MEDITERRANEAN ACTION PLAN

Rapport de l’Atelier sur le tourisme et le développement durable en Méditerranée
Antaly (Turquie), 17, 18 & 19 septembre 1998
8 Session S9 – Rapports des groupes de travail
8.1 Results of working group n°1 (rapporteur : M. Konstantinos
Papastavrou, Chypre)
Three case studies were presented:
• The Balearics (Spain)
• BeleK (Turkey)
• Akamas (Cyprus).
The above cases have different characteristics. Very briefly the main points are as
follows.
The Balearics case study refers to an area already tourist developed where:
• the benefits of tourism sector are well known;
• the problems have been analysed;
• the types of solutions are identified;
• the protected natural areas have been characterised; and
• the proper legislation has been already enacted.
The second case study was the Belek project. Briefly, a central decision has given
the order for a tourist complex development consisting of a huge, relatively,
number of beds, plus five golf courses, plus a national park, plus an entertainment
area, etc. This development is already under construction in a forestry and
agricultural land, close to a community numbered about 600.000 people. A water
treatment plant serves the whole area, and the secondary treated effluent is reused
to irrigate the golf courses.
The third case study referred to the Akamas Peninsula area, a relatively remote
wilderness area, and the efforts exercised to implement a management plan. The
natural, ecological and cultural values of the area are well identified, however
strong lobbying from the part of the investors is being exercised towards the
tourism development the same way it was applied in the coastal zone of the island.
It seems that the majority of the parties involved, would like to see the
implementation of a management plan with the basic aim to protect the
environment in parallel to the development of the local communities, without the
developers having a role to play.
The analysis of the above mentioned three case studies, although of different
nature, has revealed a number of common elements that have to be taken into
consideration when proper solutions are under examination, or when wrong initial
decisions should be avoided. These elements are summarised here below:
1. Land use planning and avoidance of conflicts of interest.
2. Planning of tourism development, taking into account the resources available
(natural, cultural, human, etc.).
3. Particularly for tourism, the vision, the character and the target must be well
identified from the beginning: tourism for whom and by whom; tourism to
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Plan Bleu