What does sustainable tourism mean for islands?
Deliberate diversification of the economy from low-value agriculture to high-value international tourism (sometimes in combination with off-shore banking) has helped many small islands to prosper. Seven small islands – Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Iceland, Isle of Man and Jersey – rank amongst the world’s top 20 countries on the basis of per capita income, according to the World Factbook, 2007. However, in many other islands rapid tourism growth has damaged the fragile ecology and social systems of islands, raising doubts about the sustainability of island tourism: • Local infrastructure has come under pressure: water shortages and electricity blackouts are common. • Road works have caused the erosion and destruction of bio-diverse wetlands. • Construction of large-scale infrastructure projects such as marinas, cruise ship terminals, golf courses and holiday resorts have altered delicate coastlines and defaced mountain-sides. • Marina development including
