2.5 Tourism Flashcards
Galapagos
- 70% Plants endemic
- Cannot eat or stray off island paths
- 1,300 species -State sanctioned naturalists needed to go around the islands
Areas:
EU - 700m
Americas - 300m
Asia - 350m
Overview of Maldives
- Used to rely on fishing, now tourism
- 89 resorts, 17,000 beds
- 31% of GDP (indirectly 70%)
- 30,000 jobs - 22% employment (indirect 55%)
- 800,000 in 2011
- Highest earner of foreign currency
- Grown from <400,000 to over 1.2m by 2016
- Tourist growth 2.4 in 2015, 4.2 in 2016
- Target of 1.4m tourists for 2016
- Mainly from China, Germany, UK, Italy, India
- 18% increase from China and 11% from Koreas
- 2018 runway project
- £1400 GDP/cap
- Trade deficit
- Over 1.5m go annually now - 1/3 of government revenues
- Caused by social media interest - won multiple awards for beauty - increased bed capacity by 11% and operational capacity by 15%
- Housing regulations changed to allow tourists to come amongst migrants
- Over 1000 coral islands - clear waters, hot weather, dry area
Economic benefits
- Risen from $400 to $5000 since 1950
- TMA transports 2,000 each day by bus and sea, experiencing 8% growth a year and 300,000 passengers
- Ferries and boats interconnect areas
- New luxury terminal build
- Revenue roughly £65m a year
- Improvements in infrastructure - transport mainly
- 60% of foreign exchange earnings
- 22% of employment - indirectly 50%
- 31% of GDP - indirectly 70%
Economic disadvantages
- Per capita income still low at £1400 a year - UK £28,000
- Agriculture constrained - producing only 10% of what is needed so must import - trade deficit at £12.5m
- Need assistance from World Bank, Asian Development Bank and UN Development Program
- Employment not sustainable - seasonal, resort based - migrants get the managerial roles - mainly Bangladeshi
Social benefits
- 30% employment in tourism
- Literacy rates from 82% to 96% 1997 to 2006
- Incomes risen - now middle income status - living standards
- More job opportunities created - 31,000 jobs - 300,000 with education and healthcare benefits
- Bangladeshi immigrants beneficial to Bangladesh economy
- Achieved 5/8 Millennium development goals
Social disadvantages
- Resorts owned by foreign companies, less reinvestment into area than should be
- Money leaked abroad
- Decline in tradition, distortion of culture
- Resentment and poverty as tourists very rich believe responsible for rising sea level and costs
- Wealth disparity - industry earns $3bn a year but 40% live on less than $1 a day - resort salary $1550
- 60,000 migrant workers - resentment and violence - remittances
- Only one hospital on the capital island
- Population growth underway
- 44% of jobs filled by foreign workers
- Weak government and corruption
- Local tension
- Exploited by foreign investors
Environmental advantages
-Local tourists pay for steel coral skeletons - 1,100 installed
-Eco tourism can preserve environment
-Money reinvested into protecting environment
-Using rainwater instead of groundwater
-Fishing done by line - banning of using nets
-UNESCO marine biosphere
-Aim to be carbon neutral by 2020
-Soft engineering strategies
-Policies sustainable
-Schemes to geo-engineer artificial islands, relocate populations and attract tourists
1/3 of 185 islands abandoned and used as reserves
Environmental disadvantages
- Trees and vegetation cleared out to make way for resorts
- Local vegetation disrupted by foreign species
- resorts pump raw sewage into sea
- Amount of food needed - increased harmful agricultural chemicals
- Coral reefs damaged
- 30-70% all corals wiped out by 2050 - source of tourism
- Increased sea temperatures bleach coral reefs
- Sea level rise - very low lying
- Boats emit GHG
- Air travel rise as well as airports
- Tourists double the population
- Pollution and littering
- Island of sewage waste on ‘Trash Island’
- Abandoned islands ignored
- Revised carbon neutral plans to 2030
- Sea level - 80% of the land below a metre tall
What are some of the maangement strategies?
- Rainwater instead of groundwater
- Aimed to be carbon neutral by 2020
- Limit built up area to 20% of land
- Construction on reef flats and lagoons banned
- 68% of a beach allocated to guest rooms
- Mandatory replacement for all trees cut down
- Salt water used for flushing toilets and showers
- Jetties, groynes, seawalls and breakwaters restricted - coral colonization encouraged
- Tourists prohibited to fish and remove material
- Prohibited sand mining
- Prohibited fishing
- Maximum building height limited to 2 stories
- UNESCO biosphere reserve
Ecotourism examples
Barefoot Eco hotel:
- Ecological wood, solar panel usage, heat generated air conditioners, water bottling plant opened to reduce plastic bottles
- Conservation centre helping tourists - dolphin, snorkelling - collect data on ecosystem
- All goods purchased on site
- Education programmes
Reethi Beach:
-Ban on shark fishing and product trade, toured guides - takes up just 16% of island, desalination plant, underground tanks harvesting rain water, hot water produced through heat exchange, drinking water produced
No plastic bags, plastic straws, disposable paper towerls or single use coasters used
Coco palm:
-UNESCO biosphere reserve, sewage plant treating water, cans and glasses crushed
Kuramathi resort:
-Desalination plant, recycled grey water and treated, energy saving air conditioning, educational eco centre, hydroponic garden providing 70% of herbs and salads to restaurant.
Baa atoll biosphere reserve - supports mangroves and coral reefs, 5% of global reef in Maldives with 250 species, limited activity in periphery of core areas
- UNESCO biosphere reserve
- No anchoring
Why is the government switching to mass tourism?
- Wants to increase from 1.3m to 7m tourists in 10 years.
- Mass tourism and new developments rather than carbon neutrality enable it to adapt to climate change
- Selling atoll with 19 islands to Saudi family to create 50 more resorts
- Aims to create smart country with high tech centres, economic free zones and universities to attract global elite
- 1/3 of 185 islands may have to be abandoned and offered free houses on larger islands as some islands have very few people and should use the islands for tourism
- Money then reinvested in protecting environment
- Climate change is not their responsibility, they should focus on water, sanitation and waste - only 31 islands have sewerage and 6 have waste system
- Do not have space for solar
