According to National Geographic Traveler Magazine Hilton Head Island is in “serious troubleâ€. The magazine has ranked the worlds’ island destinations in a survey in the Nov/Dec issue. A panel of 522 experts reviewed conditions in 111 selected islands and archipelagos. The score is based on how threatened the destination is in regards to over-development and tourism.
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, makes the list with a score of 45, Key West, Florida, Oahu, Hawaii, and Puget, Thailand all score 46. These destinations are considered to be “in serious trouble”.
The experts used these six criteria for the score card:
• Environmental and ecological quality
• Social and cultural integrity
• Condition of historic buildings and archaeological sites
• Aesthetic appeal; quality of tourism management
• Outlook for the future
National Geographic Traveler magazine picked experts for the panel from a variety of fields; ecology, sustainable tourism, geography, travel writing and photography, site management, historic preservation, indigenous cultures, archaeology.
Here is one of comment from the panel: “This island is the poster boy for tourism development gone wild. There is extreme pressure to continue development even though the population living there wants to stop development.”**
Also, the status of the Gauche-Gullah culture, many gated communities, golf courses and traffic influenced the score for Hilton Head Island.
The score and the comments from the panel caused a lot of hurt feelings in the Hilton Head according to The Island Packet. The newspaper says that the score for Hilton Head Island is surprising, and some people claim it’s unfair since Hilton Head Island is attached to the highway system and not a remote island. On the other hand not all of the islands on the list are remote island, Key West, for example, is also accessible by car.
The Island Packet* points out that in the past, Hilton Head Island has also been named one of the top 10 beaches in the U.S. by Women’s Day magazine. Being named on a list by National Geographic Traveler is usually a great honor, but not this time.
Click here to read the complete Island Packet article.
This survey makes us realize that there aren’t any easy answers to how to deal with the tourism industry. How can we protect our beautiful coast and our barrier islands?
National Geographic Traveler Magazine concludess: “To protect them, to restore them, we must value them as much as resort developers and cruise companies do. Even more.â€** (Click here to read the complete story)
LINKS:
* http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/76922.html
**http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/features/islandsrated0711/islands.html