Water scarcity, limited natural aquifer recharge and high abstraction levels pose policy management challenges within regions of concentrated tourism development in the Mediterranean Basin. Focusing upon water scarcity in Malta, this paper seeks to examine the barriers and recommendations for sustainable water usage within the Malta Tourism Policy (MTP) (2015-2020). Drawing upon a systematic literature review and interviews with government officials, NGOs and private sector stakeholders, the dichotomy of supply and demand is deemed a key influence upon Maltese water scarcity, alongside a sustainability rhetoric adding political legitimacy to resource-intensive water usage. The MTP (2015-2020) prioritises economic growth and short term tourist numbers, limiting the sustainability of water usage upon Malta, with future augmentation of tourism policy requiring a greater emphasis upon integration between the environmental, socio-cultural and economic pillars of sustainability.
Permanent link to this resource: https://doi.org/10.24384/000521
Jones, Max
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences\Department of Social Sciences
Year: 2018
© The Author(s) Published by Oxford Brookes University