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Sustainability
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Development Challenges in Coastal and Marine Tourism
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Development Challenges in Coastal and Marine Tourism

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Oceans".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 12846

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Seweryn Zielinski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Sejong University, Seoul 143-747, Republic of Korea
Interests: ecotourism; nature-based tourism; cultural tourism; rural tourism; tourism planning and development; tourism policy; destination management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Camilo M. Botero

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. School of Law, University Sergio Arboleda, Santa Marta 470001, Colombia
2. Coiba Scientific Station (Coiba AIP), Gustavo Lara Street, Building 145B, City of Knowledge, Clayton, Panama City 0801, Panama
Interests: beach certification schemes; coastal heritage; scientific tourism; coastal tourism; beach management; integrated coastal zone management; marine spatial planning; coastal legislation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Coastal and marine areas have been increasingly used for leisure activities driven not only by the growth of tourism but also by the increase in population inhabiting coastal areas. The main reason for choosing to visit coastal areas, especially beaches, is the coastal scenic beauty, recreational activities, coastal heritage, and nature. However, coastal and marine areas are not only places for recreation; they constitute socio‐ecological systems with three main functions: (i) natural, (ii) recreational, and (iii) protective. As a result, these natural systems are currently subjected to significant human pressure. Among human activities, leisure and tourism are the ones responsible for accelerating the use, occupation, and degradation coastal zones and significant impacts to coastal and marine flora and fauna. On the other hand, coastal and marine tourism has been an important source of foreign revenue in many countries that offer “sun, sea and sand” (3S) tourism, and a major source of national incomes in several small island developing states (SIDS). At a local scale, coastal and marine tourism has a significant importance for many small communities whose local economy is based on either beach products, coastal heritage, or marine-based tourism products such as scuba diving, whale watching, or sea canoeing. Besides the difficulties of developing environmentally sound tourism that brings economic benefits, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a major challenge that introduced significant changes to the dynamic of tourism in many coastal and marine areas.  

The purpose of this Special Issue is to collect a set of contributions on coastal and marine tourism that includes a wide variety of subjects within the environmental, economic, and social realms of coastal and marine tourism. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: sustainable tourism practices, impacts of tourism in coastal marine areas, 3S tourism, coastal heritage tourism, community-based tourism in coastal areas, tourism activity within the integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) or marine spatial planning (MSP), tourism in marine protected areas, boating and cruise tourism, coastal ecotourism, and marine/beach certification schemes (ecolabels). Papers that address the aforementioned topics in light of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic are highly encouraged. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are welcome.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Seweryn Zielinski
Dr. Camilo M. Botero
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable tourism
  • coastal tourism
  • marine tourism
  • beach tourism
  • tourism impacts
  • coastal heritage
  • beach management
  • marine protected areas
  • beach certification
  • integrated coastal zone management
  • marine spatial planning

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 16305 KiB  
Article
Coast Change: Understanding Sensitivity to Beach Loss for Coastal Tourism in the Colombian Caribbean
by Luana Carla Portz, Yacira Sheilla Pérez Torres and Rogério Portantiolo Manzolli
Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13903; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813903 - 19 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1434
Abstract
Beach and sun tourism in the Colombian Caribbean is an extremely important activity that leads to social practices that generate recreational and economic activities directly impacting the environment. The research focuses on assessing the sensitivity to the loss of beaches as tourist resources [...] Read more.
Beach and sun tourism in the Colombian Caribbean is an extremely important activity that leads to social practices that generate recreational and economic activities directly impacting the environment. The research focuses on assessing the sensitivity to the loss of beaches as tourist resources in four locations within the Colombian Caribbean (Santa Verónica, Salinas del Rey, Bocatocino, and Las Arenas). The sensitivity indicator was developed using GIS to process variables such as the width of the usable beach, the presence of dunes, and rates of coastal erosion spanning from 2003 to 2019. Additionally, anthropic occupation was examined through satellite images. The results allowed for identifying vulnerability indices and recognizing the critical role of dunes in beach preservation. The study revealed that the analyzed beaches exhibited varying degrees of sensitivity. Notably, historical erosion rates and dunes were the most influential variables affecting sensitivity. In conclusion, understanding the sensitivity state concerning the loss of beach areas as tourist resources helps delineate stable sectors and those more susceptible to erosion processes. This knowledge proves invaluable in prioritizing the design and implementation of protective measures in areas requiring urgent attention. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development Challenges in Coastal and Marine Tourism)
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19 pages, 4352 KiB  
Article
The Sector Analysis as a Coastal Management Tool for Sustainable Tourism Development on the Mediterranean Coast of Morocco
by Noureddine Er-Ramy, Driss Nachite, Giorgio Anfuso and Soria Azaaouaj
Sustainability 2023, 15(16), 12581; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151612581 - 18 Aug 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3379
Abstract
Beaches are ecologically valuable ecosystems and sites that attract many tourists from all over the world, therefore, knowledge of their environmental conditions to establish sound management strategies is of extreme relevance. This study aims to assess and classify 50 beaches through an innovative [...] Read more.
Beaches are ecologically valuable ecosystems and sites that attract many tourists from all over the world, therefore, knowledge of their environmental conditions to establish sound management strategies is of extreme relevance. This study aims to assess and classify 50 beaches through an innovative coastal management approach called “Sector Analysis”, which integrates Litter grading, the coastal scenic quality and beach typology in order to classify sites into one of three sectors: Green (high value sites), Red (low value sites) and Yellow (sites with contradictory values). Litter Grade makes it possible to classify a site according to the quantity of litter using four grades from “A” (low) to “D” (high amount). The Coastal Scenic Evaluation System (CSES) allows to classify sites into five classes, ranging from extremely attractive natural sites (Class I) to unattractive degraded and urbanized sites (Class V). This innovative methodology for sustainable coastal area management can be easily applied to any beach in the world. The results on Litter Grade and CSES considered in this paper were obtained from previous studies and used to obtain the Sector Analysis that showed only 8 sites (16%) are in the Green sector, 18 sites (36%) in the Red sector and 24 sites (48%) in the Yellow sector. The significant percentage of sites in the Red sector (one third of the sites studied) clearly indicates the degradation that the Moroccan Mediterranean coast has undergone due to considerable anthropogenic activities and the lack of adequate coastal management programs. In this study, various management interventions were proposed to conserve and improve the aesthetic quality of beaches and reduce the impact and presence of litter in the coastal areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development Challenges in Coastal and Marine Tourism)
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15 pages, 702 KiB  
Article
Exploring First-Time and Repeat Volunteer Scuba Divers’ Environmentally Responsible Behaviors Based on the C-A-B Model
by Jan-Wei Lin and Hsiao-Chang Tsao
Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 11425; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411425 - 23 Jul 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1188
Abstract
Volunteer scuba divers have become indispensable stakeholders in marine environmental protection, as their educational knowledge and environmental awareness create environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviors, which are the key elements to promote the sustainable development of marine environments. The purposes of this study are [...] Read more.
Volunteer scuba divers have become indispensable stakeholders in marine environmental protection, as their educational knowledge and environmental awareness create environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviors, which are the key elements to promote the sustainable development of marine environments. The purposes of this study are to use the C-A-B model to examine the relationship between the environmental knowledge, environmental sensitivity, destination social responsibility, and environmentally responsible behaviors of volunteer scuba divers, and also explore the moderating effects of first-time and repeat volunteers. In order to achieve these research purposes, this study adopted quantitative research to verify the research structure and proposed hypotheses and prepared a questionnaire with reference to relevant previous studies. A total of 238 Taiwan marine volunteer scuba divers were selected as the subjects through intentional sampling, and the effective questionnaire recovery rate was 92.9%. A structural equation was used to verify the model of environmentally responsible behaviors of volunteer scuba divers, as based on the C-A-B model. This study found that environmental knowledge had a significant impact on destination social responsibility, and destination social responsibility had a significant impact on environmentally responsible behaviors. Destination social responsibility also had the effect of complete mediation on the model. In addition, the first-time and repeat volunteers had a significant mediating effect on the causal relationship between environmental knowledge and environmentally responsible behaviors, as well as between environmental sensitivity and environmentally responsible behaviors. The explanatory power of the overall model on the environmentally responsible behaviors of volunteer scuba divers is 69.0%, and their knowledge, sense of responsibility, experience, and level of involvement can be regarded as the determinants of their environmentally responsible behaviors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development Challenges in Coastal and Marine Tourism)
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19 pages, 2373 KiB  
Article
Will Climate Change Affect the Attractiveness of Beaches? Beach Users’ Perceptions in Catalonia (NW Mediterranean)
by Briana Bombana, Raquel Santos-Lacueva and Òscar Saladié
Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7805; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107805 - 10 May 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2630
Abstract
Considering climate is a key resource for tourism, we investigated beach users’ profiles and their perceptions regarding three acknowledged effects of climate change (CC): temperature changes, reduction in beach area and water restrictions. Chosen as our case study, Catalan beaches are recognized globally [...] Read more.
Considering climate is a key resource for tourism, we investigated beach users’ profiles and their perceptions regarding three acknowledged effects of climate change (CC): temperature changes, reduction in beach area and water restrictions. Chosen as our case study, Catalan beaches are recognized globally as a coastal destination visited by national and international tourists as well as local residents and could, thus, shed light on potential trends. We conducted 867 surveys with users from 18 beaches classified as urban, semi-urban and natural beaches during the summer season. Questions approached three main blocks of information: sociodemographic profiles, characteristics of the stay and mobility, and perceptions regarding potential CC impacts. The results identified differences in profiles and perceptions among users of different types of beaches. Regarding CC effects, temperature changes and beach area reduction appeared to be more limiting and decisive factors than water restrictions in future scenarios, although reductions in drinking water are also less accepted. Foreigners were generally more sensitive to the effects considered, possibly due to their greater flexibility in choosing tourist destinations. Finally, the capacity of this type of approach to highlight key issues and related human behavior in future scenarios is useful for tourism management, especially subsequent adaptation options. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development Challenges in Coastal and Marine Tourism)
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15 pages, 5128 KiB  
Article
Litter Reduction during Beach Closure in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Quantifying the Impact of Users on Beach Litter Generation
by José R. Souza Filho, Antônio A. S. Chagas, Iracema R. Silva, Junia K. Guimarães, Tania E. Sakanaka and Gerson Fernandino
Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2009; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032009 - 20 Jan 2023
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1800
Abstract
This study aimed to quantify marine litter before and during the COVID pandemic found on urban touristic beaches closed to beachgoer access in northeastern Brazil. Litter identification and quantification was conducted during April, June, and August 2019, when 3583 items were sampled, and [...] Read more.
This study aimed to quantify marine litter before and during the COVID pandemic found on urban touristic beaches closed to beachgoer access in northeastern Brazil. Litter identification and quantification was conducted during April, June, and August 2019, when 3583 items were sampled, and replicated during the same months in 2020, when access to the beaches studied was prohibited and a significant reduction in the amount of litter was found, 1812 items (49% decrease). Transects were used to monitor and classify litter according to its source, namely: autochthonous (litter that was locally discarded) and allochthonous (litter from other sites and sources). All beaches were classified as “very clean” and presented a smaller amount of litter during the beach closure period. The highest total marine litter reduction between the periods studied was 83%, while autochthonous litter in particular showed the most significant reduction, 88%. The comparison between the quantity and type of litter found in both periods showed greater specific anthropic pressure from beach users. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development Challenges in Coastal and Marine Tourism)
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