Trends in ocean and coastal tourism: the end of the last frontier?

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Abstract

Marine and coastal tourism is one of the fastest growing areas within the world's largest industry. Yet despite increased awareness of the economic and environmental significance of marine and coastal tourism it is only in recent years that a substantial body of research has emerged. This article provides a review of some of the coastal and marine tourism literature which focuses, in particular, on the environmental impacts of tourism. The article then notes the manner within which tourism is a component of integrated approaches towards coastal and marine management and some of the strategies that are utilised to manage tourism in a sustainable fashion.

Section snippets

Defining marine and coastal tourism

The concept of coastal tourism embraces the full range of tourism, leisure, and recreationally oriented activities that take place in the coastal zone and the offshore coastal waters. These include coastal tourism development (accommodation, restaurants, food industry, and second homes), and the infrastructure supporting coastal development (e.g. retail businesses, marinas, and activity suppliers). Also included are tourism activities such as recreational boating, coast- and marine-based

Sustainable marine tourism

As with many other aspects of tourism, concerns over the impacts of tourism on the physical environment and related dimensions of sustainable development have become substantial interests influencing research on ocean and marine tourism [4], [11], [12]. Improvements in technology, including transport, e.g. tourist submarines, and recreational technology, e.g. scuba diving, have also made the oceans more accessible to tourists than ever before. For example, marine parks, coral reefs and areas

The impacts of tourism

That tourism can have harmful impacts on the physical and marine environments has now become well recognised [25], [26], [27], [28]. However, that tourism automatically has a negative effect has now become something of a truism in much of the contemporary travel literature. Undoubtedly, unplanned and poorly managed tourism development can damage the natural environment, but the overall understanding of the interaction between tourism and the environment particularly within coastal areas is

Management strategies

The development of management strategies for coastal and ocean tourism needs to be understood in light of the nature of the management problem, the scale at which the problem is addressed, and the relative extent of intervention by government and quasi-government agencies. Planning for tourism has traditionally focused on land-use zoning, site development, accommodation and building regulations, the density of tourist development, the presentation of cultural, historical and natural tourist

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    1

    Professor Michael Hall is Head of the Department of Tourism, Otago School of Business, University of Otago. He is also chairperson of the International Geographical Union Study Group on the Geography of Tourism, Leisure and Global Change.

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