Environmental challenges of coastal and maritime tourism in Spain

Abstract

Spain leads tourism but needs to improve its model considering sustainability, competitiveness and quality. Every day, there are more and more concerns about the negative effects of tourism, especially those related to the destruction of natural and cultural resources, as well as its impact on ecology. Moreover, the future is uncertain because of the loss of competitiveness of the tourism model based on sun and beach vis-a-vis other emergent destinations and the degradation of the resources and attractiveness of the coastal and maritime destinations. This article analyses some environmental issues of the Spanish tourism model, tries to answer some of the uncertainties of this economic sector and, finally, proposes some innovations and improvements with the aim of maintaining Spain in the best position in the world ranking of tourism destinations.

Keywords:

sustainable tourism, coastal and maritime tourism, environmental tourism, tourism competitiveness, tourism innovationi, tourism diversification