It was really strange to see Britain among others pressurising the US to be more eco-friendly in Johannesburg last week. Thousands of British travellers haven't the slightest interest in acting environmentally when they travel themselves, so aren't we in a weak position to be lecturing Bush and big corporate America on how to behave?
I've just come back from Ibiza where bookings this summer have dropped 10 per cent from last year following the introduction of an eco-tax which puts an average of 1euro (about 60p) a day extra on the cost of a holiday in a hotel there.
According to latest figures in the Spanish press, package tourists, particularly those from the UK - the biggest and most cost-conscious market to the island - have been the first to desert the island, unwilling to pay the extra euro. The 2002 holiday season looks set to end with a 10 per cent fall in tourists compared with 2001 when 1.6 million people came (almost half of them British).
It costs big money to keep beaches free of plastic bottles, remove carrier bags from the water, process sewage and to manage nature reserves. With a population of just 760,000 and a tourist influx more than double that size, shouldn't visitors contribute to the costs involved in keeping this island nice? And if you think Ibiza's already ruined, forget all the images of San Antonio. Outside that concrete mess are some of the best beaches in the Mediterranean. Dozens of tiny coves down dirt tracks with pristine, gin-clear warm waters, golden sand and pine trees behind. Places like Aguas Blancas, Xarraca, Cala d'Hort, Cala Conta, Cala Mastella and Cala Olivera where you won't find a single hotel in sight - just raw wild beaches.
Throughout August, Ibiza suffered surprise thunder and rainstorms. One minute you'd be lying on the beach, next a sudden gale force gust would start raging across the sand knocking over the beach furniture and sending people straight to their cars.
Not a single Ibizan I spoke to could remember having experienced rain in August before and many were quick to point out that global warming could be the cause. Airline pollution is one of the worst contributors to global warming, so surely a downturn in people on aircraft this year can't be a bad thing for the long-term survival of islands such as these? Fewer tourists also means less rubbish, less car pollution and fewer plastic bottles (why do some holidaymakers not pick them up when they go home?)
Meanwhile the big package hoteliers are angry at the fall in tourism this year. Their profits will slump. Jobs will be lost. They blame the eco-tax and the bad weather which hit them hardest in their most lucrative month. So what if their profits fall? Ten per cent isn't drastic and many will still make profits - just not as much as before.
And anyone who is too mean to cough up 60p a day for the environment is probably not the kind of tourist you want causing your island to deteriorate into an unsaleable commodity anyway.
