Islands and Tourism

1
Islands and Tourism

• MAF 471
• 10/9/02

2
Class Outline

• Importance of tourism
• Fascination with islands
• Cold-water island tourism
• Tourism challenges
• Islands dependence on tourism
• Tourism theories resort cycle perceptions
• Tourism Impacts

3
Importance of tourism

• Single largest industry on Earth
• Largest migration of people in history taking
  place every year
• Clean Industry
• Transfers of capital from rich to poor countries
• For islands frequently the dominant economic
  sector

4
Fascination with Islands

• Many islands exert an attraction for visitors
  of a scale beyond their economic and
  geographical importance.
• (Baum, 1997)

5
Fascination with Islands

• Being physically separate, different from nearby
  mainland (e.g Bahamas from FL, Nantucket from MA)
• Separation creates or preserves distinctiveness
• Human desire for the different when on vacation
  (climate, physical environment, culture)
• Sense of adventure crossing the water, the
  getting there
• Different pace of island life (island time)
• Image of tranquility and return to bygone eras
  (Prince Edward I., Isle of Man, UK)
• Limited geographical environment more visitor
  friendly

6
Channel Islands, CA

• Many services benefit aircraft and boat
  charters, boat rentals, boating instruction,
  diving charters, diving instruction and chartered
  fishing parties
• San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura counties
• US2-6 mi. in gross annual income of local
  businesses earned from the use of the sanctuary

7
Dominican Republic

• 30 of the Gross National Product
• Major source of jobs
• Brings foreign currency
• Public infrastructure
• Expansion of local industries
• Valorization of culture and nature
• Exchanges and learning with visitors
• Reorientation of rural migration

8
(No Transcript)
9
Cold-water island tourism

• Stereotype of island tourism sunny, palm-fringed
  tropical beaches, but
• Vacation patterns changing alternative tourism
• Decline of fisheries view tourism as a worthy
  economic alternative
• Tourism businesses tend to be more locally-owned
• Examples Iceland, Newfoundland, Prince Edward I.

10
Tourism challenges

• Tourists are not taxpayers or voters
• Magnitude huge stress on certain destinations
• Culture and expectations may be very different
• Dependence on other sectors
• Industry fragmentation/ dispersed control
• Fragility / uncertainty very sensitive to
  changes
• Tourism stress often fragile environments
• Seasonality low season may provide no profits
• Planning rapid development pressure by
  multinationals
• Infrastructure demands
• Foreign ownership/ management/ employment
• (Manning, 1998 McElroy and Albuquerque, 1998)

11
Island Dependence on Tourism

• Main economic sector of some islands (Bermuda,
  Guam 50 of GDP)
• Changing circumstances in world travel hit harder
• Heavy reliance on imports
• Leakage of foreign exchange earned
• Seasonality affects quality and sustainability of
  employment
• Greater impact on island community (ratio of
  tourists v. locals is more skewed)
• Profound social, cultural, and environmental
  impacts, especially on youths

12
Tourism Theory Evolution of destinations

• Exploration, small numbers, adventurous tourists
• Involvement, more visitors, with locals providing
  for them
• Development, rapid growth in visitors,
  accommodation, heavy penetration of industry by
  outsiders
• Consolidation, growth rate in arrivals declines,
  but absolute numbers continue increasing the
  number of total visitors often exceeds resident
  population
• Stagnation, capacity levels reached, theres
  surplus rooms, heavy reliance on conventions and
  other forms of organized mass tourism, and
• Decline, destination becomes a slum, ghetto
  visitors decrease rapidly, many facilities
  converted to non-tourist use.
• (AKA Resort Cycle Butler, 1980)

13
Evolution of Tourism Destinations
rejuvenation
?
stagnation
consolidation
decline
Sustainable tourism??
development
involvement
exploration
(Butler, 1980)
14
Local Attitudes / Perceptions

• Euphoria
• Apathy
• Annoyance
• Antagonism
• BUT it can vary by social status, education, age,
  occupation, etc.
• (Doxey 1979 Husbands, 1989)

15
San Juan Islands, Washington

• Many summer visitors, also more second homes
  (vacation retirement)
• Congestion, increased living costs, development
  and taxes
• Losing their friendly, rural community
• Residents opposed to growth and tourism

16
Tourism Impacts

• Environmental
• Social, cultural
• Economic

17
Tourism Impacts

• Tourism is very good at fouling its own nest
• (Lea, 1999)

18
Molokini Crater, Hawaii

• Rare shells no longer decorate the reef face
• Damaged coral is common
• Manta rays no longer frequent the crater
• There is a sun-tan lotion bathtub ring on the
  inside crater wall
• Molokini has been desecrated loving it to death

19
Outer Banks, NC

• Great increase in visitors to Cape Hatteras
  National seashore
• Dunes, wildlife forests
• Adjacent communities completely dependent on
  groundwater
• Some wells had to be capped due to septic
  pollution
• Using surface water thats essential for wetlands
• Dune mining for construction material
• Woods are impacted by shearing wind and salt

20
US Virgin Islands National Park

• 30,000 anchors dropped in the park each year
• Mini-cruiser (200 long) left reef scar of
  5,300m2
• Anchor dragging
• Sweep of the chain most damaging
• Prop wash and plume of sediment

21
Coral reefs environmental vulnerability

• Narrow tolerance range for salinity and
  temperature
• Toxic substances effects enhanced by high water
  temperatures
• Algal coral competition makes them more
  susceptible to pollutants
• Pastorok and Bilyard, 1985

22
Wastewater impact on reefs

• Little in well-flushed, open coastal areas
• Otherwise, seepage of sewage from a single public
  restroom can degenerate an entire coral community
  (e.g. Hawaii)
• Also runoff from urban areas and unsealed roads,
  deforested uplands

23
How wastewater affects corals

• Suspended solids cause decreased growth by
  blocking sunlight and interfering with
  photosynthesis
• Nutrients Coral reefs are oasis in the desert
• Nutrient input causes eutrophication
• Promote excessive growth of phytoplankton and
  algae
• Even small amounts of nutrients will cause
  significant changes

24
Tourism in Boracay (Philippines)Smith (1988)
Tourism Impacts
25

• The islanders subsisted on farming and fishing
  until Boracay was discovered by international
  tourists in the 1980s. The result was an intense
  pressure on the islands infrastructures, and the
  need for electricity, a central water supply and
  a system of sewage disposal soon became apparent.
  With the invasion of drifter tourists,
  middle-class and family-oriented tourists
  declined in number, but the amount of garbage and
  other forms of pollution increased() ,and land
  values increased astronomically () Furthermore,
  drunkenness, narcotics and prostitution were
  imported into the island by the tourists, who
  also proceeded to deplete coral resources already
  damaged by the islanders fishing practices.

26

• Yet the people of Boracay, like all rural
  Filipinos, would enjoy having the infrastructure
  that is needed to support tourism, because it
  would make their lives easier, pleasanter and
  safer. And they certainly want the income
  generated by tourism in the form of cash with
  which to buy goods and services including better
  education for their children. They appreciate
  the employment that is enabling their young
  people to stay on the island, or to return home
  to Boracay from the squalor of big cities, and be
  with their families. In the eyes of most
  villagers, tourism has been very positive, and
  the sins of the drifter tourists can be
  temporarily overlooked in the face of their
  largesse.

27
Next week

• NO CLASSES Monday classes meet

• Following week
• Sustainable tourism
• Invited Speaker Cruising in the Antarctic