Sustainable water management - perspectives for tourism development in north-eastern Morocco

• Evaluates sustainability rhetoric against water-intensive tourism development
• Assesses compatibility of luxury tourism under a problematic water situation
• Applies SWOT analysis based on literature review as policy support for a sustainable water management

The objective of this article is to evaluate the regional development risk for the luxury tourism sector in Saidia, north-eastern Morocco. The study aims to provide input for tourism-related water management and governance. Based on a thematic literature review from different disciplinary angles key pressures for regional water resources are categorized. The identified key problems and pressures related to the critical regional water situation are contrasted with Moroccan tourism policy strategies which emphasize a sustainable pathway of regional tourism. Further, the state of practical implementation of sustainability principles in the hotel management standards were assessed. The opposing perspectives of science and policy on prospects and problems provide the basis for a destination-specific SWOT analysis to assess and discuss risks and opportunities of current tourism development. Core strategies and related measures are derived to provide impulses for sustainable water management and governance and as a support for concrete policy implementation.

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