Tourist development and efficient water management. An opportunity for sustainable tourism in the Costa Brava (Girona)

La solución a la crisis económica actual pasa por el establecimiento de un nuevo paradigma de gestión sostenible de los recursos. El turismo depende de la disponibilidad de agua, de la misma manera que el agua condiciona los usos que el turista hace del territorio. Las restricciones de agua o la falta de la misma pueden afectar la imagen de los destinos turísticos, perjudicando su desarrollo socioeconómico. Sin embargo, los distintos episodios de sequías acaecidos en los últimos años en el litoral mediterráneo peninsular y las predicciones climáticas, señalan que estos fenómenos serán cada vez más recurrentes y muestran claramente la necesidad de introducir cambios sustanciales en las estrategias de gestión de los recursos hídricos. La sostenibilidad económica, social y ambiental del turismo debe acompañarse de una gestión eficiente de los recursos hídricos. El objetivo del presente artículo es determinar cuáles son los factores relacionados con la oferta turística que determinan el consumo de agua en la Costa Brava (Girona). La hipótesis inicial de este trabajo parte de que el consumo de agua viene determinado no sólo por el número de usuarios conectados a la red de suministro sino que es necesario tener en cuenta otros aspectos sociales y territoriales como la tipología urbano turística para comprender y mejorar la gestión del agua en los municipios turísticos del litoral mediterráneo.The establishment of a new paradigm of sustainable resource management must be one of the solutions to the current economic crisis. Tourism depends on the availability of water, in the same way that water determines the uses that tourists develop on the territory. Water restrictions, or the lack of water, can affect the image of tourist destinations, damaging their socioeconomic development. However, the different episodes of drought occurred in recent years in the peninsular Mediterranean coastline and climate predictions, which indicate that these phenomena will increase, clearly show the need for substantial changes in management strategies of water resources. The economic, social and environmental sustainability of tourism should be accompanied by an efficient management of water resources. The main goal of this work is to identify the factors related to tourism that determine water consumption in the Costa Brava (Girona). The hypothesis is that not only the number of users connected to the water supply network determines water consumption. Actually, it is necessary to consider other social and territorial aspects for understanding and improving water management in tourist municipalities over the Mediterranean coast

Desarrollo turístico y gestión eficiente del agua. Una oportunidad para el turismo sostenible en la Costa Brava (Girona)

The establishment of a new paradigm of sustainable resource management must be one of the solutions to the current economic crisis. Tourism depends on the availability of water, in the same way that water determines the uses that tourists develop on the territory. Water restrictions, or the lack of water, can affect the image of tourist destinations, damaging their socioeconomic development. However, the different episodes of drought occurred in recent years in the peninsular Mediterranean coastline and climate predictions, which indicate that these phenomena will increase, clearly show the need for substantial changes in management strategies of water resources. The economic, social and environmental sustainability of tourism should be accompanied by an efficient management of water resources. The main goal of this work is to identify the factors related to tourism that determine water consumption in the Costa Brava (Girona). The hypothesis is that not only the number of users connected to the water supply network determines water consumption. Actually, it is necessary to consider other social and territorial aspects for understanding and improving water management in tourist municipalities over the Mediterranean coast.La solución a la crisis económica actual pasa por el establecimiento de un nuevo paradigma de gestión sostenible de los recursos. El turismo depende de la disponibilidad de agua, de la misma manera que el agua condiciona los usos que el turista hace del territorio. Las restricciones de agua o la falta de la misma pueden afectar la imagen de los destinos turísticos, perjudicando su desarrollo socioeconómico. Sin embargo, los distintos episodios de sequías acaecidos en los últimos años en el litoral mediterráneo peninsular y las predicciones climáticas, señalan que estos fenómenos serán cada vez más recurrentes y muestran claramente la necesidad de introducir cambios sustanciales en las estrategias de gestión de los recursos hídricos. La sostenibilidad económica, social y ambiental del turismo debe acompañarse de una gestión eficiente de los recursos hídricos. El objetivo del presente artículo es determinar cuáles son los factores relacionados con la oferta turística que determinan el consumo de agua en la Costa Brava (Girona). La hipótesis inicial de este trabajo parte de que el consumo de agua viene determinado no sólo por el número de usuarios conectados a la red de suministro sino que es necesario tener en cuenta otros aspectos sociales y territoriales como la tipología urbano turística para comprender y mejorar la gestión del agua en los municipios turísticos del litoral mediterrá

Exploring Environmental Awareness and Behavior among Guests at Hotels That Apply Water-Saving Measures

The aim of this study was to investigate guest profiles at a hotel that has created a best-practices water management model to determine how different types of guests contribute to saving water during their stay. To do this, we analyzed levels of environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavior among the guests. Information was gathered through 648 structured surveys with guests at Hotel Samba in the Spanish seaside resort of Lloret de Mar between September 2015 and August 2016. Cluster analysis revealed four profiles of guests with different sociodemographic characteristics and different levels of awareness and proactivity in relation to water conservation. We combined our findings to develop a framework that illustrates how the two dimensions of environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavior are related in this setting. This article provides new insights into how hotel guests’ environmental awareness and engagement can influence a hotel’s water-saving efforts. These insights should help hotel operators to devise new, guest-centered strategies for saving waterThis study was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project “Analysis of trends and resilience strategies in use and water consumption in tourist areas. The case of the Costa Brava” (reference number CSO2013-41262-P

Tourist development and wastewater treatment in the Spanish Mediterranean coast: The Costa Brava case study

The Costa Brava (Girona, Spain) is one of the pioneering regions along the Spanish Mediterranean coast in terms of wastewater treatment. Since the 1950s, the water quality in swimming areas has been affected by the ongoing tourist development. However, at the same time, this issue has motivated the implementation of wastewater treatment systems that, otherwise, would have been delayed. With that mission, the Costa Brava Consortium (CCB) was created in 1971. The CCB is a public institution formed by all the municipalities along the coast of Girona, the head of Girona province and the watershed authority (formerly called the Eastern Pyrenees Hydrographical Confederation). Taking a conceptual approach derived from the Political Ecology of Tourism, the aim of this study is to explore the close relationship among the tourism boom, the economic and technologic investments related to wastewater management, and the improvement of environmental quality of the Costa Brava swimming areas. We believe that the tourist sector has forced public administrations to minimize the environmental impact derived from tourist activities. In fact, wastewater treatment has contributed to achieve improved and optimal swimming conditions in beaches, the most valuable resource for sun and sand tourist sector. The increasingly strict environmental regulations issued at European level have an important role in the discursive legitimation of high public expenses. Nevertheless, water-related management costs have been progressively financed by tax-payers, under pretexts of economic crisis or limited public budget. In addition, private capital is considered as the only way to maintain present infrastructures and to invest in new one