The Travel Foundation is increasingly concerned at pressure on water supplies in destinations, prompting its annual general meeting to ask: ‘Is there a future for tourism?’ Ian Taylor reports
Water is already an issue in many destinations with dry climates and tourist demand out of proportion with local resources.
Even major cities are suffering.
This summer Barcelona had to import six ship-loads of drinking water a month, ban the filling of pools and turn off fountains.
Global warming will exacerbate the problem, despite a likely overall increase in rainfall, as weather patterns change and more rain falls in downpours.
This poses at least two problems for tourism. First, it will become increasingly costly to maintain water supplies. Second, tourist water use is so heavy it could threaten the existence of some communities.
In Morocco, for example, the average tourist consumes 500 litres of water a day, 10 times the local average – not just in showering, drinking and flushing toilets, but through the irrigation of food for tourist tables and watering hotel gardens.
That compares with 135-150 litres a day per person in the UK.
Some of the difference is due to irrigation and cultivation of crops out of kilter with local water resources. Some is due to resource-wasting properties and lifestyles.
But the general point is clear – tourists use vastly more water than the people of the countries they visit and more than they use at home.
The industry can draw comfort from the fact that tourism places less stress on water suppliers and produces a better financial return from water than some cash crops – such as coffee.
But that does not solve the problem. In parts of the Mediterranean, tourism is the dominant user of water.
In Spain, water use in the centre of the country – where tourist numbers are low – is 90-150 litres per person depending on the region. On the coast it averages 350 litres, and among tourists, more than 500 litres.
Part of the problem may be due to ignorance of water scarcity.
Director of non-governmental organisation Waterwise, Jacob Tomkins, said: “British ex-patriots in Spain use phenomenally more water than their Spanish neighbours.”
But it is also due to expectations about ‘being on holiday’. Tomkins said: “Resources seem limitless in a hotel and people seem to check in their ethics with their bag on holiday.
The authorities do not seem to want to challenge tourists, but the world is running out of water. Resources are finite and tourism pulls water out of ground reservoirs and rivers.”
Golf courses are particularly draining. An 18-hole golf course might require 2.3 million litres a day. In Thailand, that amounts to the daily water use of 60,000 villagers.
Shortages can lead to restrictions on water for local people while tourists remain oblivious. However, failing rains, diminished river flows and depletion of underground water lead to other problems.
It can exacerbate the risk of fires and jeopardise nuclear-power generation – as in 2006 in France where 37 reactors are cooled by river water.
Tomkins points out: “We can save 10% of water by basic housekeeping. Aerated shower heads – which put air in each drop of water – reduce water use by up to 70%. Toilets can flush with 2.5 litres of water, not 13. Many hotels can collect rainwater for gardens and pool covers can reduce condensation.”
He adds: “Hotels should not just say ‘Please leave your towel on the rail if you don’t need a clean one.’ They should give people a whole list of things they could be doing.”
Hilton Hotels director of energy management and sustainability Andrew Forte is responsible for 90 hotels in Europe and up to 20 new projects.
At the end of 2005, his division set a three-year target to reduce energy use by 15% and water use by 10%, encouraging staff members to come up with ideas on how to do it.
Forte said: “We trained 16,000 staff, began measuring consumption and introduced monthly online reporting.”
By the end of 2007, Hilton could report a 10.2% reduction in energy use and 5% cut in water use. A review of housekeeping at Hilton Vienna reduced the flushing of toilets during cleaning from nine to two.
Forte said: “We reduced the toilet flush to 5.5 litres and check properties regularly for leaks. In the kitchen, we avoid using hot water to defrost frozen food. Gardens are watered in the early morning to reduce evaporation and we collect rainwater for plants. We reduced the average water consumption per room from 516 to 490 litres a night.”
That leaves a long way to go to hit Hilton’s target of a 20% reduction in water and energy use across 3,500 properties by 2014.
But Forte adds: “It is much more challenging to reduce water use than energy consumption. This is mainly due to guest perception as they expect luxury.”
TUI Travel sustainable development manager Jane Ashton agrees: “There is a dilemma. When people go on holiday they do not want to take away with them the issues they care about at home. But it is amazing the amount you can cut without affecting the guest experience. It is basically about good housekeeping.”
Desalination
Desalination may help alleviate water scarcity in areas such as the Canary Islands where Gran Canaria – host to last month’s ABTA Travel Convention – has no running water. The island’s tap water comes entirely from desalination plants.
Many countries in the Middle East already rely on desalinated water. However, desalination is heavy on fuel and therefore costly. It produces concentrated waste and care must be taken to preserve life in the sea around water intakes.
The UK’s first desalination plant is due to open close to the WTM venue in Beckton, east London, in 2009, while Melbourne will draw water from one of the world’s biggest plants from 2011.
Cyprus water shortage
Cyprus is in the second year of a severe drought, with water cut off to many local people for 40 hours in every 48 this summer.
UK tour operators and Cyprus hoteliers have joined the Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative in efforts to cut water use – in a project supported by The Travel Foundation.
Flow restrictors and aerators have been fitted to shower heads and taps, and sand bags placed in cisterns to cut the water used in flushing. The results are due to be unveiled at WTM.
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