Golf Tourism :: Environmental Sports Golfing Essays

Golf TourismGolf tourism is spreadhead rapidly all over the orb in places like Asia and Mexico. Although closely people who play the sport of golf game play because of its interaction with nature, what approximately golfers do not realize or consider is the prejudicious environmental impact on the sport. The booming golf trade throughout the world effects a haven for golfers and a nightmare for environmentalists. According to members of the Malaysia-Based Asia-Pacific Peoples Environment Network, golf development is becoming one of the most unsustainable and damaging activities to people and the environment (TED Case Studies, 1997). Asia has gone from just 45 golf public lifes in 1970 to over 500 today (TED Case Studies, 1997). The rapid amplification in development similarly brings a rapid increase in ecological problems. In Southwest Asia ecological apathy includes greens mould out of paddy fields and virgin forests. Development of golf run fors also entails clearing veg etation, cutting forests and creating artificial landscapes. These activities lead to land erosion and pulley block the soils ability to retain water (Klein, 1996). Golf courses also need lifesize quantities of pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides, which cause health problems among golfers, workers, and nearby residents. Unfortunately, these numerous problems are overlooked by developers who are often supported by the Asian governments due to the stinting rewards from the sport. The low green fees in Asia have increased tourism to these courses as well as increasing the temptation for further golf course development. The most notorious debate among golf course development in recent years has been the plan to create a $311 million construe consisting of 592 luxury homes, hotels, restaurants, and a 7,276-yard golf course in Tepoztlan Mexico. Opponents of the golf course claim that golf-course projects use dangerous chemicals and too much water as well as induce higher property ta xes and disrupt culturally intact communities. The site of development in Tepoztlan will be situated on 462 acres of communal land within a subject park and a biological corridor that harbors Aztec ruins and 28 endemic species of animals (Planet ENN, 1996). The high follow of water necessary for the project is estimated by developers to be approximately 800,000 gallons a day for peak irrigation (which is nearly five times that pumped insouciant by Tepoztlan). This brings about much debate because of the towns on-going problems with water shortage. Those who support the Tepoztlan golf plan (mainly developers) believe that it will create 13,000 construction jobs over seven years, and 2900 permanent jobs (Selcraig, 1996).