Water and tourism

Resources management, planning and sustainability

Henriques, E. B., Sarmento, J., & Lousada, M. A. (Eds.). (2010). Water and tourism: resources management, planning and sustainability. Lisboa: Centro de Estudos Geográficos da Universidade.

"Water is the principal element of the Earth's surface. Spaces such as rivers, lakes and seas are normally perceived by people as natural spaces, and even as 'wild' spaces, despite having been appropriated, used and transformed by humans throughout times. Leisure and tourism activities are amongst the most important drives for the transformation of these spaces, thus, they should be central in the water environments. On another dimension, water, which is critical to life, is a scarce resource, since only a fraction is fresh water. This means that tourism may conflict with other activities and creates additional pressures over water resources which have to be soundly managed."