Giving Compass' Take:

• As more people travel, resorts and tourism companies are thinking about increasing sustainability efforts for local communities. 

• How does the onset of global tourism impact local stakeholders and community development--regarding sustainability?

• Read more about the sustainable development plans of tourism companies. 

Thanks to cheaper and more efficient air travel, not to mention the growth of the middle class in emerging economies, more people are traveling abroad than ever before. This boom will not stop anytime soon.

The challenge, however, is to manage this growth efficiently and sustainably, without wreaking havoc on local communities and the environment – while staying focused on the international community’s goal to limit climate change to 1.5°C this century.

Growth and sustainability, progress and sustainability, should go hand in hand. Not either – or, but a win-win equation.”

The all-inclusive resort model, common here in Jamaica and across the Caribbean, needs a complete rethink.

If tourism will continue to grow – especially in the Caribbean, where travel generates as much as 40 percent of local GDP – government agencies will not only have to work closer together, but actively involve the private sector and NGOs as well. A building contractor can provide the transport infrastructure or wastewater treatment plant that a local government cannot build or support; NGOs often have a good lay of the land and understand the sensitivities of local citizens so that they are not immediately displaced by massive resorts or a new airport.

Read the full article on sustainability by Leon Kaye at TriplePundit