Sustainable Tourism Development: Comparison Studies of Baltic Coastal Tourism in Estonia and Lithuania

“Tourism in International Relations “
Lecture : Drs Usmar Salam, MIS
Primada NH (06/196259/SP/21751)

Sustainable Tourism Development: Comparison Studies of Baltic Coastal Tourism in Estonia and Lithuania

Baltic Sea is an endangered area since it contains of dislodging World War II-era naval mines and toxic materials including mines, chemical waste, chemical munitions and other items dumped in the Baltic Sea in the past decades, and thereby toxic substances could surface from the seabed damaging the Baltic's particularly sensitive ecosystem. On the other hand, Baltic Sea coast remains to be very potential tourism object due to its beauty. Baltic state’s concerns to preserve Baltic seas tourism become the main agenda of its government. It’s priority was to develop sustainable tourism, as well as preserving Baltic Sea nature. This article aimed at comparison between two country on the shore of Baltic Sea, Latvia and
A.Sustainable Tourism Development
Sustainable tourism development’s meaning derives from the meaning of sustainability. Sustainability was defined as “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs”. This implies that Sustainable Development leaves future generations with sufficient resources for quality of life. Planning over long time and the involvement of all people in development are essential.
Sustainable Tourism involves social responsibility, a strong commitment to economy, ecology and the integration of local people in any tourist operation or development, as well as commitment to preserve cultural heritage (economy, ecology, local and cultural sustainability). Sustainable tourism is defined by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the Tourism Council (WTTC) and the Earth Council as “Sustainable Tourism Development meets the needs of present tourists, host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems”1. Sustainable tourism products are products which are operated in harmony with the local environment, community and cultures so that these become the beneficiaries not the victims of tourism development”.
In order to maintain sustainability of tourism development, we should have some understanding that some factors can be seen as "drivers", pushing the tourism industry towards a sustainable development approach. Those drivers are2:
- Increasing regulatory pressure;
- Growing awareness of cost savings from sensible resource consumption;
- Tourism professionals and operators recognize that environmental quality is essential for a competitive product;
- The awareness by governments and operators that the growth of tourism can have a negative impact on the environment;
- A growing awareness of communities about their potential to influence tourism policy
Understanding those drivers may increase the understanding about sustainable tourism development, so that the agenda to maintain sustainable tourism development should start from a good driver’s maintenance.
B.Sustainable Coastal Tourism
Coastal tourism is considered to be one of the fastest growing areas of present-day tourism with its central attributes of sand, sea and sun. In order to create safe, stable and attractive coastal environments with clean waters and healthy coastal habitats. It is necessary to develop well-managed sustainable coastal tourism. Integrated Coastal Zone Management is the best available approach for achieving this aim.
Sustainable Coastal Tourism can be recognised as3:
Sustainable coastal management practices;
Clean water, air and healthy coastal eco-systems;
A safe and secure recreational environment through the management of coastal hazards, such as erosion, storms and floods. The provision of adequate levels of safety for boaters, swimmers and other water users;
Beach restoration efforts that maintain the recreational and attractive values of beaches
Sound policies for wildlife and habitat protection.
C.Baltic Sea Tourism and It’s Problem
The Baltic states, Baltic Nations or Baltic countries are three countries in Northern Europe, all members of the European Union: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania which lies on the shore of Baltic Sea.
The Baltic Sea is the largest brackish-water in the world. It’s located in the area of 413 000 km2, 21 000 km3 in volume, 55 m (max 460 m) depth, and 17 % shallower than 10 m. the Drainage basin >1 800 000 km2, and about 77 million inhabitants live there. Area surrounding Baltic sea is heavily industrialized, and has large areas of intensive agriculture, and these area are very susceptible for pollution.4
The overall summary of Baltic Sea problem in order to indicate the possibilities of sustainable coastal tourism development are:
Environment has deteriorated rapidly in many parts since 1950.
Human activity also responsible the increase of certain natural substances.
Eutrophication affects the whole Baltic Sea, especially the coastal areas.
Intensity of toxic blooms has increased.
Fish stocks partly benefit from moderate but not high eutrophication.
Level of DDT and PCB has decreased since 1970, but toxic organic compounds is a major
threat to the ecosystem.
That is why, coastal tourism development in Baltic Sea area is a critical issue since so many threat were caused by and might cause threat to economic, environment, local and cultural sustainability. Based on information above, government of Lithuania and Estonia creates individual program to preserve its coastal tourism object. Each country came up with its own characteristic of sustainable coastal tourism object characteristics.
D.Lithuanian sustainable coastal tourism: A case study of Curonian Lagoon
Politically, the Curonian lagoon region is divided in two parts: The northern one belongs to Lithuania and the southern part to Kaliningrad Oblast, which is the exclusive territory of Russian Federation. Geographically, the Curonian lagoon and the adjacent region form a huge natural entity. The southeastern Baltic coastal accumulative plain includes three major parts: The Nemunas delta, the Curonian spit and the Sambian peninsula. The total area of this region is app. 4.000 sq. km.
In 2000 the entire Curonian spit has been included into the UNESCO World Heritage List as a cultural landscape of outstanding value. It is protected within the national parks of Kuriunerija (Lithuania) and Kurshskayakosa (Russia). The sandy marine beaches of the Curonian spit together with nice traditional resorts, mature pinewoods and the magnificent vistas over the drifting dunes and the Curonian lagoon form the most valuable tourism resource of the whole region. Thus making the Curonian lagoon a tourist destination of an international scale.
Curonian lagoon region fishing and agriculture of Lithuania have maintained their leading roles in the local economy during the 1990s and early 2000s. The economic performance of these sectors and their capacity to provide a decent living for the local population has declined dramatically because of the emergence of the market economy and the change of mechanisms behind the production from a matter of central planning to local decisions affected by prices of resources needed and products manufactured.
Tourism is a new emerging opportunity for a truly sustainable and decent future of the region if its development is based on the key strengths of the Curonian lagoon region as an area with outstanding natural beauty.
Lithuanian sustainable tourism development based on:
a)Economic sustainability: The Curonian spit is by far the most suitable area for tourism development in the region, but its status as a national park appears to ensure a strong legal protection against large-scale developments outside the areas already developed. It seems very important to discuss whether the spit should be reserved mainly for low-scale exclusive tourism, affordable only to foreigners and rich locals, or whether there should also be facilities for locals with "normal" incomes. At present the trend seems to be the first.
b)Local, cultural and ecological sustainability: Efforts should be made to endorse tourism development in the Curonian lagoon region towards a sustainable use of local natural resources and maintenance of cultural heritage, facilitation of site-specific development of small-scale leisure facilities according to local peculiarities and carrying capacity of landscapes and ecosystems. This could increase the local knowledge on the sustainable use of natural resources through special training programs, the local 'centers of excellence' diverse programs of education and social integration for different target groups.
Lithuanian managment of sustainable tourism.
The Department of Recreation and Tourism at Klaipeda University together with the EUCC Baltic Office are the leading institutions facilitating the sustainable tourism development in the Curonian lagoon area. The whole process started in 1993 when efforts aimed at fostering the sustainable development of Rusne island in the Nemunas delta got support from the EUCC - The Coastal Union and the promotion of sustainable tourism became one of the key priorities of the program.5
The promotion of sustainable tourism development in the Curonian Lagoon area is supported mainly by the external aid sources provided by the European Commission within the PHARE and TACIS programs (PHARE Partnership, PHARE ACCESS, PHARE and TACIS Small Project Facility programs). Support obtained from the Royal Netherlands Embassy (MATRA KNIP program) and the Baltic American Partnership Program is also acknowledged gratefully.
As a result several projects were established in the area: Rusne Rural Tourism Organization, Rusne Rural Tourism Information and Consultation Center, Water Tourism Center in Minge. Facilitation of sustainable tourism development was ensured through a variety of activities with local communities of Curonian spit and with administrations of national parks Kursiunerija(Lithuania).
This proved that Lithuania government has seriously maintains sustainable tourism development that is including maintenance of economy, ecology, local and cultural sustainability. These efforts aimed at preserving endangered Baltic seas as well as maintaining economic benefits.
E.Estonia sustainable coastal tourism development: A case study of Vainammeri
The area of Vainammeri is located in Estonia, in the Eastern part of the Baltic Sea between the major islands and the mainland. The area represents a rural coastal zone with high nature values. Extensive beaches with widespread reed areas, coastal grasslands and limestone plains represent habitats for thousands of birds, mammal species and rare plants. A shallow clean sea, where light reaches the bottom along thousands of square kilometres and which also contains a rich organic world. However, the Estonian coastal landscapes have never been all natural. Humans have inhabited the area over the last couple of centuries and have developed their agricultural activities. Grazing and mewing have always existed along the coastline.
During the second half of the twentieth century, degradation of local coastal economies has led to the degradation of many valuable habitats. The opened coastal areas like wooded meadows, limestone meadows and extensive coastal grasslands which are full of species have been overgrown by bushes. To revive these types of ecosystems, sensible management of ecosystems is needed in the first place. Several Estonian non-governmental organisations and the WWF-Sweden have initiated the Väinameri project to restore and conserve seminatural coastal ecosystems by assisting the local people in developing small-scale economies. Main areas of the project applications are in farming, handicrafts and eco-tourism. Awareness building and ecological education are also considered to be of high priority in this project.
Maintaining economy, local, cultural, and ecology sustainability.
The ecotourism component is a part of a holistic approach to sustainable nature use in the area. The idea of the project is to some extent similar to the food chain concept in ecology. Local inhabitants, through their economic activities use various resources of the coastal area by changing the landscape into a more diverse state. The sustainable character of the human activities will keep the agro-environmental system in equilibrium. By assisting new practices in the coastal area, the Väinameri project will support restoration of valuable areas, but also lead to the improvement of social aspects.
The ecotourism project of Estonian government aimed at these benefits: economic benefits, foreign exchange earnings, contribution to government revenues, employment generation, stimulation of infrastructure investment, contribution to local economies, direct financial contributions to nature protection, competitive advantage, and from the socio cultural point of view, sustainability was defined at: tourism as a force for peace and strengthening communities
Sustainable tourism development of Lithuania is based on these mechanisms:
First, an Integrated Coastal Zone Management of the beaches. Beaches are meant to be areas that are comprised from the submarine area to the dunes. It is necessary for sustainable development, that the incorporation of the costs of environmental services and damages (and their repairs) fall directly into the prices of the goods, services or activities which cause them. Beaches have an economic and an environmental value and they help to protect the coast against coastal erosion, so a greater investment is needed.
Second, a better dissemination of the existing information should be achieved. For that purpose,a better coordination of the existing governmental bodies that deal with coastal management is necessary. Also, the information should be accessible to everyone.
Third, an improvement of the environmental education is essential for a sustainable development of the coast.
From the summary above, it’s very clear that Estonian government is very concern about sustainable tourism development that is developed in line with economy, ecology, local and cultural sustainability.
F.Conclusions
Many coastal areas are experiencing particular pressure from growth in lifestyles and growing numbers of tourists. Coastal areas are often the first environments to experience the detrimental impacts of tourism. The inevitable change is on the horizon as holiday destinations put more effort into sustainable tourism. Planning and management controls can reduce the impact on coastal environments and ensure that investment into tourism products supports sustainable coastal tourism.
During the last century, beaches have completely reversed their role: they have become the driving force behind the economic welfare instead of just being an inhospitable place. Lithuanian and Estonia, both were Baltic state that concerning on sustainable coastal tourism development. It derives from the fact that both country lies along Baltic Sea coast and have an agenda to preserve Baltic Sea nature.
Basically, both Lithuanian and Estonian government were implementing sustainable coastal tourism development well. The program that is included in the tourism development contains maintenance of economy, ecology, local and cultural sustainability, which is in line with Baltic Sea preservation.
The difference was only about the mechanism which is implemented in each country. Lithuanian government work closely with external aid sources provided by the European Commission within the PHARE and TACIS programs (PHARE Partnership, PHARE ACCESS, PHARE and TACIS Small Project Facility programs). Support obtained from the Royal Netherlands Embassy (MATRA KNIP program) and the Baltic American Partnership Program. While Estonian government work intensively on internal source such as Estonian NGO, and government body through individual tourism development program. The only external aid of Estonian coastal tourism only came from Sweden.
Over all, Baltic States were concern about the importance of sustainable tourism development especially along Baltic sea coast. Sustainable coastal tourism remains different from land-based tourism and need an extra attention. Both Lithuania and Estonia has developed mechanism in sustainable coastal tourism very well.

Book references
European Communities. 2000. Towards quality coastal tourism. Integrated quality management (IQM) of coastal tourist destinations. Luxemburg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, hal 156.

Internet References
http://www.biodiversity.ru/coastlearn/tourism-eng.htm, diakses pada 27 Juni 2009
http://www.b7.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=91&Itemid=48, diakses pada 27 Juni 2009
http://www.celotajs.lv/cont/prof/proj/doc/Agora/sustainable_quality.doc