The impact of natural capital loss on blue-tourism economy: The Red Sea case study

IF 3.5 2区社会学 Q2 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Marine Policy Pub Date : 2024-11-17 DOI:10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106507

Silvia Gallegati , Paula Masiá , Emanuela Fanelli , Roberto Danovaro

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Abstract

Global tourism growth is threatening environmental health of several destinations. While negative impacts of tourism on environmental quality are being increasingly documented, the effects of degrading environmental quality on tourists’ choices have been largely neglected. Here we investigated the case study of Egyptian Red Sea, one of the world's most popular targets for blue tourism. We provide evidence that, in the North (Sharm El Sheikh), coral reefs experienced a progressive degradation (25–40 % from 1991 to 2023 in the most impacted touristic targets). We report multiple evidence that the loss of natural capital decreased the attractiveness of touristic areas: the shift of tourism flows towards the more pristine regions of the South (Marsa Alam) was unable to counterbalance the loss of Sharm El Sheikh. The significant decline in tourism flows (-23 %, 2009–2019) caused an estimated annual loss of ca. 1.77 billion USD (0.6 % of the Egyptian GDP in 2019). We conclude that, given the increasing demand of pristine environments as tourism target, an unsustainable ecosystem management can threaten local economies, particularly where nature integrity represents a key asset for destination choice. Policy makers should thus consider the convenience of protecting natural capital and/or carrying on ecosystem restoration interventions to recover their attractiveness and develop a sustainable blue-tourism economy.

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自然资本损失对蓝色旅游经济的影响：红海案例研究

全球旅游业的增长正在威胁着一些旅游目的地的环境健康。虽然旅游业对环境质量的负面影响被越来越多地记录在案，但环境质量恶化对游客选择的影响却在很大程度上被忽视了。在此，我们对世界上最受欢迎的蓝色旅游目的地之一--埃及红海进行了案例研究。我们提供的证据表明，在北部（沙姆沙伊赫），珊瑚礁经历了逐步退化（从 1991 年到 2023 年，在受影响最大的旅游目标地，珊瑚礁退化了 25-40%）。我们报告了多个证据，表明自然资本的损失降低了旅游区的吸引力：旅游流向南部更原始的地区（玛尔萨阿兰）的转移无法抵消沙姆沙伊赫的损失。旅游业流量的大幅下降（-23%，2009-2019 年）估计每年造成约 17.7 亿美元的损失（占 2019 年埃及国内生产总值的 0.6%）。我们的结论是，鉴于对原始环境作为旅游目标的需求日益增长，不可持续的生态系统管理可能会威胁当地经济，尤其是在自然完整性是目的地选择的关键资产的情况下。因此，决策者应考虑保护自然资本和/或进行生态系统恢复干预的便利性，以恢复其吸引力并发展可持续的蓝色旅游经济。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Marine Policy Multiple-

CiteScore

7.60

自引率

13.20%

发文量

428

期刊介绍： Marine Policy is the leading journal of ocean policy studies. It offers researchers, analysts and policy makers a unique combination of analyses in the principal social science disciplines relevant to the formulation of marine policy. Major articles are contributed by specialists in marine affairs, including marine economists and marine resource managers, political scientists, marine scientists, international lawyers, geographers and anthropologists. Drawing on their expertise and research, the journal covers: international, regional and national marine policies; institutional arrangements for the management and regulation of marine activities, including fisheries and shipping; conflict resolution; marine pollution and environment; conservation and use of marine resources. Regular features of Marine Policy include research reports, conference reports and reports on current developments to keep readers up-to-date with the latest developments and research in ocean affairs.