Pressure on natural resources

In addition to pressure on the availability and prices
of resources consumed by local residents—such as energy,
food and basic raw materials—the main natural resources
4 DESA Discussion Paper No. 29
at risk from tourism development are land, freshwater and
marine resources. Without careful land-use planning, for
instance, rapid tourism development can intensify competition
for land resources with other uses and lead to rising
land prices and increased pressure to build on agricultural
land. Moreover, intensive tourism development can
threaten natural landscapes, notably through deforestation,
loss of wetlands and soil erosion. Tourism development
in coastal areas—including hotel, airport and road
construction—is often a matter for increasing concern
worldwide as it can lead to sand mining, beach erosion
and other forms of land degradation.
Freshwater availability for competing agricultural,
industrial, household and other uses is rapidly becoming
one of the most critical natural resource issues in many
countries and regions. Rapid expansion of the tourism
industry, which tends to be extremely water-intensive,
can exacerbate this problem by placing considerable
pressure on scarce water supply in many destinations.
Water scarcity can pose a serious limitation to future
tourism development in many low-lying coastal areas
and small islands that have limited supplies of surface
water, and whose groundwater may be contaminated by
saltwater intrusion. Over-consumption by many tourist
facilities—notably large hotel resorts and golf courses—
can limit current supplies available to farmers and local
populations in water-scarce regions and thus lead to serious
shortages and price rises. In addition, pollution of
available freshwater sources, some of which may be
associated with tourism-related activities, can exacerbate
local shortages.
Rapid expansion of coastal and ocean tourism
activities, such as snorkelling, scuba diving and sport
fishing, can threaten fisheries and other marine
resources. Disturbance to marine aquatic life can also be
caused by the intensive use of thrill craft, such as jet skis,
frequent boat tours and boat anchors. Anchor damage is
now regarded as one of the most serious threats to coral
reefs in the Caribbean Sea, in view of the growing number
of both small boats and large cruise ships sailing in
the region (see Michael Hall, 2001). Severe damage to
coral reefs and other marine resources may, in turn, not
only discourage further tourism and threaten the future of
local tourist industries, but also damage local fisheries.