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Palau: A Conservation Culture

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The Micronesian nation of Palau has been gaining a reputation not only for trail-blazing conservation measures, reports Tiffany Chan, but also for putting the brakes on irresponsible mass tourism. Now they’ve set their sights on carbon neutrality.

[Above: The Rock Island archipelago, a major tourism draw for Palau. ]

Micronesian Archipelago Leads the Way in Pacific Stewardship

Children of Palau
I take this Pledge
To preserve and protect your beautiful and unique Island home.…
—The Palau Pledge

The tiny island nation of Palau is known worldwide for its marvelous environment – turquoise waters, unexplored lands, biodiversity – and for the innovative regulations that have been implemented to ensure its pristine condition.

This Micronesian country of hundreds of islands, however, has been facing many challenges due to high-volume tourism growth and a dramatic increase in budget-oriented travel. Tourism accounts for approximately 31% of Palau’s GDP, as well as 38% of jobs in Palau’s private sector. In recent (pre-Covid) years, annual visitors to Palau averaged almost seven times greater than the local population. Prior to 2014, higher spending consumers in the diving market fuelled tourism in Palau. Thereafter, a large spike in pre-packaged travel groups from China resulted in lower in-country spending and a shift towards mass-market tourism.

Tourists enjoy the Milky Way, an often crowded mud bath in the Rock Islands.

As identified in the Palau Responsible Tourism Policy Framework 2017-2021 by the Bureau of Tourism, “dramatic increases in visitor arrivals within the past two years and the rapid proliferation of budget-oriented tourism development to service those visitors have led to concerns about devastating consequences on the industry, environment and society.”

A Conservation Leader

Led by a president focused on natural conservation, Palau is on the path to discourage mass tourism and promote destination sustainability, with innovative policies and initiatives, such as:

    • The world’s first shark sanctuary, created in 2009. Given that half of the world’s oceanic sharks are at risk of extinction, this sanctuary protects an area about the size of France where commercial shark fishing is banned.
    • The world’s sixth-largest marine sanctuary, established in 2015 to protect 80% of its maritime territory, meaning no fishing, or other uses such as drilling for oil, in an area of tuna-rich ocean.

      Unique among responsible tourism pledges, the Palau Pledge is the entry visa stamp – and directed to the next generation.

    • Introduction of the “Palau Pledge” in 2017, the world’s first mandatory eco-pledge. This signed promise, stamped in the passport of all incoming visitors, is a pledge to respect the environment and preserve it for the “children of Palau.” The pledge received almost 6000 signatures within the first two weeks.
    • A “reef-toxic” sunscreen ban restricting the manufacturing and import of sunscreen containing toxic chemicals that lead to coral bleaching in 2018, followed by a world-first ban on selling harmful sunscreen products in 2020.
    • Palau joined the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) in 2020 along with 13 other world leaders, in a commitment to sustainably manage 100% of national waters by 2025.

To ensure compliance with environmental responsibility, the Responsible Tourism Education Act was passed in 2018. Apart from endorsing the Palau Responsible Tourism Policy Framework, the Act requires tourism businesses to provide visitors with environmental education, conservation awareness and sustainable options, such as reusable alternatives to disposable plastic cups, straws, and containers.

How did Palau do it?

These conservation efforts and mitigation measures are largely led by Palauans in both the public and private sectors. Various groups outside of the government have pushed for each of these initiatives and made it successful by collaborating with the government to create laws and regulations, along with the assistance of international partners when needed.

According to Ivory Vogt, a Palauan sustainable tourism consultant, “The essence behind our conservation and mitigation policies stem from our traditions and culture. These ideas can be reflected in Palauan words like bul, which means to restrict the use of a natural resource to allow it to regenerate over some time, and mengereomel, meaning to conserve a resource in a way that you replant what you harvest, so you always have a good supply of it.”

The main tourism authorities in Palau are the Palau Visitors Authority and the Bureau of Tourism. The former plays the role of marketing and the latter in regulating the tourism industry. Prior to 2021, the Bureau of Tourism was part of the same Ministry, called the Ministry of Natural Resource, Environment and Tourism.

Aspiring to Become the World’s First Carbon-Neutral Destination

It seems clear that Palau is a pioneer in addressing environmental sustainability and tourism management issues with innovative solutions, and its most recent development is no different. Apart from overtourism, climate change is one of the greatest threats to Palau. With most Palauans residing, working, and producing food in low-lying areas, the global rise in sea level will be devastating for the island state, not to mention tropical cyclones, typhoons, and severe weather patterns posing massive threats to the livelihood of vulnerable communities and ecosystems.

A taro patch, key source for the Palauan diet.

To improve climate resilience, the Bureau of Tourism is collaborating with Sustainable Travel International, Slow Food and the Palau Pledge to make Palau the world’s first carbon-neutral tourism destination. This program is led by the Bureau of Tourism with the assistance of several international partners, such as the TaiwanICDF. By aspiring to be a carbon-neutral tourism destination, Palau will have to market the program to their visitors and encourage them to offset the carbon footprint of their trip.

Building on previous sustainable tourism efforts, the program began in August 2020 with a value-chain analysis, and later data collection from tourism-related businesses and a needs assessment with a small group of local food producers. The goal is to mitigate the tourism-based carbon footprint by promoting local food production along with a carbon management program for travelers. Less reliance on imports and a redirected focus on local food production allow for better food security and local economic opportunities, all while lowering CO2 emissions.

A national dish, demok (taro leaf soup) is favored by visitors.

To compensate for tourism-associated emissions, visitors will have the opportunity to voluntarily calculate and offset the carbon footprint associated with their trip through a digital platform. Using 2019 arrival numbers, a projected $1 million could be generated through the calculator if all visitors offset their trip. The contributions would then be reinvested into conservation projects and certified carbon offset initiatives. Due to COVID-19 and the transition to a new government administration, the Carbon Neutral program is still in progress, with the hopes of the calculator being completed soon.

A Pioneer in Conservation

Within all of Palau’s initiatives, the people and biodiversity of Palau come first. Overtourism has taught Palau the importance of prioritizing high-value tourism. In today’s climate, destinations that once suffered from mass tourism have been given an opportunity to rethink how they will handle the pent-up demand. For the sake of building a more resilient and regenerative tourism economy, COVID-19 recovery plans must not ignore the intersection of climate change and sustainable tourism development. Palau’s latest initiative in carbon neutrality is a destination-level approach that can act as a guiding model for other destinations. Balancing tourism growth with climate action is a difficult feat to accomplish, but with countries like Palau taking the lead on such initiatives, there is hope that other destinations can implement similar initiatives into their climate action strategies, while also fostering sustainable economic growth.

Beach & Cruise Tourism: Volume vs. Value

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[Above: Three cruise ships at the Philipsburg pier in St. Martin. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot]

July Symposium in Grenada to Address Worldwide Coastal Tourism Overload

Tourism based on sun, sand, and sea is the largest, fastest growing, and most lucrative sector of the tourism industry. Globally, 12 of the 15 top international destinations – including Mexico, France and the United States — are countries with coastlines. In the U.S., three coastal states (New York, Florida and California) host nearly three quarters (74%) of the total number of overseas visitors to the country. And Mexico has over 2,000 hotels along its Pacific, Gulf, and Caribbean coastlines.

The growth and expansion of cruise tourism has been even more dramatic, with the number and size of ships, passengers, ports of call, and profits all on the rise. Cruise tourism is dominated by three main cruise lines – Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Star/Norwegian Cruise Lines – which control 90% of the North American market. From 1970 to 2012, the cruise industry grew 40-fold, from 500,000 in 1970 and 4 million in 1990, to 20 million in 2012. Ship size increased from 500 – 800 passengers in the 1970s to today’s “floating cities”, the largest of which accommodates over 7,000 passengers and crew.

Cruise and all-inclusive coastal resorts are expected to remain popular, as increasingly urbanized travelers in the Americas, Europe, and Asia seek sun and sea combined with easy-to-book, fixed-price, and standardized holiday packages. Cruise and resort bookings have become the bread-and-butter business for tour operators and travel agents. And tourism-dependent countries, which typically measure success by increased tourist arrivals, have put out the welcome mat for big box coastal resorts and mega-cruise ships.

Environmental and Social Impacts

The expansion of coastal and marine tourism has, however, led to a range of serious environmental and social problems. These, in turn, have spawned increasing resistance from coastal communities and environmental groups, alarmed by destruction of mangroves and coral reefs, competition for fresh water and other scarce resources, rising real estate prices, and displacement of local fishing and farming communities.

High-volume, low-margin beach tourism in Spain. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot

High-volume, low-margin beach tourism in Spain. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot

In April 2013, for instance, a group of eleven conservation organizations petitioned Mexico’s Commission for Environmental Cooperation to stop development of four massive tourism resort projects around the Gulf of California. They charge that the projects violate Mexico’s environmental laws and threaten unique coral reefs and mangrove ecosystems as well as endangered species of whales, sharks and many types of migratory birds. And currently, in Haiti, the extremely poor residents on the tiny island of Ile-a-Vache are protesting government moves to expropriate their land to make way for high-end resort development.

Cruise ships have also caused a range of environmental problems. Beginning in the late 1980s, garbage dumped by cruise ships was washing up on Florida beaches and the Gulf of Mexico coastlines. Cruise lines have faced a steady stream of fines for illegal dumping. Between 1998 and 2002, for instance, the cruise lines paid over $50 million in fines. A combination of new regulations, NGO campaigns, and bad press has led cruise companies to take series of steps to clean up their practices – and their image. However, by the new millennium, civic activism had expanded to also include concerns about cruise ship impacts on destinations, both ports of call and home ports. Public protests have percolated in destinations as diverse as Hawaii, Alaska, Key West, Charleston, S.C. in the U.S.; Venice, Italy; Cozumel, Mexico, and Bermuda in the Caribbean.

The Economics of Cruise and All-Inclusive Resort Tourism

The economic model of cruise lines and all-inclusive resorts is largely the same — to keep tourist spending concentrated within the business – and this, in turn, has negative consequences for the economies of coastal destinations.

The cruise sector’s economic success is facilitated by a legal loophole: the “flag of convenience.” The three major cruise lines, while headquartered in Florida and carrying mainly American passengers, have registered their ships offshore, in Liberia in West Africa, Panama, and, the Bahamas. This allows them to circumvent a range of U.S. laws, including minimum wages and tax liabilities as well as safety standards, inspections, and environmental and labor laws.

In addition, on-board spending is an increasingly important part of cruise line income, ranging, according to a UN World Tourism Organization study, to between 25% and 35% of total income.   Cruises have a captive market within ships as well as at ports, with onshore excursions and facilities often owned by subsidiaries of cruise lines. According to another recent study, the average customer spends about $1700 for a cruise, including on ship and on land expenses and the majority of these expenses are captured within the cruise ship.

Fifty percent of cruise tourism takes place in the Caribbean where it goes toe-to-toe with land-based tourism. Both bring about 15 million visitors a year, but, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), land-based, stay over tourists spend 13 times more than cruise passengers ($994 vs. $77). CREST’s studies in Central America (Costa Rica, Honduras, and Belize) found similar disparities, with stay over visitors spending between six and eighteen times more than cruise passengers. These findings from the Caribbean and Central America confirm that stay over tourism is far more beneficial to the local economy than cruise tourism.

CREST has also analyzed the different types of stay over tourists in Costa Rica, comparing those coming to the large coastal resorts versus those coming for ecotourism. Based on airport departure surveys, we found that ecotourists in Costa Rica stay longer – on average, 12 nights in 2012 compared with 9 nights for those staying in coastal resorts – and spend more — $1300 compared with $1079. In addition, ecotourists visit more parts of the country and engage in a wider range of activities. Ecotourism therefore leaves more in the local economy and spreads the economic benefits around the country.

A range of other studies in Tobago, Turkey, Kenya, Canary Islands, and Barbados have found that all-inclusive resorts tend to kill off local restaurants and other businesses located outside the resort, while staff in all-inclusives face less favorable working conditions, including greater levels of stress, considerably less tips, and larger numbers on short term contracts than employees in other types of accommodations.

These findings show that that arrival numbers alone say little about the actual costs and benefits of tourism. The more limited economic benefits of large scale cruise and resort tourism, combined with their often negative environmental and social impacts, demonstrate that tourism planners need to put more emphasis on high value rather than high volume tourism.

Symposium & Sustainability Expo, July 9-11, 2014, in Grenada

St. Georges waterfront, Grenada. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot

St. Georges waterfront, Grenada. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot

Many coastal businesses and individuals are taking steps toward high value tourism through environmental, social, and economic innovation. CREST is partnering with the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the island of Grenada to present the 3rd Innovators in Coastal Tourism Symposium & Sustainability Expo, July 9-11, 2014, in Grenada. This unique event will bring together 100 to 150 invited ‘green’ experts and practitioners, including real estate developers, operators, investors, and other businesses committed to (or considering) new sustainable models of marine, coastal, and island tourism development. These are the thought leaders who are breaking the mold of cookie-cutter resort development and mass-market cruise ships. In addition to business leaders, a select group of participants will be invited from key government agencies, NGOs, academia, community organizations, and international development organizations. Climate change and the need for responsible development has made these discussions all the more important, and we welcome all with an interest in sustainable coastal tourism to attend. Full updated Symposium details are available at: ctocrestsymposium.com.

This post adapted from my forthcoming book: Selling Sunshine: Coastal and Marine Tourism in the Americas, Island Press, 2015.