Negative Impacts on Biodiversity
With approximate accounts of 7.5%-15% of the world’s total employment is in tourism, worldwide tourism rose 8.4% between 2005 and 2006 reaching an estimated record of $ 735 billion. This is showing that eco-tourism is the fastest going sector and the impacts on the environment increase in the attractive areas.
An article called On the Extinction of Species from a printed version of The Americas.
- “Whalers slaughtered the giant tortoises, and the few settlers brought rats, cats and goats, which crowded out local flora and fauna. Yet the pace of depredation has picked up rapidly over the past three decades, as tourist visits have increased 14-fold to over 160,000 a year.”
- “The tourists are partly responsible for invasive species that threaten endemic wildlife.”
- “When tourism was more limited, fishing by settlers from the mainland was the main threat.” ( http://www.economist.com/node/16281325 )