dossier sur le tourisme et le développement durable

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Tourism, culture and society
the deterioration of the heritage. In Cappadocia, Turkey, despite the resources generated by
visits to the great cultural sites (entrance tickets to open-air museums), the exceptional cultural
heritage of the region is being destroyed with the setting up of hotels in the heart of troglodyte
sites, graffiti in churches dating from the 5 th century, and so on. Mass cultural tourism that is
little controlled uses heritage without protecting it. Moreover, massive commercialisation of
craftwork can lead to its degeneration, with standardised products and the disappearance of
know-how.
2.2. Tourism as a contributing factor to the protection and
enhancement of cultural heritage
Instead of merely using folklore as a facade, several factors can help to integrate tourism in the
local culture. The “tourist use” can concern the old, traditional constructions and local materials
for new constructions. Another way of integrating tourism is to use the human resources of the
region. The case of the island of Djerba in Tunisia is a significant example: despite the dynamic
tourist industry on the island, local economy is not evolving because most of the goods, services
and jobs have been imported from the continent. In Ouarzazate, Morocco, a study has shown
that tourism does not benefit the locality as much as it could: craftwork, agricultural products
and investments come from other regions of Morocco. The share of primary tourism jobs is not
as high as in other regions.
Tourism also has secondary effects on the agriculture that can be positive. A survey carried out
in the region of Nabeul Hammamet, Tunisia, showed that local agriculture had benefited from
half of the secondary effects of tourism. There can even be a “crossed fertilising” of tourism with
the social life and local culture: the leisure activities of the tourists and of the local residents
intermingle and this is becoming more and more the case. There seems to be a growing
demand from tourists to participate in local life and the inhabitants of these tourist resorts can in
their turn profit from new activities.
In many Mediterranean countries, tourism finances the restoration of cultural heritage via the
income from visits to the monuments or by the transforming of wind-mills, characteristic homes,
villages, and so on, into tourist accommodation. The north of Syria, for instance, has many
abandoned villages that testify to a prosperous ancient civilisation and which are in the process
of becoming protected as historical monuments. This project for the “forgotten villages” could
combine the development of excursions in the region and the conversion of abandoned houses
into tourist accommodation as well as the creation of an archaeological reserve. This natural
regional reserve could closely integrate the local population and other rural activities. Another
example is in Malta where there are projects to create small hotels in the old town of La Valette.
In Croatia there is a programme to renovate the tourist image called « Croatia: the
Mediterranean as it has always been ». Many restoration and enhancement projects have been
implemented there. In Istria some experiments have already finished and a pilot project
concerning the restoration and protection of the village of Navokana has been set up (Peljesac
peninsula). The “Navokana-ethnovillage” project plans to put in place an eco-archaeological
reserve that will include the historical sites of Spila and the Illyrian citadel of Grad. NGOs are
strongly involved in these projects.
Sometimes the State's resources are insufficient for the huge heritage and partners such as
international cooperations, NGOs and the private sector are needed. Not all of the
Mediterranean countries count the enhancement of their heritage as a priority. This is the case
for Tunisia which concentrates essentially on the diversification of tourism by leisure facilities,
while its heritage is only part of an inventory, research and protection policy for the moment.
Tourism can also contribute to the restoration of former industrial sites, particularly on the coast.
With limited legal barriers to the creating of new yacht harbours, current projects are
concentrating on the rehabilitation of fallow harbour areas as in Bizerta, Tunisia where the little
used industrial port now welcomes yachts at the sailing club that is also used by the local
population. In Murcia, Spain, there is a rehabilitation project to convert the former polluted