CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
1.0 Background
Tourism is considered to be a recent phenomenon. In the last fifty years the number of
international tourist arrivals has increased by over 2000 per cent. In 1950 there were 25
million journeys, while today according to WTO, journeys made reach 900 million
(Aronsson, L., 2000). This boom in the industry is mainly due to the growth in leisure time,
changes in people’s lifestyle and to the development of the infrastructure and means of
transport. In Europe the increase in the availability of cheap flights and the opening of the
barriers within the European Community, has been a great opportunity for more people to
travel and take more short holidays (Croall, J., 1995).
Tourism impacts may be grouped into three main categories: economic, socio-cultural and
environmental. Until the 1960s the economic effects of tourism played a dominant role.
Economic impacts on tourism were beneficial and socio-cultural and environmental impacts
were always ignored. Since the 1960s, other aspects of tourism have been brought to light and
it was realised that in the long term tourism could have important negative impacts.
Considering the three impacts, the debate was investigated “to develop or not develop?”
(Mieczkowski, 1995).
The effect of the impacts is difficult to quantify, however many authors, including Batra and
Kaur (1996) state that the quality of the tourism product depends on a high quality natural
environment, therefore major attention should be paid to conservation.
Today the relationship between tourism and the environment is receiving a growing level of
attention all over the world. Governments understand that measures for the protection of the
environment should be implemented, tourism planning development should be based on the
principle of sustainability in order to preserve the environmental quality of the destination in
the long-term (Holden, A., 2000).
As stressed in the letters of agreement exchanged between the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization in the 1990s, tourism development
and environmental management should be integral concerns of national development policies
(Batra, G. S., Kaur, N., 1996).
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1.1 Topic
Sardinia has been always perceived by tourists as a “sun and sea” destination. Tourism in the
island is seasonal, and is developed mainly on the coasts and in the summer time.
Sardinia is very famous for its north-eastern Emerald Coast, which is known for its beautiful
beaches and crystalline water. During the summer, especially in the months of July and
August, the coast is “taken hostage by VIPs" (Kington, T., 2007). Movie stars and celebrities
such as Silvio Berlusconi and Flavio Briatore own villas in the area and they regularly visit
the island during the summer, reaching the island on their private yachts.
The Emerald Coast every summer receives an onslaught of visits from hundreds of yachts,
which creates problems of overcrowding and sustainability.
The left-centre Sardinian Government, led by Renato Soru, became conscious of the issues;
since 2004 it has started introducing a series of policies to protect the quality of the
environment.
One of these laws is the Regional law N.4/2006, which with its Art. 4, taxes yachts of 14
meters longer that stay on the Sardinian coast between June and September
(regionesardegna.it).
The laws caused lot of arguments between VIPs and opposition politicians, who named the
policy “Luxury Tax” as they argue that the tax is not an ecotax (Paci, R., 2006).
They also argue that tourism in Sardinia is essential for the economy and the development of
the island; this policy will damage the image of the island and break its tourism development,
pushing away tourists to other destinations. (L’Unione Sarda, 24 June 2007)
1.2 Aims
Considering all the arguments between politicians and VIPs which accused the regional
government of “killing the image of the island and break its development”, the present
researcher wants to analyse whether the law has had a negative impact on tourism since its
introduction and also to understand how it is essential for the conservation of the coast in the
future.
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1.3 Objectives
1. To analyse the impact of the “Luxury Tax” on the arrivals of tourists and number of
yachts on the Emerald Coast
2. To determine tourism environmental impacts on the Emerald Coast
3. To determine environmental impacts of the small vessals, big yachts and cruisers
4. To determine whether the tax is essential for the conservation of the coast, or whether
alternative policies could be applied
5. To discuss tensions arising and determine whether the current law should be
considered an environmental tax or a luxury tax
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CHAPTER TWO
The Literature Review
2.0 Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to review and to acquire knowledge in the specific area of interest
through other authors’ articles in journals and books (Kumar R., 1999).
The literature is reviewed under five headings. The first two subchapters aim to analyse
tourism impacts on the economy and on the environment mentioning also its link to the
impact on the local community. The third subchapter analyses the importance of planning and
the concept of sustainable tourism, which aims to benefit economy, environment and locals in
the long-term.
The literature review follows by describing the importance of the government in planning,
focusing on the different ideologies between the right and left wing, which could also have an
impact on the development of tourism and the policies related to it. The last subchapter
analyses the environmental taxes and looks at the case of the “Balearic ecotaxes”.
2.1 Tourism impacts on the economy
According to Aronsson L. (2000), tourism brings important benefits to the economy and local
community of a destination, including employment and improvement of structures. In Cuba,
for example tourism employs 85,000 professionals across the country and the unemployment
rate is only 2.6% (Travel and Tourism Intelligence, February 2005). Tourism generates
income through direct tourist expenditure, and indirectly income via the multiplier effect
(Wall G., Mathieson A., 2006). In the United Kingdom for example tourism is worth about
£13 billion each year, generating 1 1/2 per cent of gross domestic product (Department for
Transport, July 2002), and in Cuba tourism brings in 44% of the total income of the country
(Wood, P., Jayawardena, C., 2003).
However, as well as positive impacts, tourism can have negative impacts on the economy
(Shaw G., Williams A. M., 1994). It may be one cause of the increase in the level of the
inflation and the increase in land prices. In some destinations, for example the Caribbean
ones, which are heavily dependent upon imported goods and services, tourism is the cause of
a significant leakage of foreign exchange (Apostolopoulos, Y., Gayle, J., 2002).
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2.2 Tourism: impacts on the environment
The development of the capacity of tourism flown could generate an increase in
environmental pressure and it may lead to irreversible damages such as the destruction of
natural habitats and the disappearance of species from the ecosystem (Holden A., 2000).
Many critics believe that tourism is a primary cause of environmental pollution and
degradation (Middleton, V., 1998). However it is argued that tourism is also a resource for the
conservation of important areas such as parks and reserves (Inskeep, E., 1991).
According to Holden A. (2000), mainly negative impacts of tourism development on the
environment are water, noise, air and visual pollution, waste and land-use problems, and he
adds that negative impacts depends on the way natural resources such as water, land, and
beaches are use to support tourism services. Environment and local community are closely
linked to one another; an inappropriate use of the resources may affect the local people and
disappoint them from the development of tourism on their land.
As Holden A. (2000) claims, a key natural resource essential for tourism is water, which is
essential for hotels to run their business. Obviously, the amount of water that a hotel needs to
wash towels and for customers to shower is much higher than the needs of an urban family.
Some destinations suffer from shortage of water, which could lead to cuts if the usage of
water to local people, creating discontent and protests as happened in Tepotzlan in Mexico in
the early 1990s (Holden, A., 2002).
Besides the possibility of having restricted access to water resources, construction of tourists’
infrastructure means also using the landscape such as parks and beaches that could be used by
locals for recreation (Evans, N. et al., 2004). Beaches are the main focus of contemporary
tourism, especially in those destinations perceived as “sun and beach” destinations. The
pressure on coasts for tourism development has led to serious environmental issues; in the
Caribbean island of Antigua, miles of sand has been removed by companies for tourism
projects, and in the Virgin Isles sand has been removed from the natural beaches to create
artificial ones (Pattullo, P., 1996).
However, tourism can benefit the natural environment in a number of ways. For instance, the
establishment of wildlife parks and sanctuaries has led to the conservation of wildlife and rare
plants and flowers. Many organisations around the world have been established to “care of the
land, care of the wildlife and care of the people”. In the Seychelles, the non-profit association
Birdlife Seychelles with its annual income of US$ 200,000 generated from tourism has been
able to restore indigenous vegetation and to recover the seabird population of Cousin Island
(Buckley, R., 2003).
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