Module 2
Unit 2.1
Introduction to Blue Tourism Economy
University of Malta
Institute for Tourism, Travel & Culture
Introduction to blue economy tourism contexts
Status and potential of the Blue Economy in Tourism
The idea of sustainable tourism was discussed for the first time at the Earth Summit held in 1992 in Rio. It has become a very important concept and the United Nations declared the year 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.
Sustainable tourism and the SDGs
Sustainable tourism has a significant role to play in environmental conservation and in driving socioeconomic development. It is mentioned in several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including:
Target 8.9: By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products.
Target 12.b: Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products.
Developing the tourism sector sustainably is also essential to achieving Objective 1 of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development 2016-2025 (MSSD), i.e. “ensuring sustainable development in marine and coastal areas”, as well as Objective 5 of a “transition towards a green and a blue economy”.
Tourism’s historical increase in the Mediterranean area
The Mediterranean is the world’s leading tourist destination, both in terms of international and domestic tourism. In 1970, 58 million International Tourist Arrivals (ITAs) were registered in Mediterranean countries. By 2014, this number had increased to 314 million, and the region was expected to attract 355 million ITAs in 2016, half of these in coastal areas.
Central role in the region’s economy
In 2015, the direct contribution of tourism to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Mediterranean countries was more than €300bn (4.5% of the regional GDP) whereas the total contribution (direct, indirect and induced) was more than €770 bn (11.6% of the GDP). This was expected to reach 12.5% of the region’s GDP by 2026 (almost €800 bn). In terms of jobs, tourism (coastal and inland) represented 11.5% of total employment in 2015 in the Mediterranean economies (19.8 million jobs, of which 7.8 million direct jobs). This is also expected to increase, and reach 12.4% of total employment in 2026.
WTTC (2016), Travel & Tourism – Economic impacts 2016 Mediterranean
Tourism & economic contribution
The average contribution of tourism to GDP and employment is lower in North African Mediterranean countries than for the Mediterranean region as a whole. This is especially due to the low level of tourism in Algeria and Libya.
WTTC (2017), Travel & Tourism – Economic impact 2017 Tunisia.
Valuable world heritage sites
The coastal area of the Mediterranean region is hosting a large number of valuable world heritage sites protected by the UNESCO World Heritage Center. In many countries (Portugal, Italy, Malta, Tunisia, Egypt, Cyprus, among others) the majority of those sites, if not all of them, are located at a very short distance from the coast line. They are major touristic attractions for local and foreign visitors and should be promoted, in a responsible way, to educate and acknowledge the common history and culture of the Mediterranean community.
The satellite image shows how much forest has been destroyed by wildfires on the Greek island of Evia in a comparison between August 1 and August 11, 2021.
Sustainable tourism & economics
In addition to preserving nature and biodiversity, sustainable tourism generates economic benefits. These can occur through two main areas:
– by reducing the costs of tourist facilities through energy, food and water savings, and
– by creating differentiated market which attracts new type of tourists, whole year long and with higher power purchase.
UNWTO (2016), Measuring Sustainable Tourism: Developing a statistical framework for sustainable tourism