Author(s)

A. Ivanova, R. Ibañez, A. Gamez & M. Angeles

Abstract

Many studies highlight alternative tourism as a path for sustainable local development in marine protected areas. However appropriate tools to measure the sustainability of tourism development must be implemented. The case of our study is the Cabo Pulmo National Park, located in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The methodology applied is the IUCN sustainability assessment and an analysis of Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats (SWOT), based on a comprehensive review of statistics and documents, and on an opinion survey of the main stakeholders and key players. The analysis clearly shows that there are elements for sustainability based on alternative tourism. Nevertheless, to achieve this desirable model of development some constraints need to be overcome. Based on our analysis, we underscore the main points which should be taken into account in the process of policy making. Albeit oriented to the needs of a specific community, we think that these considerations should be of benefit in constructing sustainable development projects elsewhere, in similar small coastal communities with alternative tourism activities. Keywords: alternative tourism, sustainable development, sustainability assessment, marine protected area, small coastal community, SWOT analysis, Cabo Pulmo, Mexico. 1 Introduction In response to a growing recognition of the need for conservation efforts resulting from the degradation of ocean systems, marine protected areas (MPAs) The Sustainable World 725 www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 142, © 2010 WIT Press doi:

Keywords

alternative tourism, sustainable development, sustainability assessment, marine protected area, small coastal community, SWOT analysis, Cabo Pulmo, Mexico