Paper short abstract:

Material (as opposed to merely ideal) factors in tourism sustainability are an important analytical category. Focussing on water in tourism sustainability acknowledges tourism as culturally, socially and physical-materially hybridized phenomenon that eludes direct sustainability assessments.

Paper long abstract:

In terms of international tourist visits, the Mediterranean is the world's largest tourist destination. In the Mediterranean climate, with mild winters and hot, dry summers, water demands from tourism, the urban and agricultural sectors peak at the time of highest water deficit and elaborated water storage and distribution infrastructure dates back to medieval times. In the Balearic Islands, a quarter of the total water consumption is attributable to the tourism sector. The Balearic Island Mallorca is a tourism power on its own and its continued economic success shows in an average 5% growth rate in tourist arrivals (1960-2021) despite multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. This contribution introduces Mallorca as a socio-natural site of water resource use between scarcity and competing demands. Combined with hotel tourist water use, the strategic move towards a higher quality tourist model with less seasonality adds to the high tourist water use. Water supply relies heavily on groundwater and seawater desalination has been used since 1994 to satisfy urban and tourist water demand. Reviewing the most recent analyses of the development of water-demanding tourist practices provides evidence that water consumption associated to tourism may become a threat to water availability. Moving beyond a case study, the contribution seeks to discuss the complex materialities of tourism, acknowledging that the material (as opposed to merely ideal) factors in tourism sustainability are an important analytical category. Focussing on water in tourism sustainability opens research pathways to analyse tourism as culturally, socially and physical-materially hybridized phenomenon that eludes direct sustainability assessments.