Water

Tourist water consumption for 2001 (base case) was estimated by combining data on water consumed in various types of accommodation (Environment Agency, 2004), and South West tourist figures for those types of accommodation (SWRRG, 2003). On average, tourists in the South West consume 394 litres each per bednight. Base case estimates for water consumed by tourists in the South West in 2001, are shown in Table 4, by accommodation type.

Water scenario: Good housekeeping and water saving

How would water consumption decrease in the region if water reduction measures, such as repairing leaks and installing water saving devices, were applied throughout all tourist accommodations in the South West?

To derive this scenario, the following conditions were assumed:

• The number of tourist nights (105 million (South West Tourism, 2001)) and tourist accommodations (16,600 (SWRRG, 2003)) remain the same as 2001 figures.
• Water savings varied from 15% in Bed & Breakfasts to 47% in hotels (Environment Agency, 2004).

Under these conditions, the volume of water consumed in tourist accommodation in the South West would be reduced from 26,109 million litres to 17,307 million litres (a decrease of 34%). More details of these estimates can be found in Further Information.

Reduction of the ecological footprint

Figure 5 shows the tourism water ecological footprint in the South West for the 2001 base case and the scenario adopting repair and water reduction measures.

Figure 5
Tourism water base case and scenario ecological footprint for the South West