Environment Impact in Australia Tourism - Research Paper Example

Environment Impact in Australia Tourism Executive Summary The environmental impact in Australian tourism is regarding the increase of tourists and development of infrastructure. This classification is according to the tourism activities. Regarding the classification of areas the environmental impact of tourism is due to eco tourism and other modes of tourism. The eco tourism can be considered as the tourism that involves the natural landscapes like hills, forests and lakes. The increase in number of tourists can affect the climate in that area negatively. In case of other modes of tourism involves historical places and world famous urban areas in the country. In case of eco tourism the vegetation in the area will be affected by tourism. When the tourism in urban areas and historical places is considered the pollution levels in the area may increase due to increase of the number of tourists and the transportation. The research in this aspect is necessary as the information available to assess the environmental impact of Australian tourism is not enough. The research process can initiate the processes and guidelines that are needed to be followed and implemented to protect the environment from the negative effects of development of tourism. At the same time the economic factors and market aspects of tourism should be considered to take care of economic benefits that tourism incurs for the country’s economy. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 4 2. Literature Review 5 3. Methodology 10 3.1 The Aspects to be Involved in Methodology 3.2 Sector Wise Environmental Accounting 11 3.3 Considering Water as Part of an Environment 13 3.4 Effect of Tourism on Bio-Diversity 14 4. Discussion 15 5. Conclusions 17 6. References 19 1. Introduction The tourism with out environmental care may result in lengthy environmental battles in tourist areas like Queensland in Australia. The environment problems are first caused due to the development of infrastructure and roads tourist areas. The development activities in tourist areas in Australia received the protests of the locals like in the case of ‘Trinity Point’. In case of the tourist points that attracted more tourists like Esplanade, the habitat of thousands of animals has become the environmentally damaged area. The foreshore development due to tourism impacts has become environmentally backshore. The long term monitoring program by increasing awareness and undertaking the programs is necessary. The minimizing of development impact can result in developing environmental values.( Cairns Esplanade, 2007) The next issue regarding tourism is socio-cultural impact of tourism. The study of local. National or global tourism can provide the possibilities to identify the issues of impacts of tourism on socio cultural atmosphere of Australia. This is possible by looking the Australian Society as a whole and exploring the environments of others. The dynamic aspects of tourism that can affect the tourism; the diversity, change, peace, responsibility, respect, justice, ethics and sustainability of relationships will tell the impact of tourism on socio cultural relationships.( Parliamentary commissioner for environment, 1997) The communication between tourists and the locals will be the important thing that can affect the socio cultural relationships. The policies of the government will enable these type issues to take place. Taking the tourism in global perspective will decide the interdependence of societies. The dimensions of change will affect the social justice and human rights. The interconnection of communities due to tourism on global scale can be the main reason for socio cultural changes due to tourism. (Australian Government, 2007) The economic impacts of tourism on Australia are encouraging. This quantifies the marketing expenditures by Australian Tourist Commission. The estimates of income, price, price of substitute, cost of travel and marketing expenditure will affect the Australia’s tourism markets. The economic impact depends on promotion of international tourists to Australia. The word of mouth effect of the tourists should help the efforts of Australian Government to materialize into profits in Tourism Industry. The outcome of the invested amount decides the economic impact of Tourism on Australia. For every 8 dollars of investment, Australia is getting 1 dollar as profit. This can be termed as an achievement regarding the activities of promotion of tourism. This is because the 12.5 percent profit for government involves number of industries and businesses flourishing due to tourism. (Kulendran, Nada; Divisekera, Sarath2007) 2. Literature Review According to Larry Dwyer, Peter Forsyth, Ray Spurr and Thiep Ho in the survey about economic impacts by CRC tourism; the compatible general equilibrium modeling in tourism report seeks to include analysis of tourism in assessing the environmental impacts. This analysis involves the actual tourism issues that are result of economic benefits. The increasing recognition of inadequacy of models in estimating the economic impacts of tourism, the compatible general equilibrium will serves as a tool. The model has been developed by the project team of the above mentioned authors. According to the study published by the authors in 2007, the CGE model was developed by project team. The reason for emphasis is the adaptation of evaluation frameworks like cost benefit analysis. (Larry Dwyer, Peter Forsyth, Ray Spurr and Thiep Ho, 2007) The model can be extended into environment impacts from economic impacts to make the environment saving efforts cost effective. The green house effects due to the tourism are taken into account by above mentioned model before evaluating the economic impact of tourism. The study discussed about the new approaches regarding the estimation of economic impacts of tourism along with environmental and socio cultural effects. Multiplier analysis is one of them. (Amsterdam University, 2007) This uses input output (I-O) models. The authors opine that (p. 6) the estimates regarding the tourism expenditure are incomplete and misleading in number of contexts. As a result the tourism is not regarded as the best practice for positive economic impacts. The highlighting of mechanisms that determine the impact of changes of tourism expenditure on output and employment is needed. This is because the key mechanisms determine the tourism’s economic contribution for a particular area and country. The size of contribution of tourism’s economic contribution needs to be identified. The input output analysis can be used all over Australia to estimate the economic impacts of the changes in tourism resulted in different parts of the country. The article declares that the restrictions on the assumptions of the analysis will not be suitable in estimating the economic impacts of tourism. (Larry Dwyer, Peter Forsyth, Ray Spurr and Thiep Ho, 2007) According to Kirk Hamiltion, Ernst Lutz in 1996 this will be against the interests of the policy makers. The increase or decrease in economic indicators should be clearly represented by the outcomes of the analysis. The authors claim that the advances in compatible general equilibrium modeling over the past twenty years made it as workable for researchers and policy makers. This is because, it is flexible and inexpensive. The model considers whole economy of an area or a country of which it estimates economic impacts of tourism. This model is particularly mentioned for tourism because, the resource constraints and feedback contains the environmental and socio cultural impacts. The model takes into consideration the changes in overall economic activity. The aspects like employment, tax receipts, imports, exports and outputs of specific industries are considered in input output analysis. (Kirk Hamiltion, Ernst Lutz, 1996) The nature and scope of estimation involves the types of assumptions the economic impact is based on. The growth of tourism in Australia and internationally will be estimated by the model to analyse the economic impacts and compare them. The model illustrates the flexibility and power of it to estimate the economic impacts in contrast to the results generated by input output models. The authors mention about the CGE modeling of tourism growth in Australia (p.7), that simulate the economic impacts of increase in international, and intrastate tourism in Australia. The State of New South Wales is taken into consideration in intrastate analysis and extended to multiregional computable general equilibrium. It was observed that the importance of the observation of the effects of 10 percent increase in world demand for Australia tourism. (Larry Dwyer, Peter Forsyth, Ray Spurr and Thiep Ho, 2007) According to an article published in twinshare about tourism in Australia in 2007, the tourism is primarily about people who seek employment. The fulfillment of leisure time is also important for them. Due to consideration of both employment and leisure the article opines that the tourism is difficult concept to define in clear terms. The tourism includes both domestic and international travel and this increases transportation business. The article finds that the tourism is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing industries. As a result it can contribute reasonably to the sound economic development of Australia. The authors find the substantial employment generation due to development of tourism. In considering this they have considered the environment impact of tourism on Australia. The article observed that the inbound tourists increased in the last 10 years. The article mentioned about the businesses that rely on tourism and their survival. The accommodation, hospitality and transport sectors are termed important. The article did not discuss the socio cultural impact of the hospitality industry on Australian Society in the backdrop of tourism. It revealed the details about the percentage of contribution of tourism to Australian GDP and direct employment. The environment issues are also not given due importance while revealing these details. According to the statistics published in the article, 4.1 million people visited Australia in 1995-96 and this surely will be responsible for negative environmental impact. This was not discussed in this context as result the literature of twinshare only gives the employment, production and profit details of tourism efforts of Australia but not the environmental impact, which is important as well. The article mentions about ecologically sustainable development as the tool for the future generations to meet their needs. This was not linked up to the employment generation and production capabilities of tourism industry. The article mentioned about the strategy published by government in 1992, but did not suggest any desired link between tourism efforts and sustainable environment depending on its own study and analysis. The definition of the ecologically sustainable development quoted from the government’s texts cannot suggest or proposes a reasonable strategy for checking the negative environmental impact of tourism on Australia. The broad strategies regarding ecology in tourism industry were from government but not from the industry that is flourishing due to tourism. The article did not mention that point of view and urged the government to develop and manage the tourism industry for sustainable ecological development. In case of environment aspects the article spent time in quoting and analyzing different reports by commissions and the publications from governments. While quoting about the ecological sustenance the article just jumps into the market research of the tourism industry and identify the accommodation as an important aspect of tourism and for environment. It was mentioned that 50 percent of people are willing to pay more for environment protection but the strategies are not discussed in the article. The ways and means of collection and usage of funds are also not discussed in the article. The article is good for reading but not for having an idea about environmental issues of tourism development. It mentions about the advantages of sound environmental practices but not about the strategies and methods to follow that lead to it. The proper planning of the tourism is mentioned but the aspects and issues of the proper planning were not discussed. The article spent more time in telling the benefits of good environmental practices but stayed far from suggesting the scientific proposals to get good environment. The consumption of energy was mentioned but the controlling measures are not mentioned clearly. As every body knows that the energy consumption should be decreased without decreasing the facilities for tourists, This aspect has not been discussed well. As a whole, the article concludes that the tourism is dependent on primary resources like climate, scenery, wildlife, cultural and historic heritage. It stress on conserving these with the help of sound environmental practices. (Twinshare, 2007) 3. Methodology 3.1 The aspects to be involved in Methodology: The environmental research needs the involvement of methods that monitor applications for licenses by various industries benefiting from tourism sector. The research tem should make a list of industries that benefit from tourism and then have to assess whether they are following the environmental protection processes according to the level of profits they accrue, by making use of tourism sector and policies. The research team can take help from the department of environment of Australia to know about the procedures of the sound environment measures that could be taken by various industries to protect the environment. Before framing a method to monitor the team should also take the measures mentioned in the environment acts made by the government and should underline the need of following these restrictions by the industries. To assess the possibility of the industries to comply with the restrictions of the government, the percentage of tourists those are willing and able to pay for the extra cost of environment protection should be taken into consideration. (Rifaat Abdel Wahaab, 2004) The evaluation of a system that can measure the weaknesses and strengths of the industries and tourism department is a need to suggest sound environmental practice methods for tourism industry and department. There should be a method to measure the coordination between environment department and tourism department as this is the major concern that affects the changes in environment. As the implementation of the environment practices by tourism department need to be monitored by environment department, the coordination between these departments should be part of the methodology of the research process. The methodology should distinguish between monitoring done for regulatory purposes and for environmental monitoring. The regulatory processes should comply with the environment processes. The quantitative research should concentrate on the effects of tourism on Australia’s coastal regions as well as other regions. The effect of tourism on vegetation of the country need to be assessed. The reports of the governments should be assessed as part of qualitative research to frame the follow up mechanisms for following sound environmental practices. The environmental monitoring plan preparation should be a must for the research on environmental effects of tourism. The research should include the economic benefits and losses due to environment activities and the ways to mitigate them can be explored as well. (T. Ramjeawon and R. Beedassy, 2004) 3.2 Sector wide environmental accounting: According to Jan Warnken, Melanie Bradley and Chris Guilding in their study in 2004, the necessity of sector wide environmental accounting has been emphasized. They opined that this is an important mechanism for determining areas of poor environmental performance. By implementing this mechanism the areas that should be targeted can be determined and can conserve the resources. The reason for the need of extensive research in the environmental effects of tourism is due to the little attention the researchers paid to this proposal. As a result the evaluation of accounting methods of environmental practices should be important in framing the methodology of research process. For this purpose, the list of the sectors that benefit from the tourism activities should be listed. The number of industries that produce the products used by tourists should be identified and the effect of their production environment and the efforts of those companies to protect environment should be assessed. If there is any mechanism to pay government, a cess regarding environment so that the government can take up the activities, the payment details should be checked. The extent of implementation of environmental protection processes taken up by the government on the funds available from cess paid by the industries benefited by tourism needs monitoring. If there is no such system, the benefits of such system can be explored and the possibility of implementation and problems in doing so can be evaluated. The research should concentrate on the activities of small and medium scale enterprises that benefit from tourism and effect environment negatively. The exploration of the practicalities of series of independent energy audits is necessary to asses the energy conservation and to estimate the conservation to be done. Proposal of energy accounting techniques should be the foremost goals of the research as they are the tools that can help in future environmental protection activities. The energy audits, telephone interviews, face to face interviews with accommodations and sector representatives should be planned and the responses be tabulated and analyzed. The floor area method, multiple regression method and the mandatory reporting methods should be considered for accounting of environmental processes and practices of different sectors related to tourism. The accounting of environmental methods should be framed regarding the different business structures and different in house environmental accounting practices. The resource consumption, mandatory reporting of it should be given priority in recording the effects of environment practices. The practices without the above mentioned details should be considered as one of the bad environmental practices and effect of them on environment should be assessed on the consumption of their production activities. The considerations of the government regarding commercial resource consumption and waste production figures are important in the assessment of the environmental effects of various sectors. The share of each sector in producing waste should be measured and then the share of each company out of that can be estimated. The standardization of accounting spreadsheets need to be developed for collection of different data mentioned above. (Jan Warnken, Melanie Bradley and Chris Guilding, 2004) 3.3 Considering Water as Part of an Environment: The research methodology includes the water as part of an environment and effect of tourism on it. The maintenance of tourist infrastructure, recreational boating, and certain activities of cruise industry are capable of polluting the water front of various places in Australia. The effect of tourist infrastructure needs to be studied. This study needs the pollution levels of water before the installation tourist infrastructure in the area the research is being conducted. The sewage treatment will indicate the pressure on water resources. As result the maintenance and the working nature of the sewage treatment plants should be the part of the study in estimating the water pollution and thus the environment impact of tourism. The overflows of the sewage water can be considered as an indictor of pressure on water resources and sewage plants. The increase of tourist infrastructure without increase in capacity of sewage plants can be considered as a measurement that can be used to estimate water pollution. The gradual impact of increasing pressure on sewage plants can be estimated with the increase of tourists and the tourist infrastructure. The research will not consider increase of sewage plant capacity with the increase of tourist infrastructure to control water pollution. The increase of sewage plant capacity without increase of recycling processes to clean the polluted water should be considered as these actions pollute water and thus environment. The increase of impermeable surfaces will increase of the increase of polluted water bodies as the water cannot sink into the earth. This can be a major factor that influences the pollution of water. The methodology can explore the ways about diverting the water incident on impermeable surfaces towards the soil surfaces and thus increasing the ground water resources. The methodology of estimating should depend on the significant problems from the stand point of effect of environment pollution on human health. The human contact with fecal discharge and the consumption of contaminated water will affect the health of the locals as well as tourists. The discharge of oil and toxic chemicals will impact the water and environment negatively as the contaminated water will effect the vegetation. The estimation of effect of recreation vessels on reported oil spills can be an important aspect in the study of environmental impact of tourism. The cruise industry also was responsible though to a smaller extent of oil spill pollution. The next pollution factor that can be termed as potential factor for environmental impact of tourism. The emissions of automobiles can result in serious impact on environment. The effect of heavy duty vehicles on environment also can be a part of methodology of research. (Terry Davies Sarah Cahill, 2000) 3.2 Effect of Tourism on Bio-Diversity: Bio-Diversity and its destruction is an important aspect in studying the environmental impact of tourism in Australia. The methodology in the research should be linked to the bio diversity and the decrease of diversity should be studied by taking into consideration the diversity present in the Australia. The methodology should consider the protection of bio diversity and the measures should be taken to restore the diversity be explored. The amount of conservation and its sustainability should be a part of the study and the impact of tourism on bio diversity can be included in the important points considered for the study. The process in tourism that is responsible for destruction of bio diversity should be noted and recorded as a part of methodology. The effect of tourism on fisheries, agriculture and forestry will be recorded to estimate the changes in bio diversity. This is because the tourism will remain as the industry that uses the natural resources. The national policies that deal with bio diversity can be studied and the important points can be used to assess the implementation of them by tourism and environmental departments. The understanding of biological diversity is important in framing a methodology to estimate it. The identification and monitoring of bio diversity should be important in methodology that involves the tourism and its effect on bio diversity. The broad range of actions taken in establishing protected areas, conservation and sustainable use of biological resources should be recorded and the implementation of them can be monitored. The internal thought in including this point in methodology is the sustainable use of biological diversity. The usage of economically and socially sound measures to protect bio diversity from environmental impacts of tourism can be estimated. The public understanding of the significance of bio diversity will indicate the extent of implementation of measures that control the effects of tourism on bio diversity. (Noel Preece and Penny van Oosterzee,2004) 4. Discussion According to world tourism organization’s conference in 2003, to assess and contain the environment problems due to tourism development, the establishment of a two way relationship was emphasized. The relationship is between tourism and climatic change. The obligation to minimize the adverse impact on environment should be fulfilled. This is possible by controlling the emission of green house gases. It was discussed in the conference that the world’s climate is affected by many tourist destinations, which could have far reaching implications. The tourism industry and the departments of government that make policies regarding tourism should be aware of the consequences of development of tourism. The impact of tourism on environment increases with the increase of environmental tourism. The landscapes that attract tourists will result in disturbing the balance in the climate at that place and environment will be polluted. Some times the tourism can be put at risk due to climatic conditions. To have positive market changes the tourism industry will effect the environment in sensitive climatic regions by developing the infrastructure. This is capable of changing climatic conditions and affecting the environment in the long run of tourism development. For example, the effects like beach erosion are common but these effects are observed to be accelerated due to the increase of tourism in the coastal areas. The obstructions caused by climatic conditions will affect the economics of tourism negatively and the development of tourism will effect the environment negatively. As a result, it is suggestible to spend reasonable percentage of income achieved by tourism on protecting environment, thus balancing climatic conditions. For example the Arctic Fauna and Flora will attract the visitors and the flow of tourists and development of infrastructure in that area will disturb the climatic conditions. The development of infrastructure should not affect the climatic conditions of that area and developing of vegetation according to the infrastructure can ensure the protection of environment. The development of vegetation must be according to the climatic conditions of the area. The vegetation developed should be the type of vegetation destroyed by the development of infrastructure. The above mentioned type of development of infrastructure and protection of environment needs awareness about environment impacts of tourism in the policy makers. (World Tourism Organization, 2003) 5. Conclusions The comprehensive overview of tourism in this paper suggests that the information available about relating tourism to environment is very little. This cannot help in assessing the environmental impact of Australian tourism. The collection of information of environment related to tourism by local governments, tourism agencies, states and territories is not enough to assess the impact on national scale. When the assessment of environmental impact is not complete, the measures to mitigate the deterioration of environment cannot be complete as well. This requires a framework or a system to gather information about environmental impact of tourism. For example, the eco tourism in Australia does not link up with the changes in environment. The companies that approach tourism department for developing tourist spots as per eco tourism should submit the reports of the steps taken by them to mitigate the problems of environment changes. The Government and tourism department should frame some guidelines to grant permission to develop tourist spots by private organizations. These guidelines should include the protection measures that are needed to protect the environment due to development of tourism in a particular area of Australia. The guidelines can be prepared on the basis of the research outcomes on the environmental impacts of tourism in Australia. As these impacts may differ from area to area depending on the climatic and atmospheric conditions the government should consider the development of tourism after a research that evaluates the environmental impacts due to development of tourism in a particular area. It can be concluded that Australian tourism is an emerging environmental issue. The areas that are having low tourism development should be considered for rigorous development of tourism after consideration of impacts on environment due to development of tourism. The tourism development policies can be made only after a detailed research on the area about the environment impact of tourism. (Dr Gina Newton, Jenny Boshier, 2001) References 1. 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