1. Problems: Water quality (->depending on seasonable peaks in tourist numbers and on the limited capacity of waste water treatment plants); Degradation of biodiversity; Availability of water and overconsumption; Waterpricing (lack of awareness); Politics and opposite; Energy consumption versus hydropower 2. (Main) Drivers: Pricing; Political support; Tourism potential; Increase of environmental awareness of tourists by communication, information and monitoring; Strong environmental stakeholders (lobbying); Legislation on tourism and environment

1. Reporting on the outcomes of workshop 4
Improve the link between tourism
development and quality of water
ecosystems
Ljubljana, November 18th, 2011
Rijkswaterstaat
1

2. Problems
• Water quality
(->depending on seasonable peaks in tourist numbers and on
the limited capacity of waste water treatment plants)
• Degradation of biodiversity
• Availability of water and overconsumption
• Waterpricing (lack of awareness)
• Politics and opposite
• Energy consumption versus hydropower
Rijkswaterstaat

3. (Main) Drivers
• Pricing
• Political support
• Tourism potential
• Increase of environmental awareness of tourists by
communication, information and monitoring
• Strong environmental stakeholders (lobbying)
• Legislation on tourism and environment
Rijkswaterstaat

4. Actions
• Awareness raising
• Education (all levels, but start early)
• Certification (e.g. Eco label, best available
techniques, etc.)
• Tell the story of your region (based on database
and monitoring)
• Implementation of “user pays principle” into IRBM
• Participatory actions/stakeholder support
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5. Recommendations for solutions
• Waterpricing as an instrument taking into account
the vertical, horizontal dimension as well the
external costs
• Promote the most important ecosystem service -
the hydrological function! (not spatial plannig)
• Economical next to environmental benefits but
economics seem to be more important to
politicians.
• Develop a kind of carrying capacity for tourism
in hydrologically vulnerable areas/regions
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