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Abstract
Proponents of Alternative Tourism overwhelmingly believe that alternative forms of tourism development need to be small in scale. Inasmuch as tourists' demand has great power to shape the market, the issues surrounding the tourism development scale deserve further consideration. This paper discusses the implications and effects of the tourism development scale on natural resources and the environment from the perspective of externalities, strategic business behaviors, energy and resource efficiency, and the pollution detecting and monitoring abilities of environmental administrators. It concludes that small scale development is not necessarily more sustainable or environmentally sound than larger scale development. It is a fallacy that alternative forms of tourism development need to be in small scale. To be sustainable, scale considerations should be subject to the efficiency principle and the carrying capacity of the environment. If efficiency and carrying capacity are ignored, small scale development as well as large scale development will equally lead to environmental deterioration.
Parent Publication
Citation
Yang, Sinji; Pennington-Gray, Lori; Holecek, Donald F. 1998. Scale issues in tourism development. In: Vogelsong, Hans G., comp, ed. Proceedings of the 1997 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium; 1997 April 6 - 9; Bolton Landing, NY. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-241. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 112-116.
