Seaside hotel location and environmental impact: land use dilemmas

ABSTRACT One of the most important decisions to be made in the tourism industry pertains to the location of sites, facilities, and hotels. This decision is influenced by tourist demand, local community needs, and economic benefits to stakeholders. Planners and entrepreneurs of new recreational resorts and hotels must take environmental implications into consideration as well as their responsibility in relation to them. This study addresses the relations between theories of tourism and seaside hotel location, the sustainability paradigm and the development of sustainable tourism, and land use conflicts engendered by the sensitivity of seaside tourism development to environmental and cultural sustainability issues. The aim of the study is to examine and analyze tourism vs. sustainability considerations of seaside hotel location, and to enumerate some of the principles to be considered suitable for optimal hotel placement in order to reduce land use conflicts on the subject. The methodology is qualitative and includes in-depth interviews with experts, tourism planners, entrepreneurs, decision makers and stakeholders involved in tourism development and environmental issues in Israel. This is a significant research with applied value in the planning of seaside hotels and tourism development in areas of pre-existing intensive development, competition, and conflicts over land use.