Coastlines and cruises

• Over 50 million people visit US beaches every summer, accounting for 85 per cent of all tourist revenues in the US and generating US$640 billion a year. (Clean Beaches Council)
  

• The Mediterranean is the world's leading tourist destination, playing host to 200 million tourists annually (a third of all international tourists) - a figure projected to increase to 350 million by 2020. Regional tourism receipts in 1999 totalled US$41billion - a third of the world's total tourism receipts. Germany is the largest market for tourists visiting the Mediterranean, followed by the UK, France and Italy. Spain, France, Italy, and Greece receive almost 80 per cent of Mediterranean tourists (WWF). Of a total 46,000km of coastline, 25,000km are now urbanised. In Italy, less than 29 per cent of coastline - and only six stretches of coast over 20km - is free of construction. Three-quarters of sand dunes on the Mediterranean coast between Spain and Sicily have disappeared (UNEP), while species such as the monk seal and sea turtles, plus 500 types of plant, are threatened with extinction, mainly due to tourism.

• In 2002, just over half of the UK beaches tested by statutory bodies met the Marine Conservation Society's standard for clean water.
  

• In the USA in 2003, the number of closings and advisories on beaches were up 51 percent from 2002, according to an annual survey released by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
  

• In the 1970s, 12 families lived on the 20km-long island of Cancun, Mexico. Today, Cancun has more than 20,000 hotel rooms, 2.6 million visitors a year and a permanent population of 300,000, only 30 per cent of whom have homes with treated sewage. Every day, 450 tonnes of rubbish are dumped into Cancun's landfill site.

Coastal development often leads to erosion, because buildings act as windbreaks and alter patterns of sand movement.

• In parts of The Gambia, beaches are eroding at a rate of 5m a year.
  

• In studies in the Caribbean, up to 70 per cent of beaches studied were eroded.

Coral is a major tourist attraction. But, ironically, the building of resorts to meet this demand often damages reefs. Boat anchor, divers and snorkellers can all damage coral. Sewage and pollutants from resorts discharge into the ocean, poisoning the living organisms of the reef. Reefs are over-fished to meet tourist demands and destroyed to reclaim offshore land for building. However, the greatest threat to coral reefs may be rising sea temperatures due to global warming - to which air travel is a major contributor. It is predicted that global warming will cause extensive flooding in coastal areas, and the eventual submersion of low-lying states such as the Maldives within 25 years. The Maldives is further suffering from coral bleaching due to rising sea temperatures.

• The UNEP World Atlas of Coral Reefs showed in 2001 that the world's coral reefs occupy a much smaller area than previously thought, and that reefs have come under assault globally.
  

• Research in Bonaire (Dixon et al, 1993) suggests that reef degradation occurs when there are more than 4,000-6,000 dives a year. This is the 'carrying capacity' of a reef dive site. A study in the Red Sea (Hawkins and Roberts, 1994) put this carrying capacity figure at 10,000-15,000 dives a year.
  

• Mangrove swamps - a vital part of tropical coastal ecosystems that provide breeding and feeding grounds for many species in the marine food chain - are often cleared for resort development. In the last 50 years, as much as 85 per cent of mangroves have been lost in Thailand, the Philippines, Pakistan, Panama and Mexico. Globally, about 50 per cent of mangrove forests have been lost. (World Resources Institute: Coastal Ecosystems Report , 2001)

Nearly 9 million people went on a cruise holiday in 1999, an increase of 7.7 per cent since 1990. In 2001 some 53 new vessels were on the order books. The Caribbean is the world's major cruise destination: in 1996, 130 cruise ships in the Caribbean carried over 4.5 million passengers. The Maritime Administration (MARAD) found that cruises in North America increased by 9% in 2003, carrying over 7 million passengers.

• Tourists on cruises pay for an all-inclusive package and spend little locally. On average, only US$6 per passenger is spent on locally produced food and drink. (Tourism Concern: Tourism as Trade )
  

• Each year, 7 billion kg of trash is dumped at sea - 77 per cent from cruise ships. (Environmental News Service)
  

• A typical Caribbean cruise ship generates 70,000 tonnes of waste per year, or 7,500kg per day.
  

• MARAD reported in 2003 that Carnival Cruise Line has the largest market share, with almost 33 percent, followed by Royal Caribbean with 26.4 percent of market share. This means that 59.5 per cent of the market is in the hands of just two operators.
  

• Many cruise liners register under 'flags of convenience', making them hard to prosecute for illegal dumping of waste. A US federal investigation found that only 2 of 111 dumping cases referred by the US were acted on by other countries. Royal Caribbean, for instance, registers its ships in Liberia or Norway (thus also saving itself US$30 million a year in US taxes).

This section was compiled by Mark Mann, author of The Gringo Trail and Tourism Concern's Community Tourism Guide.

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