Sustainable tourism in small islands

Abstract

The issue of sustainable tourism is often discussed in terms of the balance between economic and environmental concerns. It is well known that many, if not all, economic activities have an impact on the environment and that this has a feedback effect on the economy itself. This is especially so in the case of tourism which utilises the environment as a resource. Tourism depends to a very large extent on an milieu which is pleasant and attractive to tourists, and negative environmental impacts caused by tourism itself, may therefore have the effect of “soiling one’s own nest” in the long run. Sustainable tourism may be defined as “tourism which is developed and maintained in such a manner and scale that it remains viable in the long run and does not degrade the environment in which it exists to such an extent that it prohibits the successful development of other activities”. Although the term “sustainable tourism” will not feature frequently in this paper, it was written with this definition in mind. The paper looks at the issue from the point of view of a small island developing state (SIDS),namely Malta. In many SIDS environmental degradation caused by tourism activities is commonplace. However many SIDS cannot substitute this form of economic activity with other, more environmentally-friendly activities, without great economic hardship. The paper therefore argues that preemptive and corrective measures are called for in order to reach an optimal solution between the evils of environmental degradation and the benefits of economic growth and development. The paper is divided in six sections. Following this introduction, the dependence of SIDS on tourism is briefly described. Section 3 assesses the economic impact of tourism on the Maltese economy, while section 4 deals with environmental impact of tourism on the same islands. Some preemptive and corrective measures for the promotion of sustainable tourism are suggested in section 5. Section 6 concludes the paper with the optimistic note that tourism itself is sharpening our awareness of the evils of environmental degradation, and this could be conducive towards the adoption of sustainable tourism policies and measures.