I have only briefly tackled this aspect of my thesis, by gathering a small portion of the multitude of definitions of what sustainability is & what sustainable tourism encompasses. Now, I'm not an environmental scientist, that is definitely not my forte, so I'm trying to stay away from ways to effect certain percentages of change in the contamination of soils, waters, etc, since I would have no idea about that sort of thing!
However, I have decided {well, as of now} that for New Bedford a certain definition of sustainable tourism might be more appropriate. For cities like New Bedford, and really, all other places that don't have copious capital to put forth, development really needs to begin on a smaller scale. There are a lot of changes that can be made without a lot of effort. Things like connecting with your desired audience using Web 2.0 platforms {Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Flickr, etc} is a great way to get started. Encouraging and supporting local businesses that use local food and products is another way to support economic development starting on the inside. Low impact development, like creating bike lanes, for example, is another part of sustainable tourism.
I had plenty of other thoughts today that I keep voraciously writing down in a notebook. Tomorrow, in addition to reading more of "Patina of Place" & having a lunchtime meeting with Mathieu Plourde {over @ this blog & this blog} to discuss usage of Web 2.0, I would really like to start doing some writing of the thoughts I have so far!
No comments:
Post a Comment