HANDBOOK ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
IN COASTAL ZONES: THE ICZM APPROACH
PROJECT BACKGROUND
The growth of tourism in coastal areas which has reached
its peak in recent decades, exerts pressures on environmental
and cultural resources of the coastal areas, and affects nega-
tively social, economic and cultural patterns of tourist destina-
tions. Despite of the still prevailing growth trends, those who
manage and invest in tourism are increasingly aware that its
sustainability in coastal areas is strongly dependent upon the
quality of this particularly fragile environment.
In addition, today’s tourists seek for a variety of experienc-
es in a well-preserved and distinctive natural environment. At
the same time people living in traditional tourist destinations
are increasingly aware of and concerned for their natural, his-
toric and cultural heritage. Therefore, there is a need to mini-
mise tourism-induced problems and secure both sustainabil-
ity of tourism industry and coastal resources used by other
sectors. In this respect increased attention must be given to
proper planning and better integration of tourism in coastal
development.
Within the last 10 years various efforts have been made
to integrate sustainability in coastal zone development. The
Priority Actions Programme/Regional Activity Centre (PAP/
RAC) and UNEP elaborated and assembled a set of principles
and methodology for the sustainable management of coastal
zones within an integrated coastal zone management ap-
proach (ICZM, also known as ICAM, Integrated Coastal Area
Management).
UNEP, the European Union, and other international or-
ganizations (FAO, OECD, and the coastal union-EUCC) fully
support the principles of ICZM because its methodological
framework is perceived as the most appropriate for the de-
velopment and the management of coastal zones. It aims a
comprehensive understanding of the relationships between
coastal resources, their uses, and the mutual impacts of
development on the economy and the environment. ICZM
methodology focuses on facilitating horizontal and vertical di-
alogue through participatory processes, and on agreements
and compromises between all parties involved in the use
of coastal resources. For more information about the ICZM
methodology: www.pap-thecoastcentre.org
NEED FOR PLANNING
Although there are no reliable data on coastal tourism
alone, it is generally considered to be one of the fastest
growing forms of tourism in the past decades. The World
Tourism Organisation (WTO) statistics show that 12 of the
15 world’s top destination countries in 2000 were countries
with coastlines.
The coastal zone is an area of intense activity, an area of
interchange within and between physical, biological, social,
cultural and economic processes. Any changes generate
chain reactions usually in different systems whose environ-
mental conditions will be subsequently altered. An effective
management of coastal areas should be based not only on
an analysis of individual activities and their impacts, but also
on the combined effects of sectoral activities on each other
and on coastal resources.
In order to minimise tourism-induced problems and se-
cure both sustainability of tourism industry and coastal re-
sources in relation also to other sectors, increased attention
must be given to proper planning and better integration of
tourism in coastal development.
Negative impacts and conflicts are due mainly to in-
comprehension of coastal environment and inadequate
planning. This means that better knowledge of physical
and biological environments of coastal zones, identification
of existing and potential uses, assessment of their mutual
compatibility and their individual compatibility with the en-
vironment, and finally, development of integrated strate-

gies and plans, offer a good solution for a more socially,
environmentally and economically sound development.
One of the greatest challenges faced by coastal man-
agers is giving tourism development a proper place within
the integrated coastal management in order to increase its
long-term sustainability. Therefore, in planning tourism de-
velopment, it is of utmost importance to focus on proper di-
mensioning of tourism growth with regard to the capacity of
local systems. To this end, proper tools must be offered to
decision-makers that need to have a clear idea of possible
tourism pressures and ways to respond to these pressures.
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of the project is to promote sustaina-
ble use of resources in coastal areas by focusing on sustain-
able tourism planning and management. More specifically,
the project aims at:
• Contributing to the conservation of biodiversity of
coastal areas
• Promoting the participatory management approach
among the operational stakeholders in the tourism
sector
• Enriching the operational capacity of institutions
and people dealing with tourism development and/
or coastal area management, in the tourism private
sector and at the local authorities/governments level
• Raising awareness about the importance of sustain-
ability and integrated management in the planning
and management of tourism activities in coastal ar-
eas
This project is one of the first attempts to use the ICZM
framework for a specific sector and to create a practical
manual to be used by planners and managers. The efficient
implementation of the Mediterranean ICZM Protocol (the rati-
fication process is on-going in several countries) will require
the availability of such kind of documents.
OBJECTIVE
MAIN ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS
This project has reviewed existing planning mechanisms
on the assessment of the modalities of tourism developments
and of the variety of stakeholders involved. This assessment
has aimed at the elaboration of a methodology that uses the
ICZM principles for the sustainable development of tourism
activities in coastal areas.
On this basis, a step by step implementation guide has
been created to be used on the field for the implementa-
tion of the methodology and is based on a series of “to-do”
cards. This guide will be available in hard-copy and electron-
ic format.
The pilot project has been implemented in Split, Croatia
with the objective of testing the applicability of the developed
framework in the pilot destination.
The guide dissemination is been made through capacity
building seminars in the Mediterranean region and largely
distributed to the participants of the Destinations Project
workshops in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
PARTNERS
The project “Sustainable Coastal Tourism: The Integrat-
ed Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Approach” is being
developed by UNEP in collaboration with UNEP/PAP/RAC,
the pioneers of the work on ICZM. The pilot implementation
of the project will take place in Croatia with the cooperation
of the Croatian Ministry of Tourism, UNDP, and a local NGO.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Helena Rey de Assis
United Nations Environment Programme
Division of Technology, Industry & Economics
Sustainable Consumption & Production Branch
15 rue de Milan; 75441 Paris Cedex 09; France
Tel: +33 144371450; Fax: +33 1 4437 1474
E-mail: tourism@unep.fr