How Eco is Eco-Tourism? A Systematic Assessment of Resorts on the Red Sea, Egypt

Amir Gohar,G Mathias Kondolf

doi:10.3390/su122310139

Abstract

Eco-tourism is a growing part of the tourism industry. However, there are no agreed-upon criteria of what constitutes eco-tourism, so the industry is currently self-identified, with eco-lodges simply declaring themselves so. Here we present the first systematic comparison of eco-tourism versus conventional (or mass) tourism, using as our study area a set of 37 resorts along the southern Red Sea coast of Egypt, all constructed on similarly oriented parcels between the sea and the Red Sea Mountain Range. We compared resorts based on their water, energy, and waste management (all virtually equivalent), and based on mappable environmental parameters such as swimming pool surface area, distance from mangrove patches, conflict with flood plains, extent of lawn area, and means of access to deep water. We found that the self-identified eco-tourism establishments were not significantly different from the conventional tourism resorts in terms of their stress on environmental resources. We recommend that future eco-tourism operations be modified in two key ways. First, on the planning level, by modifying the regional master plan created by the central government tourism authorities. Second, on the site design level, by introducing significant improvements to the design approval processes for the developments to ensure compliance with environmental requirements.

Highlights

Of the 37 resorts, we found that the total number of rooms serving mass tourism to be 6615 rooms versus 442 rooms for eco-tourism (Table 1)
As interest in eco-tourism and the number of eco-lodges increase, it is good to bear in mind that there are no accepted standards for what constitutes eco-tourism, and eco-lodges are self-labelled
We did not attempt to document or measure the nature experience, focusing instead on the sustainability dimensions, which we measured in terms of locational factors, design factors, and management factors

Summary

Introduction

Mainstream resorts in the Red Sea region are known as mass tourism especially as it has high numbers of resorts and rooms. The success of these are measured by the number of hotel rooms not the economic revenue. Mass tourism involves large groups of collectively organized tourists, staying in accommodation such as large hotels and resorts, with the presumed greater impact than would be the case for smaller-scale tourism, and an implied lack of concern for the environment in planning and development. Mass tourism is usually focused on attractions such as beaches, sun, and nightlife, which are not highly sensitive to impacts of crowds and large-scale development. Mass tourism has been seen to operate at an “industrial scale” accommodating large numbers of tourists who are not necessarily sensitive to natural and cultural heritage of their host countries

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