Environmental impacts of the hospitality industries-

Positive impacts

• It sometimes educates the public about the local environment and the importance of protecting the environment, eg the Great Barrier Reef.
• The tourism and hospitality industries often create employment and business opportunities in an area, contributing to the local economy.
• Hospitality and tourism buildings and venues are being designed and/or redesigned so that their impact on the environment is reduced and they merge in with the local environment better.
• Many enterprises are now employing more sustainable practices in order to promote a green image that appeals to consumers, eg using organic products, recycling, using less toxic chemicals and using more energy and water-efficient fittings.

Negative impacts

• The presence of buildings and tourists may destroy the local environment and habitat of native animals.
• The hospitality industry contributes to waste issues, eg food scraps, oil, and chemical disposal.
• Many hospitality venues are noisy.
• The hospitality and tourism industries consume a lot of energy and water, eg electricity for air conditioning, refrigeration (www.hsc.csu.edu.au).

The environmental impact is broadly classified as:

• AESTHETIC IMPACT
• CULTURAL IMPACT
• ECOLOGICAL IMPACT
• SOCIAL IMPACT
• POLITICAL IMPACT

Aesthetic impact means causing destructive image of surrounding by various factors such as development etc. The image of a destination possesses importance from a practical marketing perspective for many reasons.

Often hospitality industry fails to integrate its structures with the natural features and indigenous architectural of the destination. Large, dominating resorts of different design can look out of place in any natural environment and may clash with the indigenous structural design. A lack of land-use planning and building regulations in many destinations has facilitated sprawling developments along coastlines, valleys, and scenic routes. The sprawl includes tourism facilities themselves and supporting infrastructures such as roads, employee housing, parking, service areas, and waste disposal.

Characteristics of Environmental Management

Characteristics of environmental management is depicted in the following image.

.Environmental management characteristics are follows:

1. Environmental management supports sustainable development.
2. Environmental management demands the multi-disciplinary approach. It deals with a world affected by humans.
3. Environmental management has to integrate different development viewpoints.
4. Environmental management seeks to integrate natural and social science.
5. Environmental management can extend from short-term to long-term and from local to global level.