ABSTRACT
Tourism is largely dependent on natural resources. For example, the provision of fresh water for drinking, taking showers, swimming pools or the irrigation of hotel gardens seem self-evident preconditions for tourism all around the world. Beaches and coastlines, mountains, forests, lakes, oceans and the scenery provided by landscapes containing these elements are central to the attraction potential of most destinations. Similarly, biodiversity is a tourist magnet in many regions, including a wide variety of bird and fish species, as well as charismatic mammals such as moose or deer, whales, dolphins or the ‘big five’ (leopard, lion, rhino, elephant, hippopotamus) in national parks in eastern and southern Africa. In mountainous areas, snow cover is a conditio sine qua non for winter sports, including skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling and dog sledding, and many areas would lose their tourist appeal without snow – for instance, what would impressive mountain ranges like the Alps or tropical Mount Kilimanjaro be without their white-covered tops? Clearly, most tourism is based on stable and, for tourism, favourable environmental conditions.
