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Coastal Tourism in the Wider Caribbean Region: Impacts and Best Management Practices | |
| CEP Technical Report No. 38 1997 | All CEP Technical Reports |
1. INTRODUCTION
The tourism product in the Wider Caribbean is largely dependent on the natural resource base; that is, on the physical environment. The traditional marketing approach of selling "sand, sea, and sun" has created a mind-set that has resulted in the concentration of tourist facilities in the coastal areas of the islands.
This concentration of tourist facilities and activities in the coastal area, and the increasing dependence of Caribbean economies on tourism earnings, means that the tourist industry, as a sector of the economy, makes the greatest use of coastal and marine resources. This dependency is not without cost, to both the economy and the industry. The tourism industry has undoubtedly contributed to the degradation of the coastal and marine environments, as well as to dislocations in the social fabric of the many communities. Additionally, investment decisions in infrastructure, in countries with large tourist industries, are usually largely influenced by the perceived needs of the industry.
Similarly, not only do the benefits of tourism impact on the entire economy, but the adverse impacts of tourism also impact on the entire economy through the investment decisions and the ecosystem linkages which adversely affect other resources and resource uses and users.
However, tourism is only one of many types of activities that use and impact the coastal zone. As such, any attempt to deal with tourism impacts on coastal resources has to operate within a wider framework of environmental planning. Such a framework, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (or Integrated Coastal Area Management), has been developed and articulated, and guidelines for the development of this framework are available (Pernetta and Elder 1993, UNEP 1996). In a number of countries, coastal zone management plans/guidelines are being developed and implemented.
However, the development and implementation of comprehensive coastal area plans take place over long periods. Given the level of degradation being experienced in coastal areas, the preference of tourists for good environmental quality, the increasing awareness and articulation of concern among tourists about environmental quality, and the direct dependence of the tourism product on pristine environmental conditions, it has become accepted that the individual provider of goods and services in the tourist industry must make an immediate, direct, and active contribution to the maintenance of environmental quality. This initiative has so far been led by the Travel and Accommodation sectors of the industry, and has concentrated on the "greening" of hotels. However, it is recognized that best management practices (BMPs) for improvement of environmental quality goes beyond the scope of he operational phase of hotels. These BMPs are relevant also to the design and construction phases of all facilities, as well as to the provision of services to the industry.
This report summarizes the nature and causes of coastal resources degradation, the contribution of the tourist industry to that degradation, the role of system planning in addressing such impacts, and the possible best management practices which can be employed by industry participants to reduce the impacts of tourism on coastal and marine resources. This report is therefore mainly written for use by national and tourism industry planners, by environmental management agencies, and by tourism industry participants.
Scope of the Report
This report has been prepared using a variety of sources. Two recent reports by the Island Resources Foundation (1996a,b) were used as the point of departure. A number of UNEP Technical Reports, as well as other writings and reports on coastal resources degradation in the Caribbean were reviewed. Information on best management practices was gleaned from a number of tourism publications on environmental guidelines and best management practices, and through discussions with a number of regional tourism organizations, as well as tourism and coastal zone planners and managers.
Due to time constraints, the input of site managers and services providers to this report has been limited. As such, the extent to which best management practices are actually practiced, the conditions under which they have been successful, and the degree of success achieved in the Wider Caribbean cannot be quantified at this time. Despite this limitation, the report indicates that there are many possibilities which can be adopted by the policy maker, environmental manager in a coastal zone permitting system, or designers of tourist facilities to reduce the adverse impact of tourism on coastal and marine resources. More importantly, the case studies demonstrate actions that can be taken at the level of the individual operator or facility manager.
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