Open AccessAn online tool on sustainable water management
Author(s) -
Christos Bouras,
Vasileios Kokkinos,
Evangelos Michos
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
tourism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.337
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1849-1545
pISSN - 1332-7461
DOI - 10.37741/t.68.4.6
Subject(s) - tourism , business , sustainability , sustainable tourism , environmental resource management , sustainable management , work (physics) , environmental economics , sustainable development , environmental planning , integrated water resources management , water resources , water efficiency , corporate governance , environmental science , engineering , geography , economics , mechanical engineering , ecology , archaeology , finance , political science , law , biology
Water demand strains supply capacity in the Mediterranean coastalareas, affecting negatively the maintenance of natural and cultural heritage.Tackling this subject, the “Coastal areas sustainable tourism water managementin the Mediterranean - CASTWATER” project aims to support sustainable tourismwater management in Mediterranean (MED) coastal areas, by improving themonitoring and assessment of the water sustainability performance of tourism.To this end, the elaboration of an online tool to monitor and assesssustainable tourism water management was envisaged and developed, primarilyaddressed to tourism sector small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). TheCASTWATER online tool was designed to so as to provide two differentfunctionalities. On the one hand, SMEs can self-evaluate their performance insustainable water management and efficiently acknowledge possible actions thatpromote water efficiency in their tourism establishments. On the other hand,the tool measures, at both regional and local level, the levels of goodgovernance and the effectiveness of water-tourism policies in order to improvesustainable water management. The approach presented in this work is heavilybased on the initial technical specifications and end-user feedback, aidingSMEs in understanding, comparing, assessing and rating their performanceregarding water efficiency and sustainable water management.