The Effects of Tourism
Our planet is dying faster than ever before. Pollution caused by humans is destroying entire ecosystems, and for places like coastal cities a big part of the problem is also part of the solution. The economy of many coastal cities depend on tourism, and it is used to promote environmental friendliness to visitors. However, it should also be noted that the mass influx of people into these areas can have long lasting effects on the already fragile ecosystems. I’ve lived on the coast for my entire life. When I was young I loved going to the beach with my family. Now it’s overcrowded, filled with litter, and most notably the water is a disgusting brown color rather than a beautiful blue. Unregulated tourism causes serious damage and lasting harm to marine ecosystems. As it is such an essential part of the economy it is unlikely that tourism will end completely nor should it, but it is important to understand how people, their actions, and activities affect the planet.
Human activities on land and in the water can have negative effects on marine ecosystems. Activities including destructive fishing practices like blast and cyanide fishing, land based pollution, and coastal development. These can lead to habitat degradation and reduced biodiversity in the water. Coral reefs are globally significant for their high marine biodiversity and are at high risk.” (Culhane). Even tourist activities meant to promote marine ecosystem conservation can have negative impacts on animal life. Tourists often participate in whale-watching and while their curiosity is understandable and often encouraged they can sometimes unknowingly get in the way of these animals. In BC (British Columbia), 75% of websites advertising whale-watching trips did not mention potential impacts of vessels on marine mammals, whilst in NS (Nova Scotia) no websites mentioned impacts on fauna” (Affatati). People and their use of motorized vehicles such as jet skis can introduce harmful chemicals into the water as well as interrupt surfacing patterns of the whales, dolphins, and other porpoises. “Ship-strikes can cause whale mortality and have been increasing worldwide due to the increase in ship speed” and “Chemical pollution from vessels is produced mainly by fuel, oil, and anti-fouling treatments discharged from motorized vessels and can reduce water quality or enhance accumulation in sediments” (Affatati). People unintentionally introducing harmful chemicals into these ecosystems is actually very common.
There are harmful chemicals in everyday household products that people unknowingly introduce into the water. “Many sunscreens and cosmetic chemical ingredients have herbicidal properties, and others can be teratogens, foetal-developmental disruptors, or pheromone and endocrine disruptors. Their toxicities may trigger non-monotonic dose–pathology responses, and consequences of temporal-dependent toxicity such as increased incidence of cancers or endocrine/neurological disorders which may manifest much later in life” (Downs). In high tourist seasons there is an influx of people going to beaches in coastal areas. These people who come to the beach wear sunscreen and unintentionally reduce the water quality and harm marine life. “Nowhere is this trend more apparent than in intensively visited areas, where ‘sunscreen sheens’ from swimmers and beachgoers are often visible in the water. Sunscreen pollution can cause a cascade of insults to the ecological structure, from impacting primary production to creating ‘zombie’ demographics, which possess reduced reproductive viability and fecundity” (Downs). The ‘zombie demographics’ refer to the marine life that the chemicals don’t kill but can no longer function properly or reproduce. This essentially means that the chemicals introduced to the water by humans have the potential to degrade or ultimately destroy marine ecosystems. But, there are also other, more obvious ways that tourism contributes to marine pollution in and on the beach. During tourist season there is a large influx of people looking to have fun without a care in the world which leads to the mass amounts of garbage they leave behind. “Tourism is also one of the main sources of marine pollution, since a large part of the solid waste generated by tourists remains on the beach, causing pollution and increasing cleaning costs” and “Plastics accounted for 30%–77% of macrolitter and microplastics ranged from 1 to 355 items/m2. Respondents identified tourism as a main litter source and plastics as the most common litter type” (Garcés-Ordóñez). Growing up in a coastal city I’ve witnessed first hand how careless people can be with trash on vacation. Studies have shown that “accumulation rates of marine litter increase up to 4.7 times during high tourism seasons” (Grelaud). Animals cannot tell the difference between our garbage and their food, and we’ve all seen those pictures of turtles getting stuck in plastic bags and six-pack rings. “Smaller litter, such as cigarette butts and pieces of plastic and metal, are accumulating on the beaches sand despite the daily beach cleaning, because common litter collection mechanisms are ineffective for small litter”(Garcés-Ordóñez). The debris left behind by humans though seemingly insignificant have real consequences to the plants and animals that have to live in their vacation spots. However, there are still people that would deny that tourism has any lasting consequences on the environment.
I’m not going to tell you that tourism should be banned completely. “In many coastal areas of the United States, where tourism and recreation account for $124 billion in gross domestic product (GDP)” (NOAA). Many coastal cities’ economies depend on tourism and tourism funds many environmental conservation projects. “Tourism has become an important economic development for many Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and one of the fastest developing sectors in the world and was able to change the traditional fisheries community to transition into tourism. In Indonesia, the use of MPAs (Marine Protected Areas) and small islands as a marine tourism destinations, as reported in Nusa Lembongan Islands, Bali and Gili Matra Islands, Lombok, could be a promising way in order to enhance the beneficial value of MPAs and community welfare” (Kurniawan). However, unregulated tourism has lasting effects on marine ecosystems. If left unchecked tourism could be a major factor in the destruction of its main attractions and the natural resources of the area. “Sustainable use of marine ecosystems requires an understanding of the complexity of the social-ecological system, to recognise trade-offs and unintended consequences of management actions” Culhane). Tourists need to be aware that there are people and animals that live in the areas that they are vacationing in, and they have to deal with the messes they leave behind as well as deal with the consequences.
In conclusion, as important tourism is to the economy and funding environmental conservation, it can cause lasting damage if left unregulated. People unknowingly and unintentionally harm the environment in a myriad of ways so we must do what we can now in order to reverse the effects before it’s too late. Due to global warming our oceans are in more danger than ever. With the rapid decline in our planet’s health it is more important than ever to do what we can now to preserve our home even if it means taking a hit to the economy. It will not matter how much money we have if we are without a planet.
Works Cited
Affatati, Alice. “The Role of Operators in Sustainable Whale-Watching Tourism: Proposing a Continuous Training Framework.” PloS One, vol. 19, no. 1, 2024, pp. e0296241–e0296241. PLOS One, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296241.
Culhane, Fiona. “Assessing Impact Risk to Tropical Marine Ecosystems from Human Activities with a Southeast Asian Example.” The Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 61, no. 12, 2024, pp. 2897–911. British Ecological Society, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14812.
Downs, Craig A. “Sunscreen Pollution and Tourism Governance: Science and Innovation Are Necessary for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Tourism.” Aquatic Conservation, vol. 32, no. 5, 2022, pp. 896–906. Wiley Online Library, https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3791.
Garcés-Ordóñez, Ostin. “The Impact of Tourism on Marine Litter Pollution on Santa Marta Beaches, Colombian Caribbean.” Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 160, 2020, pp. 111558–111558. Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111558.
Grelaud, Michaël, and Patrizia Ziveri. “The Generation of Marine Litter in Mediterranean Island Beaches as an Effect of Tourism and Its Mitigation.” Scientific Reports, vol. 1, no. 10, 2020, pp. 20326–20326. Scientific Report, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-77225-5.
Kurniawan, Fery. “Hypothetical Effects Assessment of Tourism on Coastal Water Quality in the Marine Tourism Park of the Gili Matra Islands, Indonesia.” Environment, Development and Sustainability, vol. 25, no. 8, 2023, pp. 7959–85. Springer Nature Link, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02382-8.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “The Economic Impacts of Marine Debris on Tourism-Dependent Communities.” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2025, https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/research/economic-impacts-marine-debris-tourism-dependent-communities. Accessed 11 3 2025.