Explore some of the key issues and see examples of where they occur using our interactive map. This page shows examples and is not an exhaustive list of all issues currently reported in the world.
<< Please use the links in the menu on your left to find out more about the issues in detail.
UK
The UK has one of the highest golf course densities in the world (Leo Hickman The Final Call, 2008).
Bali
The average Balinese golf course uses 3 million litres of water per day, while the average local resident uses just 200 litres.
Malta
Friends of the Earth’s campaign, “Agriculture, Not Golf”, has included opposition to a golf course and luxury hotel development that would have deprived 98 farmers of their livelihoods, while sucking up the same amount of water as 11,000 Maltese every year.
Philippines
The ‘Break Free’ movement was created by villagers to challenge the development of four championship golf courses on their ancestral lands. The Philippines government deployed the military and police, and the golf course developers hired paramilitary personnel. Three Break Free leaders were shot dead.
Spain
The World Wildlife Fund estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 cubic meters of water per hectare were pumped out of freshwater supplies to keep golf courses green in south-east Spain (2004). At this rate, the water used on one golf course could supply a town of 12,000 inhabitants with enough water for a whole year.
Bulgaria
The planned expansion of the Bansko ski resort in Bulgaria is going ahead despite growing evidence of its negative impacts on local people and the environment, including the neighbouring Pirin National Park.
Bimini
A Miami-based developer is building the Bimini Bay Resort and Marina - to be managed by part of the Hilton Group - against the wishes of local people. This has already involved destroying various pristine habitats and planned developments will lead to greater destruction of protective mangrove lagoons and seagrass beds which support lobster, conch, turtles and many species of fish.
Burma
In Burma, 5,200 residents of the ancient city of Pagan were forcibly displaced in the lead up to ‘Visit Myanmar Year’ in 1996.
South Africa
The South African government stepped up its ‘slum clearance’ programme in the lead up to the 2010 World Cup in the face of fierce opposition from local groups.
Kenya
In Kenya, the Endorois were expelled from their lands to make way for a conservation area in 1973. They only received compensation 30 years later when they took their case to the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights.
Thailand, Southern India and Sri Lanka
After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, coastal communities in Thailand, Southern India and Sri Lanka were permanently relocated inland while their traditional lands were earmarked for tourism development.
Tanzania
In 1988, pastoralists were evicted from the Mkomazi Game Reserve in north-eastern Tanzania, on the border with Kenya. Many of their homes were razed to the ground. Tourism Concern was contacted by Maasai people from Tanzania asking for help, declaring quite simply in hand-written letters: "tourism is killing us."
Fiji
September 2011, Daniel Urai, general secretary of the Fijian National Union of Hospitality Catering and Tourism Industries Employees and union organiser Nitin Goundra were reportedly due to go on trial for “unlawful assembly”. This refers to a meeting they held with their members to advise them on collective bargaining negotiations with hotel management.
The Maldives
The Maldives are seen as an idyllic luxury holiday retreat, with tourism the biggest contributor to the country’s economy. However, employees in the Maldivian tourism industry had few rights and typically endured appalling working conditions. Tourism Concern campaigned to highlight the suffering of the Maldivian people under the former oppressive political regime.
Himalayas
Frostbite, altitude sickness and even death can be the cost for the porters carrying trekkers' equipment in the Himalayas. Tourism Concern's campaign helped to put a stop to the abuse of porters' human rights.
Peru
Frostbite, altitude sickness and even death can be the cost for the porters carrying trekkers' equipment in the Inca Trail in Peru. Tourism Concern's campaign helped to put a stop to the abuse of porters' human rights.
Tanzania
Frostbite, altitude sickness and even death can be the cost for the porters carrying trekkers' equipment up Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Tourism Concern's campaign helped to put a stop to the abuse of porters' human rights.
Kenya
This exhibition formed a part of our 'Sun, Sand, Sea and Sweatshops' campaign, which focused on exploitative labour conditions within tourism. Our research demonstrated that tourism workers have always been vulnerable and suffer from poor working conditions.
Goa
Goa was one of the first destinations where Tourism Concern forged a working relationship with local campaigning groups challenging mass tourism. The issues facing local people because of tourism include water, unregulated development, land grabs, and cultural offence caused by inappropriate tourist behaviour, such as nude and topless sunbathing.
Mexico
In 2008, Tourism Concern worked with local communities in Chiapas to train them in understanding and monitoring the impacts of tourism on their culture and livelihoods.
Maldives
Tourism and those who depend upon it for their livelihoods also stand to be major victims of climate change. Low-lying island idylls, such as The Maldives and the Pacific Islands, are already falling victim to rising sea levels and sea acidification that is destroying the sealife that tourists flock to see.
Pacific Islands
Tourism and those who depend upon it for their livelihoods also stand to be major victims of climate change. Low-lying island idylls, such as The Maldives and the Pacific Islands, are already falling victim to rising sea levels and sea acidification that is destroying the sealife that tourists flock to see.
France
Rising temperatures mean snow shortages in many of our favourite ski resorts.
Spain
Rising temperatures mean snow shortages in many of our favourite ski resorts.
Botswana
The government evicted Bushmen in 2002 and closed a borehole which was their only source of water, other than sparse rainwater collected from depressions in the sand. In 2006, the High Court ruled that the Bushmen have the right to stay in their ancestral land. However, the government had refused to reopen the borehole.
Bahamas
Residents of the island of New Providence, Bahamas, are facing water shortages because of a luxury mega-resort project backed by British billionaire Joe Lewis.
Bali
For local people in Bali, water resources are being drastically depleted while tourism is allowed to flourish.
Cyprus
The Cyprus government has given the go-head to 14 new golf courses in an attempt to boost tourism to the country, despite increasing water scarcity turning the island into a desert during the summer months.
Brazil
In Brazil, reports state that the country is overtaking Thailand as the most popular destination for child sex tourism.
Cambodia
The small Buddhist country of Cambodia has a rich cultural heritage, but it has become a magnet for people who prey on the young and innocent.
Thailand
According to the US-based research institute “Protection Project”, estimates of the number of children involved in prostitution living in Thailand ranges from 12,000 to the hundreds of thousands.
India
Women play an important economic role in fishing communities in South India and Sri Lanka, which includes drying and selling fish.
Thailand
A cultural museum set up by Burmese Kayan refugees in northern Thailand has been forced to close and the women running it moved to the most commercial of the region’s ‘tourist villages’.
To each issue its solution
Check out some of the solutions that already exist to tackle these issues.
Help protect the Jarawa people
Take the WET Pledge and help defend the water rights of host communities
Add your voice, become a member
Donate to our campaigns
Stapleton House, 277-281 Holloway Road, London N7 8HN. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7133 3800 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7133 3985