The impact of natural capital loss on blue-tourism economy: The Red Sea case study

Abstract

Global tourism growth is threatening environmental health of several destinations. While negative impacts of tourism on environmental quality are being increasingly documented, the effects of degrading environmental quality on tourists’ choices have been largely neglected. Here we investigated the case study of Egyptian Red Sea, one of the world's most popular targets for blue tourism. We provide evidence that, in the North (Sharm El Sheikh), coral reefs experienced a progressive degradation (25–40 % from 1991 to 2023 in the most impacted touristic targets). We report multiple evidence that the loss of natural capital decreased the attractiveness of touristic areas: the shift of tourism flows towards the more pristine regions of the South (Marsa Alam) was unable to counterbalance the loss of Sharm El Sheikh. The significant decline in tourism flows (-23 %, 2009–2019) caused an estimated annual loss of ca. 1.77 billion USD (0.6 % of the Egyptian GDP in 2019). We conclude that, given the increasing demand of pristine environments as tourism target, an unsustainable ecosystem management can threaten local economies, particularly where nature integrity represents a key asset for destination choice. Policy makers should thus consider the convenience of protecting natural capital and/or carrying on ecosystem restoration interventions to recover their attractiveness and develop a sustainable blue-tourism economy.