IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v23y2021i6d10.1007_s10668-020-00984-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental effects of tourism and its seasonality on Mediterranean islands: the contribution of the Interreg MED BLUEISLANDS project to build up an approach towards sustainable tourism

Author

Listed:
  • Cristina Andolina

    (Università degli Studi di Palermo
    CoNISMa, Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare)

  • Geraldina Signa

    (Università degli Studi di Palermo
    CoNISMa, Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare)

  • Agostino Tomasello

    (Università degli Studi di Palermo)

  • Antonio Mazzola

    (Università degli Studi di Palermo
    CoNISMa, Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare)

  • Salvatrice Vizzini

    (Università degli Studi di Palermo
    CoNISMa, Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare)

Abstract

The Mediterranean basin is amongst the world’s main tourist destination, and its islands are a major attraction, being sites of historical, cultural and naturalistic importance. This is beneficial for the local economies, but it may also represent a great burden on the coastal environment, where other human pressures are concentrated. The awareness of detrimental side effects of tourism together with the importance to take into account social and economic facets has led to the concept of sustainable tourism, which, however, represents a goal far from being attained. A good opportunity to promote sustainable tourism was provided by the Interreg MED BLUEISLANDS project, whose main aim was to identify, address and mitigate the effects of the seasonal variation of waste generated by tourism on Mediterranean islands. Here, we present the methodological framework of the project aimed at biomonitoring coastal seawater in highly touristic sites using macroalgae as valuable bioindicators of seawater quality and improving its status through the implementation and assessment of mitigation measures that included also the involvement of stakeholders. Outcomes of the project highlighted the effectiveness of such an integrated approach, confirming the importance of choosing proper indicators and tools that can support the development of management plans aiming to mitigate environmental impact and foster sustainable tourism.

Suggested Citation

  • Cristina Andolina & Geraldina Signa & Agostino Tomasello & Antonio Mazzola & Salvatrice Vizzini, 2021. "Environmental effects of tourism and its seasonality on Mediterranean islands: the contribution of the Interreg MED BLUEISLANDS project to build up an approach towards sustainable tourism," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 8601-8612, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:23:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1007_s10668-020-00984-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-020-00984-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-020-00984-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-020-00984-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gossling, Stefan & Hansson, Carina Borgstrom & Horstmeier, Oliver & Saggel, Stefan, 2002. "Ecological footprint analysis as a tool to assess tourism sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 199-211, December.
    2. Franklin Torres-Bejarano & Luis C. González-Márquez & Beatriz Díaz-Solano & Ana C. Torregroza-Espinosa & Rubén Cantero-Rodelo, 2018. "Effects of beach tourists on bathing water and sand quality at Puerto Velero, Colombia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 255-269, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eduardo Leite & Luís Mota & Sérgio Lousada & Ana Leite, 2022. "Standardized Reading of Sustainable Tourism Indicators for Ultraperipheral Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-15, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabio Iraldo & Benedetta Nucci, 2016. "Proactive environmental management in hotels: What difference does it make?," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 81-106.
    2. Maria Serena Mancini & Mikel Evans & Katsunori Iha & Carla Danelutti & Alessandro Galli, 2018. "Assessing the Ecological Footprint of Ecotourism Packages: A Methodological Proposition," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-37, June.
    3. Martin Falk & Eva Hagsten, 2018. "Winter Weather Anomalies and Individual Destination Choice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-14, July.
    4. Stanley Brunn, 2015. "Philatelic Boosterism: Tourism Stamps Of Small Island States," International Journal for Responsible Tourism, Fundatia Amfiteatru, vol. 4(2), pages 23-52, December.
    5. Becken, S. & Simmons, D., 2008. "Using the concept of yield to assess the sustainability of different tourist types," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 420-429, October.
    6. Han-Shen Chen & Wan-Yu Liu & Chi-Ming Hsieh, 2017. "Integrating Ecosystem Services and Eco-Security to Assess Sustainable Development in Liuqiu Island," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-14, June.
    7. White, Thomas J., 2007. "Sharing resources: The global distribution of the Ecological Footprint," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 402-410, December.
    8. Jaume Rosselló Nadal & Mohcine Bakhat, 2009. "A new approach to estimating tourism-induced electricity consumption," CRE Working Papers (Documents de treball del CRE) 2009/6, Centre de Recerca Econòmica (UIB ·"Sa Nostra").
    9. Tang, Zi, 2015. "An integrated approach to evaluating the coupling coordination between tourism and the environment," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 11-19.
    10. Yisong Wang & Jincheng Huang & Shiming Fang, 2019. "Sustainability Assessment of Natural Capital Based on the 3D Ecological Footprint Model: A Case Study of the Shennongjia National Park Pilot," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, February.
    11. Shengmiao Han & Badrul Hisham Bin Kamaruddin & Xing Shi, 2025. "The Intertwined Threads of Blue Economy, Inclusive Growth, and Environmental Sustainability in Transition Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-24, January.
    12. Kittisak Jermsittiparsert & Thitinan Chankoson, 2019. "Behavior of Tourism Industry under the Situation of Environmental Threats and Carbon Emission: Time Series Analysis from Thailand," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(6), pages 366-372.
    13. Ferng, Jiun-Jiun, 2007. "Biophysical assessments in evaluating industrial development: An experience from Taiwan freshwater aquaculture," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 427-434, August.
    14. Rogério Portantiolo Manzolli & David Blanco & Luana Portz & Andrea Yanes & Seweryn Zielinski & César Augusto Ruiz Agudelo & Andres Suarez, 2022. "Large Wood Debris Contributes to Beach Ecosystems but Colombian Beachgoer’s Do Not Recognize It," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-22, July.
    15. Mahmut Barakazı, 2023. "Unsustainable Tourism Approaches in Touristic Destinations: A Case Study in Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Ornella Papaluca & Mario Tani & Ciro Troise, 2020. "Entrepreneurship and Sustainability in Tourism: An Interpretative Model," Journal of Management and Sustainability, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(1), pages 1-38, July.
    17. Gössling, Stefan & Peeters, Paul & Ceron, Jean-Paul & Dubois, Ghislain & Patterson, Trista & Richardson, Robert B., 2005. "The eco-efficiency of tourism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 417-434, September.
    18. Huihui Feng & Xingpeng Chen & Peter Heck & Hong Miao, 2014. "An Entropy-Perspective Study on the Sustainable Development Potential of Tourism Destination Ecosystem in Dunhuang, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-27, December.
    19. Roberto Cellini & Gianpiero Torrisi, 2013. "Regional Public Spending for Tourism in Italy: An Empirical Analysis," Tourism Economics, , vol. 19(6), pages 1361-1384, December.
    20. Fernando J. Garrigos-Simon & Yeamduan Narangajavana-Kaosiri & Ismael Lengua-Lengua, 2018. "Tourism and Sustainability: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-23, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:23:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1007_s10668-020-00984-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.