Essential reading:  T. Skračić, Waypoint – English Textbook for Maritime Students, Faculty of Maritime Studies, Split 2010, Units  T. Trappe & G. Tullis, Intelligent Business, Longman 2005, Units 12-14

dinghy, islander, pine forest, brunch, octopus, olive oil, award-winning wines, medieval stone towns, terraced hills, cove, resort, boon, birth rate, general practitioner, insular community, pristine / untouched / unspoiled / immaculate, natural wealth, karst endemic plants and animals, monk seal, mammal, Jabuka pit, lobster, shrimp, sea bream, grouper, common dentex, conserve / preserve / protect biodiversity, sustainable / uncontrolled development, mass / intensive tourism, resources, cultural heritage, NGO

 Lastovo island belongs to the group of more than 1,000 islands that stretch down Croatia’s southern coast. Closed to the outside world for much of the last 50 years, a visit to Lastovo is like stepping back in time — medieval stone towns, terraced fields still worked by hand, large expanses of untouched forest, quiet coves and beaches, and very few people. No wonder the island is the hottest new destination for tourists weary of the crowded resorts and overdeveloped coasts of Italy, France, Spain, Greece, and Portugal.

 The invasion of visitors is a boon for the islanders. In the 1990s, almost 50 per cent of the population left for the mainland or emigrated following the collapse of communism and the area’s fish processing industry. The remaining population is getting older and the birth rate is low. In 2008, one baby was born; there were sixteen funerals.

 Employment opportunities are now limited, and services such as ferry links, health care, and schools have been reduced. Presently there are just 60 children attending the primary school. One general practitioner and two nurses provide primary health care for 750 islanders who have to go to the mainland for specialist medical care and treatment.

 In case of delivery or any other emergency, they rely on army and police vessels and helicopters but they are not available in all times and weathers. Most of those remaining see tourism as a way to revive the local economy.

 The tourists are a double-edged sword. While they supply much-needed income to the small island communities, they also threaten the natural beauty that attracts them in the first place. The potential for damage is huge. The Mediterranean is already the world's leading tourist destination, with 220 million visitors each year. The number is expected to rise to 350 million by 2025 – more people than the entire population of North America. Although Croatia currently only receives a small fraction of the tourists, the country is expected to be amongst the top three destinations by 2020.

 Lastovo, like most of the islands, simply does not have enough water, infrastructure, or transport links with the mainland to support the kind of intensive tourism common in other parts of the Mediterranean.

 Croatian insular communities are at the crossroads where they need to choose between mass tourism and promoting tourist activities which would respect authentic resources of the area so that the unique natural and cultural heritage would become a recognisable product. Residing in the old, refurnished houses, traditional meals, going fishing with the local people, picking grapes and olives as part of the experience, are just some of the initiatives that are sustainable.

 Already, holiday homes and tourist apartments, many of which are built illegally, are spreading out from the island towns. Developers too are buying up land, presumably to build large resorts. It is not hard to see that if the building continues unchecked, then the Croatian side of the Adriatic Sea could eventually look the same as the Italian side: completely urbanised from north to south. This would not just destroy the character of the islands – it would also destroy one of the largest contiguous stretches of pristine nature in the entire Mediterranean.

1. Answer the following questions: a) Have you ever been to Lastovo? Why not? If yes – share your experience. b) What do you know about Lastovo? (history, natural and cultural heritage, people…) c) Why are tourists increasingly attracted by the Dalmatian islands? d) Explain why tourists are a double-edged sword?

2. Make sentences using these elements: a) Group A: be home to, be dedicated / committed to, in the long term, unless. b) Group B: be expected to, limited opportunities, short- term, preserve / conserve / protect. c) Group C: year-round, threaten, marine diversity, rich / abundant in.