With water becoming scarcer and more polluted due to tourism, the tourist industry needs to act quickly. This article discusses the urgent issues and suggests practical water conservation steps for tourism businesses.
The tourism industry relies heavily on clean water sources for various purposes, such as drinking, recreation, scenic beauty, and ecological health. However, the increasing scarcity of freshwater, expected to exceed demand by 40% by 2030, presents a significant challenge. Untreated wastewater discharge is also causing pollution in oceans, lakes, and rivers, harming tourist destinations. To ensure the industry's sustainability, it's essential to rapidly adopt water-efficient practices and improve water quality. Sustainable water management, which encourages responsible water use, is crucial for ensuring a clean and adequate water supply for both current and future industry and domestic needs. This article explores the link between tourism and water sources, assesses the tourism industry's impact on water availability and quality, and offers practical sustainable water management solutions for tourism businesses.
The links between Tourism and Water
Tourism relies heavily on water, and having a clean and sufficient water supply is crucial for the industry to keep operating smoothly. Beyond the basic need for tourists to drink water, water supports a myriad of tourism-related activities from swimming, kayaking, fishing to relaxing in hot springs. In addition, water plays an extensive role in creating the beautiful landscapes tourists love and travel to visit - mountains, forests, lakes, oceans, and rivers. Water is also a lifeline for both marine and land creatures, as well as plant life, making activities like wildlife tours, agri-tourism, and food tours possible. Tourism activities aside, water is utilised in accommodations for showers, washing, and cleaning. In the following sections, we'll explore how tourism activities can impact the amount and quality of water available.
Water quantity
Freshwater is vital for the tourism industry, but is being threatened by scarcity and overuse. Currently, a quarter of the world's population faces severe water stress. A study of 54 major tourism countries found that tourism consumes 10% more water than domestic use in 19 of them. This highlights the need to discuss water scarcity in the tourism sector. Water scarcity is particularly noticeable in desert tourist destinations like the UAE, which is experiencing a tourist surge. The dry climate, along with rising hospitality standards, has led to the construction of water-intensive facilities such as spas, pools, and wellness centres, as well as the growing popularity of water-dependent activities such as golfing and skiing, putting further pressure on available water resources. These impactful factors mean that it is vital for tourism destinations to manage water resources responsibly in order to avoid demand exceeding supply.The consequences of water scarcity goes beyond tourism, impacting economic stability, land subsidence, political unrest, reputation, and public health, affecting society and the nation as a whole. Addressing water scarcity is about safeguarding the well-being of regions and countries, not just promoting tourism.
Water quality
Tourism activities can lead to water pollution, especially marine tourism, which is the main water-based activity. This directly harms the quality of both coastal and land water. Various tourism-related actions contribute to water pollution, such as releasing untreated sewage, discharging wastewater from hospitality establishments and cruise ships, and leaving plastics and other non-biodegradable items on beaches. Water pollution in the sea puts both ecosystems and humans at risk. Sea creatures are the first to feel the impact, followed by nearby land areas like lagoons, which then affect the well-being of land creatures. Human health becomes endagnered, as polluted seawater often leads to infections and health problems from direct contact or consumption of contaminated seafood. To address these problems, effective wastewater management and proper sewage systems must be implemented and coastal tourism development carefully regulated. This approach is essential to protect ecosystems, human health, and the overall future of the tourism industry.
Sustainable Water Management and Tourism
Sustainable water management in tourism involves efficiently and responsibly managing water resources to mitigate the adverse environmental, social, and economic impacts from tourism activities. Its main objective is to protect ecosystems and human well-being by maintaining the quality and availability of water resources and tourism activities. This form of management recognises the significant pressure from tourism on water supplies and ecosystems, particularly in destinations experiencing high tourist influx and limited access to water resources. The following strategies outline practical approaches to curbing water consumption and minimising water contamination within the tourism industry:
Identification and monitoring of water efficiencies
A basic measure to reduce water consumption involves inspecting the existing water infrastructure within your tourism facilities, such as recreational areas, tourist centres, hotels, and resorts. Inspection involves checking pipeline systems for leaks and assessing the functionality of water meters. It is also vital for tourism facilities to routinely oversee their water resources, evaluating both their quantity and quality.
Wastewater treatment assurance
Tourism facilities must follow proper wastewater treatment protocols, either through the utilisation of appropriate equipment or by collaborating with local water agencies/companies. Effective wastewater treatment requires multiple treatment levels, ensuring the water source is entirely pollutant-free. The availability of clean water can also be used as an opportunity by tour operators, who can employ treated water for irrigation purposes, particularly in activities like agritourism and community-based tourism.
Integrated planning
Conducting a carrying capacity assessment for tourist destinations, which factors water availability and infrastructural capacities, is vital in tourism development. Such evaluation provides insights into the extent of acceptable scale and the types of tourism activities suitable for the area, considering the water needs of other industries, local communities, and ecosystems.
Staff training and guest awareness
Promoting responsible water management behaviours also depends on awareness among employees and tourists regarding water conservation and pollution prevention. Tourism enterprises can share knowledge about water-saving practices, establish monitoring systems for water sources, organise cleanup activities, and inform the importance of refraining from littering plastics and other waste into nature.
Stakeholder collaboration
Implementing changes or developing water management strategies require developing new policies and altering governmental operations, whether on a regional or national scale. Therefore, it is important for tourism businesses to collaborate with government agencies, private organisations, policymakers, scientists, and water management experts to bring about the necessary improvements in how water sources are being handled.
Now that you're up to speed on the links between tourism, water sources, and the actions tourism businesses can take to protect this vital resource, it's your time to act! Get involved, understand your impact, and explore Sharjah's unique water strategies by joining the Sustain Sharjah community.