individual resort in meeting the best science and technology available
for a sustainable tourism and travel industry. EarthCheck
benchmarking protocols allow for a resort to meet the social,
economic and environmental components of present sustainable
tourism standards (Ball and Taleb, 2011). Tourism in the OutIslands of The Bahamas has always been a challenge in cost and air travel
availability. The cost of doing tourism business on an island must
be less than comparable experiences on a mainland (e.g. Florida or
Mexico) to compensate for increased travel time and cost to journey
to an island destination. Islands must offer exceptional value in
the environment and services to make the trip worth the costs. The
Government of The Bahamas can actually encourage and facilitate
the EarthCheck certification process by installing and maintaining
scales at all regional landfills and transfer stations and requiring
weight records to be maintained and reported (Table 5).
There is a national system for review and approval of tourism
developments, but there is no systematic approach to the monitoring
of developments for environmental impacts once the resorts
are in operation (Wells-Moultrie, 2006). An assessment of pollution
and environmental threats to The Bahamas lists the contamination
of freshwater lenses (groundwater) and near shore marine waters
by nutrients and organic wastes as the greatest danger based on the
carbonate geology of the islands (Buchan, 2000). The Bahamas has
signed numerous international environment agreements, clearly
highlighting the adoption of global environmental responsibilities.