Analysis

  The two cities we analyzed are Banff, Canada, and Sintra, Portugal. Both of these locations are popular travel destinations. Tourism has impacted both of these locations greatly, but the question is: which place is more eco-friendly?

  Banff is located in the Alberta Rockies, making it a great skiing destination. Sintra, on the other hand, is not a skiing destination, although they both have many mountains, because Banff has a subarctic climate, and is often very cold in winter, the average weather in July (the warmest month) is 22°C and in winter, -20°C which may feel like -30°C with the windchill. Sintra has a micro-climate, and it is cooler than the surrounding area because it is located on mountain ranges. Although Sintra is cooler, with the average of 20°C in August, in winter (with the high of 10°C in January) it is not cold enough to produce snow.

  Regarding tourism, Banff has a history of tourism dating back to the early 20th century, from when the Pacific Railway was being built. It started out as a regular chalet in the mountains, and thanks to Lake Louis and the other natural features, it bloomed into a huge nation park. In 1887, the area of the park was increased to 673 square kilometres, from the 26 square kilometres in 1885, and was named "Rocky Mountains Park". Today, Banff National Park covers an area of 6,641 square kilometres. Approximately 8 million people enter the park annually. Banff has an elevation of 1,400 to 1,630.

  The history of Sintra's tourism industry started around the same time as Banff's, in the early 20th century. Although it is not as big as Banff's, tourism is the main export of the area. A boom of tourism in Sintra has resulted it from the area being 14% of Lisbon to 16%. The tourism boom has also increased the width of the road, and there are more trails around the mountain than ever before. Sintra has an elevation of 30 to 150 metres in altitude.

  In conclusion, we would recommend to visit  Banff. Banff tries to be as environmentally friendly as they can, with examples like reducing water usage, managing waste, and conserving the ecosystem on their blog. Banff is also a wildlife-protected area. But, Many changes to the environment were also made, like re-routing many streams and rivers. Many people in Sintra would like to be more environmentally friendly, there was little political will (due to dictatorships) to do anything about caring for the ecosystem, like nothing against the domestic waste dumping which lead to contaminated soil and water. The trip to Banff would be shorter than to Sintra (from Toronto), and it would reduce air pollution. So, we would advise a trip to Banff instead of Sintra.