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This research explores the challenges faced by public and private stakeholders at Eastern Beach in East London, that are preventing attainment of Blue Flag status. Blue Flag beaches are a major tourism drawcard, yet the Eastern Cape province of South Africa is facing obstacles that impede achievement of this ecolabel. To investigate this, the paper focuses on Eastern beach. Twenty public and private stakeholders involved in coastal planning and management in East London participated in individual virtual semi-structured interviews. Through thematic analysis, key themes were identified. Findings indicate that public control, safety and security as well as infrastructure are key challenges. Environmental management also requires attention as several negative impacts prevail. Furthermore, the need for concerted stakeholder coordination in the drive toward Blue Flag status emerged as a necessity. Considering the potential of Eastern Beach, it would be favourable to East London to have this beach accredited. It would enhance sustainable tourism development with its positive economic, social and environmental impacts. The identification of the challenges can assist stakeholders in moving towards this status. These findings could also apply to managers at other beaches that are aiming to attain, maintain or regain Blue Flag accreditation.

Through This research paper we will highlight the conceptual framework of the blue economy, clarify its most important principles, and indicate the importance of the blue economy and its most important sectors. In the end, we will present the endeavors and experiences of some Arab countries in this field, which became clear that, despite the novelty of the term, Arab countries have had successful experiences to some extent in this field.

Through an empirical investigation of the historical relationship between the destination climate and tourist arrivals in the Caribbean, this study presents the first revealed preference evaluation of a climate index informed by tourists’ stated climatic preferences for coastal-beach tourism (i.e., a sun-sand-surf or 3S travel market). The goal of this multi-organization collaboration was to examine the potential application of a newly designed climate index—the Holiday Climate Index (HCI):Beach—for three Caribbean destinations (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Saint Lucia). This paper provides an overview of the evolution of climate indices, including the development of the (HCI):Beach. To test the validity of climate indices for a beach travel market, daily climate ratings based on outputs from the Tourism Climate Index and the HCI were correlated with monthly arrivals data from Canada (a key source market) at an island destination scale. The results underscore the strength of the new index, with each destination scoring consistently higher using the HCI:Beach, including a stronger relationship (R2) between index scores and tourist arrivals. These findings demonstrate the value of combining stated and revealed preference methodologies to predict tourism demand and highlight opportunities for future research.