Abstract:
Tourism is one of world’s important industries. It has a great impact as an important
way of earning foreign exchange and also has a direct impact on the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) of a country, during the last 30 years in the majority of countries where tourism is a key
income. As such, tourism is widely recognized as the world’s largest generator of wealth and
this will continue to grow during the next decades and tourism will be significant for the national
and global economies. Therefore, it is the primary target of the stakeholders of the industry to
integrate sustainability dimensions, into its development strategies, especially, the environment
it is mostly based upon. The modern tourism industry has become an umbrella industry for
many businesses such as accommodation, transportation, entertainment, catering, tour operators
and travel agencies. Therefore, tourism industry should take efforts to support the restoration,
conservation as well as protection of valuable, natural, historic and cultural sites, landscapes
as well unique biodiversity of a country while promoting and developing tourism. In this, the
governments as well as stakeholders of the tourism industry such as hotels and tour operators
have a significant role in protecting the environment. In this paper, I will be discussing in detail
the “Environmental impacts of sustainable tourism in Sri Lanka”, the problems associated with
it and how to overcome such problems in the long term as well as the short term.
