Dr. Klaus J Meyer-Arendt

This special issue is presented as a thematic issue devoted to tropical coastal and island tourism. Included in the issue are articles on (eco)tourism in Madagascar, collaboration theory and tourism partnership models on an Indonesian island, development pressure and resilience on a Malaysian island, a survey of cruise passengers in Colombia, perception and limits to development in Costa Rica, and perception and reality on Pitcairn Island. Placed within theoretical or conceptual frameworks, these case studies can be applied to development challenges of tropical coastal and island destinations worldwide.

Quasi-permanent rip current hot spots at Pensacola Beach, Florida, pose a significant hazard to beach users, largely because the hot spots are located at or close to the primary access points. While an increase in the number of lifeguards has led to a decrease in the number of drownings since 2004, the number of rescues and contacts has increased to over a 30,000 year. Despite warning signs at access points along the beach, it is not clear whether beach users are able to identify a rip channel or an active rip current. To assess beach users’ knowledge of rip currents and their ability to identify rip channels and currents, 97 surveys were conducted between June and September of 2010 at Pensacola Beach. Beach users were asked to identify rip channels in oblique photographs taken on green, yellow and red flag days when the potential for rip currents is low, medium and high, respectively. A majority of participants suggested that they could identify a rip channel or current (if present), but less than 20% of beach users were able to identify the rip channels and currents. The majority of participants identified heavy surf areas as the location of the rips versus the relatively flat water of the current or the darker color water of the channel. Results further suggest that most beach users, and particularly local participants, are overconfident in their ability to identify rip channels and currents. The focus of beach users on heavy surf as an indication of the rip current potential and the overconfidence in identifying a rip channel or current affects the spatial distribution of beach users and to some degree the location of rescues and drownings. While it can be quite difficult for the average beach user to identify rip channels and active rip currents, the results of the study suggest a need for further education efforts to reduce the rip hazard, particularly in areas where lifeguards are not permanently stationed.

Previous studies have shown that natural disasters, and hurricanes in particular, have led to more deaths than those usually documented in short post-storm surveys. Such indirect deaths, thought to be related to dietary, stress or pre-existing medical conditions, can exceed the number of direct deaths and may persist for weeks or even months beyond the event itself. In the present study, cumulative sum of deviations plots are used to quantify the number of direct and indirect deaths resulting from Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne that made landfall in Florida in 2004. Results suggest that there was an elevated mortality for up to 2 months following each storm, resulting in a total of 624 direct and indirect deaths attributable to the storm. Trauma-related deaths that can be associated directly with the storm account for only ∼4% of the total storm-related mortality, while indirect mortality accounts for most storm-related deaths. Specifically, a large percentage of the elevated mortality was associated with heart (34%) and cancer-related deaths (19%), while diabetes (5%) and accident-related deaths (9%) account for a smaller but still significant percentage of the elevated mortality. The results further suggest that the elevated mortality was the result of additional deaths that would not have otherwise occurred within that 5 month period, and not simply a clustering of deaths that were inevitable between 1 August and 31 December 2004. The elevated mortality identified in this study is significantly greater than the official count of 31 direct and 113 indirect deaths resulting from the four hurricanes combined. This suggests a need for improved mortality counts and surveillance in order to better evaluate and identify effective prevention policies, and to identify preventable deaths.

The Costa Maya is a vernacular coastal region of southeastern Quintana Roo (Mexico) and adjacent Ambergris Cay, Belize. As Mexico’s Caribbean coast suffered many growth pains associated with mass tourism development in Cancun and along the Riviera Maya, the Costa
Maya by contrast was projected for more sustainable development including low-density housing and ecotourism. Development so far has been concentrated in Puerto Costa Maya, where a cruise ship pier and terminal were built in 2001. The nearby beach resort (balneario) of Majahual became dependent upon the 10-12 shiploads of tourists that descended upon it every week. In spite of big development plans, the more remote beaches of the Costa Maya cater to fewer, but well-heeled ecotourists and dive tourists. Hurricane Dean made landfall in August 2007 as a category-5 storm, and economic recovery only began in late 2008 when the cruise ship pier re-opened and Majahual rebuilt. As of late 2009, the cruise-ship traffic had still not recovered to pre-Dean levels, and a global recession coupled with swine-flu and drug violence scares has lowered U.S. tourism to Mexico. To what degree new tourism infrastructure such as an international airport at Tulum, a proposed causeway from Chetumal to the beach, and a new resort complex at Xahuayxel will stimulate tourism on the Mexican Costa Maya and eventually lead to a coastal highway link with San Pedro, Belize is still unknown.

The north coast of the Mexican state of Yucatán, centered on the port of Progreso, has been substantially altered by humans over the past century or so. The barrier lagoon complex, naturally fronted by long straight beaches, has been significantly altered by port and harbor improvements and also summer-home construction along the beachfront. As the shoreline has retreated because of both natural and human causes, structures such as groins and seawalls were built to combat this transgression of the sea. Hurricanes and winter storms have accelerated and geographically extended the volume and range of human modification of the shoreline. Today, a 20-km-long coastal reach can no longer be considered “natural.”