Sustainability Tourism
Some geoparks like the Cabo de Gata make use of regional eco-labels as an emblem of environmental management along with the factor of quality. The Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park in Spain, for having activities related to sustainable economy within the geoparks affected the brand of Nature Park of Andalucía. The brand can be made use of for dealing with services related to nature tourism, crafts and other natural products. This report will take into account the factor of sustainability of tourism in the Cabo de Gata area within the Almeria region. Tourism has continued being one of the biggest sectors in the Parque Natural de Cabo de Gata with tourists coming in huge numbers from across the world during the seasons of summer and spring (Edgell Sr 2016).
Sustainable tourism can be stated as one that has the ability in establishing a sustainable equilibrium between the economic, socio-cultural and environmental facets of development in tourism, playing a significant role in safeguarding biodiversity. It endeavours in minimizing its impact on the domestic culture along with the environment for it to be obtainable for the future generations, while making an involvement for generating income, maintenance of the local ecosystems and employment (Cheng and Wu 2015).
Sustainable tourism offers decisive economic incentives for the protection of habitat. Revenues collected from the spending of the visitors are often being channelized back into the conservation of the nature or programs related to capacity building for the local communities in managing the confined areas.
Cabo de Gata is situated in the south-eastern stop of the Almeria province. The coastline of Cabo de Gata is being marked by the cliffs along with the beaches and coves. This space has been declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1997 that includes the Nature Park of Cape Gata-Nijar, along with some of the surroundings. The sierra of Cape Gata is stated to be of volcanic derivation and its relief is being considered by the sharp points of the dykes, craters and rock. This geologic formation in particular has effected in one of the most spectacular costal sceneries in the Mediterranean Spain. In the Reserve’s southern part, there exist coastal salt marshlands, a habitat of great significance for several of the bird species that migrates. Summertime is stated to be remarkable when abundant species make their presence felt like the wading birds, flamingos along with seagulls. Cabo de Gata sea bed is home to various species like the cardinal fish, comber and the large scaled scorpion fish (Jamal and Camargo 2014).
Environmental Commitment
Ecotourism is stated to be a tourism form that takes into account the visiting of brittle, spotless and moderately undisturbed areas close to the nature, often intended as a low-impact small scale substitute in standardizing the mass tourism on commercial basis. It signifies dependable travel to the natural areas safeguarding the environment and developing the betterment of the local people (Quintas-Soriano et al. 2016).
The Spanish government has made vow to make optimal use of the resources of environment in constituting a crucial element in the development of tourism, taking proper care of essential processes of ecology and assisting in conservation of natural heritage. It is important for the country’s tourism industry in ensuring feasible, long-term economic procedures, offering benefits socio-economically to the stakeholders on whole on things that are distributed fairly. It takes in the factor of steady employment and opportunities of earning accompanied with social services to the host communes, and chipping in to the alleviation of poverty.
The Cabo de Gata is one of the big natural reserves having a land area of 38,000 hectares along with a marine strip of 12,000 hectares, a mile wide. A key strength of the Cabo de Gata Natural Park is its marine ecosystem accompanied with water that is crystal clear where diving gives a memorable feeling. The trace of humans within the park is another thing that gives exclusivity, because it lets people know about its Arabic past, cisterns, pottery along with wells and defensive towers that were designed back then in order to stop the pirates (Hogg et al. 2017).
The Spanish government has also helped in upholding the recent history of this particular Natural Park through the perceptible traces like the flour mills that specks the park as confirmation of the bigger estates that used to cultivate wheat and barley in the initial stages of twentieth century. Adding to that is the structures of mining created Rodalquilar during the time when gold started on being drawn in 1925. This provides an indication of the fact that such natural things have not been altered and the tourism industry has done enough in keeping intact the natural elements of the place for the world to see and witness something amazing (Mowforth and Munt 2015).
The concept of cultural tourism is stated to be one of the fastest-growing markets of global tourism. The creative industries along with culture are being used increasingly in promoting the destinations along with enhancing their competitiveness. Many locations like the Cabo de Gata in Almeria, Spain have been developing their concrete and insubstantial cultural assets in developing the relative advantages within a tourism marketplace that is progressively more competitive.
Culture and Tradition
The Almeria province boasts of a long and beautiful Mediterranean coast, taking in the unspoilt beaches in Cabo de Gata-Nijar National Park. The fragility nature of the territory needs a sustainable approach in preserving its natural resources along with improving the experience of tourists and influencing the competitive factor of the companies within the industry of tourism through sustainability (Allis and Fraga 2017).
According to Rahman and Reynolds (2016), tourism has the ability in improving the standards of living, though development of uncontrolled nature can undermine the overall community. The operators of tourism needs to be sensitive to the probable impacts, like privacy loss, deterrence of admission to the culturally important places, foray of the sacred sites that generally results from tourism. It is important in promoting the local tourism culture, offering to provide lectures on tourism at the local schools. It is important for the local authorities to work with other initiatives of tourism in promoting the culture of tourism in the region.
In the region of Almeria, Spain the hotel industry have always wanted to make sustainability an elementary objective throughout the industry of tourism. Sustainability is becoming more significant factor of differentiating. In regard to this, it would be valuable for all if the tourist companies located in and around Almeria along with the hotels particularly compete with the factor of sustainability too (Altinay, Sigaal and Waligo 2016). Tourists have been asking a lot of questions about the matters associated to the factor of responsibility and sustainability for making their decisions of purchase.
The local government needs to classify the hotels based on certain indicators that generally cover matters related to environmental and social segments. This ranking process would be valuing those businesses that have the ability in satisfying their customers, followed by the responsible tourism principles (Amore 2015). Through that it is important in showing respect to the environment, upholding the local cultures along with their economies and taking up of initiatives in developing their socio-cultural and setting of environment. The indicators are generally been based on the information from various sources that reproduces the commitment of the local hotels towards socially responsible tourism. It would help in boosting the economic activities along with creation of jobs in these hotels and tourism companies.
In the endeavour towards tourism of sustainable nature, it is important in highlighting the facts that helps in sustainable tourism, certain experiences that establishes the fact that a sustainable future is feasible. They are being stated as the fresh sustainable tourism lighthouses making an appearance across the globe, places like Cabo de Gata that have previously proven to be a realistic option. The whole territory of the Cabo de Gata Nature Park along with its surroundings, the Cape Gata-Nijar Biosphere has been affirmed as the Special Bird Protection Area (ZEPA) and has been included within the Ramsar Conformity under the grouping of Wetlands of International Importance in 1989. Adding to that is the accumulation of other awards like UNESCO Biosphere in 1997, Geopark in 2001 and Site of Community along with European Union-LIC in 2006 (Rahman and Reynolds 2016).
Social Commitment/ Social Responsible Tourism
In the recent years, Almeria authorities have facilitated park lodgings along with establishments of catering with a clear idea of business, environmentally and partaking of the beauty without the philosophy of artifice inspiring the Park. This offer would be attracting class tourism that would enjoy small and medium-sized lodgings, service of friendly character and enjoying the most subtle taste that can be offered by the region like their own products (Marin 2015).
As per Edgell Sr (2016), since 2011, the formation of a Working Group within the Government Board of the Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park, the Territorial Delegation has been able to promote the outline of a plan of sustainable mobility within the Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park. This has ably been supported by one of the attributed external consultant and specialist member of the participatory board.
The main objective of this participatory manuscript is in guiding the measures of management that is being adopted by the agents involved within the region, considering a procedure of mounting inflow to the beaches, centres of population and certain other areas of coastal region, especially in the season of summer. This current behaviour has the ability of generating circumstances for the deterioration of the environment and clogging that limits the enjoyment within the area as per their complexities and value for the suitable improvement of the classified services, basic to the narrow productive structure (García-Pozo, Sánchez-Ollero and Ons-Cappa 2016).
The experience that would be accumulated within the mobility management in the recent of times, has been focusing mainly on the guideline of accessibility of private vehicles to the sector of Genoveses-Monsul, advises lengthening the approaches of the management to the overall natural space. The Master Plan for the use and Management along with The Natural Resources Management Plan of the Cabo de Gata Natural Park is an effectual appliance for the commencement of the environmental policy of Andalusia formed through the Environment Plan of Andalusia. According to Jamal and Camargo 2014, the strategies related to these sort of plans are being appeared through a series of principles and parameters within this segment, over and above the concern of certain regulations for liberty detailed in The Natural Resources Management Plan and The Master Plan for the use and Management.
Over the years there has been a rise in the tourists preferring eco-friendly accommodation than any other form while travelling to picturesque destinations and Cabo de Gata is no different. These eco-friendly villas are generally stated to be innovative as well as sustainable, with them operating mostly on the renewable energy. Special care is also provided to the management of water, biodiversity and restricting of waste along with recycling it. Eco-friendly villas have wider range of sensitization activities that are being provided like cultural programs based on the culture of Cabo de Gata, folklore along with history, certain lectures on the marine life of Cabo de Gata.
Differential for Quality
Parque Natural Cabo de Gata expands roughly five hundred square kilometres and it is an area of special protection. This area is stated to be home to an affluence of wildlife along with many rare plants that have been native to the area. There has been a heavy demand for rural tourism and for the destinations that have been providing ecological values like Cabo de Gata (Capacci, Scorcu and Vici 2015). This area has been offering impressive scenery for horse riding and mountain biking along with other places of interest and conventional villages that is there to be explored. Cabo de Gata attracts more people because of its unblemished destination for outdoor activities within an area of innate beauty that is highly rich on culture and local history.
Tourism has over the years proved to be the only engine of growth for the Spanish economy that has been going through an economic crisis. Approximately one-sixth of the economy of Spain is associated to tourism, with the country witnessing record-breaking numbers in the segment of foreign tourists that have been flocking the places like Cabo de Gata (Baker, Davis and Weaver 2014). The rising number of tourists has helped in the development of the area and also an increase in the number of employed persons within the region. The number is only expected to rise in the coming years.
Conclusion:
It can be concluded that sustainability exists within the park and there has been a rising number of people who are willing in protecting through outreach, information or lawful depiction that has been provided to this unique park. Therefore, the activities that are being executed for trying to esteem this constraint without losing the diversity: snorkelling, diving, cycling and horse riding. The position of the Natural Reserve is stated to be ideal for trips with stopover to the areas that are nearby with tourist attractions. It is doing everything to maintain its culture, heritage and cuisine to attract more people from across the globe and add to its economy for the betterment of local community.
References:
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Altinay, L., Sigala, M. and Waligo, V., 2016. Social value creation through tourism enterprise. Tourism Management, 54, pp.404-417.
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