the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

effective demand for tourist destinations at the macro level would far outstrip the
supply. In essence, it is a micro solution to what is essentially a macro problem
(Wheeller, 1997).
The concept of educating the tourist/traveller in destination awareness is equally
idealistic. As Wheeller (1997) highlights, "(J)ust how is the Utopian sensitive traveller
to be created? How is the e)\ercise to be coordinated? Who pays for it? What time
span is envisaged for the effect of the educative process to reach fruition, and what
precisely is meant by educating?" (p. 62). To effectively implement such an
ambitious educative task in all tourist generating countries presents enormous,
perhaps insurmountable, practical difficulties. Considering the speed with which
tourist impact is spreading, the time span required for its inception would inevitably
result in continued irrevocable tourism damage. There is also the added risk that by
raising awareness through education, one would also raise demand, as one of the
primary factors in the growth of tourism demand has undoubtedly stemmed from
education itself (Wheeller, 1997).
In their rush to escape the mass tourists, the so-called aware, educated individual
traveller is forever seeking the new, the exotic, the unspoilt, the vulnerable.
Inevitably, however, they are in actual fact paving the way for the package tour. The
responsible, sensitive traveller is the perpetrator of the global spread, the vanguard
of the package tour. Where he or she goes others will, in ever growing numbers,
eventually follow. The question therefore needs to be considered, who in the long
term is responsible for the most damage - the mass tourist to the Mediterranean, or
the sensitive traveller to the Amazon, the Himalayas or the Sahara? (Wheeller,
1997).
Common ground in the debate appears to be the realisation of the need to reconcile
conservation and tourism in the face of ever increasing visitor numbers. The links
between tourism and the natural environment have been acknowledged since the
1970s (Budowski, 1979; WTG, 1981; Krippendorf, 1987; Davies, 1996; Holden,
2000; Fennel, 2003), but much of the debate surrounding sustainable tourism has
been based on two assumptions (which can equally be applied to mass tourism):
Tourism must be made responsible, and tourism has created unique problems
(Davies, 1996).
25