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Greening tourism: the Seychelles

The Seychelles has taken steps to integrate environmental concerns into the development of the tourism industry.

During the initial stages, the focus was mainly on sun, sand and sea, but even then the Government adopted policies to limit the size of hotels and to develop harmonious architecture and styles. More recently all new tourism establishments have had to undergo Environmental Impact Assessments, and international certification is being explored.

Despite these good intentions and some concrete progress, there have been shortcomings, causing ill effects.

In some cases, habitats have been damaged, sewage treatment plants have malfunctioned, land has been used inappropriately, and large amounts of water and fossil fuels have been consumed.

Until now there has been no clear policy for tourism in general, and ecotourism in particular, and no overall detailed master plan for tourism and land use in the Seychelles. A draft Tourism Master Plan, [...] finalized in the year 2000, will now devote a specific chapter to environmental concerns.

These are highlighted in the country’s second Environment Management Plan – covering the period 2000-2010 – as follows:

• Facilitating the establishment of ecotourism as a prime tourism product of Seychelles.

• Reducing the environmental impacts of tourism.

• Promoting sustainable design and managing resources more sustainable within the tourism sector.

• Improving the capacity of institutions to deal with issues of environmental sustainability.