the mediterranean the home of mass beach tourism

8/2/2019 The Mediterranean the Home of Mass Beach Tourism

1/5

1

The Mediterranean: Thehome of mass beachtourism a story of richesand disasters

Test

Which countries have a coastline on theMediterranean?

Geography of the Mediterranean

19 nations have a coastline along theMediterranean: Spain, Italy, Albania, Cyprus,Israel, Tunisia, France, Malta, Greece, Syria, Egypt,

Algeria, Monaco, Slovenia, Croatia, Turkey,Lebanon, Libya & Morocco

Add another 8 countries to form the

Mediterranean tourism region (based on climaticand cultural similarities: Portugal, Bulgaria,Romania, Ukraine (Crimean Republic), Jordan &Iraq, Serbia & Montenegro

Development of Mass Tourism on the

Mediterranean coast

Benidorm Torremolinos&

In the 1960s


2/5

2

Tourism in the coastal regions of the

Mediterranean today

BenidormTorremolinos

Basic Facts

The Mediterranean tourism industry accounts for 33% of globalinternational tourism arrivals and 25% of global spending byinternational tourists

60% of tourists visiting the Mediterranean go to coastal destinations

84% of Mediterranean tourists come from Europe, mostly fromnorthern and western countries. Germany is the largest marketfollowed by the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands.(WTO, 2003).

The coast of the Mediterranean has become such a popular touristdestination primarily as a result of the desire for relatively hot drysummer weather and safe beach and sea destinations amongstNorthwest Europeans and the physical proximity of theMediterranean to Northwest Europe

Basic FactsMediterranean countries in the EU take between 75 and90% of the annual total of tourists visiting the countries ofthe Mediterranean.

Within these countries Mediterranean coastal tourism ishighly concentrated in:

1. The Costas, Balearic Islands, and Canary Islands of Spain

2. The Languedoc-Roussillon and Cote dAzur region of France

3. The Ligurian Riviera, the Sorrentine peninsula and theislands in the Gulf of Naples, Italy

4. The Aegean & Ionian Islands of Greece.

Almost 80% of the Mediterranean tourists choose Spain,France, Italy or Greece (WTO, 2003).

Basic FactsIn addition to being concentrated spatially the tourismindustry in the Mediterranean region is also highlyseasonal.

The main season for tourism on the coast of theMediterranean is between late June and early September(in line with the northern hemisphere summer andschool summer holiday vacation period). It is estimatedthat 45% of the annual international tourists who visitSpain do so during this period

There is a significantly smaller holiday season during thenorthern hemisphere winter that is mainly driven bylong stay retiree tourism


3/5

3

Economic Impacts of tourism in the

Mediterranean

In a few decades the Balearic Islands were transformed [as a result of thedevelopment of tourism] from being one of the poorest regions of Spain,with a high rate of emigration, to one of the wealthiest (Boniface &Cooper, 2005: 136)

1 in 7 workers in the Mediterranean region are employed in tourism.

A significant proportion of the Mediterranean population are in jobsindirectly dependent on the tourism industry

Tourism receipts from the Mediterranean in 1999 totalled US$131.8billion. (Environment News Service, 2001)

Mediterranean countries received one third of this income. Over the lastthree years, the other two thirds returned to the hands of less than 10 touroperators from northern Europe (Environment News Service, 2001)

Environmental Impacts of tourism in

the Mediterranean

Most of the tourism development [in the westernMediterranean] was poorly planned, and largelyunregulated by the local authorities. It was notuntil the 1990s that serious efforts were made tocontrol tourism development. (Boniface & Cooper,2005: 136-7)

LITTER: In the Balearics visitors leave behind an estimated

100,000 tonnes of litter each year

URBANISATION: Today, more than half of the 46,000 km

of the Mediterranean coastline is urbanised.

In the case of the Costa Blanca, in Spain, for example, 95%

of the coastline has been urbanised by tourism, penetrating

inland by up to 20 km (Gomez & Rebollo, 1995: 119)

One study cited by EEA (2001) suggested three quarters of

the sand dunes between Spain and Sicily have disappeared as

a result of tourism development.

WILDLIFE: Marine turtles, for example, have been badly

affected by the destruction of nesting sites and by

disturbance. (WWF, 2005)

Water

For example, an average Spanish city dweller uses about 250litres of water per day, while the average tourist uses 440litres. This number increases to 880 litres if the tourist staysin accommodation with swimming pools and golf courses.

Each tourist generates around 180 litres of waste water perday

Annual water consumption of a golf course is around 1million cubic metres, or the equivalent of the waterconsumption of a city of 12,000 inhabitants (WWF Spain,2003).

In Tunisia water demand for tourism more than

doubled between 1977 and 1996; the Balearic Islands(Spain) used 15 times more water between 1980 and1995 (Plan Bleu, 2004).

The demand for water is now so bad on the island ofMallorca that it has to be shipped from the Spanishmainland during the peak season to meet the demandfrom the tourism industry

One result of the high demand for fresh water in thetourism destinations of the Mediterranean has beenthe intrusion of salt water into fresh groundwatersources


4/5

4

Social & Cultural Impact of

Tourism in the Mediterranean Socio-cultural Impacts

Destruction of traditional social and cultural norms andvalues

Degradation of customs, traditions, festivals, and crafts

Decline in religious values

Preservation of traditional cultural artefacts

Loss of ownership of land - A fifth of all property on the

island of Mallorca is estimated to be in foreign hands

The future of tourism in the

Mediterranean

The number of international tourists visiting Mediterranean countries

is expected to increase to between 440 and 655 million by 2025 (with

between 235 and 355 million visiting the coastal region)

However, global market share is declining in the face of competition

from areas such as the Caribbean and Southeast Asia

The destination of Mediterranean tourists is altering within this region

(trending eastwards where new destinations, such as Turkey, are

emerging)

The Western Mediterranean tourist resorts in particular currently

suffer from an oversupply of increasingly dated accommodation,

particularly at the cheaper end of the market whilst tourist

expectations as rising.

Tourist per capita spending i s declining in the region.

Combined with all these issues, encouraging new investment inthe region is getting more difficult

The markets for Mediterranean destinations is still dominated by

only two countries (Germany and the UK)

Since the early 1990s the western Mediterranean countries, aided

by the EU, have attempted to regenerate traditional centres of

tourism in the region

The era of unconstrained growth in western Mediterranean

resorts is at an end

The southern sector of the Mediterranean continues to remain

largely dormant in terms of international tourism development

due to political stability and social and cultural conflicts

Global warmingAs a result of global warming there is now a growing concern about thefuture viability of tourism throughout the Mediterranean coastline

Put simply the environment is likely to become too hot for tourists to visit,especially during the traditional peak season

The likelihood is that Mediterranean summers may be too hot for touristsafter 2020, as a result of too much heat and water shortages (Debono,2006)

In addition, it is anticipated that by the 2020s suitable habitats for malariawill have spread northward from North Africa into Spain. (Perry, 2006:372)

Consequently, tourism in the Mediterranean may become less sustainable,both economically and environmentally, as a result of climate change.(Perry, 2006: 374)


5/5

5

British Emigration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA2nGhflMjI&feature=related

Suggested readings

Boniface, B. & Cooper, C. 2005. Worldwide destinationsCasebook: The geography of travel and tourism. Elsevier:

Amsterdam. Case 20.

Montanari, A. 1995. The Mediterranean Region:Europe's Summer Leisure Space. In A. Montanari. &

Williams, A (eds) European Tourism: Regions, Spaces andRestructuring. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Ch. 3.

Perry, A. 2006. Will Predicted Climate ChangeCompromise the Sustainability of MediterraneanTourism?Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 14 (4): 367 - 375

the mediterranean the home of mass beach tourism

Documents