Tourism and water use : Supply, demand, and security. An international review
- Authors: Gossling, Stephan , Peeters, Paul , Hall, C. Michael , Ceron, Jean-Paul , Dubois, Ghislain , Lehmann, La Vergne , Scott, Daniel
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Tourism Management Vol. 33, no. 1 (2012), p. 1-15
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This article reviews direct freshwater consumption in tourism from both quantitative and qualitative viewpoints to assess the current water demand of the tourism sector and to identify current and future management challenges. The article concludes that even though tourism increases global water consumption, direct tourism-related water use is considerably less than 1% of global consumption, and will not become significant even if the sector continues to grow at anticipated rates of around 4% per year (international tourist arrivals). The situation differs at the regional level because tourism concentrates traveller flows in time and space, and often-in dry destinations where water resources are limited. Furthermore, the understanding of tourism's indirect water requirements, including the production of food, building materials and energy, remains inadequately understood, but is likely to be more substantial than direct water use. The article concludes that with expected changes in global precipitation patterns due to climate change, it is advisable in particular for already water scarce destinations to engage in proactive water management. Recommendations for managing tourism's water footprint are made. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
Valuing water in dry land tourism regions
- Authors: Lehmann, La Vergne
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment Vol. 115, no. (2008), p. 207-220
- Full Text:
- Description: Water, particularly fresh water, is one of the most critical and scarce natural resources. It is well documented that the tourism industry over-uses water resources by at least a factor of two over permanent residents. In some regions of the world, where tourism is a major industry, this can result in water shortages and degradation of water supplies, as well as increased production of waste water. Water scarcity in some areas has also led to increased interest in water recycling, desalination, improved water storage capabilities and water conservation measures in order to provide greater water security into the future. This paper aims to review and analyse the current literature concerning water management initiatives in the tourism sector and the contrast between water demand and supply for sustainable tourism. The diverse nature of tourism activities makes the analysis of water uses and impacts quite different to other sectors such as agriculture or manufacturing. In effect tourism is defined on the basis of consumption rather than production and there are many ways of consuming water in tourism. The aim of this paper is to identify issues associated with water use and tourism in semi-arid or dryland environments and to inform a wider research project that aims to map the uses of water in tourism, to establish a water valuation method that considers the consumptive nature of tourism and to develop a model to guide tourism policy to achieve sustainable water use for tourism enterprises and communities.