Page 8 - Professorial Lecture - Professor Mapaure

2. CONCEPTUALISING THE PROBLEM

The non-consumptive tourism sub-sector relies heavily on game viewing and other
activities such as bungee jumping, whitewater rafting, photographic safaris, etc. In
as much as increases in tourist numbers bring in more money for our countries,
there is need to consider the carrying capacities of tourist destinations both in
terms of ecological integrity of the wilderness areas as well as vehicle volumes on
the road networks in protected areas. The tourism industry would be happy if the
numbers of animals increase in national parks (and other protected areas), without
much ecological considerations of the need to balance animal numbers and the
ecological carrying capacity. In Ecology, carrying capacity is the maximum number
of individuals of a species that a habitat can support without causing deterioration
of the environment. In Tourism, carrying capacity is defined as the maximum
number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same time without
causing destruction of the physical, economic, socio-cultural environment and an
unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors’ satisfaction (UNWTO, 2016).
Hence, consideration of both contexts of carrying capacity is very important.
“Tourism developments worldwide have had a substantial impact on the natural
world. From ……….. to air pollution, increased traffic, contamination of water
supplies and the loss of natural habitats, tourism has played its role in destroying
the natural environment” (Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, SA,
2003). “It is increasingly acknowledged that ………….. any long term and systematic
human interactions with populations of wild animals need to be rigorously
monitored and carefully managed” (Higham & Bejder, 2008). These are just two
examples which lament the potential problems of unsustainable tourism.

Therefore, the maintenance of the functional processes of ecosystems is
paramount in maintaining the very tourism sector which brings income to
countries; hence a careful balance must be met. Lack of such considerations results
in land degradation and erosion of ecological services if animal numbers, human
densities and vehicle volumes are allowed to increase beyond sustainable levels.
This essay discusses road networks, human and vehicle volumes, water
supplementation through artificial water points and fire-herbivore-vegetation
interactions as important ecological considerations in the context of maintenance
of a balance between tourism and biodiversity conservation in southern Africa.
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