In many tourist areas developing countries, the system of wastewater treatment and waste is in a state deficit, causing environmental and health problems. Also, the required area for tourism is enormous and is often constructed out of infrastructure and communal land use. Thus, the construction of hotels and tourist resorts areas, campgrounds, golf courses and sports facilities or tourist transport infrastructure (roads, car parks, railways and airports) have only an indirect positive effect for the local population. At the same time causes serious damage to the natural environment, as for the construction of tourist centers are extracted quantities of building materials such as sand, coral limestone and wood from nearby forests, causing extensive damage to the ecosystems involved. Similarly many tourist activities as skiing, diving, boat trips, hiking, mountain climbing, alter the natural environment of plants and animals who live there. In many cases it is precisely ecotourism that causes or worsens the damage to the natural environment, because these activities open to tourism areas hitherto unexplored. Due to mountaineering, for example, the mountains, are affected by waste and deforestation.
Tourism to help the poorest Another possibility raised by the advocates of Sustainable Tourism, is to generate income to improve living conditions of the inhabitants of poor countries (in Latin America, Asia and Africa) which have been become major tourist destinations. The initiative on "Tourism and poverty elimination" was first introduced during the Johannesburg Summit in 2002. Basically includes the following points: employment of the poor in tourism enterprises, providing goods and services to tourism enterprises by the poor, direct selling of goods and services to visitors by the poor (informal economy), and creation and management of tourism enterprises for the poor.