Tourism, beaches and nautical exploitation of the coast. The case of the Balearic Islands (Spain)

Keywords: Overtourism, beaches, coastal sea areas, nautical activities, island tourist destinations, Balearic Islands,
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 30

Abstract

Tourist activity in island destinations, such as the Balearic Islands, expands to coastal marine areas promoting their private management and commercialization. Thus, extensions of ports and nautical clubs are proposed, as well as an increase in navigation and anchoring, regulated and unregulated, affecting the public use of the coastline and the biodiversity conservation.
The beaches of the Balearic Islands are made up for the most part by materials of biological origin. And much of this biogenic material is produced by the Posidonia oceanica meadows. A cartographic compendium of the marine habitats of the Balearic Islands has recently been made, quantifying the surface of that sand factory, which is the Posidonia oceanica. The study presented here analyzes, first, the growing vectors of tourist pressure and their correlation with the marine protected areas of Mallorca. Secondly, the policies for organizing and managing these conflicts are analyzed. Finally, it is proposed that the exploitation of the littoral space and natural resources meet a series of requirements such as the universality of their enjoyment, mitigation of climate change, biodiversity conservation, governance and social economy.