Major challenges

It is mandatory that the needs of the local population must be part of tourism development plans. Tourism experts demand for a long time already: “Each region has to know and improve its potential and define limits of acceptable change by involving all in the development process (Gezici 2006).” In reality, this is rather the exception than the rule.

A well-known dilemma of improving the accessibility and infrastructure of a region in order to get more visitors is that these improvements often entail negative effects on the environment and natural resources as well as on the social and cultural life of local people. Limiting the numbers of visitors or introducing visitor management systems might be nec- essary in some places.

Infrastructure-related impacts

When a region is to be opened up for tourism, direct negative impacts related to infra- structure might include

• (illegal) eviction or displacement of local people (without compensation),
• lack of water for farmland and cattle, changes in groundwater level, problems with water supply
•  restricted access to beaches, protected areas (national parks) or fishing areas
• air and noise pollution caused by traffic (aircraft, buses, private vehicles)
• increases in prices of land and property, goods and services (not balanced by higher incomes).

Infrastructure-related evictions

Big infrastructure projects like new airports or the expansion of existing ones (e.g. new runways) sometimes result in serious negative impacts for local residents. The worst among these include the eviction of people from their homes, which may be regarded by the administration as “illegal settlements” if people lack property titles, although they may have settled there for decades. Such evictions happen mostly in countries with a lack of democratic structures.

Resilience against natural disasters

There is evidence for an increase in the intensity and frequency of disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes or tsunamis, and in the damages caused. After such incidents, tourism to the respective region may break down completely, immediately and unexpectedly. However, the resilience of infrastructure depends on careful planning, including earthquake-resistant construction and early warning systems, and insurance which cov- ers damage caused by natural disasters.

In developing and newly industrialized countries, the share of insured losses and damage is still very low – even though most of the (natural) disasters happen in these countries.

According to Munich Re, between 1980 and 2014, in countries with a per capita GNI of up to 4,126 US$, 61 per cent of incidents happened, 84 per cent of deaths, but only three percent of insured damages were registered (Höppe 2015). There is a tremendous gap in cover, which makes the affected countries dependent on international aid and disaster relief.