructure, forests and tress are chopped down that further damages the environment.
When we talk about achieving economic stability through tourism, it is often seen in the positive light. The economy will flourish when tourist activities increase (Kim, 2016). Job creations lead to lower unemployment rates and more disposable income resulting in increased purchasing power. It is generating revenue for the government that is used on running the economy. However, most economics have pointed that when we dive deeper in understanding the impacts, we understand that increases tourism results in economic leakages. Economic leakages come in when the impact and benefit is being leaked to another economy and not completely to the existing economy. For example, where tourist activities increase, international and overseas hotel invest in setting up chains of hotels in the country. The country will benefit from employment and payments made to the government, however, the return on investments and profits made are taken back to the home countries. On the contrary, where local hotel chains would establish themselves, the money will stay within the economy increasing spending in the economy. The inability of the money to remain within the economy results in failure to create a sustainable model of tourism.
When we come to the socio- cultural aspect of tourism, increased tourism activities result in a having foreign working expatriates in the country bringing a mix of diverse cultures. It may also result in increased crimes and give birth to other social issues such as increased drug trafficking, human trafficking and prostitution. The government will need to deploy additional human resources and invest better resources into eliminating and managing these issues. On the other hand, where such activities increase in an economy, the locals begin to struggle with bringing up families, children and protecting them as a threat of crime rests in their minds. This is the case with most European countries where crime rates have increased as a result of increased tourist activities (Srivastava, 2000). Another factor of socio culture is to prepare the locals for increased tourist activities. Countries that experience high traffic of tourists often find streets overcrowded and increased traffic. This brings frustration for locals to travel and get about their daily business. Often, locals come off as rude individuals when they are dealing with tourists around the streets (Maria Santa-Gallego, 2016). To avoid such negativity, transport facilities need to be increased. Ways on dealing and treating tourists and foreigners need to be taught within the education system in schools, colleges and learning institutes. This will help sustain the image and perception of the country as well.
