Habitat fragmentation: A lack of land-use planning and building regulations in many destinations has facilitated sprawling developments along coastlines. The sprawl includes tourism facilities themselves and supporting infrastructure such as roads, employee housing, parking, service areas and waste disposal. This usually leads to habitat fragmentation so that habitats become too small to sustain many animal and plant populations.

Destruction of habitats: Important coastal habitats are frequently degraded by tourism development. For example, coastal wetlands are often drained and filled due to lack of more suitable sites for construction of tourism facilities and infrastructure. These activities can cause severe disturbance and degradation of the local ecosystem, even destruction in the long term.

Marine habitat deterioration: In marine areas, many tourist activities occur in or around fragile ecosystems. Anchoring, snorkelling, sport fishing or littering are some of the activities that can cause direct harm to species (e.g. marine mammals) or degradation of marine habitats such as Posidonia beds, with subsequent impacts on coastal erosion and fisheries.

Competition for natural resources: Tourists and wildlife can end up competing for scarce natural resources, such as water, forest areas, dunes, etc. For example the Coto Doñana National Park in south-west Spain, home of endangered species such as the imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca) and the Spanish Lynx (Lynx pardina), is now threatened by water extraction for the tourist sector.

Import of invading species: Tourists and suppliers, often unknowingly, can bring in species (insects, wild and cultivated plants and diseases) that are not native to the local environment and that can cause enormous disruption and even destruction of ecosystems.

Trampling: Tourists using the same trail over and over again, trampling the vegetation and soil, eventually causing damage that can lead to loss of biodiversity and other impacts. Such damage can be even more extensive when visitors frequently stray off established trails.

Stress in animals: Wildlife viewing can bring about stress for the animals and alter their natural behaviour when tourists come too close and create noise, e.g. by their motorised vehicles.