Box 25F Impacts of tourism in the Mediterranean

Overdevelopment: unplanned growth of hotels and tourism facilities with little regard to visual impacts or local architecture has led to visual degradation over vast areas. Land has been used for recreational facilities (eg, golf courses and theme parks), and major roads and airports encroach on protected areas (eg, Ria Formosa National Park in the Algarve).

Induced development pressures: for example, agricultural development aimed at meeting tourist (catering) needs around national parks, such as Coto Doñana in Southern Spain where wetlands are threatened by water abstraction and pesticide runoff.

Loss of habitats and of biodiversity: 75 per cent of dune systems from Gibraltar to Sicily have been lost since 1960 (CEC, 1992b), leading to loss of breeding grounds, such as that of the loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta (see the case study in Chapter 9). Over 500 Mediterranean plant species are threatened with extinction, and in France alone 145 species are on the verge of extinction or have already disappeared (CEC, 1992b).

Species impacts: tourism pressure on nesting sites of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) led to curtailing the building of a hotel at Dalyan in Turkey in 1986. However, the very act of protecting the turtles has led to an increased influx of tourists ­ 5000 in summer ­ creating other environmental pressures such as waste dumps (WWF-UK, personal communication, 1993).

Lack of sewage and effluent treatment and disposal: only 30 per cent of municipal wastewater from Mediterranean coastal towns receives any treatment before being discharged (World Bank/European Investment Bank, 1990) and, as a result, some Mediterranean beaches failed EC bathing water quality tests (Spain, 7 per cent; France, 13 per cent; Italy, 8 per cent; and Greece, 3 per cent, in summer 1992). The total cost of developing the necessary level of sewage treatment was estimated at more than $10 billion. Spillages from pleasure boats are also a major source of pollution.

Unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, including excessive abstraction of drinking water and exploitation of fisheries resources. Overabstraction of water (for drinking, bathing, golf courses and water theme parks) has led to increased forest fires, with 2000 km2 of Mediterranean forests destroyed each year by fire (CEC, 1992b).

Traffic congestion on coastal roads, and pressure to build new trunk roads through protected or unspoiled areas (eg, Southern Spain and the Algarve).

Changes in traditional lifestyles where local populations are outnumbered by tourists, particularly in poorer regions (the Balearics, Turkey, Croatia, Cyprus) with overdependence on tourist incomes (CEC, 1992b).

Sources: CEC, 1992b; World Bank/European Investment Bank, 1990; : ERM