Negative Impacts of Tourism on the Environment

The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. On a local, national, and international level, tourism is economically and environmentally significant actor that has great power to affect the future development.

Tourism has the capacity to help support communities and instigate positive environmental change when done with the right approach towards the long-term sustainability in regions and complying with the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals that range from eradicating hunger, gender equality to addressing climate actions based on the specific regional needs.

We can see the rise of the positive trend in the last years. Ecotourism and sustainable tourism have gained popularity in the industry but there are still many areas where improvements need to be done. If the number of tourists in a given area is greater than the capacity of the local environment or supporting infrastructure (which is the case of many popular destinations), negative impacts quickly arise and can become overwhelming for the system.

As we embark on new adventures in foreign countries it’s important to realize what environmental impacts our presence poses to local ecosystems and resources. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the three negative environmental impacts of tourism are: the depletion of natural resources, pollution and physical degradation of ecosystems. We will look at these more in detail now.

Negative Impacts of Tourism on the Environment

Tourism sector has great influence over the wellbeing of local residents. It is an industry that flourishes in large cities as well as remote rural areas rich in natural wonders. For many distant communities, tourism is the only opportunity of generating sufficient income to sustain their lifestyle and traditions. It can bring a lot of good to regions, but also a lot of bad – fast degradation, extinction, and depletion, if not done with long-term planning and preservation in mind.

In some situations, it is difficult to realize this negative influence until it’s too late. We already have a few negative examples and data to look at to see the degrading tendency.

Environmental Degradation Due to Tourism Development

It is estimated that the average rate of expansion of tourism is 3 percent in developed countries and can be up to 8 percent in developing countries [11]. The industry has many physical impacts on the environment where growth happens, and more short-term visitors come by to admire the place.

Many popular tourist sites are located in areas of sensitive ecosystems. Ecosystems such as rain forests, wetlands, mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds and alpine regions are often threatened because they are attractive places to developers and tourists who seek the special feeling of a close contact with nature’s wonders.

Land degradation

The construction of tourism infrastructure—hotels, resorts, roads, and marinas—often leads to deforestation, habitat loss, and soil erosion. For instance, in the Philippines, the island of Boracay became infamous for its environmental degradation due to overdevelopment and the strain of over two million tourists annually. 

The island’s delicate coral reefs were damaged by coastal construction and untreated sewage. In 2018, the government temporarily shut down Boracay for rehabilitation.

This pattern is repeated in many other destinations. In places like the Amazon rainforest, deforestation for resorts and tourist access roads destroys its unique habitat. 

Overconstruction

Unsustainable development frequently ignores the ecological limits of an area. It is saddening to know, as this usually leads to overconstruction and a breakdown in the balance of local ecosystems. 

Coastal areas, such as those in the Mediterranean, face extreme pressure from overbuilt resorts and tourist infrastructure. In Spain’s Costa del Sol, the rapid growth of tourism in the 1970s led to unchecked development with extensive urbanization replacing natural landscapes. 

This overconstruction altered the natural coastal beauty but also triggered severe soil erosion and water shortages.

Ecosystem Imbalance

Beyond the visible physical changes, unchecked tourism development disrupts the natural cycles of ecosystems. In the Alps, for example, the construction of ski resorts and related infrastructure has led to soil erosion. 

In many cases, poor land-use planning and inadequate building regulations also tarnish the local environment’s visual appeal, harming both the ecological integrity and the cultural heritage of tourist destinations.

Water Pollution and Depletion

In many popular tourist destinations, water is overused by tourists in hotels, for breathtaking swimming pools and luxurious wellness areas. When on vacation, most travelers tend to use much more water for personal use than at home, resulting in larger quantities of wastewater and creating water shortages which affect local residents.

The high tourism season goes against the natural water cycle of an area and doesn’t consider years with insufficient rainfall – a problem that is on the rise due to climate change. The driest months of the year are the months of peaking demand for water in resorts and areas of a special tourist interest. These places get crowded with people who expect to have unlimited accessibility to clean water supply from local sources.   

This creates many problems for residents in not having enough water for basic daily needs, as groundwater is often redirected and overdrawn by large hotels, resulting in drying wells of small communities, and increasing salinity of the remaining water table from dissolved minerals in the soil. Additionally, many small farmers struggle with not having water to grow crops – especially during drier years when it hasn’t rained for months.

A special report on Water Equity in Tourism from 2012 mentions a sad statistic. Globally, almost 900 million people still lack access to clean water and 2 million people (mostly children) die every year due to the health problems arising from this hindered access. These numbers include people from countries with popular destinations, mainly in the Global South or Mediterranean.

Zanzibar, Bali, India, but even Greece and Spain are suffering from these consequences. In Zanzibar, an average household consumes a little over 93 liters of water per day, while an average consumption per room in a guesthouse is 686 liters. That is 7 times more. But the difference is even bigger when it comes to a luxurious 5-star hotel room. The consumption rises to unbelievable 3,000+ liters of water per day [3].

Tourism and agriculture compete for water also in Spain. Spain is an important producer of vegetables and fruits for the rest of Europe. The intensive agriculture and greenhouse cultivation requires water to keep up with the demand. At the same time, the country is one of the world’s leading tourist destinations with great demand for water despite the fact that the country has been drought stricken for a couple years in a row due to climate change [4]. Both of these important economic sectors are standing against each other in an unsustainable way.

Water Pollution

Wastewater from hotels, plastics, chemicals, and untreated sewage are often dumped directly into rivers, lakes, and oceans. Water pollution has disastrous effects on marine ecosystems, particularly coral reefs, which are already vulnerable due to rising sea temperatures. In the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and Southeast Asia, coral reefs suffer from the combined effects of sewage pollution, overfishing, and plastic waste from tourist-heavy areas.

Cruise ships are major contributors to marine pollution. According to a report by the International Maritime Organization, a single cruise ship can produce over 200,000 gallons of sewage each week. This waste, along with chemicals from cleaning products and fuel, is often released into the ocean.

Scientists have also found that bacteria originating from sewage contamination of coastal waters affect coral reefs in numerous locations and is clearly linked to increased popularity as a tourist destination. 

One badly affected example is the Mesoamerican Reef. The Reef has already lost 80 percent of corals to pollution released from insufficient infrastructure of trending destinations, such as Cancun, Tulum or Playa del Carmen, that host increasing numbers of tourists. 

The main problem here is too fast development of luxurious resorts without specific plans for upgrading wastewater treatment facilities and infrastructure.

Wildlife Disturbance and Biodiversity Loss

Many of the world’s most sought-after destinations—forests, coastal regions, and protected areas—are home to unique ecosystems and rare species. The influx of tourists and the development that follows unfortunately often causes widespread habitat destruction and disrupts animal behavior.

As tourism grows, natural habitats are often cleared to make way for infrastructure and recreational facilities. This is especially detrimental in ecosystems like tropical forests, wetlands, and coastal zones where biodiversity is most concentrated. 

For instance, the expansion of tourist resorts along the coastlines of Southeast Asia has led to the destruction of crucial mangrove forests, which are vital not only for local wildlife but also for protecting against coastal erosion and flooding. These habitats provide shelter and breeding grounds for countless species, including endangered sea turtles.

The deforestation that occurs to accommodate tourism infrastructure directly contributes to habitat fragmentation, isolating wildlife populations and making it harder for animals to find food, shelter, or mates. 

Human-Wildlife Conflicts

Tourist interactions with wildlife often lead to unintended negative consequences for animal behavior. Animals that become accustomed to human presence can lose their natural fear of humans, which puts them at greater risk of harm. 

In places like national parks in Africa, close encounters between tourists and animals have altered their behavior, making them more aggressive or dependent on human food sources. This human-wildlife interaction also contributes to spreading diseases between species or even from animals to humans.

Biodiversity Hotspots

Tourism development often targets biodiversity hotspots, areas that are home to a vast array of species, many of which are found nowhere else on Earth. The Galapagos Islands, one of the most famous biodiversity hotspots, have seen a surge in tourist numbers over the past few decades. 

Despite conservation efforts, the sheer volume of visitors continuously overwhelms the natural environment of the inslands and exponentially increases risk of introducing invasive species and pollution levels.

Other national parks and protected areas across the globe face similar challenges. In countries like Costa Rica and Tanzania, where tourism is a major economic driver, protected areas that were originally established to conserve wildlife are now struggling to balance conservation with the demands of tourism.

Air and Noise Pollution

Pollution in the tourism industry comes in many forms: increased emissions linked to transport and higher need of energy, solid waste, sewage, oil and chemical spills.

Most human activities that encompass modern lifestyle contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Add to this travel to some exotic destination half-way across the globe and the number grows even bigger. In total, tourism accounts for more than 5 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide. This number has been growing steadily and made up around 1,600 million tons of CO₂ in 2016 [10].

According to a report from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), transport is responsible for 75 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in tourism. Air, road, and rail transportation are the main means of travel among tourists. The most polluting form of travel in terms of emissions are the flights – airplanes accounted for 40 percent out of total CO₂ emissions in the tourism sector in 2005 – especially due to low prices of flights that made this way of travel accessible to masses. The next significant polluter were cars with 32 percent [10].

Energy consumption to provide services tourists expect is the next large CO₂ contributor after the transport. Most accommodations still rely heavily on fossil fuel energy to run air conditioners, water and room heating and other basic or extra services (spas, pools) that consume a lot of power. Unfortunately, the burning of fossil fuels has impacts globally and contributes to climate change.

Energy and transport are both needed even when new resorts are built, or to bring diversity of food to offer to guests, to pick up solid waste, or to clean and maintain recreational areas. Carbon dioxide is not the only gas emitted in the air during these processes, other potent greenhouse gasses such as methane or nitrous oxide are as well. The contribution of tourism to climate change is significant and will grow unless a switch to renewable energy is made. 

Noise pollution above limits

Noise pollution arises from transportation and recreational vehicles such as snowmobiles and jet skis. Noisy tourist destinations and thoroughfares can disturb and distress wildlife, especially in sensitive ecosystems that are often the reason why tourists visit the location in the first place.

Cruise ships are among the top polluters. These “floating cities” make extra noise in deep waters and migration routes of many aquatic mammals who are highly sensitive to noise levels in their serene environment. But that’s not all. Cruises release high amounts of raw sewage and waste of passengers directly into the water. Unfortunately, their practices of dealing with waste are not transparent and are corrupt. At the same time, these giant ships burn fossil fuel and release pollutants in the air, including excessive amounts of carbon dioxide [9].

Waste Management Challenges

What is the most common image of a nice vacation at some beautiful beach town? Good food, drinks at the beach, little refreshments, and attractive sights with a variety of relaxing activities for everyone. When on vacation, most of us want to forget daily responsibilities. This includes meal planning or carrying with us that refillable water bottle or other long-term use items like quality slippers or reusable shopping bags.

When indulging in that new experience, many rely on single-use plastic items that are fast to dispose of. In fact, tourists can produce twice that much waste in a day than long term residents. It has been estimated that the marine litter in the Mediterranean increases by up to 40 percent during the peak season [8].

UNEP estimates that one guest can generate from between 1 to 12 kg of solid waste per day when visiting a new place [9]. The numbers vary based on many factors – location, the type of accommodation, personal preferences, and a character of the stay. Based on the predictions, we would see an increase of 251 percent in solid waste production due to tourism through 2050, if countries do not adopt sustainable practices of addressing product cycle and waste disposal.

Tourists also tend to be more reckless with food. Such behavior contributes to food wasting which is a large problem on its own.

However, waste directly produced by a tourist is not the only waste coming from popular destinations. Large portion of solid waste originates from the background services for tourists – laundries, restaurants, wellness, entertainment and accommodations.

Improper waste management is not only a form of reckless resource consumption but also a form of land pollution, especially in places with high volumes of tourists.

Solid waste and littering can degrade ecosystems and alter the physical appearance of the landscape. Marine litter harms marine life, often leading to their death, and degrades sensitive and unique, yet vital, ecosystems.

As more tourism facilities are built, sewage pollution also increases. Sewage runoff in seas and lakes damages terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including vulnerable coral reefs which are often the main attraction of a place. Pollution of waterways in any way can stimulate excessive growth of algae, leading to eutrophication, and alter salinity and siltation of water bodies. These changes to the environment make it difficult for native plants and animals to survive.

Soil Erosion and Unsustainable Land Use

Reckless development and fast expansion of infrastructure, insufficient infrastructure like for example not enough parking spots and cars parked on the edges of roads, too crowded natural sites, disrespect of rules (stepping off the path) can easily kickstart erosive processes and speed up degradation of sites.     

Tourism and recreational activities often change soil properties, especially if the number of tourists is greater than the ecosystem capacity to deal with it. In the most visited places, tourists trample the vegetation around trails, slowly creating larger patches of vegetation free surface. Frequently walked trails become compacted, which leads to the decreased soil permeability and higher surface runoff. The combination of these factors then results in progressively eroding trails and areas around them as people try to avoid slippery or muddy surfaces of the main trail.

The same scenario happens when off-road biking, horse riding, having fun with ATVs or parking cars on the side of the road.

Construction sites of new resorts or their expansion into surrounding natural areas, coastlines or on the mountain sites is a big contributor to erosion. Many projects begin by removing vegetation, which affects the ability of soils to absorb water, often leaving soils exposed and vulnerable for many years before the project is finished.

Impervious surfaces of roads, parking lots or around accommodation units do not allow water to infiltrate into the ground. This increases the surface runoff which washes off fragmented pieces of soil even faster. In some locations, spaces between buildings create pathways for wind that magnify its erosive power.

Natural resource depletion

The depletion of natural resources is a growing concern especially in places where resources are already scarce. 

The tourism industry depends upon consumption of renewable and non-renewable resources that are available at a given location. This includes a variety of minerals, metals, and biomass resources. The industry burns higher amounts of fossil fuels and therefore produces greenhouse gasses; affects the health of fertile soils needed to grow enough food, and hurts whole ecosystems like, for example, forests or biodiverse wetlands, and this way the impacts reach even the local wildlife. 

When more recreational facilities are built, natural habitats with their riches are destroyed and animals are driven away into scarce natural areas or conflict with other human projects.

Land resources, such as forests, are affected when trees are used for building materials or collected for fuel. Tourist attractions and accommodations are heavily reliant on energy for heating, provision of hot water and electricity. That is where the energy demand actually follows the same pattern as water consumption.

Imagine a town like Venice. The town has 271 thousand permanent residents [5] but welcomes an increasing number of tourists every year. In 2003, 2.75 million tourists visited the town, while in 2019 this number has risen to 5.5 million [6]. Each visitor consumes energy and resources of the town, further contributing to environmental problems linked with the use of fossil fuels and other non-renewable energy sources.

Cultural and Social Impact Leading to Environmental Stress

As visitor numbers grow, so does the impact on local cultures and environments. While tourism can promote cultural exchange, it also risks eroding traditional ways of life.

Over-tourism often results in the commercialization of local culture, where customs, traditions, and heritage sites are transformed to cater to tourist expectations. In places like Bali, traditional ceremonies and sacred spaces are increasingly marketed for entertainment, which diminishes the authenticity of these cultural practices. 

Local communities find themselves prioritizing tourism-driven needs over the preservation of cultural sites. Natural landscapes are transformed to meet visitor demands. When culture becomes a commodity, it indirectly harms the environment as more resources are funneled into tourist facilities, rather than protecting the natural settings these traditions depend on.

Overcrowding problems

Overcrowding in popular tourist destinations strains local resources. Venice, for instance, struggles to accommodate millions of visitors each year. The constant influx of people has overwhelmed Venice’s infrastructure. 

Similarly, in Machu Picchu, the high volume of foot traffic on ancient trails has led to severe erosion, prompting authorities to restrict daily visitors to protect the site from further damage.

The actions of tourists amplify environmental stress. Irresponsible behaviors such as littering, straying off marked trails, or disturbing wildlife contribute to the long-term degradation of natural landscapes. 

In Iceland, social media has spurred a wave of visitors who often wander off designated paths to capture the “perfect” photo and trample sensitive vegetation like moss fields. Litter left behind in national parks and reserves also presents a recurring issue.

Such behaviors threaten the long-term sustainability of these places as tourist destinations. Each piece of litter, each trampled plant, leaves a mark on the environment that may take years, even decades, to recover.

Over-Tourism and Its Long-Term Effects

Over-tourism happens when a place receives more visitors than it can sustainably support and leaves natural landscapes and local communities to bear the weight. It is a sad reality in many popular destinations, where once-pristine sites and vibrant communities are now strained by sheer visitor numbers. The truth is that such place loses its charm for locals but even for visitors. 

Long-term Environmental Costs 

When a destination is overwhelmed, the environment often pays the price. Take Thailand’s Maya Bay, where years of crowds and boat traffic damaged the coral reefs so severely that the bay had to be closed to allow the ecosystem to begin recovering. Over time, unchecked tourism degrades local ecosystems to the point where they may never fully heal.

Over-tourism doesn’t only affect tropical spots. In the Swiss Alps, the high foot traffic from year-round tourism has contributed to soil erosion, litter accumulation, and the loss of natural habitats. 

It’s a slow but steady transformation with the effects compounding over time. Wildlife is displaced, resources like water become scarce, and pollution builds up, eventually creating conditions that neither tourists nor locals want to experience.

These pressures mean that the unique appeal of these places—the landscapes, wildlife, and cultural heritage that drew people in the first place—can be irreversibly altered or lost. For future generations to enjoy these destinations, sustainable tourism practices are essential to keep natural and cultural resources intact.

Conclusion

Around the world are many ecotourism activities and sustainable tourism businesses that keep environmental values at the heart of their business practices. Conventional tourism businesses on the other hand don’t always consider natural resources, pollution and environmental degradation.

Before you jet off on your next travel adventure be sure to take some environmental values with you. To reduce your ecological footprint as a tourist, be sure to conserve the amount of water you use, dispose of waste appropriately, tread lightly on the land, and become aware of the local ecosystems you choose to visit. Wherever you may go in the world, do your best to support green businesses and minimize your impact on the environment.