Waste management and sustainable tourism in small islands

Abstract

The economies of Mediterranean countries, particularly island states in the region, are strongly dependent on tourism which, in tum, brings about some negative environmental impacts which these locations are forced to contend with. Typical examples of such locations include Malta, Cyprus, and the Balearics all of which have been experiencing the good and the bad of mass tourism for several years. Tourism is known to generate significant amounts of both solid and liquid waste. Outdated waste management practices complemented by serious infrastructural deficiencies at a national level, may easily lead to deleterious environmental impacts that ultimately lower the marketability of a location as a tourism destination. As a consequence, the Mediterranean tourist industry risks heavily in terms of long-term viability and sustainability. This work broadly examines some of the issues and conflicts arising from the interaction between the waste management sector and the tourism industry in the abovementioned Mediterranean islands. This is achieved by means of a two-pronged approach, qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative approach, involving questionnaire-setting and two interviews, was meant to derive feedback from a number of experts working in the tourism and environment or waste sectors in the various islands. The feedback reveals that, according to the experts, Malta, Cyprus and the Balearics generally still lack adequate waste management infrastructure to cope with increasing waste volume trends. The experts argue that, unless remedial action is taken, the medium to long-term repercussions on these islands' respective tourism industries may be quite serious.