Környezetbiztonsági kihívások a városi turizmusban = Environmental safety challenges in urban tourism

Lőrincz, Katalin and Raffay, Ágnes and Vizi, István György (2024) Környezetbiztonsági kihívások a városi turizmusban = Environmental safety challenges in urban tourism. SCIENTIA ET SECURITAS, 5 (1). pp. 49-57. ISSN 2732-2688

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Abstract

A városok szerepe kiemelkedő mind a kultúra, mind a gazdasági élet és a népesség koncentrációjának szempontjából, és egy város mint lakóhely, munkahely, szolgáltatási központ, közlekedési csomópont, befektetési célpont, rendezvényhelyszín és mint desztináció különösen érdekes a környezetbiztonság szemszögéből is. A városi turizmus vendégköre sokrétű, az üzleti utazók és a kulturális turisták mellett a barát- és rokonlátogatások, valamint a helyi lakosság általi szabadidős fogyasztás is jellemző. A városi desztinációk népszerűségének növekedésével a túlturizmus környezetre és életminőségre gyakorolt negatív hatásai is megjelenhetnek. Jelen tanulmány a városi turizmus sajátos környezetbiztonsági aspektusait, kihívásait és jó gyakorlatait vizsgálja hazai és nemzetközi példákon keresztül. | Cities play an important role in terms of culture and economic activities, and concentrate larger volumes of population. Cities serve as places of residence, of work, as service centres, transport hubs, target areas for investment, event locations as well as tourist destinations, therefore cities are exciting places from the point of view of environmental safety. According to the United Nations Statistics, 57% of the world’s population lives in cities, whereas this figure is around 80% in the most developed countries. Further growth in urban population is expected in the next decades, by 2050 68% of the total population is projected to live in cities, and 87% will be urban residents in the developed countries. City populations are responsible for the consumption of 75% of the natural resources of the Earth, 50% of all the waste produced, and more than 60% of greenhouse gas emission. The audience of urban tourism is manifold, besides business and cultural tourists, people visiting friends and relatives, and local residents also consume the city’s leisure services. The visitation of urban destinations is rather concentrated both in time and space, which adds to the crowdedness of urban spaces and draws attention to the environmental safety challenges that emerge with the volume of visitors. Urban destinations are characterised by shorter length of stay, concentrating on weekends in the case of leisure tourists and city breaks, and to weekdays in case of business trips. Furthermore, cities often host major international event series such as European Capital of Culture or world exhibition (Expo), cultural festivals (like the Cannes International Film Festival or The EuroVision Song Contest) and sporting events (e.g. Olympic Games, world cups). Major international events attracting a large volume of visitors have significant economic as well as environmental impacts on the host city. Cities need to host tens of thousands of visitors in short periods of time, providing them accommodation, catering and transport as well as leisure services. The negative environmental impacts associated with events include mainly air pollution and the creation of large amounts of waste, and occasionally water pollution and damage caused to the natural habitat of flora and fauna. The growing popularity of urban destinations often leads to overtourism, with all its negative environmental and socio-cultural impacts. The current study focuses on the environmental impacts, assesses the specific aspects, challenges and good practices of environmental safety in urban tourism, through Hungarian and international examples.

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