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

arrivals and Riccione hoteliers alone have put the cost to themselves at 45 million
Pounds (Tribe et aI, 2000).
Badly designed, sited and constructed buildings and other tourist facilities are a
common consequence of many tourism developments, frequently detracting from
the visual amenity of the natural environment by, for example, blocking views. Tyler
(1989), focusing on tourism in developing countries, comments that all too often this
has meant the construction of glass and concrete blocks which are not in keeping
with the local environment. Such 'architectural pollution' has been highlighted on a
global scale where there has been a failure to integrate resort infrastructure with
aesthetically pleasing characteristics of the natural environment, whether this be
coastal, rural or mountain (Hunter and Green, 1995).
2.11.2 An Overview of Tourism Impact Literature
The sheer magnitude of the impacts that tourism development can have on
environmental quality, clearly demonstrates that there can be no simple, definitive
view of the relationship between tourism and the environment as both individual
impacts and net effects may be detrimental, neutral, benign or enhancing, according
to a number of factors operating in a given place at any time. To grasp the full range
of actual or potential impacts of tourism one is required to consider its many inter­
related characteristics, such as those of the tourists themselves, the nature of the
tourist destination and the role of various tourism agents (GECD, 1981). Much will
be dependent upon the types of tourist activities pursued at the destination area;
whether these are essentially active or sedentary, for example. The nature and
severity of impacts can also be regarded as a function of the intensity of site use, the
transformational potential of the tourism development, the resilience of local
ecosystems and the rapidity of development (Cohen, 1978).
There is evidence to suggest that pressures on environmental resources and the
resultant loss of environmental quality occur most commonly where development
has been rapid, and in areas with little or no planning control. Problems arising
under these circumstances may be more severe where there is a lack of technical or
financial means to provide adequate infrastructure, and where tourist demand exerts
marked seasonal peaks in activity (GECD, 1981).
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