Measuring and monitoring sustainability of coastal tourism destinations in the Mediterranean

Abstract

A key component towards sustainability in coastal tourist destinations is to establish monitoring and evaluation schemes in order to measure the impacts of tourism on the economy, society and the environment. Although there is a great deal of frameworks providing the methodological baseline for developing the essential monitoring schemes, the relevant literature has shown that a challenge still exists on adapting these general frameworks to the particularities of the destinations under assessment. This paper presents a framework that measures and monitors sustainability at the local level by introducing a three-tier system of indicators. The framework manages to incorporate the different types of tourism activities as well as the special characteristics of coastal tourist destinations in the Mediterranean while at the same time allows for comparisons among them. The paper emphasizes the role of local stakeholders’ engagement in the development of the monitoring framework and discusses the challenges that emerged during the process. Essentially, the paper provides an alternative way for adjusting general frameworks to allow sustainability evaluations at the local level. In this sense, five types of coastal tourism destinations have been identified as critical in the case of the Mediterranean: beach/maritime destinations, urban/cultural, cruising, recreational boating and nature/ecotourism destinations.

Karakteristik Biofisik Perairan Laut, Sosial Dan Ekonomi Pendukung Pengembangan Ekowisata Bahari Di Taman Nasional Kepulauan Togean

“…Keprihatinan kerusakan lingkungan pesisir PPK, yang diikuti menurunnya kesejahteraan penduduk pada satu sisi, dan kemajuan pembangunan yang bertumpu pada aspek ekonomi semata, melahirkan paradigma pembangunan yang secara komprehensif guna memahami prinsipprinsip pengelolaan pariwisata yang berkelanjutan [12]. Usaha pengembangan pariwisata berkelanjutan wajib memperhatikan dampak lingkungan yang ditimbulkan, sehingga yang paling tepat dikembangkan adalah pariwisata berbasis alam atau biasa disebut dengan ekowisata.…”

Portugal nautical stations: Strategic alliances for sport tourism and environmental sustainability

“…Within the management tools intended to facilitate the implementation of environmental sustainability in coastal tourism, some can be highlighted, namely those focusing on: (i) the need for coordinated collaboration between all stakeholders, in order to infer on converging and divergent topics, enhancing possible synergies between extractive, recreational and natural space conservation use, framed in the ecosystem concept (Biggs et al, 2016 ; Chen et al, 2016 ); and (ii) the identification of indicators for assessing sustainability (Drius et al, 2019 ; Coccossis and Koutsopoulou, 2020 ). For example, Drius et al ( 2019 ) present a conceptual framework that addresses the management of the environmental impacts of nautical tourism by analyzing the trade-offs between environmental threats from coastal tourism and other human activities and coastal ecosystem services.…”

“…For example, Drius et al ( 2019 ) present a conceptual framework that addresses the management of the environmental impacts of nautical tourism by analyzing the trade-offs between environmental threats from coastal tourism and other human activities and coastal ecosystem services. In turn, the study developed by Coccossis and Koutsopoulou ( 2020 ) elaborated and applied a tool for measuring and monitoring sustainability at the local level (e.g., a nautical station). This tool integrates three types of indicators to assess sustainability in nautical tourism: core indicators (i.e., general indicators for sustainable coastal tourism); destination indicators (i.e., to access the unique characteristics of different tourism products, such as beach/maritime tourism, urban/cultural tourism, cruising, recreational boating and nature/ecotourism); and area-specific indicators (i.e., incorporating the crucial and specific aspects of each destination to monitor sustainability).…”

“…This tool integrates three types of indicators to assess sustainability in nautical tourism: core indicators (i.e., general indicators for sustainable coastal tourism); destination indicators (i.e., to access the unique characteristics of different tourism products, such as beach/maritime tourism, urban/cultural tourism, cruising, recreational boating and nature/ecotourism); and area-specific indicators (i.e., incorporating the crucial and specific aspects of each destination to monitor sustainability). To ensure the effectiveness of the operationalization of this tool, the importance of collaboration among key stakeholders in selecting and prioritizing indicators, and obtaining data, is also highly recommended (Coccossis and Koutsopoulou, 2020 ).…”

Applying System-Oriented Sustainability Scoring for Cruise Traffic Port Operators: A Case Study of Geiranger, Norway

“…Other recent examples of a systems thinking approach for establishing sustainability indicators are e.g., Stanitsas et al [36]-in the construction industry and Steiniger et al [37]-for urban sustainability indicators. More specific to the topic of the current study are Coccossis and Koutsopolou [38] for monitoring sustainability of coastal tourism; Schianetz and Kavanagh [39] for making sustainability indicators for tourism destinations; and a more broad-reaching scheme by Roxas et al [40] using causal loop diagrams.…”