Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2015

Abstract

According to UNWFTO, 20% of world tourism is concentrated in Mediterranean countries. The wealth in natural resources of the Mediterranean coastline (beautiful landscape, climate favorable for tourism, important biodiversity, etc…) makes it the first world touristic destination. The development of the tourism sector has permitted economics gains, especially for economies on the North side of the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless tourism also has harmful effects such as deterioration of the environment. According to the Plan Bleu, in 2000, 40% of the 46 000 Km of the Mediterranean coastline are artificial and urbanized. This situation is not sustainable because the increases in touristic demand apply pressure on natural resources so that there is a risk for economic activities based on tourism. Indeed tourism depends on the environment; degradation of the natural resources has negative effects on touristic arrivals and then in revenues produced by tourism. That’s why Mediterranean economies need a tourism development strategy combining economic development and preservation of the environment. Our article aims at analyzing the different effects of ecotourism in terms of revenues and employment in order to answer the following question: Can the development of ecotourism be a credible and sustainable development strategy for Mediterranean countries?

Identifier

2334-282X

Journal Title

Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

ISSN

2334-282X

Publisher

Middle East Economic Association and Loyola University Chicago

Volume

17

Comments

Presentation of the articles in the Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies was made possible by a limited license granted to Loyola University Chicago and Middle East Economics Association from the authors who have retained all copyrights in the articles. http://www.luc.edu/orgs/meea/volume17/meea17.htm

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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