The problem is that tourists demand so much water. An 18-hole golf course in a dry country can consume as much water as a town of 10,000 people. The United Nations food and agriculture organisation has estimated that 100 tourists use the same amount of water in 55 days that could grow rice to feed 100 local villagers for 15 years. Village wells in Goa, India, are running dry, and rivers are being polluted by effluent released from hotels. In the Caribbean hundreds of thousands of people go without piped water during the high tourist season, as springs are piped to hotels.
Tourism is the world's fastest growing industry.