Tourist land use patterns and water demand: Evidence from the Western Mediterranean

Tourism represents a fundamental economic strategy for many cities, regions and countries around the world. Yet, it is also one of the main drivers of global environmental change and may have deleterious effects on a number of critical environmental vectors such as water. The development of tourism...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Land use policy 2009-04, Vol.26 (2), p.493-501
Main Authors: Rico-Amoros, Antonio Manuel, Olcina-Cantos, Jorge, Sauri, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alicante
Alicante (province), Spain
Consumption
Freshwater
Mediterranean region
Residential development
Spain
Tourism
Water
Water consumption
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Summary:Tourism represents a fundamental economic strategy for many cities, regions and countries around the world. Yet, it is also one of the main drivers of global environmental change and may have deleterious effects on a number of critical environmental vectors such as water. The development of tourism in Mediterranean region raises special concerns regarding water because of summer droughts and large concentrations of seasonal tourists. Nevertheless, tourist destinations are far from being homogeneous in their consumption of water and other resources. In this paper we argue that dense, high rise tourist centers tend to use comparatively less water than disperse, low density residential resorts, taking the case of Benidorm and the Alicante coast (Mediterranean Spain) as examples. Thus we seek to illustrate how water consumption may differ substantially depending on the predominant tourist land use patterns and their associated different densities (i.e., campsites, hotels, holiday resorts, apartments, residential homes, etc.). The observed different water consumption patterns reaffirm the heterogeneous nature and impacts of tourist activities and corroborate that density is a crucial variable for understanding the economic, social, and environmental effects of tourism.
ISSN:0264-8377
1873-5754
DOI:10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.07.002