dossier sur le tourisme et le développement durable

Preamble
Preamble
1. Framework and objectives of this Dossier
The work of the « Tourism » group of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable
Development (MCSD) permitted the formulating of recommendations and action proposals
adopted during the eleventh ordinary meeting of the contracting parties to the Barcelona
Convention in Malta in November 1999. This document underlines that tourism, much more
than other activities, raises the general question about the societies capacity of controlling
development, protecting their environment in the long run and promoting a balanced regional
development of their territories. It brings to line three main proposal lines: controlling impacts on
the environment, promoting tourism in better harmony with sustainable development and
developing Mediterranean co-operation. It also suggests a programme of actions to be
undertaken. The actions at regional level include the drawing up and distribution of reference
documents including a « Dossier » on the situation, the problems and the measures to be taken
to promote tourism, taking into account its close connection with the environment and
sustainable development. Blue Plan Regional Centre of Activity was put in charge of developing
this project.
The purpose of the Dossier is to supply knowledge and data making it possible to illustrate
“sustainable tourism” stakes in the Mediterranean, aimed at a mixed public ranging from
institutional heads (ministries, public bodies, local authorities, etc.), to tourist investors and
enterprises, the local population and local, national and international associations. The Dossier
is a document that will develop knowledge, reflection and action to make tourism a driving force
for sustainable development in the whole of the region.
The Dossier is organised around seven keys issues for a sustainable approach to tourist
activities: the number of visitors, the offer, the economic dimensions, employment and training,
social and cultural aspects, environmental issues and the political dimensions. A specific
chapter will be devoted to each of these issues, establishing an assessment of the situation.
The conclusions will recapitulate the stakes and will present the possible solutions and the
paths that need to be explored in order to make tourism a driving force for sustainable
development in the Mediterranean. The Dossier uses the classification for the destinations
proposed by the MCSD. This classification system distinguishes: mature destinations that can
give an account of their positive and/or negative experience; more recent destinations that are
in full development and that have to avoid the difficulties encountered elsewhere; coastal
territories and the back country offer real possibilities for development that have not yet been, or
only very little, exploited up to now and are in a position to invent new forms of development.
These are the emerging destinations.
2. The different scopes of sustainable tourism
The notion of sustainable tourism is the declension in the field of tourism of sustainable
development as « officialised » in the Rio Conference of 1992. It was inspired by this framework
even though there is no precise definition. Several interpretations are possible. They reveal the
various priorities that vary depending on the nature and the logic of those involved in this sector
of activity. They are made up of several facets of the same complex subject, and the absence of
a mutually accepted definition demonstrates the multiplicity of the approaches that are possible.
They include the following aspects:
• Sustainable tourism can be apprehended from the point of view of the tourist sector in the short term,
the aim of which is the viability of tourism, in other words the economic sustainability of tourism.
Tourism is at the heart of this notion and competition, as well as the strengthening and diversification
of the products, are emphasised.
• A second interpretation refers to sustainable tourist development. The aim is to ensure the long-term
viability of tourism by acknowledging the necessity to protect a certain number of environmental
features. This approach, which is essentially based on the economic perspective, acknowledges the
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