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Foreign Correspondent: Sustainable tourism

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Houses on coastline
Foreign Correspondent: Sustainable tourism

SUBJECTS:  Geography

YEARS:  7–8, 9–10


The Yucatán Peninsula in south-eastern Mexico is a popular tourist destination.

This clip focuses on examples of sustainable tourism — tourism that aims to have a low environmental impact.

View Tulum, a town under threat of being developed similarly to Cancún, a major tourist resort destination.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Consider a coastal environment with reefs, wetlands, mangroves — areas of natural beauty and biodiversity. What would low-impact sustainable tourism look like in this environment? How would that compare to a large- scale resort development in the area? Describe the impact of each.
  2. 2.Look for evidence of low-impact tourism. What does hotelier Michael Halle give as reasons for why the Mexican government pushes for large-scale 'all inclusive' resort developments? What problem with trying to implement green technology does he outline? Sian Ka'an is a relatively untouched site. What is significant about this area? Listen to the way water in the region is connected from inland cenotes to the reefs out to sea.
  3. 3.It is reported that only a third of wastewater in this region is treated; the rest is discharged into the aquifer system or the sea. You have the task of explaining why it's important to properly treat wastewater in this region. Describe connections of water flows from cenotes out to the reefs. What can be done to avoid contaminating these water sources with wastewater?
  4. 4.Use a map to locate Tulum on the Yucatán Peninsula. Potentially how many more coastal towns along this peninsula could face tourism issues? Where in Australia has there been mass development along the coastline? How is our coastal development similar to and different from that of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico? Find out more about eco-tourism.

Date of broadcast: 12 Mar 2013


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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