Tourism impacts on marine and coastal ecosystem services: A systematic review

Abstract

Coastal tourism holds substantial development potential. However, coastal ecosystems are affected by tourism development, which limits the supply of ecosystem services (ES). This study aims to conduct a systematic literature review on the impacts of tourism on coastal and marine ES using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-alpha Methods. We initially identified 640 studies by searching titles, abstracts, and keywords. After screening, only 50 studies met the criteria for inclusion in the review. The results showed a significant increase in publications between 2011 and 2023. Most studies were conducted in Europe, Asia, and North and Central America. The most used ES classifications were MEA and CICES. Most studies concentrated on the ES supply dimension (43 studies; 86 %). Cultural ES (47 studies; 94 %) were researched more than provisioning (28 studies; 56 %) and regulating & maintenance (29 studies; 58 %) sections. Regarding cultural ES, most studies were focused on “Physical and experiential interactions with the natural environment” (34 studies; 68 %) and on provisioning ES on “Wild animals (terrestrial and aquatic) for nutrition, materials or energy” (18 studies; 36 %). Quantitative and mixed methods were the most used in the reviewed studies. Most studies identified pressures from “Tourism, urbanisation, and population increase” (27 studies; 54 %) and focused on “Integrative/ common management strategies” (20 studies; 40 %). Only a few of the studies’ results have been validated by external data (10 studies; 20 %). This study provides an overview of the most assessed marine and coastal ES, where studies are needed with more comprehensive geographic coverage.