How Eco is Eco-Tourism? A Systematic Assessment of Resorts on the Red Sea, Egypt

Abstract

Eco-tourism is a growing part of the tourism industry. However, there are no agreed-upon criteria of what constitutes eco-tourism, so the industry is currently self-identified, with eco-lodges simply declaring themselves so. Here we present the first systematic comparison of eco-tourism versus conventional (or mass) tourism, using as our study area a set of 37 resorts along the southern Red Sea coast of Egypt, all constructed on similarly oriented parcels between the sea and the Red Sea Mountain Range. We compared resorts based on their water, energy, and waste management (all virtually equivalent), and based on mappable environmental parameters such as swimming pool surface area, distance from mangrove patches, conflict with flood plains, extent of lawn area, and means of access to deep water. We found that the self-identified eco-tourism establishments were not significantly different from the conventional tourism resorts in terms of their stress on environmental resources. We recommend that future eco-tourism operations be modified in two key ways. First, on the planning level, by modifying the regional master plan created by the central government tourism authorities. Second, on the site design level, by introducing significant improvements to the design approval processes for the developments to ensure compliance with environmental requirements.

The Green Accommodation Management Practices: The Role of Environmentally Responsible Tourist Markets in Understanding Tourists’ Pro-Environmental Behaviour

“…As another practice, the green accommodation guests are increasingly encouraged to engage in PEBs relating to green practices such as reducing their electricity and water consumption, which is informed through information stickers in bedrooms and bathrooms [4,15,16]. For example, ecotourists who stay at an eco-lodge or green accommodation tend to be more involved in environmental matters than other types of nature-based tourists [21,22]. Targeting the guests staying in green hotels, a recent study by Han et al [1] provides empirical evidence indicating that green accommodation practices help the hotel guests to be aware of the benefits of the EMP and support the EMP at the hotel.…”

A Constructivist Grounded Theory Investigation of Businesses’ Concerns about Public-Private Partnership Responses Toward COVID-19

“…Geographically speaking, Marsa Alam is the least established territory of the Red Sea governorate. With 8,553 inhabitants (as of the 2018 census), it is located on the outskirts of the governorate, almost 274 km from Hurghada, the well-developed and urbane regional center (Gohar & Kondolf, 2020). Marsa Alam's location on the Red Sea's western coastline in south-eastern Egypt makes it closer to the historical rural areas of Upper Egypt than Cairo, Egypt's capital.…”

“…Marsa Alam's location on the Red Sea's western coastline in south-eastern Egypt makes it closer to the historical rural areas of Upper Egypt than Cairo, Egypt's capital. Its reputation as a tourist destination was augmented following the opening of Marsa Alam's International Airport in 2003 (Gohar & Kondolf, 2020).…”

Sustainability of Tourism Development in the city of Ain-Sukhna, Egypt

“…They evaluated the resorts based on environmental criteria that included swimming pool surface area, distance from mangrove areas, the proximity of flood plains, the amount of grass space, and methods of access to deep water. They concluded that self-identified ecotourism facilities were not considerably different from the regular ones (Gohar & Kondolf, 2020). Bratucu et al (2017) conducted a study on sustainable tourist development strategies in Romania's Carpathian Mountains, in which they confirmed that despite the fact that overdevelopment of mountain tourism may lead to environmental degradation and biodiversity loss, mountains and their landscapes are important resources for the tourism sector (Bratucu, et al, 2017).…”

“…He concluded that the newer scope attracts attention towards the arising hazards concerning bio-system, stability of urban and resort buildings, as well as pollution of petrochemical factories (Abdallah, 2007). Gohar and Kondolf (2020) conducted a systematic comparison between ecotourism and conventional tourism, based on a group of 37 resorts along Egypt's southern Red Sea coast. All resorts were built on similarly oriented plots between the sea and the Red Sea Mountain Range.…”