Modeling environmental impacts of tourism development along the Gulf Coast

Coastal resort development is attributed to a complex interplay of social, economic, and technologic factors. Social scientists have proposed S-curve or bellcurve models to better understand resort evolution. Such models have proved useful in both documenting the social history of resorts as well as in planning for future tourism. Even trends in the evolving urban morphology of resorts are comprehended more easily by resort models. However, in spite of abundant literature addressing the issue of negative tourism impacts upon the environment, this human/coastal environment relationship has not been examined within a conceptual evolutionary framework. Based upon previous and on-going research at tourist destinations along the Gulf of Mexico littoral, preliminary modeling of environmental impacts is attempted. Temporally, a modified S-curve model of resort evolution is offered to describe the development of coastal resorts, and stages of exploration, infrastructural development, settlement expansion, and maturation are identified. The upper level of development, or maturation, differs among the sites, primarily as a function of demand. High-demand destinations may be subject to an additional stage prior to reaching maturation - one of landuse intensification. Here, a resort becomes characterized by high-density landuse and corollary high levels of visitation and seasonal occupancy. After reaching maturation level, a coastal destination loses its attractiveness to recreationists and tourists. Environmentally, in spite of variability in degree of human impacts, general correlations are made. Dune disturbance, shoreline armoring, and wetlands dredging are abundant during the settlement expansion stage, but preservation efforts gain importance as a resort matures. If shoreline erosion rates are high, human efforts at stabilization may propel a resort into an early maturation stage. Hurricanes stimulate progression through the development stages, primarily by facilitating landuse intensification via redevelopment.Journal ArticleFinal article publishe