Tourism, Biodiversity and Information
edited by
F. di Castri and V Balaji
lB
Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, 2002
Easter Island, National Park ofRapa Nui (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Front cover: Moai of Ahu Nau Nau, on Anakena beach north ofthe island, where the legendary
first king Hotu Matu'a ofRapa Nui (Easter Island) is supposed to have landed on his way from a Polynesian Hiva, the ancestral homeland. Back cover: Moai of Ahu Ko Te Riku, at Tahai, southwest of the island, near the Cook Bay.
Photographs: Francesco di Castri
ISBN 90-5782-107-9
Š Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2002 All rights reserved. Nothing from this publication may be reproduced, stored in a computerized system or published in any form or in any manner, including electronic, mechanical, teprographic or photographic, without prior written permission from the publishers, Backhuys Publishers, PO. Box 321, 2300 AH Leiden, The Netherlands. Printed in The Netherlands
CONTENTS Foreword Thierry Desmarest Prologue M.s. Swaminathan Preface Francesco di Castri Section 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Xl
XIII
Relevance of Tourism and Biodiversity in the Information Society Introduction Francesco di Castri and Venkataraman Balaji
Chapter 1
IX
The Trilogy ofthe Knowledge-Based, Post-industrial Society: Information, Biodiversity and Tourism Francesco di Castri Sustainable Tourism Within the Context of the Ecosystem Approach Alexander Heydendael Sustainable Development ofTourism: Principies and Practice Gabor Vereczi
Section 11 Geographic Regions: the Coastal Zones
3
7
25
45
57
Introduction Francesco di Castri, Michel Batisse, Paul F. Wilkinson and Venkataraman Balaji
59
Chapter 4
Mediterranean Tourism: Towards a New Deal Pierre Bougeant
67
Chapter 5
The Spread of a Non-native Marine Species, Caulerpa taxifolia. Impact on the Mediterranean Biodiversity and Possible Economic Consequences Charles-Francois Boudouresque
Chapter 6
Protecting for Ecological Integrity in a Coastal National Park: Visitor Use in Pacific Rim National Park, Vancouver Island, Canada Paul F. Wilkinson
75
89
Con ten ts
VI
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Integration of Biodiversity in Cultural Heritage in the Development of Ecotourism. A case study from Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlottes Islands), B.C., Canada Sylvie Blangy and Jean-Louis Martin El Camino del Gaucho: Tourism Evolution, Biodiversity and Landscape Management from the Argentinean to the South-Brazilian Coastal Zones RubĂŠn Pesci Sustainable Management of Conservation and Tourism: the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve in Southern India Venkataraman Balaji and Vaithilingam Selvam With an appendix by Sumet Tantivejkul
Section III Geographic Regions: the Islands Introduction Francesco di Castri, Jerome McElroy, Pauline Sheldon and Venkataraman Balaji
105
117
127
137 139
Chapter 10 The Impact ofTourism in Small Islands: a Global Comparison Jerome L. McElroy
151
Chapter 11 Sustainable Tourism in Small Islands: the Case of Malta Lino Briguglio and Marie Briguglio
169
Chapter 12 Bikinis and Biodiversity: Tourism and Conservation on Cousin Island, Seychelles Nirmal Jivan Shah
185
Chapter 13 Tasmania: Balancing Commercial and Ecological Interests in Tourism Development Michael V Conlin
197
Chapter 14 Islands and Coral Reefs, Population and Culture, Economy and Tourism: World View and a Case Study of French Polynesia Bernard Salvat and Claire Pailhe
213
Chapter 15 How Tourism Reduces Geodiversity and How it Could Be Different: the Cases of the GalĂĄpagos Archipelago and Easter lsland Christophe Grenier
233
Contents
vii
Chapter 16 Diversification, Connectivity and Local Empowerment for Tourism Sustainability in South Pacific Islands - a Network from French Polynesia to Easter Island
257
Francesco di Castri With an appendix by Edgard Hereveri Section IV
New Trends in Biodiversity
285
Conservation
Introduction
287
Francesco di Castri, Peter Bridgewater; Venkataraman Balaji
Jacques Blondel and
Chapter 17 Biosphere Reserves, the Ecosystem Approach and Sustainable Tourism - Finding New Paradigms in a Globalizing World
293
Peter B. Bridgewater
Chapter 18 Birding in the Sky: Only Fun, a Chance for Ecodevelopment, or Both?
307
Jacques Blondel
Chapter 19 Tourism and Geodiversity: the Case of Geoparks Margarete
319
Patzak
Chapter 20 Boreal Biodiversity and Tourism: Toward New Spinn-offs Claude Villeneuve, Section V
Sustainability
Sylvie Bouchard
and Annnabelle ,
341
and Economics
Introduction Francesco di Castri, Eugenio Venkataraman Balaji
329
LalibertĂŠ
343 Figueroa, Jerome McElroy and
Chapter 21 Information Technologies and 'Grassroots Tourism': Protecting Native Cultures and Biodiversity in a Global World
349
Eugenio Figueroa B. and Roberto Alvarez E.
Chapter 22 Island Tourism and Unstable Development - New Perspectives
381
Pier Giovanni d 'Aya la
Chapter 23 Tourism and Biodiversity: Critical Challenges and Management Tools for Good Global Governance
391
Peter DogsĂŠ
Chapter24 Impact on Tourism of a Major Biodiversity Catastrophe: an Example of the Interrelationship of the Communication Society with Environmental Economics Michel Girin
409
Contents
VIll
Section VI
Information, Communication and Education for Tourism Development Introduction Francesco di Castri, Pauline Sheldon, Michael Conlin, Priscilla Boniface and Venkataraman Balaji
421 423
Chapter 25 Information Technology, Tourism and Biodiversity in Society and in Relationship Priscilla Boniface
431
Chapter 26 Information Technology Contributions to Biodiversity in Tourism: the Case of Hawaii Pauline J Sheldon
449
Chapter 27 New Tourism Challenges on Islands in the Information Society: the Canary Islands Experience 457 Cipriano MarĂn Section VII Epilogue Introduction Francesco di Castri
479 481
Chapter 28 Tourism Revisited after 11 September 2001 Francesco di Castri
483
List of Contributors
489
Index
493
CHAPTER27
New Tourism Challenges on Islands in the Information Society: The Canary Islands Experience Cipriano MarĂn
The Present and the Future: Islands and the New Millennium Discussions on the challenges that islands must face and their future options have become unusually intense in recent years. The subject of islands began to appear in the international community in 1982, when the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention was put in place. But it was 10 years later, in 1992, that the Agenda 21 (adopted at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Surnmit),unequivocally stated that islands represent an essential part in the worldwide strategy of sustainable development, a point emphasized also in Chapter 22 by d' Ayala in this book. The Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 points out that "islands constitute a special case, both for the environment and for development and they present very specific problems in the planning of sustainable development. They tend to be ecologically fragile and vulnerable". On the other hand, their small individual size, limited resources, geographical dispersion and isolation from markets place them at an economic disadvantage, preventing them from achieving economies of scale. "Their geographic isolation has resulted in their habitation of a comparatively large nuniber of unique species of flora and fauna, giving them a very high share of global biodiversity. They also have rich and diverse cultures with special adaptations to island environments and knowledge of the sound management of island resources." The Barbados Conference (1992), in its preamble, also provided a common attitude, namely, recognition of the force of insularity in the international community: "we see that, although, when considered individually, islands and small island states cover a small surface area, collectively they exercise jurisdiction over a sixth of the Earth's surface area". And this is without counting the influence ofthe thousands of other islands that are administratively dependent on the mainland states. A peculiarity that is clearly illustrated in the case ofVanuatu, an archipelago of 80 islands, is that it has a land area that is 50 times less than its exclusive economic area (600,000 km-), with a population of 150,000 inhabitants. The appearance of a new mentality and the building of the island conscience at the dawn of the twenty- first century have a common link. Island societies are increas-
Tourism, Biodiversity and Information, pp. 457-478 Edited by F di Castri and V.Balaji Š 2002 Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands
458
Cipriano Marin
ingly aware that the wealth and diversity of the natural heritage of islands is seriously endangered and that strategies to safeguard this heritage should be designed on specific budgets. This is nothing new. The colonization of island territories on the basis of hyper-specialized production superimposed on the land is common practice and has been so for over 300 years. This is the case with sugarcane, whose introduction created the White Gold Route from Cape Verde to the West Indies, or tea as a single crop, or the introduction of bananas on a massive scale in Madeira, the Canary Islands, the West Indies or Madagascar. In many cases, this specialization has radically altered fragile island ecosystems. Now, however, a new single crop has exploded onto the scene with unusual force before the eyes of island peoples - tourism. This is an ambivalent phenomenon which provides the resources that island economies need, but which has a capacity for land occupation and competition that could have totally unpredictable effects. If we analyze the international arrivals data supplied by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), islands, as a whole, can be considered the world's second leading tourist destination, behind the bloc formed by historie cities (also see in this book, Chapter 3 by Vereczi and Chapter 22 by d' Ayala). But, getting a close-up view of the reality of the island situation, especially in tourist matters, is a task that is obscured by an accumulation of curious historical perceptions. The extreme diversity of islands has turned them ÍTIto unknown territory, as a whole, surrounded by myths and some stereotypes that explain the tourist expectations created in recent decades for island destinations. In the eyes of many mainlanders, islands remain impregnated with an age-old mix of fantasy and ignorance, like the islands of the Odyssey, those small worlds that Ulysses found before reaching Ithaca. As imaginary territories, islands have been the sites of great utopias like the Atlantis evoked by Plato in two of his Dialogues, or the most insular of utopias represented in Francis Bacon's The New Atlantis. At the other end of the scale, from the utopia, is the desert island, described by Alphonse Daudet in his Shipwreck, or by Jules Verne in his The Mysterious Island, islands of fear or punishment, as Unamuno reminds us when he refers to Fuerteventura, or infamous islands or prison islands, like Gorée. The nineteenth century brought the discovery of islands as the perfect dream of naturalists, a sanetuary for what we now undérstand as biodiversity. They are the islands of Linnaeus and Rousseau, islands that inspired Darwin 's evolution of the species. That is why, nowadays, island expectations are forged with a tremendous arnount of real capital based on diversity and that indefinable cultural, scenic and social mix that defines unique identities for thousands of islands. These are key elements in the analysis of the emerging role of islands in the international tourist market. In the times we live in, however, there is confrontation between islands in new cornpetition scenarios of the tourist industry. For the present mature island destinations, aspects related to environmental and cultural quality are not optional added values; they now constitute essential specifications of the product that will decide its level
Chapter 27 - New Tourism Challenges on lslands in the Information
Society
459
of survival in the market. The Ecomost project, carried out in 1994 for the islands ofRhodes and Majorca, gave us a foretaste ofthe basic problems that island tourist destinations are now facing, when it stated that any destination that is irreversibly damaged in its basic environmental aspects, wiJl pay the price of all products that become uncompetitive (ECOMOST, 1994). 'Ecotourist quality' is emerging as an objective to pursue in destinations such as the islands. But, apart from these market-driven reactions and an increasingly knowledgeable demand, it is essential to recognize that the context oftourist activity is now changing at a dizzying speed. Tourism has fundamentaJly changed its dimension, as a mass phenomenon and even as a social right. Such a change also includes the forms of tourism, with the systematic appearance of new products, destinations and ways of understanding the art of traveling. It is evident that in the last few years the tourist demand has experienced profound ehanges in the eonsumers' behavior. During the last 10 years, the tourist industry has undergone fundamental changes in its managerial culture, responding to the demand for qualitative changes. Mass tourism, characterized by the production and selling of inflexible and standardized mas s products, is giving way to new business approaches characterized by product flexibility and segmentation. In this context, segmentation of the present tourist demand wiJl be in conflict with many island tourist destinations that have maintained their classical tourism packages. The tourist business in islands has also changed to the same extent. Tourism was initially managed by the owners of the accommodation in the destination; then tour operators appeared foJlowed by carriers; and, more recently, there has been a broad process of merger between the latter and the major accommodation chains. But, an analysis of the new century would again reveal another major change. If we look earefuJly at what we have so far understood as conventional tourism, we see this is a mere fraction of the great leisure industry. Apart from the obvious evidence like the Disney phenomenon, the international reorganization ofthe industry in the context ofthe global market clearly points to this trend. In fact, tourism forecasting now has to be done in the framework of the Information Society. In the age of telematies and within a very few years, it will be very difficult to recognize the conventional forms and products that have characterized the tourist business so faro These changes must be observed with special attention by islands, in order to anticipate what sometimes appear to be irreversible events. An approach is required that is based on the fact that the penetration oftourism in new island economies constitutes an increasingly determining factor in their future strategy. For reference information, one only has to emphasize that this sector represents a growing proportion of the Gross National Product of an increasingly larger number of island regions, with varying degrees of intensity - Okinawa (20%), Hawaii (56%), Northern Mariana Islands (67%) (Kakazu, 1999), the Canary Islands (60%). The trend towards specialization becomes more evident if we analyze data such as the proportion of employment in the tertiary sector: RĂŠunion (77%) (Rochoux, 1999), the Canary Islands (80%).1
Cipriano Marin
460
To get an idea of the importance of island tourism, the usual island tourist densities can be compared. The den sities easily go beyond 50 rooms per square kilometer, higher in many cases than densities in many populated areas of the mainland. This is true of St. Marteen, Bermuda, Malta and Canary Islands. But in terms of tourist flows, the results are a lot more striking - Greek islands receive more international tourism than Brazil, the Balearic Islands host as many tourists as does Portugal and the Canary Islands receive twice the number of international tourists hosted by South Africa (6 million ayear) the great emerging destination ofthe African continent (see also Chapter 22 by d' Ayala in this book). If the tourists/local population indicators are used, we also find many unusual situations, like the Cayman Islands, Aruba, British Virgin Islands and the most spectacular case, the Balearic Islands, where there are 418 tourists per 1,000 inhabitants. In this context, the experience of the seven Canary Islands represents an excellent expression of the paradigm of tourism in islands. Many different forms of tourist development and different design policies live together in a very limited space of land (Fig. 27.1).
The Perversions of Planning A traditional temptation when regulating the tourist industry and its environmental effects consists of resorting to regional planning instruments as the only framework for consensus. While recognizing that island regional planning is now a necessity and an instrument that can prevent major disorders in the rational use of resources, it must be noted that this cannot be the sole framework for discussion among the different actors that make up an activity as complex as the tourist industry. Constraining the debate on tourist development in the islands to a matter of town planning or resource planning, presupposes that an initial analysis has been established, which will be con cerned only with some aspects related to the tourist induso
La Palma
\)
T~ W Gornera
O
V
qEIHlerro
Figure 27.1 The Canary Islands.
Gran
o
Chapter 27 - New Tourism Challenges on Islands in the Information
Society
461
try, such as infrastructure and accommodation. This neglects many other factors that enable us to define the product or the different products that make up the final image of the island destination. Such a simplistic view feeds off the tremendous social and economic tensions that are created in new destinations. The financial, administrative and jurisdictional scale and complexity of these processes has meant that most island destinations have been mere observers of operations that were beyond their control. And this is exactly what has happened in the Canary Islands. In the 1970s, the Canary Islands started building areas suitable for mass tourism, with the firm support of the public sector focused basically on creating transport infrastructure and appropriate conditions. Around 1986, the islands had nearly 200 planning initiatives that covered an area of 55,000 ha, reaching a potential capacity of nearly 4 million accommodation units. This kind of planning madness was typical of an age that has left a profound mark on attempts to organize tourism. At that time, the process took a downturn and the figures for potential capacity started to decline substantially, although they were still way above the real possibilities of land and resources, as well as social and economic stability. The amount of land currently developed for tourist purposes is around 12,000 ha and accommodation in the Canary Islands is around 350,000 rooms. In conditions such as these, planning has become a perverse instrument, in that it leads to an excessive growth oftotal accommodation units that is beyond all control and which is only subject to 'market forces' (Table 27.1). In these conditions, competition for space emerges as a key factor in tourism planning, which made the Canary Islands' Protected Areas Act and the Island Zoning Plans Act necessary in 1992. This legislation led to the creation of the Canary Islands' Network of Protected Areas, made up of 145 Areas and accounting for 40.4% of the total surface area of the Islands altogether. rabie 27.1. Canary lslands: growth in tourist accommodation, Year
Tourists
Rooms
1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
4,169,050 5,068,242 5,416,652 5,352,205 5,459,473 6,136,990 6,327,112 7,551,065 9,256,817 9,693,086 9,804,540
201,493 251,067 308,177 343,559 364,269 375,995 337,482 337,975 330,614 324,124 328,254
Source: White Paper on Canary Island Tourism.
1998
1986-1996.
462
Cipriano Marin
Table 27.2 Hotel and self-catering rooms in the Canary lslands, as on 31 December 1999a Island
Lanzarote Fuerteventura Gran Canaria Tenerife La Gomera La Palma El Hierro Total for Canary Islands
Hotel rooms Number
%
Self-catering umber
rooms %
Total number of rooms
12,077 9,515 35,018 57,006 1,554 1,983 417
10.27 8.09 29.78 48.49 1.32 1.69 0.35
32,763 24,867 108,067 56,999 3,940 5,817 551
14.06 10.67 46.38 24.46 1.69 2.50 0.24
44,840 34,382 143,085 114,005 5,494 7,800 968
117,570
100
233,004
100
350,574
a. Figures do not inelude establishments Souree: Gobierno de Canarias,
awaiting planning permission
(around 40 000 rooms)
2000a. Canaria
In terms of results, the main positive effect is obtained in the Protected Areas Act, which managed to save a large proportion of expectant land from indiscriminate tourist development. The Regional Zoning Plans are the tools used in the rest of the region. With the exception of the case of Lanzarote, which managed to adopt its Plan in 1994, the tensions generated by the growth of tourism were obvious in all the other Plans, provoking endless processes of adaptation and disproportionate administrative red-tape, which in some cases lasted more than a decade. The bureaucratization of regional planning instruments and processes is clearly due to the expectations generated for tourist developments, which have once again reached new highs in recent years (Table 27.2). To get a real idea of the enormous accommodation infrastructure boom, one only has to consider the fact that, in the next few years, the Islands will account for nearly three quarters of all tourist investment on the Spanish coastline.? Current estimates are 283,000 million pesetas (US$2,400 million) for building new hotels on the Canary Island coast, of which Pta 108,000 million (38%) are for Tenerife, Pta 56,000 million for Gran Canaria (19%), Pta 40,000 million for Fuerteventura (10%) and Pta 11,000 million for Lanzarote (4%). The next Spanish regions in the ranking are a long way behind the total numbers for the Canary Islands as a whole, such as the coast ofGranada (Pta 20;000 million) or Alicante (Pta 14,000 million). A more detailed analysis ofthe situation, in the light ofthese magnitudes, suggests that we are not really talking about tourism, but rather of property operations characterized by the need to make 'safe' investments, attracted by the image of a continuously growing sector and enhanced by factors that are external to the industry, like the special tax regulations in the Islands and the need to convert capital hidden in pesetas before the Euro comes into force as the single currency. So, new accommodation infrastructure is the driving force of this induced growth in tourism, which clearly suggests that there is an absence of criteria applicable to tourist strategy and that there is no clear model or tourist product that is more suitably adapted to the situation. In fact, most of these new operations contradict the spirit of the Canary Island Tourism Act, which openly opts for adopting environmental criteria,
Chapter 27 - New Tourism Challenges on Islands in the /nformation
Society
463
increasing the quality of the supply and rationalizing growth in accordance to the specificities of the Islands. Authorizing excessive new tourist accornmodations cannot be justified by market requirements either. In the area of planning, the figures used are for peak occupation, which is between 90% and 95%, when we should really use the average figures, which are only just over 70% for all accornmodation categories (Cabildo de Tenerife, 1999). These exaggerated expectations of growth, which exceed the phenomenon of mass tourism that occurred in the Islands in the 1970s in absolute terms, have radicalized the social debate on future prospects. Many different initiatives and responses have emerged in response to a phenomenon of this magnitude, including the Lanzarote initiative, whereby a moratorium was adopted on the growth ofthe accornmodation sector, following the example of the process started in the Balearic Islands. But, even taking into consideration the incalculable demonstrative value ofthis measure, aimed at establishing a cooling-off period, we are really perplexed to see how the enormous pressure to develop far exceeds the capacity ofthe institutional measures. One ofthe first consequences ofthe moratorium was to speed up the administrative process for consolidated projects in order not to miss the legal deadlines for the measure, bringing forward the launching of 11,000 new rooms into the market. This was certainly not the desired outcome, as even the island's strategic plan, called "Lanzarote in the Biosphere", had wamed that it was time to curb the process because rapid growth in tourist numbers and the development of new resorts on the coast had led to a 5% increase in developed land in little more than a decade and regional land density has increased more than 60%. And this was despite the fact that the Island Regional Zoning Plan had declassified more than 200,000 tourist rooms on the Island in 1991 (Cabildo de Lanzarote. 1998). Another typical reaction in all this confusion is to attack the concept of mass tourism, offering the alternative of new forms and products based on the concept of ecotourism or rural tourism. These trends, which of course, are very valid in many emerging island destinations, are a supplementary risk in the established destinations. With the exception of the case of El Hierro (an island which, right from the beginning, opted for a low-density tourist model based on refurbishing their building heritage), giving one's blessing to these new options in a region that receives 11 mili ion tourists ayear amounts to adding yet another penetration factor in these sensitive areas, with unpredictable consequences. The problem lies in the fact that, with a model ofthis kind, a scattered tourist occupation ofrural areas and ofthe few virgin landscapes will lead to a demand for infrastructure that have so far been considered unnecessary. But, apart from the new danger arising from a generalization of rural accommodation, we find that new tourist products are appearing, based on the attraction of the new stereotyped ecological or natural tourism. There is considerable risk involved in an uncontrolled promotion of such products in islands with fragile and limited resources. But, what could be of even more concem is that this is an induced sup-
Cipriano Marin
464
ply of products with no scientific base, an intuitive response to a foreseeable deterioration of conventional tourist products. These opinions are supported by a study carried out for Lanzarote in 1997 (FUTURES, 1997) sponsored by the island 's association of hoteliers in cooperation with the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, in which INSULA (International Scientific Council for lsland Development) also participated. One of the objectives set out was to establish appropriate methodologies to study, with greater precision, the expectations raised by the destination of Lanzarote as a differentiated tourist product and to identify the main gaps existing between expectations and perception. Environmental aspects were analyzed with special attention, as surveys carried out until that moment had not differentiated this aspect. Figure 27.2 gives a summary of the results concerning the expectations of tourists. Apart from the classical aspects of the Canary lslands product, such as the preponderance of the climate and accommodation factors, attention should be paid to the high expectations attributed to the landscape and the environmental quality of the destination. But this latter aspect should be defined more precisely, because if we take a closer look, we wi 11see that the expectations of the exotic nature of the destination, nature activities and cultural aspects are low. Ifwe go deeper into this perspective, we find that the largest environmental gaps were those concerning accornmodation environments, complexes and resorts. Results such as these, applicable with certain nuances to the rest of the Canary Islands, show the distance that separates tourist planning and marketing carried out by Lanzarote, from the real expectations of tourists. Opting for enhancing quality with an environment-related product led to enormous investments being made in D
UK
I<ZIGermany
•
Spain
100 90 80 70 " 60
.&
o & & ~ 's: g" ~ 'fl ~"" i? .5 '" w ~ s " ~ 8 § E''" ~ ¡f z i g" C
e,
5
J!!
C
¡¡;
e
l
w
¡¡;
z
x
C
g
'" '" ¡ )5
<r
E E
8
:¡
~ 0
>-
C "C
:2"
~
o u.
'"
!!
3.-c
'"
o
{f
"j;' ¡¡;
'P o u
El
g>
8: 2
rJJ
0
i!'
f5
!j
~ ~
~
)J
E'
'O
C
::f"
'"
1
a
0 -s:
~ ~" i?
s
u.
Figure 27.2. Expertations of tourists, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, 1997.
"¡¡¡
s C
'O
. gÉ
.E' ¡¡;
g" "2
~
s
'"
w
2 rJJ
a> '" !J
j
2 IX
o
C
s e
s :;-
u
Chapler 27 - New Tourism Challenges on lslands in the lnformation Society
465
the Canary Islands, in tracks, lookout spots and public facilities in natural spaces and areas of great scenic value. But what is really needed - and urgently - is an enhanced environmental integration of tourist centers, where factors such as esthetics and integration of complexes, noise, waste, transport and urban development are the priority requirements. In fact, this is the philosophy laid down in several excellence plans that have been initiated in the main tourist cities and possibly explains the success of the Local Agenda 21 in Calviรก (Calviรก Agenda Local 21, 1977), a tourist district on the island of Majorca, in the Balearic Islands. AII this leads us to believe that planning and tools such as marketing, which have an enormous influence in the design of the tourism products, should be based on scientific criteria and methodologies that are more in line with the reality of each island. Experience shows us daily that the enormous diversity of island situations makes extreme caution necessary when dealing with the more perverse aspects arising from planning, or the temptation to homogenize based on the importance of models. Island products are clearly highly diverse and this is precisely what gives them their strength as a whole. For example, the Canary Islands should not, insist on selling an image of an exotic and idyllic destination, but should rather find the elements that really differentiate it from other products. A survey carried out by the Seychelles Tourist Marketing Administration for European travelers supports this idea when it established that the top ten exotic and idyllic destinations were Mauritius, Hawaii, Maldives, Cuba, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Bali, Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Tahiti (STMA, 2000). The keywords in new strategies to improve destinations like the Canary Islands are not their exotic nature, ecotourism or nature-related products. Instead, advances must be made in terms of refurbishment, regeneration, quality enhancement and diversification, a new framework that must cease to use the failure of the current system of conventional planning as its foundation.
Infrastructure: an Undefined Variable in the Balanced Tourism Development of Islands In the planning framework, increasing importance is given to infrastructure-related decisions, their conception and designo Tourist destination managers are gradualIy realizing that a strict land policy, which protects the environment and built heritage, is of little use if the size of tourist resorts, inland and maritime transport systems, access and water and energy infrastructures, go beyond the potential of the territory and degrade the tourist product. The design factor must be taken into consideration while taking major infrastructure decisions. One frequently finds solutions that are esthetically and conceptually inappropriate for the local reality. These solutions are mostly imported and camouflaged and destroy island harmony and irretrievably mortgage their future. The continuing neglect of the predominant role that infrastructure plays in the designing of a tourism model becomes evident in the strange relations that many
466
Cipriano Marin
peripheral islands have with their mainland states. If, for instance, we analyze the destination of the European Union's Structural Funds for islands, we see that the investments, under the pretext of improving the tourist sector, are usually allocated to imposing infrastructure projects (roads, air transport, electricity grids, etc.), whose adaptation to the island situation is doubtful, which are difficult to maintain and which involve extraordinary regional impact. The conviction that the development of infrastructure is a constant in the island development equation is proving to be a fallacy that entails serious problems. These errors of simplification have already been demonstrated in the experiences derived from the Remote Island Development Act (RIDA) in Japan (Kakazu, 2000) and the Canary Islands are currently undergoing a similar process. Airport infrastructure and road transport planning are two good examples. In the heat of the island debate about the urgent need to limit the growth of tourist constructions and land-use plans are afoot, in Tenerife, to extend the new airports to triple their current capacity. The new airport master plan fixes passenger movements at around 25 million, which destroys any attempt at regulation. The peculiar view ofthe islander (who is used to shortages) combined with a deregulated supply of external aie!,forms an explosive cocktail for the extremely fragile and vulnerable areas. An extreme example of this can be seen in the island of La Gomera, where an airport was built to handle the tourist traffic, but which is not operational due to lack of demand - because sea links were improved extremely quickly. The local authorities have even proposed public subsidies for airlines. The environmental, economic and social impact ofthe project was vehemently expressed in the process of drafting the Ecoplan (Mendaro and MarĂn, 1992), a futile task at a time when the local authorities thought that they could not waste Community aid shortly after joining the European Union. These are very common mistakes to be found in all islands, all over the world. These risks are as common as those involved in internal transport models. Inland transport is probably one of the major environmental risk factors for island tourist destinations. Import of inadaptable mobility systems and oversizing of infrastructures induced by tourist acti~Ăty always has devastating effects in such fragile and limited territories. According to the Yearbook of the Spanish DirectorateGeneral for Traffic, the Balearic islands head the national ranking with arate of 916 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants, followed by the two Canary Islands provinces ofLas Palmas (650) and Tenerife (688) (Traffic Directorate-General, 2000). But when we analyze the density of vehicles, we find that the Canary Islands also go to extreme figures, reaching 205.4 vehicles/km-, which is twice the Spanish average (128) and four times the European average (Gobierno de Canarias, 2000a) of 51.5 vehicles/krn-.
Chapter 27 - New Tourism Challenges on Islands in the Information Society
467
Road density follows the same trend. The Canary Islands' road network consists of 4,362 km ofroads, with an average ofO.58 km/km-, a very high ratio ifwe consider that 42% of the territory is protected and therefore road density in these afeas is obviously lower. evertheless, we must clarify that this is a cornmon feature of tourist islands, where road densities are always extremely high, as on Martinique (1.4 krn/krn-) and Madeira (1. 7 km/km"). Effects induced by tourist activity are particularly clear in the case of Lanzarote. Within the 'Lanzarote in the Biosphere' plan, it is possible to notice the 'overmotorization' ofthe island and the lack of island mobility planning criteria: • there are 800 vehic\es per 1,000 inhabitants, going beyond the average of most European countries; • global traffic reaches 685 million vehicles/km per year, a disproportionate number for a territory so vulnerable to mobility-induced impacts; • tourists cover an average of 49 km daily, doubling the available figures relative to other Mediterranean tourist destinations; • the number of cars increased by 65% between 1988 and 1996; • public transport can only manage 26% of the commuter traffic (Cabildo de Lanzarote, 1998). Estimates show that tourist-rented cars alone account for 40% of the total motor vehicle traffic on the island, although they are just 20% of the total number of cars. Initially, island tourist areas adopt incompatible modes oftransport, due to their fast growth. lncreased incomes and lack of planning bring about a disproportionate increase in the number of private vehicles and this rapidly transfers to the tourist sector. It is quite odd to see this happening in territories that have been traditionalIy imaginative in favoring intermodality, combining, for instance, maritime and terrestrial transport. Transport modal distributions are also particularly significant, because ofthe low proportion of collective transport (residents 19%, tourists, 49%). In spite of these circumstances, 227 km of new roads are being planned and built, financed in agreement with the Spanish Government and with a high percentage of funding from the European Community funds, which in theory are intended to help the less-favored islands and must finance initiatives with a high content of environmental infrastructure. Nevertheless, we must take into account that, on tourist islands, many other factors contribute to transport characterization, apart from the ones mentioned above. Route design and use oftraditional access systems (which can also be an important tourist resource) decisively contribute to safeguarding the basic landscape assets in each destination. We can take the example of Minorca, where there is an equally high road density (0.53 km/km-, 21 % higher than the Balearic Islands' average) mainly due to the wide dispersion of the 39 main tourist settlements, with a total of 360 km of finished roads.I In spite of this high density, the road network is excellently integrat-
468
Cipriano Marin
ed. The tourist development strategy was particularly concerned about the route and access system and the original two-century-old routes have been left practically unchanged. Within the framework of this plan, a poli conducted among tourists pointed out that tourists have different mobility criteria and that they more positively value low speeds and the environmental elements of the landscape. Conscious of the need to provide long-term answers to the island mobility problems, INSULA launched a project called TATE-Islands (Tourism and Transport Equilibrium in Island Regions), centered on the small Italian islands and Madeira, Crete, Balearic Islands and Canary Islands in Spain." These territories have been explicitly selected as they are areas of application for large-scale demonstration projects on renewable energies and alternative transports within the White Paper for a Community Strategy and Action Plan, subtitled "Energy for the Future: Renewable Sources of Energy". The objectives outlined within this project are: define the possible sustainable mobility scenarios for tourist islands (SMT); support innovation in the field of alternative collective vehicles (zero- and lowemission vehicles - both electric and hybrid); â&#x20AC;˘ establish the means to support no-traffic solutions (pedestrian and bicycles); and â&#x20AC;˘ develop large-scale demonstration projects. Priority areas of action are centered on the accessibility of sensitive and protected areas, historie centers and large tourist resorts. It must be admitted that the relative abundance of resources assigned to conventional infrastructure is in sharp contrast with the general delay in implementing information technologies (IT). We do know, however, that islands have no option but to playa leading role in this new revolution. For example, one only has to emphasize the fact that in the process carried out by the Small and Remote Islands of Japan, information technologies have become a basic factor in the new tourist strategy, with collateral influences in the diversification and promotion of cultural and even agro-industrial, products (health foods, medicinal plants, tropical fruits, flowers, etc.) (Fig. 27.3). lt is a fact that introducing islands into the Information Society is one ofthe major challenges of the next few yea(s. During the sessions of the 3rd World Tourism Organization (WTO) General Assembly, held in Santiago de Chile in September 1999, qualitative changes characterized by a massive use ofIT to be introduced in the near future have been emphasized. At present, for instance, 24% of consumers in USA search the Internet in order to chose destinations (Buhalis, 2000). ew information technologies make it possible to break down the barriers of general and specialized information that, in the past, have accentuated the isolation of islands. New information technologies are now affordable for small cornmunities and isolated users. And this is a great advantage for islands, because the new economy of the global market will be based more on the supply and exchange of non-material, knowledge-related goods. In the near future, a large part ofmarketing and trade will be done electronically, allowing easy access to the global market for island communities through telematic networks.
Chapter 27 - New Tourism Challenges on Islands in the Informa/ion Society
469
TRADE-ORIENTED SFTZ, DFS, Entrepot, Stockpoint .-
~~
L_-_-_-_,T-ra-d-in-g-Ce-n-te-r,~t.ff-s-ho-re--ba_n_ki_ng __ ~~
CULTURE, WELL-BEING, SPORT Historical heritage, Well-being, Healing Sport Music and dance
TOURISM.-. (Mass and Eco)
/ ZERO-EMISSION Refuse-derived fuel Glass bottles, Bagasse Water, Paper
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Call centers, CG, Telework Multimedia cyber park Distance education, Medical care
-: AGRO-INDUSTRY Health foods, Medicinal plants Tropical fruit, Flowers, Ostrich Urethan resins, Cookies
Figure 27.3 Okinawa: a diversified development model (Source: Kakazu, 2000).
In the case ofthe Canary Islands, there is already one example in an advanced stage of development. The Tenerife Cabildo (Island Government) was aware of the need to respond to new trends andto simultaneously create scenarios in which tourist activity can act as a vector in enhancing the value of rural products and in crea te landscapes. Therefore, in 1998, the Government designed the Tenerife Rural Plan Quality etwork. The Plan identifies 40 rural enclaves that can be visited, while being connected to the world outside via powerful telematic networks that even support e-commerce. The idea is 1) to recover the landscape and the uniqueness of the rural environrnent as a tourist asset, but without degrading the space and 2) to build network-linked visitor centers that include such diverse aspects as a wine center, a potato center, a honey center, a biodiversity center, water galleries, wheat milis, music, handicrafts, tobacco, fishing, fish-farming, etc. But, in the context of the lnformation Society, the strategy of enhancing qua lity and diversifying tourism in islands is not an isolated occurrence. With this new vis ion, island tourist destinations can help each other become stronger; their extreme diversity becomes an outstanding instrument in the global market. There are important infrastructure barriers, however, that must be overcome to convert this potential into a tangible reality. That is why INSULA, under the slogan "Share to Compete", is promoting the MEDIS (Models for European Digital lslands) Project co-financed by the European Commission.> The basic objectives of this initiative are to cover the strategy outlined earlier. They focus on: providing an advanced picture ofthe state-of-the-art in telecommunications and telematic infrastructure and services in European islands; facilitating the provision of community services and the use oftelematics in different sectors and activities such as tourism, health, transport and business and participation of local authorities and public bodies in matters related to commercial and tourist systems and business;
470
Cipriano MarĂn
comparing the results with the figures provided at the national Ievel by the European Survey of the Information Society; and profiling alternative network telecom infrastructure and services in the European islands with potential for use in Information Society applications.
Tourism and Protected Areas: Biodiversity and Virtuality Despite its small size, the Canary Island archipelago houses a natural heritage of extraordinary value. Its outstanding ecosystems and flora and fauna, including unique species, has generated a strong spirit of regional conservation among the Canary Island and international comrnunities. In fact, the Canary Islands have one of the greatest biodiversities of the Earth 's temperate regions in relation to the small surface area they cover. It is also considered a first-class biodiversity center, due to the large number of endemic species found there. By way of reference, of the 11,600 land species known in the archipelago (without counting protistas and monerons), approximately 3,700 are ende mic to the Islands. Altogether, the catalogs include 433 endangered taxa of Canary lslands flora (381 vegetable species and 52 fungi and Iichens) and 566 species of fauna (430 invertebrates and 136 vertebrates), for which conservation measures will be taken, based on the degree of the threat (Gobierno de Canarias, 2000b). Recognition of these values is reflected in the enormous effort that has been made in the area of conservation and management of natural resources. A framework has been created of different instruments of protection, such as the Canary lsland etwork of Protected atural Spaces, the ' atura 2000' etwork and B iosphere Reserves.v Though all these measures have the same objective, there are small differences between them in both the strategies they use and their scope of action. The Canary Island etwork of Protected Areas is aimed at developing an integral management model, with emphasis on public use and tourism. It attempts to make the conservation of Canary lsland biodiversity compatible with the protection of cultural and esthetic values and with supplying society with environmental material goods and services. The main priority of the Natura 2000 Network, however, is to preserve European biodiversity, that, is, the habitats and species of community interest. Although it also intends to guarantee the conservation of these values through sustainable development, it acts in a more selective fashion on the habitats and species ofthe Canary Islands. Fundamentally, it focuses on the endangered habitats, which are included in Annex J of the Habitats Directive (Directive 92/43/EEC, of the Council of the 21 May, concerning the conservation of natural habitats and of wild flora and fauna) and the species that require habitat conservation, included in Annex II of the Directive. The Biosphere Reserves represent a different case. The declaration of the island of Lanzarote, along with the island of Minorca in the Balearic Islands, was proposed in 1995, in order to help create a model of harmonious development of regional tourism, which is why the reserve encompasses the whole island, including tourist
Chapter 27 - New Tourism Challenges on Islands in the /nformation Society
471
resorts and the people. On the other hand, in El Hierro, the first island to be declared a Reserve in the new millennium, the objective was to consolidate an integral model in which the emphasis is on rural production with high value addition, where tourism is incorporated in the economy as a complementary factor. Technological innovation and conservation stand side by side in El Hierro in a remarkable manner. This is the first island in Europe where a project is being developed aimed at covering all the island 's energy consumption needs with energy from renewable sources; or take the El Hierro 100% digital plan, which includes a network of nature conservation centers, or the ambitious El Hierro Zero Waste Program (Cabildo de El Hierro, 2001). The work carried out by the Canary Island Government's Department of the Environment revealed several factors directly derived from tourism that pose a serious threat to the Canary Island environment. In such delicate island areas, introduced species affect the natural dynamics of ecosystems, producing serious consequences, such as the extinction of populations or species and soil degradation. Another example of environmental impact comes from man-made hybridization involving Canary Island flora solely for ornamental purposes. But, apart from these more obvious factors, it is the public and tourist use of island spaces that throws up the real challenge for managing an area which receives 11 mili ion tourists ayear. The Teide National Park, in the island ofTenerife, is a clear example: it received over 2.2 million visitors in 1998 (Mendaro, 1999), a formidable management challenge. This is totally different from the problems faced by other islands and emerging destinations, where ecotouri m products are generated for much smaller numbers of tourists. In this case ofTeide, there are two possibilities - implement strict deterrent policies governing access (now necessary in many places), or find new formulae capable of combining conservation with the maintenance of an acceptable tourist experience. A magnificent example of integrating tourist infrastructures in sensitive areas is the Lanzarote etwork of Tourist Centers. In the 1970s, a network of visitors' centers was designed on the island, carefully integrating them with the environment and implanting them with formal patterns ofthe local culture. As Cesar Manrique, artistic genius and author of these works, said: "1 am like the hand that expresses the geology and the feeling ofthe island". It is amazing that some ofthese works, which are now emblematic of the island, were done on a former landfill site located in a volcanic pipe and in an old, disused quarry. The strangest fact is that these centers now receive an enormous flow of visitors, over a million a year, in some cases. But their clever design has allowed people to be concentrated in each space, avoiding the dispersion of visitors, while continuring to provide a high-quality tourist experience. In this case, Lanzarote has been imaginativein recovering apparently degraded spaces through tourism, rather than succumb to the systematic and compulsive temptation to colonize and occupy virgin areas. Tenerife provides another example of new-generation projects aimed at resolving the paradigm of public and tourist use of natural spaces. A visitors' center present-
472
Cipriano Marin
Iy being designed in Punta de Teno applies the criteria used in Lanzarote in combination with telematics and the latest technologies in sustainable construction and transport. The center aims to concentrate the tourist activity of a small area that receives half a mi11ion tourists a year by land and a more extensive marine area where whale watching attracts 2.3 mi11iontourists ayear, making it the most heavily used enclave in the world. In this context, a 'Window on the Sea' center has been created in the depths of the Punta de Teno volcano. The 'silent' architecture has no external elements, all transport is electric and powerful telematic means give threedimensional access in real time to the entire marine and terrestrial environment. The Window on the Sea, in turn, will be connected with eight other windows, on other islands of the world, also in real time. It is therefore, an example of integrating information technology into new resources to favor a balanced design of tourism in very fragile surroundings. On El Hierro, too, one finds ingenious solutions of harmony between tourism and traditional activities. On this island, declared a Biosphere Reserve, there is a marine fish reserve (Mar de las Calmas) promoted by the guild of fishermen. To guarantee adequate use of the space, the fishermen themselves have become the tourist managers of the area, creating an amazing model of tourism and artisanal fishing. This model has also been successfully developed in the Medas Islands on the east coast ofSpain. The island ofTenerife has also developed a global model, as the shoreline and the marine environment of the island are usually neglected by protection and conciliation measures designed for terrestrial environments. In 1996, the Tenerife Cabildo (lsland Government) launched a program ca11ed'Tenerife and the Sea' (Luengo and MarĂn, 1998b), aimed at establishing a broad consensus among a11the players operating on the shoreline: the tourist sector, fishing, traditional activities, sports, transport, etc. The development of the program was based on demonstration projects to establish references for public and private initiatives. In the area of tourism, these include such projects as soft accesses to the sea, protecting the seabed, a network of visitable sites, fisheries reserves, recovering traditional bathing systems and demolishing swimming pools built on the shoreline, effluent control, recovery ofhistoric heritage buildings and the development of an advanced information system with various telematic resources. In any case, in spite of these important corrective initiatives, many indicators warn of risk situations that call for imaginative sustainability policies. If we examine the evolution of the cultivated area per inhabitant indicator, we can see an excessively rapid growth that goes far beyond the population's growth rhythm. On traditionally agricultural islands such as Tenerife, present-day ratios are going beyond the limit of 200 m2 per inhabitant, which can lead to a devastating effect from an ecological and tourist point of view, as both soil and landscape are being lost. The scenario is even worse if we consider that many lovely sites are within the category of cultural landscapes, as, for instance, the famous cultivated terraces of La Gomera.
472
Cipriano Marin
Iy being designed in Punta de Teno applies the criteria used in Lanzarote in combination with telematics and the latest technologies in sustainable construction and transport. The center aims to concentrate the tourist activity of a small area that receives half a million tourists a year by land and a more extensive marine area where whale watching attracts 2.3 million tourists ayear, making it the most heavily used enclave in the world. In this context, a 'Window on the Sea' center has been created in the depths of the Punta de Teno volcano. The 'silent' architecture has no external elements, all transport is electric and powerful telematic means give threedimensional access in real time to the entire marine and terrestrial environment. The Window on the Sea, in turn, will be connected with eight other windows, on other islands of the world, also in real time. It is therefore, an example of integrating information technology into new resources to favor a balanced design of tourism in very fragile surroundings. On El Hierro, too, one finds ingenious solutions of harmony between tourism and traditional activities. On this island, declared a Biosphere Reserve, there is a marine fish reserve (Mar de las Calmas) promoted by the guild offishermen. To guarantee adequate use of the space, the fishermen themselves have become the tourist managers ofthe area, creating an amazing model oftourism and artisanal fishing. This model has also been successfuIly developed in the Medas Islands on the east eoast of Spain. The island of Tenerife has also developed a global model, as the shoreline and the marine environment of the island are usually neglected by protection and conciliation measures designed for terrestrial environments. In 1996, the Tenerife Cabildo (Island Government) launched a program called 'Tenerife and the Sea' (Luengo and MarĂn, 1998b), aimed at establishing a broad consensus among al! the players operating on the shoreline: the tourist sector, fishing, traditional activities, sports, transport, etc. The development of the program was based on demonstration projects to establish references for public and private initiatives. In the area of tourism, these include such projects as soft accesses to the sea, protecting the seabed, a network of visitable sites, fisheries reserves, recovering traditional bathing systems and demolishing swimming pools bui It on the shoreline, effiuent control, recovery of historie heritage buildings and the development of an advanced information system with various telematic resources. In any case, in spite of these important corrective initiatives, many indicators warn of risk situations that call for imaginative sustainability policies. If we examine the evolution of the cultivated area per inhabitant indicator, we can see an excessively rapid growth that goes far beyond the population's growth rhythm. On traditionally agricultural islands such as Tenerife, present-day ratios are going beyond the limit of 200 m2 per inhabitant, which can lead to a devastating effect from an ecological and tourist point of view, as both soil and landscape are being lost. The scenario is even worse if we consider that many lovely sites are within the category of cultural landscapes, as, for instance, the famous cultivated terraces of La Gomera.
Chapter 27 - New Tourism Challenges on Islands in the lnformation
Society
473
To possess a spatial view of tourist development evolution towards various scenarios ofthe future that consider these risks, several projects are being developed, like the CĂŠfiros project (La Gomera island) on sustainable tourism indicators, based on a geographical information system that follows the European Spatial Development Perspective method.
The 'Energy-Water-Tourism' Insularity
Trinomial and Other Limits of
In the last few years, the energy-water-tourism trinomial has constituted a great challenge for tourist islands. Compounded with population growth, it places islands in an extremely vulnerable position. Energy and water, because of their territorial, environmental and economic implications, have always represented a central element of the insular dilemrna. The problem of freshwater supply affects small islands more than the large ones, as they face a large part of the water-related problems. According to the estimates developed within UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme, these difficulties are particularIy felt by islands smaller than 1,000 km2 and narrower than 20 km (Brigand, 1991). Local rainfall values are also very different from one island to another. In the Mediterranean area, for instance, the most frequent values are between 400 and 600 mrn. But the most difficult part is that the largest variations can appear in successive years, or on two different sides ofthe island or even at different altitudes. ., To overcome these difficulties, the small islands have developed a very complex water cultivation system to take maximum advantage of their scarce resources: tanks, rainwater reservoirs and other water catchments. Other options are available, such as water transportation in tank ships employed from a long time to bring water to small Italian and Greek islands, or submarine water conduits to supply water from the continent to the islands of Elba, Tabarca or to some Dalmatian islands. Recent tourist developments, like those of Djerba, have mobil ized water resources from the mainland to meet the requirements. Malta, for example, has an area of 246 km2 and a population density higher than 1,200 people/km- outside the tourist area. The island is, in reality, a great calcareous slab, fissured and therefore with little capacity to retain water. On Lanzarote, an Atlantic island with an area of 900 km-, water supply for its more than 45,000 tourist accomrnodations and 90,000 inhabitants comes almost exclusively from desalination. These are extreme cases, but they clearIy show the current trend of a large part of the Mediterranean and European islands and provide good examples of the potential future risks and dependences. evertheless, water deficit due to growing tourism on islands, generates new risks. New demands in island economies evidently introduce a factor of competition with the traditional agricultural activities. Diversion of vital water supplies from fragile
474
Cipriano MarĂn
ecosystems and high-value wetlands are not without serious consequences and as are the risks derived from water extractions in the coast. The Canary Islands are not an exception. Water shortage due to canalizing and channeling is a point that deserves special attention. lntense exploitation of this natural resource, accelerated by tourism, has turned it into a factor of environmental destruction and alteration, seriously affecting wildlife. It is not difficult to see the effects on wild flora. Willow woods were once growing at the botlom of most valleys, which were marked by extensive succulent vegetation. Today, they are confined only to a few places and their distribution is discontinuous from the medium-altitude to the higher areas. After water canalization, the places where the original willows once thrived, are invaded by brambles and reed beds. Fauna has also been harmed by water shortage. Several invertebrates directly depend on water, especially those living in valley beds. Water shortage can harm several hundred species, many of which are endemic to the Canary Islands'. Birds, too, suffer from the effects of drought and many of bird species evoke a great deal of interest because they are endemic to the islands or to the Macaronesian Region. Such Canary Island situations have been frequently seen elsewhere, with similar consequences. Islands such as Corfu, Minorca, Elba or Rhodes, also have tourist densities higher than 100 roorns/km-. Seasonal variations further compound the problems created by tourist demando In Majorca, water consumption is estimated at 90,000 cubic meters per day in winter, going up to 130,000 cubic meters per day in the tourist season. But the influence of tourism is not only limited to the higher number of consumers: it also affects the type of consumption. Normal islanders' standards (100-125 Iiters per capita per day) double with the arrival of tourism and often exceed 250 liters per capita per day (Island Solar Summit, 1999). Further, we must take into account the fact that tourism demands an endless water supply; even with adequate storage, the main water supply is heavily drained because of leisure facilities such as swimming pools, golf courses and greens. These topics were a basic concern of the 22nd United Nations General Assembly (1999), within the special session exclusively dedicated to islands, whose objective was to re-examine the Barbados Action Plan. A majority of the world's islands declared that aspects related.to tourism, water and energy management would c1earIy determine future sustainable development in the islands. The report ofthe Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, revised during the special session, establishes two urgent objectives: encourage the development and acquisition of appropriate technology and training for cost-effective desalination and rainwater collection to provide sufficientIy high-quality potable freshwater, including opportunities for technology interchange among small island developing states. improve access to environmentally sound and energy-efficient technologies for the production and delivery of freshwater. These aspects, related to water management, demand high priority and perfectly fit into the new view of islands' energy perspective. The 'Island Solar Surnmit' took
Chapter 27 - New Tourism Challenges on Islands in the Information Society
475
place on the island of Tenerife and was jointly organized by ITER (Institute of Technology and Renewable Energies), INSULA, the Tenerife Island Government, UNESCO and the World Solar Programo It addressed, for the first time, the energywater issue on islands jointly and its relationship with tourist activity. For the island people, it became clear that there was a need to find a reasonable solution to two concurrent problems - water and energy - and that they need to be addressed simultaneously. From the energy point of view, islands are characterized by: isolation and dependence; limited range of energy resources; specialization of economies; limited markets; highly sensitive environments; and inefficient use of energy resources. Such characteristics place a serious risk on the islands' initiatives for tourism. In energy terms, risks for the economies and the environment are too high when artificial water is considered. The influence of tourism on the energy consumption in small- and medium-sized islands is surely high. In Lanzarote, for instance, it was possible to achieve a differentiated characterization of energy consumption: 7.7 kWh/day per local inhabitant and 11.5 kWhlday per tourist. The case of St. Lucia island is truly enlightening in this regard: hotels account for 35% of the island's total energy consumption and 80% of this consumption is accounted for by air conditioning (Island Solar Surnrnit, 1999). '>
However, the peculiarities of islands can help in resolving such difficult problems. Some of their advantages are: abundant renewable energy sources; modularity and adaptability to the island scale ofthe solutions and technologies based on renewable energies; island economies do not have any energy-intensive sectors; if we consider islands as a whole, their combined potential for water-renewable energy sources (RES) is possibly the largest in the world. Within this context, because ofthe island or insular features mentioned above, there is a need to closely link renewable energy systems and water production through desalination. This is all the more necessary in the light of many islands giving increasing priority to tourism. There are many economic and technological reasons supporting this idea. Typical data per cubic meter of freshwater are 8-15 kWh for cornrnercial distillation (heatconsuming processes) and 4-7 kWh for cornrnercial membrane systems (e1ectricity-consuming processes). These figures indicate the large amount of additional energy needed by certain islands in order to obtain an adequate water supply. But wind energy, too, is a highly competitive form of producing energy, even in islands with a low average wind speeds. The application of wind turbines to power medi-
476
Cipriano Marin
um-sized desalination plants is ideal and several pilot plants are being developed, as well as hybrid systems using photovoltaic (PV) panels and wind generators to produce fresh water. It is a much simpler matter to store water than electricity or heat. Desalinated water storage is an easy task for most islands and is an excellent solution to technologically harmonize large-scale exploitation of renewable energy sources with an assured freshwater supply to satisfy the variable consumption patterns of small islands. Renewable energy sources have the disadvantage of irregular energy supply. But with an increasing demand for water, the implantation of renewable energy systems can be justified. Water production plants could playa major role as variable loads for any system, helping absorb production peaks. As water can be stored without any difficulty for long periods, water demand peaks would not affect water production rates. To strengthen this renewable energy-water desalination linkage and to develop adequate market niches in island tourist destinations, within the framework of the European Commission 's altenative sources of energy programs (European Commission, 1997), two innovative INSULA-coordinated initiatives have been formalized. One is the Island 2010 project, aimed at promoting 100% renewable tourist destination initiatives and the other is the OPET European lsland network, aimed at establishing adequate frameworks of consensus between the tourist industry, local authorities, services suppliers, technological institutes and local consultants. The priority areas of action for the next four years are: renewable energy based desalination systems in hotel establishments, alternative transport, renewable energy applications in protected spaces, energy efficiency and renewable energy use in the hotel sector. As an example of the tourist industry's capacity to adopt new behavior patterns in islands, based on the criteria of sustainable development, it is essential to underline the experience of the Institute of Responsible Tourism (IRT). The IRT was created with the support of UNESCO after the World Conference on Sustainable Tourism, held in Lanzarote in 1995,7 One of the most interesting achievements of IRT has been to develop the Responsible Tourism System for application in hotels. The system is based on a set of standards, with requirements that are fully in line with ISO 14000 or EMAS standards, which make enormous advances in the commitment of the hotel industry to their destinations. The applicable requirements cover aspects such as: water saving and qua lity; energy efficiency policy; renewable energy sources; minimizing and recycling waste; emission and effiuent control; reduction of environmental impacts; noise and disturbance limitation; integrating establishments into the landscape;
Chapter 27 - New Tourism Challenges on Islands in the lnformation
Society
477
integrating supply into the local culture; good purchasing policy; compatible and responsible tourist services; and sustainable telematic applications. The accumulated experience of certified hotels, which started in Lanzarote, has been quite satisfactory. In fact, the hotels themselves have founded a cooperative association called 'Biosphere Hotels' that not only exchanges experiences with the Institute, but also publicizes and offers a wide range of services, with the help of electronic information systems. The Biosphere Hotels experience marks a fundamental change in the attitude ofthe hotel sector with regard to qualification of island tourist destinations. The initiative goes beyond the traditional scope of hotel management: it is centered on the improvement of each establishment in order to improve the destination itself. This certification system includes environmental and cultural elements, as well as aspects relative to the tourist and supplier behavior, aiming at creating synergies within the tourist sector by means of a label, which will have major repercussions leading toward better resource management and better qualification of the destination. The culmination of this process has been reached through the creation of the Maspalomas Forum, under the aegis of the international conference titled 'Sustainable Hotels for Sustainable Destinations' that was held on the island of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands). This Forum prepares the ground for a new leap from theory to practice, moving even beyond the best-practice models based on hotel management. Today, a new alliance is being formed between tourism and technological innovation toward a more sensible development. The implementation ofnew technologies in the fields of energy, waste and water management, transport and telematics makes it possible to undertake ambitious projects that were unthinkable only a few years ago - such as hotels that are 100% renewable energy based, zerowaste hotels or sustainable digital destinations.
References Brigand, L. 1991. Les iles en Méditerranée. Les Fascicules du Plan Bleu 5. United Nations Environment Prograrnme (UNEP-Plan Bleu). Buhalis, D. 2000. Tourism and cyberspace. Annals of tourism 28:232-235. Pergamon. Cabildo de El Hierro. 200 l. El Hierro Biosphere Reserve. Building an island on ahuman scale. El Hierro, Balearic Islands, Spain: Cabildo de El Hierro. Cabildo de Lanzarote. 1998. Lanzarote en la Biosfera: una estrategia hacia el desarrollo sostenible de la isla. Arrecife, Cabildo de Lanzarote - Life Programme - European Commission. pp 4647. Cabildo de Tenerife. 1999. lncoming tourism statistics. Canary Islands, Spain: Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Calviá Agenda Local 21. 1997. La sostenibilidad de un municipio turístico. Calviá, Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain: Ajuntament de Calviá-Majorca. ECOMOST (European Community Models of Sustainable Tourism) Project. 1994. Planning for sustainable tourism. International Federation ofTour Operators (lFTO).
478
Cipriano Marín
European Commission. 1997. Energy for the future: renewable sources of energy. White paper for a community strategy and action plan. COM(97)599 final (26/11/97). FUTURES (Spanish Tourism Competitivity Framework Plan). 1997. The Lanzarote integral product: objectives and conditions for a quality project. Study promoted by ASOLAN in the framework of FUTURES, promoted by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism. Spain: Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism. Gobierno de Canarias, 2000a. Statistics of the M inistry of Public Works, Lodging and Water. Gobierno de Canarias. 2000b. Catálogo Regional de Especies Amenazadas. Canary Islands, Spain: Viceconsejería de Medio Ambiente. Gobierno de Canarias. 2000c. Libro Blanco del Medio Ambiente de Canarias. Canary Islands, Spain: Viceconsejería de Medio Ambiente. Island Solar Summit. 1999. Sustainable energies: building the future of the islands. Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Cabildo Insular, Insula, UNESCO, ITER (Institute of Technology and Renewable Energies). Kakazu, H. 1999. Sustainable tourism development for small islands. Insula, International Journal of Island Affairs 8(3) 15-20. Kakazu, H. 2000. Japan's small and remote islands: development, policy and performance. Insula, International Journal of Island Affairs. Luengo, A. and Marin, C. 1998b. Tenerife y El Mar. Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain: Cabildo Insular/INSULAlUNESCO. Luengo A. and Marín C. (eds.).1998a. Lanzarote Reserva de Biosfera. Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain: Cabildo de Lanzarote. Mendaro, C. and Marín, C. 1992. Ecoplan Isla de la Gomera. Madrid, Spain: Ministerio de Obras Públicas, MaB. Rochoux, J.y. 1999. The development of services and Reunion Island, Insula, International Journal of Island Affairs 8(3)58. STMA (Seychelles Tourist Marketing Administration). 2000. Framework study, based on a survey of 3000 travellers in Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. o. 2, 2000: World Tourism Organization. Traffic Directorate-General. 2000.Yearbook 2000. Madrid, Spain: Traffic Directorate-General.
Further reading European Island Agenda. 1997. 1st European Conference on Sustainable Island Development. Minorca: INSULA-UNESCO-European Commission. García Rodríguez, J.L. (ed.) et al. 2000. Protección y Uso del Territorio en La Palma: el debate sobre el modelo insular. Santa Cruz de la Palma: Cabildo Insular de La Palma. Islas Canarias. Gortázar, L. and Marín, C. 1998. Tourism and sustainable development, the island experience. Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Gobierno de Canarias, Insula. Gobierno de Canarias. Ley de Ordenación del Turismo de Canarias. LEY 7/1995. Marín, c., Romero, J.M. and Vidal, J. 1998. Plan de Desarrollo Sostenible: Estudio de Viabilidad. Menorca: Consell Insular de Menorca, Life Programme, European Commission. Mendaro, C. 1999. Encuesta de turismo receptivo. Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain: Cabildo de Tenerife. Pérez de las Heras, M. 1999. Ecoturismo. Madrid, Spain: Ediciones Mundi-Prensa, Responsible Tourism Institute, 1999. Towards a new culture of tourism. ITR, Canary Islands. Vidal, J.M., Marin, C. and Romero, J.M. 1998. Plan de Desarrollo Sostenible de Menorca: Estudio de Viabilidad. Menorca: Consell Insular de Menorca, Life Programme-EC, I SULA, UNESCO. U.S. Department of the Interior. 1999. A report on the state of the islands. Office of Insular Affairs.