H130 Tourism and Hospitality Management Program - Free Samples to Stud

Introduction

Each year thousands of people travel to sunny beaches for leisure purpose. People love-digging toes into hot sand and enjoy the waves in the ocean. Ocean is one of the most visited place by the tourists (Mason 2015). It is also one of the biggest recipients suffering the negative impacts of tourism. People tend to have devastating effects on marine life, which is mostly accompanied by the tourism industry. The coastal regions all around are being changed in number of ways to meet the high tourist demands that visits each year (Murphy 2013). The changes had adverse effect on the marine life and directly and indirectly damages a particular portion of environment that can lead to interrelated environmental issues. It is necessary to take immediate action to protect the marine environment. It is important to establish a suitable balance between the marine environment, socio-culture and economy. In addition, there is an absolute need for conserving biodiversity. It is the responsibility of the tourism industry to protect the marine environment from being exploited and damaged. For these areas are invaded by people and used for recreational purpose with the help of tourism industry. The aim of the report is to bring attention to the plight of the marine environment and the impact on coral by tourism industry. The report analyses the tourism industry of Australia and related factors responsible for the impact. It explores the scope as well as the process of the proposed plan in the report.

Background of the study

Many issues promote the alteration of protected marine environment. Coral bleaching is one of the major key issues regarding the alteration of  marine environment .there are many issues that are responsible for the bleaching of coral reef in Australia and they mainly includes shipping, climate change, industry at coastal area, tourism, shipping, and as well as residency at the coastal region. Among them tourism is a key issue behind the bleaching. Huge increase in tourism in a comparatively small region affected the health of the coral reef mostly. As a result, pollution, in that region pollution is also increased. This indirectly affects the health of the coral reef also. The local residents are also affected due to this increasing tourism day by day. The people who mostly travel to Australia, they mainly visit the Cairns and Whitsunday Island and as a result, these two areas become clumsier than others do. To combat with the increased tourist pressure, more and more hotel, resorts airports, golf courses, marinas to give the modern infrastructure to the tourists. Extreme tourism development has the same effect of coastal development .However the tourism development has more impact on the marine environment than the coastal development. Sometimes the piers and other structures had been built directly upon the coral reefs and that hampers the marine ecosystem as well. The large numbers of tourists on the beach had also greatly hamper the nesting sites of the endangered species like marine turtles. This ultimately hamper the  marine ecosystem and total marine environment (Spalding et al. 2014).The lack of enough number of breading  sites is another key issue of hampering marine environment. The buildings that are directly made on the top of the coral reefs, has directly related to the destruction of coral reefs. The continuous building of new buildings has also increased the possibility of pollution by those resorts. Some resorts directly opens their wastage pipeline to the sea and that also around the   coral reef areas. This affects not only the coral reefs but also the other marine habitat that are also too sensitive and endangered in nature. There may be various chemical in those wastages and that can damage the reefs and as well as can be the causal agent for water pollution. The hike in the rate of tourism also promotes several tourism activity such as boating by the tourists, SCUBA diving, fishing, snorkeling, and sea walking by the tourists. SCUBA is a special type of diving and it is very popular among the tourists. SCUBA diving is one of the key responsible factor for the bleaching of the coral reefs.  A mild touch from tourists can destroy the completely coral colony. The oil of human skin will disturb the sensitive mucous membrane, which is responsible for the protection of corals from any kind of disease. By touching the coral reefs the tourists is continuously pushing the reefs in front of a great risk (Lamb et al. 2014). Snorkeling is also responsible for the bleaching of the reefs as well. During the snorkeling people stand on the reef, walk through the reef and sometimes kick the reef. This behavior of the tourists positively damage the coral reef by breaking the whole colonies and coral tissues. Another factor that has grown with tourism industry is the careless boating by the tourists. Boats grounding in the coral colony can be a great threat to the coral colony and can cause the breaking and fragmentation of the coral reefs. In this scenario, the cruise ships are mostly responsible. The blooming popularity of the cruise ships is the main threatening issue and it mainly serves as a floating town. The facilities of a cruise mostly attracts the tourists. The garbage and wastages that the cruise releases in the seawater affects the condition of the coral reef. The chemical paints that have been used to paint the cruise also causes severe toxicity to the water health. The wastages have many substances that directly hamper the coral health. The pollution ultimately causes the lowering of the quality of the seawater and this causes introduction of infectious diseases to the corals (Ban, Graham and Connolly 2014). The anchors that is buried into the coral reef can also damage the reef. The inappropriate disposal of oils from the ships also affect the coral health by polluting the seawater. Increased tourism  has increase the burden on the local residents who are engaged in local business like selling sea food, fishing and all other sea products selling in that region.  The increasing tourist interest of fishing and the high rate of seafood consumption has driven the local anglers to increase the local fish stocks. Overfishing tampers the ecosystem of sea and that lastly affect the coral reefs (Hughes et al. 2017). The overfishing behavior has created a mentality of competition in the anglers to survive in a competitive market. Fishing of sharks and giant triton causes obstruction in the food chain and it is very important for the life of coral reefs.  Lack of herbivore population in the water can promote the algal growth on the coral reefs. Along with this inappropriate fishing technique, for example bottom trawling is also responsible for the physical damage of the reefs.  The promotion of artificial beach and coastal development will increase the sedimentation and that sedimentation washes off to the seawater. The rising sedimentation helps in increasing turbidity of the water of coral reef area. This disallows the sunlight to reach to the coral and stresses the coral. The stressful condition provide a hindrance in growth rate, productivity and as well as coral bleaching as well (Loretta et al. 2017). Sometimes tourists are involved in direct plucking of corals from the sea. However, it is a rare condition. The threat of harvesting coral has not stopped here. The local businesspersons used to engage in harvesting coral for selling in their shop and other sea product (Richards et al. 2013).

Statement of Need

By analyzing the problem of bleaching the coral reef, it can be easily interpreted that if the condition is continued then the coral reef will be in great danger and that ultimately hampers the total ecosystem of that region. To reduce the intent of severity a tourism plan is definitely urgent for the protected marine environment. The SWOT analysis of the tourism plan for protecting the marine environment. The SWOT method analyses both the external and internal factors. Among them strengths and weakness are the internal factors and threats and opportunities are the external factors (Mason 2015).

Strength

• The  natural beauty of the coral reef
• Well-developed tourist spot
• Availability of infrastructure
• Low cost of man power

Weakness

• Costly tour programme
• Tourists surge throughout the whole year
• Pressure on a particular area

Opportunity

• Blooming industry
• Chances of investment in various  sector
• Governmental policies
• High quality human resource for hotel sector
• Increased  number of small industries

Threat

• Hampering of ecosystem
• Strong tourism plan by other countries of the world.
• Pollution due to the increased number of tourists

To protect the marine environment from the immense threat of tourism the government of Australia has taken several measures and that become strengths for the tourism plan. Australian government have taken several policies after realizing the importance of tourism in their economy. Tourism helps in getting almost $ 11 billion to the economy of Australia (Bramwell  2013). Government has developed some policies like destination marketing, proper advertising of the reef region in whole world so that people may know about the fact; Government has increases the funding for tourism plan. Government helped in developing infrastructure so that visitors are attracted to that region. Along with these casinos and theme park also developed to give a different taste to the tourists. The government has also promoted various plans for the tourists as well and that attracts the visitors (Page and Hall 2014). The stakeholder community is another key factor in maintaining the health of coral reefs.  The local businesspersons who are mainly engaged in sea-based business are also important part of the tourism. They mainly pluck the corals and harvest other sea animals to sell in their shop. The uncontrolled harvesting of such natural resources will cause the immense threat to the marine environment. To reduce the chances of environment damage from these issues a proper tourism plan is needed. The local people are also engaged in seafood business. The intense demand of seafood by the tourists ultimately results in the over fishing but it should not be done to protect the marine health. Government should have a proper restriction plan for the anglers so that they can be restricted from the overfishing. Along with this, government should provide a proper plan for the tourists to avail a cruise so that the pollutants from the cruise can be reduced. This will help in maintaining the ecosystem of the marine environment. A supervisor should be employed so that they can monitor the activity on the beach by the tourists and as well as by the local residents. The number of new construction in the coastal region should be limited to stop the coastal damage. This will maintain the quality of water and at the same time will reduce the risk of ecosystem of seawater. As a result, the bleaching of coral reef will be decreased. The local stakeholders are the community who have the best knowledge about that area and they should participate in protecting the marine environment (Morrison and Pickering 2013).  Before recruiting the stakeholders in the process of protection of marine life, the government should collect information the condition of that region so that a proper strategy can be made to engage those people (Ruhanen 2013.). Along with this, a limitation will also be set for those people.  Regular inspection should also be done to examine the outcome of this recruitment whether there is any improvement or not. Marine scientist should be recruited to check the improvement of the condition. The restriction guideline should also be clearly provided to all the people that coral reefs should not be touched. Along with this proper reason of the restriction should also be depicted to the tourists so that the can realize the severity of the matter. A proper awareness programme can be launched to grow awareness among the tourists and as well as among the local stakeholder community who are involved in local small-scale business. From the awareness programme, they can understand that if they help in protecting the marine environment ultimately they will be profited for long period. The main reason of government intervention in the matter of protecting the marine environment is the contribution of tourism in Australian economy. Tourism has a great impact on the economy of Australia. The protection of marine environment ultimately helps the government to get more revenue from this sector. This reason drives Australian government to take part in the tourism planning (Day and Dobbs 2013).

Scope of the proposed

The pestle analysis provides the external environment of the industry that is highly responsible for industry’s action. The pestle analysis includes the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal analysis of the market that helps in modifying industry’s rules and policies internally (Koumparoulis 2013).

Political: Looking at the Australia’s present political status, it is of absolute necessary for the political bodies to initiate laws for the protection of the coral reefs. The coral reefs needs to be saved from being invaded by tourists excessively. The tourism attractions involving coral reef needs to be controlled and it can be initiated by the parties in power with the help of tariffs, subsidies local content requirements and currency control.

Economic: Australia is one of the largest capitalist economies in the world. The state is dominated by service sector. In terms of Australian tourism’s economy, the tourism industry is capable of giving sustainable policies and principles without damaging the economy of the industry. Due to high tourism population both from locally and globally give the industry the privilege of making profits in the business while taking care of the natural resources.

Social: The social analysis include the social and cultural factors of Australia, which has impact on the industry (Kline 2014). In Australia, there are various festivals throughout the year that helps in maintaining the attractions of the tourist. The exhibitions and trade fairs are few of the opportunities for the industry to make business.

Technological: Australia is among the best countries with high-end technologies (Marginson et al. 2013). There is also emerging technologies, information technology and communications that are used by the industry largely. The technological factors would serve as the opportunity to the industry to protect the coral reef. The industry need focus on using technology that would meet the tourist’s demand of experiencing coral reef without harming their natural habitat.

Legal: The legal factors of Australia has been flexible toward the business policies (Byrnes et al. 2013). Therefore, there is a need to take strict laws that would prevent the corals from being effected. The Australian legal law has act for the sustainable tourism.

Environmental: The environmental factors include the geographical location, climate condition, change, and related factors (Boniface, Cooper and Cooper 2016). Australia has a favourable weather condition. Due to its location, the industry experiences high number of tourists all around the year. The industry needs to make use of this opportunity and plan the tourist itinerary in a way that would be satisfactory for both the tourist as well as the tourism industry.

Proposed process

Coral reefs are unique and they are biologically rich (Shaw et al. 2013). Pollution, interventions unwanted activities has resulted in the destruction and damage of the natural ecosystem of underwater. There is a sever need to save the coral reefs. The plan for saving the coral reefs are having safe under water activities such as snorkelling. Often people use chemical beauty products before getting into the water, it is necessary to check the chemical products, as it will dilute in the water. The water vehicles need to be reduced, as it can be a source of water pollution. There should be enough plantation of trees around and near the water bodies. Lastly the most important aspect of the plan should include is strict rules regarding plastic use. One of the major cause is littering caused by the tourists as well as locals. The plan includes the mentioned points, which should be implemented by the tourism industry in form of principles and policies.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it can be concluded that the marine environment is under great threat due to the increasing tourism industry and increased number of tourists as well. The threat is mainly buried in to the carelessness and unawareness of the tourists. Along with this, the role local people in damaging the marine environment cannot be nullified as well. Moreover, the role of government in introducing a proper tourism guideline is also very crucial part in this context. To maintain the marine health government has introduced several policies and programmes to encourage the tourism without damaging the marine health and as well as the bleaching of coral reef. It is very important to make aware people about the bad consequences of damaging the marine environment. It can be concluded that with proper planning and implementation of that planning can protect the marine environment.

References

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