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Campaigning organisation Tourism Concern is calling for a halt to the construction of tourism mega-resorts, claiming that they are destroying communities and are environmentally unsustainable.

The global trend in developing luxury, large-scale resorts is leading to widespread alienation and displacement of people from their land, and is wreaking havoc with fragile ecosystems. Poor communities in developing countries, which depend heavily upon their natural resources for their livelihoods, are the hardest hit.

Huge tracts of public and privately owned land are being ‘grabbed’ and sold off to real estate developers by governments keen to expand tourism in pursuit of economic growth. In reality, little of the profit from internationally managed resorts stays in the local economy. The trickle down of tourism revenue to those who have lost their homes and livelihoods is minimal, particularly in the face of rising living costs associated with an influx of tourists and owners of expensive second homes. Cheap migrant labour is often drafted in from abroad to work on the developments, while opportunities for employment in the exclusive five-star resorts are limited to the most menial, poorly paid roles.

Patricia Barnett, Director of Tourism Concern says: “The development of mega-resorts and all the social and environmental problems that go with them is an issue facing communities from Scotland to Bulgaria, from Spain to the Bahamas, India to Thailand. Tourism has to be developed in a more sustainable, transparent and democratic way. That means listening to the needs of local people and the environment, and demands an abandonment of the ‘economic growth at all costs’ attitude that is seeing communities dispossessed of their homes and their means of earning a living the world over”.

For example, despite fierce public opposition, the development of the sprawling Bimini Bay Resort on the tiny island of North Bimini in the Bahamas has caused irreparable damage to the marine ecosystem, which local people depend upon for their livelihoods. A scandal is now raging in Mexico, where migrant workers brought in to work on the resort’s construction claim that they were underpaid, poorly treated and had their passports confiscated to prevent them from leaving.

On the West Indian island of Grenada, the government has sold off state land for a luxury development spanning 400 acres and including 170 private villas, a private island, a golf course and marina. The resort will also incorporate part of the Mount Hartman National Park, despite it being a protected area and the last remaining habitat of the rare Grenada dove. Local people are angry about the lack of public consultation and say that no compensation has been paid to the rightful owners of the land.

The appropriation of agricultural land and marine areas for tourism in developing countries is also a causing alarm amongst local people. Here, entrenched poverty means that many face hunger on a daily basis. Efforts to alleviate this are being undermined by the conversion of agricultural land and loss of access to the sea to facilitate the construction of resorts, second homes and golf courses.

Climate change is placing a further, unprecedented strain on natural resources, particularly fresh water for drinking and agriculture. “The needs and rights of local communities are being pitched directly against those of mega-resorts, with the resorts winning out almost every time. Golf courses, landscaped gardens, swimming pools and showers all consume vast quantities of water, much more than the local communities, who often have to walk a considerable distance to fetch water that is barely drinkable”, says Barnett.

Governments and developers regularly espouse ‘responsible tourism’ policies, covering issues such as sustainability, community participation and damage to the environment. However, all too often this amounts to little more than a marketing tool to win popular support and attract tourists.

Tourism Concern has joined with campaigning groups from all over the world to call for a moratorium on the construction of mega-resorts and in support the ‘Declaration of Belém’. Issued at the World Social Forum in Belém do Pará, Brazil, the Declaration presents an alternative vision of the future of global tourism, and urges for more just and sustainable practices on the part of industry and governments.

Also in this edition of Tourism In Focus:

Trekking Porters Rights in Tanzania
The Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project is striving to improve working conditions for porters based on Tourism Concern’s code of conduct. While life has improved for some porters, there still a long way to go.

Maldives: Rebuilding Tourism
With a new government replacing the dictatorship of President Gayoom, positive signs of improvement for workers in the Maldives’ tourism industry are beginning to emerge.

Costa Rica: Water Turmoil Turns to Triumph
The constitutional court of Costa Rica has ruled in favour of the people of Sardinal, a small village in the province of Guanacaste who have been fighting plans to exploit their water resources for mass tourism developments on the coast.

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Notes to Editors:

1. According to local media in Mexico, the Mexican Senate has asked the Federal Executive to investigate allegations made by 65 Mexican workers who were taken to Bimini to work on the Bimini Bay Resort. The workers allege that they were only given contracts in English, that their passports were confiscated to prevent them from leaving unless they paid a $3,000 dollar fee, that they were paid just $79 Bahamian dollars a week after being promised $500 a week, and that they were not permitted to leave the construction site during rest periods. Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights has reportedly accused the developers, RAV Bahamas Ltd (who have worked on the development in partnership with the Capo Group) of having poor labour policies. See www.sdpnoticias.com for full story.

2. Last year, faced with a looming food crisis, the Government of the Philippines declared a halt to the conversion of rice paddy fields for commercial property developments. However, the subsequent new Tourism Act, passed last year and ratified in March 2009, will facilitate government plans to make the Philippines the ‘beach capital of Asia’, making it even easier for international developers to buy up land and develop it for tourism.

3. The 8th World Social Forum (WSF) ran from the 28th January to the 1st February 2009. The Declaration of Belém was issued by the Global Tourism Intervention Forum, which included organisations from Latin America, North America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Tourism Concern has added its name to the ensuing ‘Call for a moratorium on mega-resorts’, issued on 24th February 2009. Signatories include: Equations (India), Tourism Investigation and Monitoring Team (Thailand), FerWeh Tourism Review (Germany), Forest People’s Programme (UK), Global Anti-Golf Movement, Kabani (India) and Salvamento Akumal de Vide Ecologica, Mexico. For further details about this campaign please visit www.equitabletourism.org.

4. Tourism Concern is an independent campaigning organisation fighting exploitation in tourism. Tourism Concern strives for ethical, fairly trade tourism through collaborative work with industry, governments, and development and human rights NGOs.

5. Tourism In Focus is a quarterly magazine produced for Tourism Concern supporters. To obtain hard a copy, please contact Tourism Concern on 020 7133 3800.

6. For media enquiries, contact Rachel Noble at Tourism Concern on +44 (0) 207 133 3800 / +44 (0)7885 707 848 or at rachel@tourismconcern.org.uk.