Tourism and natural resources in Holguín
- Written by Yenny Torres
- Published in Holguin
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The Tourism sector in Holguín, supported by the Ecovalor Project, works to protect the natural resources exploited, including beach, bay, underwater landscape and protected area in accordance with the Territorial Ordering plans and regulations binding with Cuban legislation for the Protection of the Environment.
José Walker Olaguibel, representative of the Project in the Mintur Delegation in Holguín, said that the tourist activity mainly uses the values of coastal ecosystems over which the project has an impact and identify services and goods of the landscapes of this coastal area.
The sustainable use of these resources and responding to the interests of tourism, as well as the creation of an instrument that allows the government to control and comply with what is regulated in this regard, is among the scopes of the project.
"Here, as in all of Cuba, it is clear what to do with the resources used, what to preserve and what to improve from an environmental point of view."
The construction of the Popular Camping facilities of Antillita, Barrancones (Antilla), Playa Morales (Banes) and Carenerito (Frank País), have to comply with the same process as hotel development, the specialist added.
He explained that one of the outputs of the project is environmental dissemination and training; therefore, the information meetings for the client aim at explaining what has been established. If they incur in bad practices, the control bodies must proceed on those people.
Among the most common examples of indiscipline, Olaguibel pointed out: “They come here and want to cut down trees, make campfires and cook around the beach, which cannot be done. These facilities must start with the regulatory mechanism.
If we promote tourism for the natural and environmental value of those places, people cannot come to want to destroy. Actions of the campsites will contribute to the environmental education of the local people”.
Regarding the tourism-nature relationship, he stressed: “Tourism demands areas where ecosystem services are of quality, therefore, if the landscapes are not kept beautiful, the tourist does not go and causes a negative impact on the economy. Our intention is to preserve it”.
