BALANCED TOURISM

Balanced Tourism

Balanced Tourism focuses on achieving an equilibrium between the economic, social, and environmental aspects of tourism while balancing growth and preservation. It seeks to optimize benefits for the destination while minimizing negative impacts, as well as reducing the leakage factor to drive inclusive economic growth.

Sustainable Tourism, on the other hand, emphasizes long-term sustainability, where tourism is managed in a way that it can be maintained indefinitely without degrading the natural and cultural environments.

While both approaches aim for responsible tourism, Balanced Tourism specifically targets an equilibrium among various aspects of tourism to balance growth and preservation, whereas Sustainable Tourism is more focused on long-term conservation and responsible management of resources.

This website aims to inspire travel and tourism organizations from the public and private sectors towards a more equatable and fair tourism ecosystem and to introduce best practices and tools to achieve sustainable growth to focus on positive contribution to leave destinations better than they were found, to actively improve and rejuvenate the environment, communities, and cultural heritage.

Recognizing that, despite the fact that tourism has often been responsible for encouraging conservation activities in many parts of the world, expanding tourism is resulting in increasingly severe damage to the environment, including fauna and flora.

Knowing that many tourist and travel interests have often neglected the responsibilities inherent in their profitable exploitation of environmental resources, and failed to respond to invitations to participate in coordinated efforts towards reducing environmental impact.

Balancing growth and regeneration by managing destinations sustainably and responsibly, taking into account carrying capacity and inclusivity of all stakeholders. While tourism destinations need visitor arrivals in order to leverage the positive aspects of tourism, that growth needs to be sustainable for tourism to be a force for good.

BalancedTourism.com is a website hosted by UNWTO Affiliate Member Chameleon Strategies, edited by Founding Partner Dr. Jens Thraenhart. Read his interview about “Balanced Tourism“, and his article about “The Power of Balanced Tourism Growth“. Other contributors include Chameleon Strategies Advisors Partners Brian T. Mullis, Hjortur Smarsson, Gerrit Krueger, and Inga Ros Antoniusdottir.