Hello everyone! Welcome to our final post of the blog (for now at least). As we wrap up our adventure of exploring environmental pollution in relation to tourism, I (Emily) will be sharing my key takeaways from this journey and hopes for the future!

An eye-opening journey

Quite frankly speaking, prior to starting this blog on tourism and pollution with Joanna, my only thoughts went to trash and waste from tourists. However, from what I had learnt in the Environmental Pollution module, pollution constitutes more than simply just trash. Pollution comes in multiple forms; from air, water, land to even noise and light. So that was when I realised, tourism has to contribute to more forms of pollution than just one. Indoor air pollution was particularly significant to me as it was my first time hearing about it during Professor Taylor’s lecture. I acted on my curiosity and intrigue, and went to search up how indoor pollution may occur in tourism, and you may guess, I was horrified.

As mentioned by Joanna previously, our choice of tourism as a topic for the blog was driven by how COVID-19 and the lack of tourism around the world now revealed many problems caused by tourism pollution that we were otherwise unaware of. That was when I realised that not only does tourism add to environmental pollution, it is as vulnerable to pollution as well. Thus, we also looked into how tourism and local communities in tourist destinations, like in Bali, Thailand and Taiwan, are impacted by environmental pollution. Indeed, the lines between tourism and environmental pollution are blurred and it is difficult to tell, between the two, which is the cause and effect. What we do know is that there are and will be continued harms to the environment, biodiversity and human health if practices were to remain the same.

Hope for the future

To seek to do better and improve on environmental pollution, we had to look at some solutions in tourism that have been implemented to resolve, minimize and/or adapt to environmental pollution. While all have good intentions, not all solutions had effective outcomes to improve on the state of environmental pollution. Nonetheless, the spirit to fight against pollution was there and it is a good starting point.

We have most certainly not at the point where we have eradicated pollution. In fact, some of us, like myself, are only becoming more aware of environmental pollution issues. Knowledge and awareness is also another good starting point, and we, as consumers in tourism, will be able to make more informed and sustainable decisions when we plan our next trips (whenever that will be). Let’s seek to continuously be aware of not just how environmental pollution occurs in tourism but in general, and to not just deal with this awareness passively but to change our practices and mindsets so that we will be less pollutive ourselves.

For as long as we are all living on this Earth,