Topic > Europe's leading role in the development of Mallorca

Therefore, sustainable tourism is environmentally necessary nowadays. To respond to the problems of coastal degradation, pollution and water supply, policymaking plays a crucial role, at different levels. This part aims to analyze the different policies involved to implement sustainable tourism in coastal degradation, pollution and water supply in Mallorca and to what extent they are efficient. The role of European and Spanish policies must be considered to understand Mallorca's decision-making process. While Europe triggered the first sustainable development policies, the micropolitical application in Mallorca is more effective to achieve sustainable tourism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Europe played an instrumental role in implementing sustainable development in the early 1980s (Pridham, 2007). Europe's awareness of the quality of the environment for tourists began in the 1990s, when tourism was becoming popular (Pridham, 2007). In 1992, the Council of Ministers decided to create a European-wide policy to strengthen tourism (Pridham, 2007). For example, the Fifth Environmental Action Program of 1992, also known as “Towards Sustainability”, in which tourism was one of the five objectives, aimed to “maintain the overall quality of life, avoid lasting environmental demand, consider sustainable a development that satisfies the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to satisfy their own” (“Towards sustainability”, 1992). [JA3] However, the efficiency of policy must be differentiated. If Europe has taken actions and started to integrate tourism and sustainable tourism into its concerns, its role has been really limited and partially efficient. Therefore, Europe failed to truly impose its policies on countries, because they were not the ones providing Europe with full power over tourism policies (Pridham, 2007). Second, the scope of the tourism-related environmental subsector was increasing. For example, it has been difficult for Europe to implement a rule on coastal beach degradation, as not all countries have been affected equally. It is difficult for Europe to have a “single” policy when tourism is so multidimensional (Pridham, 2007). Although the policies were far from perfect, they had the merit of bringing international legitimacy to sustainable development. European policies played more of a triggering than decisive role in sustainable tourism policies in Mallorca and pushed Spain to increase its policy in the early 1990s. Spain's interest in sustainable tourism began around 1990 (Pridham, 2007). Due to the precession of European institutions, the destruction of many coastal locations[JA5], increased pollution and water supply issues, Spain's response has been pragmatic rather than driven by the ideology of sustainable tourism. In general, policies have taken a more strategic approach to linking environment and tourism and have strengthened efforts to control and limit the value effect of tourism, aiming to develop alternative forms of tourism. The particularity of Spanish sustainable tourism policies is their micropolitical application. They are created and implemented directly by the region or municipality, rather than at government level (Pridham, 2007). Therefore, Mallorca's policies have been able to address the main problem of beach degradation, pollution andof the water supply. Mallorca's policies have generally proven successful in making Mallorca a sustainable place. The aim of this part is to outline the motivations behind the creation of a sustainable tourism policy, the process and the success in Mallorca from the 1990s to the present. This series of legislative acts were effective because they were specific and implemented by the Autonomous Community of the Balearics. Because it was small scale, the authorities were really concerned about the needs of Mallorca and able to ensure that the policies were enforced. Sustainable tourism as a whole begins to be implemented after the 1992 Rio Summit (Summit,1992). This international summit on sustainable tourism led to the creation of Agenda 21, a framework for sustainable action in the 21st century (Summit, 1992). Following this model, each territory can develop its own Agenda 21; Local Agenda 21. This is what the territory of Mallorca has implemented in its territory, regarding the tourism aspect, to achieve more sustainable tourism and make Mallorca a better and sustainable place. (Dodd, 2007). The Calvia Tourism Council approved the new urban plans and adopted them as a model for sustainable development in 1995 (Dodds, 2007). The main aim of the plan was to address the problem of uncontrolled growth, water supply, restore the surrounding landscape and improve the quality of services (Dodds, 2007). Examining the implementation of Calvià's Local Agenda 21 sustainable tourism strategy, several issues relevant to climate change emerge. Regarding coastal beach degradation, sea dredging previously used to regenerate beaches has been stopped (Garcia & Servera, 2003) and measures have been taken to minimize erosion (Dodds & Kelman, 2008). To fight pollution in general, some concrete initiatives have been undertaken as part of Local Agenda 21. Fewer pedestrian zones have been created, encouraging fewer motor vehicles in the area, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Trees have also been planted to absorb carbon and provide shade against rising temperatures (Dodds & Kelman, 2008). Furthermore, in 1998, the Balearic Government presented the “Proposal for a Hydrological Plan for the Balearic Islands”. This report sets targets for water supply and management in Mallorca. The following policies were applied: desalination plan in the Bay of Palma opened in 1995, recycled and treated water was favored and the authorities encouraged sensible use of water and penalized wasteful and extravagant uses by consumers (Kent, Newnham & Essex, 2002). Another global solution to mass tourism is the “ecotax”, also called “tourist tax”. Proposed in the regional government's 1999 Progress Pact (Kent, Newnham, & Essex, 2002). The “Ecotourism Taxes” finally came into force on July 1, 2016, after a long discussion between Spanish governments. Up to 2 euros per day, must be paid by the tourist depending on the place where he stays... This is expected that the new tourism tax will bring between 60 and 70 million euros per year which will be spent on tourism projects sustainable throughout Mallorca. However, if there is a real desire on the part of the authorities to implement sustainable tourism in Mallorca, the effectiveness of these policies must be modulated. Research by Dodds (2007) and Pridham (2007), shows that the lack of stakeholder involvement, integration and coordination has not allowed the policies to be fully successful. In this research, Dodds, (2007), analyzed the private, public and NGOs, and discovered the following obstacles..