SIMTWIST

Tourism in the Mediterranean has increased significantly over the last decades, particularly in Benidorm and Rimini, two of the top-European (mass) tourist destinations. Despite the economic contribution of tourist-related activities, the environmental impacts of tourism, especially regarding water consumption, have not been researched in depth. This study aims to connect the macro-level of water scarcity in these areas with the micro-level related to the behaviour of relevant stakeholders, as well as tourists.  The emphasis on water scarcity needs both water supply and demand to be considered. Also, the research intends to improve the understanding of tourism water consumption from the technical and social perspective, understanding the drivers and relations for different types of water uses. In addition, this project aims to focus on a participatory approach, where stakeholders will be involved throughout the entire life-time of the research, in order to involve them and how this consumption relates to stakeholder’s behaviours, as well as tourists. This objective can only be achieved through transdisciplinary research, integrating insights from different disciplines and putting stakeholder participation centre-stage. Therefore, the problem will be framed collaboratively, ensuring that all the issues of societal relevancy are addressed, and co- solution-oriented knowledge, enabling mutual learning. Finally, and Agent-Based Model will be developed in order to test different intervention strategies, as well as policy interventions, as means to cope with water scarcity in massive tourist destinations, and develop the most sustainable solutions for each of the case. Given the similarity of water issues (e.g. scarcity, seasonality) in Mediterranean tourism destinations, results and methods can be easily scaled-up and transferred.

WP0-Project management

 WP1-Water supply, demand and scarcity: This work package entails the establishment of a baseline of water availability for both case studies, identifying main drivers of water demand from the tourist sector and the modelling of future water supply and demand for a 20-30 year plan horizon. 

WP2-climate change and policy intervention scnearios: In this work package several climate scenarios will be selected (from previous climate scenarios or adapted) and several socio-economic scenarios of drivers of water demand will be developed. In addition, a gross list of possible policy interventions will be prepared which later will be tested as intervention strategies. 

WP3-Participatory modelling and behavioural rules: This work package focuses on understanding and eliciting the behaviour rules that guides the decision-making in the tourist (water) sector through a participatory modelling approach. With this, the main elements and processes of the water system linked to stakeholders’ perceptions will be overviewed through several sessions of role playing games. 

WP4-Hydrosocial cycle and tourists’ perceptions: This work package aims to uncover the interactions between water, social power and infrastructure. Cause-effect relationships of water availability and social demand will be analysed, integrating the macro-level with the micro-level. 

WP5- Agent-based model: This work package explores the effectiveness of possible policy measures to reduce the water consumption by tourists and tourism stakeholders. These actors are modelled explicitly, using the behavioural insights obtained from WP3 and WP4. The complex and changing environment is represented based on the results of WP1. A range of future scenarios and policy interventions (developed in WP2) will be explored, as well as local adaptation measures on climate change and water efficiency. 

WP6- Communication: Several methods will be used for the diffusion of the project to local stakeholders and beyond. This includes a webpage, flyers, social media interaction (such as FB and twitter), posting on official tourist and water company sites, in order to make people aware of the project and what it is aimed for.

The project aims to increase the overall coherence and efficiency of the use of European water resources and valorising know-how on water solutions as part of the expected impacts listed in the H2020 Societal Challenge 5. In addition, UN SDG 6 (’clean water and sanitation’) and 13 (’climate action’) will be addressed by producing new knowledge and innovative solutions with bottom-up modelling. Our proposal focuses on improving the understanding of water consumption by tourism so that effective measures to reduce this type of consumption can be developed and water scarcity can be reduced. In addition, our proposal is future-oriented, incorporating the implications of climate change into simulation games and computer modellings. One of the primary goals of using simulation games is to foster social learning, which can be seen as a type of informal education. Key goals of using computer simulations are to provide early warnings of potential future threats, and to provide a virtual context for policy experimentation, strengthening the institutional capacity for climate change adaptation. The proposal targets water consumption by individual actors, addressing the decisions they make and the trade-offs they face. Rather than using a ‘typical’ or ‘average’ consumer approach, it pays full attention to the heterogeneity among actors and contexts, connecting science to society. Based on the findings about the individuals’ water use behaviour, the proposal goes on to explore the effectiveness of a variety of possible policy and management interventions, including labelling and information provisioning, but also pricing strategies and economic incentives. Finally, the project’s aim to link micro-level (water use) behaviour to macro-level (water scarcity) challenges also relates to the enabling of sustainable management of water resource, as it contributes to the mitigation of water stress in coastal zones and urbanized deltas. The project aims to have impact in two distinct ways: through the knowledge that will be produced and through the methodologies that will be developed and refined. With respect to knowledge: the tourism industry and water utilities in the case study areas will benefit substantially from the new insights into how high tourism-related water consumption is, what its main components are what influence institutions and economic and social incentives have on water consumption behaviour. In addition, policy-makers in the case study areas will benefit from the model simulations regarding policy effectiveness. Some of this knowledge, such as the influence of institutions and incentive structures, will likely be of direct relevance for stakeholders in other tourism destinations in the Mediterranean and beyond. The new practices that may thus emerge can be shared with stakeholders in other destinations as ‘best practices’, either in written form or through stakeholder conferences.