"Excerpt from euronews.com
From underwater archaeology to whale-watching tours led by actual scientists, Europe’s Atlantic islands demonstrate how tourism can protect rather than destroy natural and cultural heritage of the ocean. Summer is the peak season for seaside holidays across Europe, but this year the celebrations are mixed with protests. From Barcelona to Venice, locals are taking to the streets, demanding limits on mass tourism that they say is destroying coastal environments and erasing historical heritage.
But on Faial, one of the Azores islands in the middle of the Atlantic, they are taking a different approach. Rather than flooding the island with tourists at all costs, local authorities and professionals of the sector want to foster eco-tourism, attracting visitors who appreciate and respect the natural and cultural heritage of the archipelago. An international group of scientists, working in the EU-funded ecoRoute project, is preparing coastal sites that can be made accessible to snorkellers and scuba divers whilst promoting underwater heritage and preserving these sites for the future."