How eco is eco-tourism? A systematic assessment of resorts on the Red Sea, Egypt

Gohar, Amir; Kondolf, G.

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.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 30, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Dec 4, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 4, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jan 17, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 17, 2023
• Journal: Sustainability
• Print ISSN: 2071-1050
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 23
• Article Number: 10139
• Pages: 20
• Series Title: This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecotourism for Sustainability
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310139
• Keywords: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law; Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment; Geography, Planning and Development, eco-tourism; mass tourism; sustainability; Red Sea; Egypt
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10336125
• Publisher URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/10139
• Related Public URLs: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/Ecotourism_Sustainability
• Additional Information: The authors acknowledge the support of research expenses from the Beatrix Farrand Endowment of the Department of Landscape Architecture and the Al-Falah Program of the Center for Middle East Studies, both of the University of California, Berkeley. The senior author was supported in his doctoral studies by a University Fellowship awarded by the Graduate Division of the University of California Berkeley. We express our gratitude to the staff of all 37 resorts we analyzed, who answered our questions about practices and provided data as needed. Their openness and cooperation made this analysis possible. Throughout our analysis of environmental issues related to tourism development along the Egyptian Red Sea coast we have benefited from insightful discussions with Hossam Helmy of HEPCA and the Shagra Eco-Lodge.