Tourism Vital To W. African Nations, But Beaches Washing Away, Hotels Closing As Oceans Rise

The European winter is the high season for tourism in Senegal as visitors flock to its sea and sun to escape the cold, yet since last year the doors of the luxury Hotel Espadon have been closed. Its swimming pool has turned a swampy green. The skeletons of old parasols poke out from the sand and the sea gnaws at the foundations of its pretty beachfront rooms.

The problem is not high prices or mismanagement but coastal erosion that is blighting the West African country's coast. The Atlantic has washed away beaches, forcing hotels to make a drastic choice: save their property by building sea walls that block the view or let the water rise and risk losing everything. "Every day I receive tourists who come to see if it's true what they say about the Hotel Espadon's current state," said Sonore Khadim Tall, the building's superintendent. "They can't believe their eyes and some of them even cry."

As a Paris summit focuses on climate change it is tempting to place the whole blame for Senegal's erosion on rising sea levels but reckless building on beaches compounds the problem, said Papa Goumbo Lo, head of Senegal's national institute for scientific research.

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Tourism accounts for 11 percent of Senegal's economy, but over time erosion could affect the country as a whole, given that two thirds of the population live in the coastal region around the capital Dakar. Other countries in the region are affected. Gambia's 15 coastal hotels are at risk due to erosion. Nigeria's environment ministry has launched a program to fight erosion and Ghana, which has 1 million annual visitors, has built a 30-km sea wall. Around 1 million people also visit Senegal every year and in 2014 the government set itself the goal of tripling that number. Saly, where the Espadon is located, is one of the country's biggest tourist hubs but risks missing out. Since 2010, the town 50 km (32 miles) southeast of Dakar has lost 30 meters of beach.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-summit-africa-erosion-idUSKBN0TT1GE20151210#6Y71l6YxCgrZw8L2.97