Impacts of Tourism on Freshwater Resources in Mediterranean

Chintan Patel
Student Id: 090303630
MI201: A. Beggar
November 19th, 2010
Mediterranean is considered to be one of the most desirable destinations for vacation due to its mild climate, beautiful costal sceneries and rich biodiversity. Each year millions of tourists visit Mediterranean, by 2025 tourist population in Mediterranean is predicted to reach up to 355 million per year. On average, 1/3 of the worlds overall tourism income is received by Mediterranean countries. Unfortunately, when the tourism activity peaks in summer, nature’s ability to produce freshwater is at its lowest. Currently, Mediterranean countries use dams and extract ground water to meet the ever increasing demands due to increasing tourists. Water ecosystems are suffering through significant devastation as river flows are being disturbed due to increasing numbers of dams and groundwater level are decreasing due to intense pumping. Furthermore, decreasing groundwater level have an adverse impact on human communities, as the groundwater level decreases, it becomes more saltier and thus forces us to abandonment or limit the use of groundwater for drinking and irrigation. In addition, as the tourism industry expands, urban boundaries are likely to move inwards destroying precious lagoons and coastal wetlands. Appropriate measures must be taken by the government, tourism industry and an individual tourism in order to reduce the consumption of water in the Mediterranean. Reducing water consumption is economically beneficial as it will save on water bill for resorts and hotels and at the same time it will preserve wetlands as one of the attractions for tourists. The following paper will analyse impacts of increasing tourism on water ecosystems and will explore recommended approach for decreasing water use will also be explored within