Tourism and sustainable development: A case study of tourism impacts on the Senegalese Petite Côte region

Abstract

For decades, Senegal has been faced with drought. One of the consequences of this climatic pejoration is the brutal fall of peanut production. In this difficult economic situation, tourism is then considered as a new source of hard currency.

Since the 1970s, tourism development in the Senegalese Petite Côte has quickly increased, with multiple various impacts on the region. Tourism has modified the traditional structure of the Petite Côte community by disrupting local tradition and disobeying Islamic moral codes, and generated previously unknown social problems, such as prostitution and mugging. It has transformed many villages in the region into satellites for cheap labor; local inhabitants, who have abandoned fishing and agriculture, are employed as servile workers. The environment of the traditional villages, formerly unpolluted, is now prone to a multitude of pollutants as tourists’ accommodations proliferate.

This paper intends to describe what the effects of tourism in the Petite Côte region are and what strategies could be used to mitigate the negative effects. This is done in a functional analysis framework, coupled with the case study methodology to assess the effects of tourism and find ways to mitigate the negative effects.

The paper suggests that people of the community must be better integrated into the process of tourism development in order to reverse the spiral of its harmful effects and to promote integrated and sustainable development in harmony with the local economy.

Disciplines

Agricultural and Resource Economics | Demography, Population, and Ecology | Environmental Health and Protection

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