Islands within Islands : exclusive tourism and sustainable utilization of coastal resources in Zanzibar

Abstract

Much has been said about the direct environmental impacts of tourism on islands, for example, pollution, coral reef damage or spoiling the beauty of a palm-fringed beach. Therefore countries now moving into tourism, like Zanzibar, would prefer to develop high-value, low-volume tourism - often referred to as 'exclusive tourism'. Such tourism should be able to bring high returns for non-extractive use of the coastal resources, thereby helping conservation. In practice, Zanzibar is attracting a variety of tourism investors, from all sectors of the market. Its limited experience of 'exclusive' foreign tourism investors is that they not only exclude low-budget tourists by their price, but they also try to exclude local people from access to resources. Moreover, a variety of factors conspire to exclude the majority of local people from participation in tourism business, other than as menial labourers. This exclusion adds to the pressure on the coast's natural resources, on which most Zanzibaris depend and which are already under stress due to over-exploitation. It therefore appears that tourism, whether up-market or down-market, will not promote sustainable development. This chapter discusses ways for Zanzibar to resolve the dilemma by summarizing the obstacles to, and opportunities for, harnessing tourism to the needs of rural development and environmental protection. Underlying the arguments is the question of how best to distribute the costs and benefits of tourism.