Explain strategies that can be used to minimise the negative environmental impacts of tourism whilst maximising the positive impacts.

Tourism that is not managed in a proper manner can
severely impact the environment of the tourist
destination.

This is the reason behind a new form of
tourism carried out in a manner that is sustainable for the environment of the tourist
destination and at the same time beneficial for the local population being adopted
worldwide and is commonly referred to as eco-tourism.

Some
strategies by which the negative environmental impacts of tourism are reduced in
eco-tourism include:

• Providing an option for
  tourists to stay with the locals instead of living in special resorts and hotels that
  have to be constructed for them. This affects the environment to a much smaller extent.
  In addition, tourists are able to share the way in which the locals live, which could be
  totally different from their own. The locals who accommodate the tourists have an
  incentive to not change for the sake of tourism as it is their original lifestyle that
  the tourists come to see.

• Educating
  tourists about their impact on the environment of the tourist destination and telling
  them how they can keep it as low as
  possible.

• Educating the local
  population on why their protecting the environment around them is essential to maintain
  tourism and assure they continue to benefit from
  it.

• Ensuring the number of tourists
  who visit the location is sustainable so that tourism does not cause a damage which
  would soon make the place unattractive for
  tourists.

• Enforcing strict laws on
  what the tourists can take back from the location and ensure that they cause no
  damage.