Tourisme balnéaire face aux contraintes liées à l’érosion côtière en Basse Casamance (Sénégal) : cas de la commune de Kafountine

The seaside tourism that is treated on this paper is one of the first forms of tourism developed in this area which is based on the opening of the town to the Atlantic which offers a magnificent beach. The municipality also benefits from a large density of hydrographic network with the ramification of bolongs bordered by mangrove favorable to excursions. Despite these potentialities, seaside tourism today faces enormous constraints linked to coastal erosion. The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of coastal erosion on tourism. The study was based on various phases of observations in the field and on surveys carried out among 292 heads of concession divided between four localities of the commune (Kafountine 69%, Abene 17%, Diannah 10%, and Diogué 4%). We also made maps on Arc Gis 9.3, after having used the GPS to take points of the different camps in the commune and Excel for the exploitation of digital data. The results show that the municipality offers a quality infrastructure offering that combines comfort and calm and that is essentially grouped on the coastal zone. The tourism sector in general and the seaside sector in particular are now facing enormous problems linked to coastal erosion, which hinders its development. The constraints associated with coastal erosion are materialized by the degradation of camps, the reduction of the beach and the degradation of the coastal vegetation. This phenomenon of coastal erosion is well known in the municipality. According to population surveys, 60% of those surveyed experience and experience coastal erosion on a daily basis. The populations of the islands, Kafountine Batara and Abene Badala are the most affected.