Page 772 - Economia Azul - versão: inglês

BOX 1. BLUE TOURISM AND SUSTAINABILITY
The productive activities associated with blue tourism also include, directly
and indirectly, cruises, resorts, and ecotourism, which can produce environ-
mental and social impacts related to the exploitation of natural resources and
local communities themselves, through changes in land use, marine and air
pollution, alteration of biodiversity and consumption of ecosystem materials
or services. Thus, in many coastal regions, tourism is seen as an engine of
economic growth and a means of increasing wealth and promoting economic
development at the local level.
From a broad perspective of sustainability – including the social, econom-
ic, and environmental dimensions – tourism based on natural resources are
transversal aspects. The promotion of ecotourism, for example, would be
a strategy that would make it possible to integrate concrete actions to en-
hance the cultural and natural heritage of the oceans into the blue economy,
thus reducing negative externalities in the territories. As a consequence, this
promotion could translate into a broader set of positive effects on blue tour-
ist regions (Scott et al., 2012). Along these lines, Tegar and Gurning (2018)
suggest that a focus on blue tourism can guarantee sustainable development
in an ecological and social sense, in addition to the purely economic. Accord-
ing to the authors, this development could be fostered from an economic
model focused on ecosystem sustainability which, by definition, would con-
template five interdependent principles: (1) Efficiency of natural resources;
(2) Zero waste (circularity); (3) social inclusion (self-reliance, social equality
and opportunity); (4) cyclical systems of production: endless generation to
regeneration, balancing production and consumption, and (5) open innova-
tion and adaptation (principles of the law of physics and continuous natural
adaptation).
Particularly, the tourism sector is dependent on natural resources and marine
landscapes to meet the preferences of tourists and end consumers in the
sectors associated with tourism. When depending on the quality of natural
ecosystems to attract visitors, it is important to have a specific look at the
dimension of sustainability in these regions. Companies and local govern-
ments must take into account that the strengthening of institutions around
the preservation of the environment is something favorable to economic de-
velopment based on the economy and blue tourism. Therefore, coastal and
maritime tourism, as part of the blue economy and tourism, face challenges
at the local and global level related to the interconnection of tourism with
the sustainability commitment, such as the Paris Agreement or the 2030
Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (ODS), with emphasis on
Ocean Conservation ODS 14.
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BOX 2. BLUE TOURISM LINKAGE POTENTIAL
Tourism activity makes it possible to increase linkages with other economic
sectors, which contributes to synergistic and integrated local economic growth.
Non-tourism economic sectors also benefit indirectly from backward and forward
linkages, either as a supplier to other industries and sectors, or as a buyer of other
productive sectors. At the level of individual consumers, it is intuitive to consider that
the traveling economic agent demands goods and services from other sectors of the
economy of the tourist destination, such as lodging, accommodation, food, cultural
consumption, etc. In this sense, blue tourism allows coastal, marine areas and areas
with natural landscapes associated with water elements to be considered a potential
element for promoting intersectoral linkages, which is also in accordance with the
definition of Tourist Region adopted by the Ministry of Tourism. (2017).
As a public policy approach, the intersectoral links between tourism and oth-
er sectors of the economy – such as agriculture, manufacturing, and services
– gain another perspective when we consider blue elements. In addition to the
sectorial view, the literature on business and tourism economics points out that
in coastal, marine and maritime environments, local economic growth is asso-
ciated with the strengthening of cruise operations and management, coastal
tourism, coastal accommodation management, of beaches and maritime leisure
activities. In terms of the potential chaining effects of blue tourism, we can con-
sider that within the social, economic, cultural, environmental, and ecological
dimensions, there is room for strengthening and promoting the linkages linked
to market segmentation, operational planning and efficiency, tourist spending
purchasing behavior, blue corporate social responsibility, in addition to spatial
planning and community development.
However, the tourism sector has suffered greatly from the COVID-19 crisis, in
order to foster discussion on innovative approaches to sustainable tourism and
leisure activities that may be directly and indirectly related. Coastal and maritime
tourism depends heavily on good environmental conditions and, in particular, on
good water quality. Any maritime or land activity that harms the environment
can negatively affect tourism. Coastal areas can also be directly or indirectly af-
fected by a number of climate change-related impacts, such as floods, erosion,
saltwater intrusion, rising air and seawater temperatures, and droughts. In addi-
tion, ports are also crucial for the economic growth of coastal and inland areas.
Passenger and cruise transport is an important means for the development of
maritime and coastal tourism, while freight transport can be seen as a competi-
tive activity in terms of space.
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