Making Tourism Sustainable? Environment and Resort Tourism in Negril, Jamaica, 1970s–2002

Abstract

Based on newspaper accounts, official documents and reports by international donors, this article sets out the growing awareness about the environmental impact of resort tourism in Jamaica and action proposed and undertaken to put tourism on a more sustainable path, from the 1970s till the adoption of a Masterplan for Sustainable Tourism Development in 2002. Through a case study of the resort town of Negril, it will argue that the Master Plan was the culmination of action and lobbying by industry stakeholders and environmental groups, a global and regional shift towards sustainable tourism and pressure from international donors. It will also make the case that, throughout the period, the Jamaican government struggled to balance the economic and environmental sustainability of tourism because of the centrality of tourism to the national economy and its limited fiscal space.