What’s the Cost of Tourism in the Water-Starved Mediterranean?
Travel Blog • Joanna Kakissis • 06.13.08 | 9:47 AM ET
Last year, when I was driving through the Mesara Plain in southern Crete, I found not the green farmland I remembered as a kid but a cascading plain of desiccated land. Some swathes looked like desert, covered only by dehydrated foliage. The island has always been dry, with resourceful farmers literally working the land to life. But I’d never seen it look as dry as this.
Climate change has wilted Greece’s largest island, half of which is at risk of desertification. Greenhouses and profligate irrigation practices have guzzled water, as have giant resorts and seedy cementopolis tourist traps that have marred the north coast. I’ve often railed and screamed that these greedy tourism businesses were killing the island and should be stopped at all costs, but instead of bravos I got hard looks from Cretans.
Tourism pays the bills in Greece and many Mediterranean countries. The reality of water shortages has escalated worries but has not translated into any kind of water conservation policies or ecologically sound development. Resorts continue to sprout up all over the Mediterranean, even in seriously dehydrated areas like Murcia, Spain, where resort owners get farming exemptions on water use by labeling golf grass a “crop.” It’s no surprise that a war over water has broken out.
The big resorts gulp a lion’s share of water for their golf courses and swimming pools and, for a time, may bask in the glory of the tourism rush. But as they strain the land, they also strain and destroy their ventures. Consider the giant resort development of Kemer on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, once a lavish place for vacation excess, now the decaying haunt of package tourists. Meanwhile, nearby Cirali—a sustainable, eco-hip collection of treehouses and cottages on a lovely beach—is attracting more and more travelers who want to bask in Turkey’s natural beauty. It’s a study in myopic versus visionary tourism development.
I wish I could say examples such as Cirali resonate around here. With few exceptions, they don’t. Mediterranean countries are still using dwindling water resources like it’s 1999. Some developers and tourism operators are just plain greedy, but others are merely operating with the paradigm that has served Mediterranean tourism development for so many years. Governments in southern Europe tend to think only in the short-term, and people only panic when the water is almost gone. Not the smartest way to be sustainable.
My eco-diatribe about Mesara and Crete in general may sound sanctimonious to a struggling hotel owner who has few sound business options on an island in ecological crisis. And I understand how frustrated people are with Greece’s two main political parties, who have offered only myopic environmental and tourism development policies in the last 30 years.
But times have changed, and the land can’t take it anymore. Not even beautiful, tough, resilient Crete.
Photo of desertification in Italy by pizzodisevo via Flickr (Creative Commons).
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Gerald in Crete 06.14.08 | 5:46 AM ET
Dear Joanna
I am doing two things with this comment: one to sign this post and two, to agree with absolutely everything you have stated.
It is an appalling reality that so many foreigners now live in Crete, having bought properties with THEIR swimming pools included, oblivious to the dire water shortage that afflicts the island. From their working life they now want a “quality of life” in their retirement that they insist on a swimming pool. “They deserve it!” they say. Well I for one am against this thinking. A swimming pool consumes masses of scarce water resources. How often is the pool really used? Not enough in my opinion to justify the pumping of thousands of litres of water to keep it topped up.
That is my contribution.
Crete is projected to be a desert climate by mid century just 40+ years hence.
Let us try to respect the environment and not pillage scarce resources for personal grandisement and satisfaction.
Gerald
A Brit in Crete
Guillaume Cromer 06.14.08 | 6:28 AM ET
Thank you Joanna for this article. I would like to writean email about this topic. I am the director of the international coalition for responsable tourism and we are working on mass tourism impacts.
Waiting hearing from you,
Guillaume.
Jack from eyeflare.com 06.16.08 | 6:05 AM ET
Hotels and expats have a lot to do in addressing this issue. They’re profligate water users, and as mentioned above, pools and lawns are a large part of the problem. The locals through experience seems to be (at least slightly) better at managing their water use.
On the pool issue, maybe there should be a requirement that the pool is covered with a evaporation-recovery solution when not in actual use? I.e. a greenhouse? It could also be placed in a conservatory-style extension with glass walls that could open to create an outdoor space when needed.
Expensive, yes, but necessary I believe.
qinox 07.30.08 | 5:56 AM ET
Thanks for posting this article. UNWTO saw that the tourist arrival all over the globe increase. This is despite the global economic crisis. With this increase environmental degradation and deterioration is not far from view. Government and major stakeholders should make sure that safety nets are installed to protect the environment.
Isn’t it sad that in areas where water is needed there is none while other areas are being flooded.
Techitrout 08.14.08 | 3:01 AM ET
Water shortage in one side and deluge in other side and tourism all over the world is a growing industry in spite of these environmental degradation.It’s high time to stop this environmental crisis, Thanks for the post.
Tatil 09.18.08 | 12:09 PM ET
There is no doubt that the climate change affects many touristic areas transforming them unexpectedly. The need for greet tourism becomes acute, we have to act more responsibly and start protecting these places. I had the chance to have a green vacation and I am telling you that I had the same exact fun as before only this time I felt better because I know I don’t affect any touristic area. Turkey is a great place for green tourism, I will definitely go back there.