Transcript Document

Environmental Impacts of
Tourism
TOMG200 Tourism Management &
the Environment
Global Environmental Issues & Tourism
• Climate change is restructuring the tourism industry
(see Eijgelaar, Thaper and Peeters, 2010)
• Tourism accounts for 5% of annual human-caused
emissions of CO2 (see chapters 5 & 6 in Garrod and Fyall, 2011)
• Habitat change and loss; impacts on wildlife
• Pollution (water quality, oil, waste)
• Biosecurity threats
• Environmental interest and consciousness drives
‘conservation’ (Hall and Lew, 2009)
“If the global tourism industry were represented as a country,
it would consumer resources at the scale of a northern
developed country. International and national tourists use
80% of Japan’s yearly primary energy supply (5,000 million
kWh/year), produce the same amount of solid waste as
France (35 million tons per year), and consume 3 times the
amount of fresh water contained in Lake Superior, between
Canada and the United States, in a year (10 million cubic
meters)”
(Christ et al. 2003: cited in Hall and Lew, 2009, pp 215)
Case Study: Antarctica
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Example of a new frontier destination
Human impact is considerable
Important issues for tourism management
Unique tourism management
Antarctica - Characteristics
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Covers 10% of the world’s surface area
Entry is seasonal
Governed by Antarctic Treaty System
NZ is custodian of the Ross Sea Region
Christchurch is the NZ strategic gateway to
Antarctica
• Watch video clip from Frozen Planet
(MyWeb)
Human Impacts
• Changing land use
• Human impact is considerable:
– Effect of noise on nesting birds
– Disturbance of soils by vehicle traffic
– Permanent alterations / building
– Air quality change
– Waste
– Deterioration to historic huts
• Impacts depend on nature, intensity, spread,
duration, degree of reversibility
The Tourism Industry
• Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties
• Self-regulating by IAATO
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All tour operators have written EIAs
Expedition leader handbooks & resource notebooks
All hut visits are supervised
Each hut has a management plan
Experts provide briefings on board ship
Shore parties are small
Reinforce environmental objectives
‘Linblad pattern of managing Antarctic cruises’
Tourism in Antarctica
• Tourists on ships, flyovers, science & base personnel,
students, artist programmes, VIPs
• Major tourist interest began in 1950s
• 1992-2000:
– 14,750 tourists carried by 14 IAATO members operating 16
ships & 1 yacht, & 3 non-members operating 4 ships
– RSR receives 10% of tourists (approx 1000pa) & 2000
scientists
– 139 tourists on land-based programmes organised by ANI
• ‘Last chance tourism’? (Eijgelaar, Thaper and Peeters, 2010)
• Youtube (Antarctica tour operator interview)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU1k3ZWrVqE
Tourism in the Ross Sea Region
Scott Base, RSR
http://www.antarcticanz.govt.nz/scott-base/webcams
Scott Base Web Cam today:
Management of Impacts in Antarctica:
• Attitudes as well as activities cause impact
– Should Antarctica be treated the same as the rest of
the world? (“ambassadorship” - Maher, Steel & McIntosh, 2003)
– Should philosophical & ethical restraints apply?
– Is global disneyfication reaching Antarctica?
• There is no long term strategic planning to state
which activities are acceptable
• Tourism numbers (concentrated) continue to
grow at a rapid rate – raises issues for
sustainability
Main Issues for Sustainability
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Should Antarctic tourism be left to market forces?
Is self-regulation sufficient in mitigating impacts?
How to manage the tourist experience?
How to manage the risks for tourists?
What does the future hold for Antarctic tourism
management? (see Liggett, McIntosh, Thompson, Gilbert and Storey, 2011)
• What does the future hold for more global issues? (polar
cruises = high per capita CO2 emissions in tourism - Eijgelaar et
al., 2010)
Conclusion
“The paradoxical roles of tourism in both
resource exploitation and environmental
management and conservation, as well as the
interrelatedness of environmental change
factors, clearly point to the need for an
integrated approach to planning tourism”
(Hall and Lew, 2009: 226)
Readings
• Read chapter 5 of required text
• Read chapters: S. Gossling & B. Garrod
(Chapter 5) and J. Dickinson & L. Lumsden
(Chapter 6). In: Garrod, B. & Fyall, A. (2011).
Contemporary Cases in Tourism
• Selected readings on Antarctic tourism,
climate change, CO2 emissions, water, oil,
impacts on wildlife