Sustainability Assets in Adelaide - Case Study Example

Sustainability Assets in Adelaide By: Professor: Class: University: City: State: Date of submission: Introduction South Australia supports various tourism activities. Some of the activities support sustainable tourism development through prioritizing most environmentally appropriate, sited, and properly designed projects (South Australian Tourism Commission, 2006). These activities contributes significantly to sustainable tourism design with the local tourism industry taking the lead in formalizing initiatives for the national climate change with an aim of building the reputation of South Australia in protecting natural environment. Throughout the years, Adelaide has been able to maintain a strong connection to its natural environment in a bid to encourage sustainability since the inaugural governor of South Australia; Colonel William Light unveiled the plan for the city in 1837 (Adelaide City Council, 2009). The management of Adelaide has in place the plans of delivering various initiatives for the transformation of the city’s infrastructure into vibrant and state-of-the-art systems for the provision of faster, cleaner, efficient, and services that are more reliable. With the rising level of technological systems and associated complexities, the city has been pushed to look for various ways of understanding the systems, interactions, and practicalities. In such systems, sustainability plays an important role in regards to industrial, urban, and services offered (Adelaide City Council, 2013). Sustainability involves long-term planning for various products and services and assets for the achievement of desired outcomes. Therefore, sustainability should assist in focusing the strategy and understanding of the impact of various activities on the environment. According to the United Nations, sustainability involves development that serves the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of the resources to meet the needs of the future generation. However, to achieve such sustainability, Adelaide incorporates various aspects of environmental sustainability, economic efficiency, and social equity. Background to Adelaide Adelaide is the aesthetically beautiful and clean city, which is the capital of South Australia. Moreover, the Adelaide city is surrounded with the wine country, numerous attraction sites, and beaches. Since it is the largest city within Southern Australia, most travellers and tourists consider the city as their destination (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2012). Adelaide is endowed with the native wildlife including kangaroo and koala bear in different reserves and national park. Throughout the year, Adelaide’s weather is comfortable with winter taking place between June and August. Compared to the Australian cities, Adelaide’s winter is milder; nonetheless, it rains during winter with snow seldom fall. Summer presents hot weather and much sunshine with hot and dry between December and February. Adelaide’s coastline has beaches with gorgeous sands stretching for miles. Tourists and travellers have more sunbathing and swimming opportunities. Other attractions are surfing, shopping, and dining along the coast with several cafes, beachside eateries, and bars. The tourism sector does exceptionally throughout the year with many travellers and tourists visiting Southern Australia with attractions including parks, historical homes, shops, and museums (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2012). There are several mountains and hills within the city including Adelaide Hills, which is also wine country. In addition, there are lush green landscapes and vineyard and the most popular attraction being Mount Lofty. In the 2011 census, the city had 1,225,235, which makes it the fifth biggest city in Australia. In addition, 77% of the population within South Australia are Adelaide’s metropolitan residents, which reflect its centralization level (Adelaide City Council, 2013). The major populated areas are outer suburbs including Mawson Lakes and Golden Grove. In terms of housing, the city’s residents occupy 366,912 houses, 49,413 flats and apartments, and 57,695 semi-detached. In terms of economy, the largest employment sectors are health care manufacturing, and social assistance. Adelaide has the lowest average wage and the highest unemployment rate than the other Australian cities, which contributes to brain drain as skilled and young people leave the city for brighter opportunities in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne (South Austrian Tourism Commission, 2015). The major attractive jobs in Adelaide educational and healthcare with salaries similar to the Australian cities; however, the costs of housing is cheaper. Adelaide has living beaches to keep the sand while reducing the amount of sand carting (Department of Planning, Transport, and Infrastructure, 2015). Moreover, with the city’s Living Beaches, there would be reduction in the cost of managing the coastline by about 20%. The strategy also aims to continue replenishing the beach, recycling the sand in an effective manner through sand slurry pumping, adding the coarse sand from the external sources, building the coastal sand structures within critical locations, and integration of the sand bypassing at the harbours with the management of the beach (Department of Planning, Transport, and Infrastructure, 2015). With the beautiful environmental resources and strategies, the Adelaide City Council is committed to delivering environmental sustainability and significant benefits that goes beyond the borders through effective and efficient utilization of environmental resources. The city has national parks and services with native wildlife that continues to attract tourists and travellers from the Australia and international boarders which reflects the significance of environment. Adelaide Policy Travel and tourism have been on the rise than others sectors as it continues to account for millions of jobs and growth in the GDP. In the next decade, the World Trade and Tourism Council (WTTC) projects that the impacts of travel and tourism would increase by 4% annually; however, such growth poses numerous challenges, which need adequate address (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2012). The vision of WTTC is to respond to the increasing demands as consumers face challenges associated with shrinking resources reflecting that the needs of the employees and communities needs to look beyond the competitive boundaries with an aim of striking a the new alliances and recognizing the need of handling the challenges in an effective manner. As a result, both the United Nations and WTTC strongly advocates for the international institutions and states to establish the policies and regulatory frameworks that support the growth of the tourism and travel sector. It is from such background that the Brundtland report on environmental sustainability advocates for minimization on biodiversity loss. In South Australia, the government has in place adequate measures of promoting planning and sustainable practices that manage natural resources and improvement of environmental governance and adequate contribution to the implementation of integrated natural resources management processes with the major stakeholders (Adelaide City Council, 2013). Moreover, the legal framework also advocates for the improvement in the livelihoods and adequately supporting the activities associated with exploitation of forestry resources, agricultural, ecosystem services, and sustainable tourism. South Australian tourism plan acknowledges and respects various tourism activities and developments that take place on the lands owned traditionally by the indigenous people. Moreover, it encourages the indigenous people to be part of the current and anticipated tourism development. In the heart of the South Australian tourism planning, sustainability has always shaped the process. The major principles of sustainable development highlighted throughout the plan are collaboration, authenticity, quality, innovation, and growth in the level of profitability (South Austrian Tourism Commission, 2015). Besides, the plan recognizes that the future of the tourism industry relies mainly on the strategic thinking, which is a shared purpose and passionate adherence to the core principles (Adelaide Hills Council, 2011). The vital factor within the plan is the adoption of the whole-of-government approach to tourism through cooperation in all the aspects. However, it is important to note that the tourism industry of South Australia have neither the ability of controlling the forces that drive international demand for tourism nor the impact of the local performance. However, it has the ability of shaping the future through addressing various aspects in can. Adelaide City Council has a great commitment to ensure effective creation of efficient and sustainable city, which conserves the natural environment and fostering the ecological awareness. In Adelaide, green tourism is an area that requires adequate understanding by the local authorities considering the huge potential growth presented with the increment in the numbers of domestic and international tourists and travellers in need of “green” holiday experiences (South Australian Tourism Commission, 2006). There are several strategies outlined in the South Australian Tourism Plan of achieving the desired sustainable development. These strategies are underpinned by the focus on sustainability with the environment include as one of the major factors in balancing the scorecard for the achievement of the vision. The South Australia Tourism Commission (SATC) play an important role in actively encouraging sustainable tourism development in Adelaide, the Commission’s Tourism Development Fund (TDF) grant program which provides financial support to assist investors within the tourism industry to integrate green technology into various development activities (Adelaide City Council, 2013). The major objective of TDF include adequate management of the potential environmental impact and protection of the natural environment of tourism, vital in the provision of guidelines to source developers, and prioritizing environmentally appropriate, sited, and properly designed projects. Literature review on sustainability, sustainable tourism, and planning Since the United Nations publicized “Our Common Future,” there have been increment in the concept of sustainable development within the political agenda with many countries demonstrating commitment to the Achievement of Agenda 21. Within the tourism industry, there is need for the adoption of sustainable approach, which is exacerbated by the fragility, and sensitiveness of the industry to change, the multi-sectoral nature, and high level of dependency on the host environment and societies. The tourists are attracted to areas considered vulnerable and sensitive (Shen, Hughey, & Simmons, 2008, 22). There are many issues associated with sustainable development with the debates inevitably transferred to the concept of sustainable tourism. The travel and tourism are among the major industries. Nonetheless, there degrading effects is becoming a concern that requires immediate address. As a result, there have been emergences of sustainable tourism concept that aims at reducing the negative effects associated with tourism activities (South Australian Tourism Commission, 2006). The concept is becoming universally accepted the appropriate and desirable approach of ensuring tourism development. Besides, the concept of sustainability covers various elements constituting of complete tourism experience. According to World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), sustainable tourism development involves an economic, environmental, and social tourism development that aims at ensuring continuous development in the experience of tourism. In many countries, the tourism industry has been the major contributor of sustainable development especially through creation of jobs: for women and those from marginalized communities (Shen, Hughey, & Simmons, 2008, 27). From such background, sustainable tourism aims at striking the balance between the protection of the environment, maintenance of cultural integrity, promotion of economic benefits, , establishment of social justice, and meeting adequately the needs of the host populations within the developing and developed countries. Additionally, the concept advocates for intergenerational equity and intra-generation equity. Sustainability assets of Adelaide In Adelaide, there have investment in various sustainable assets in a bid to develop its tourism industry. Most of the projects within the industry benefit from the grant program including $15 million investment in the globally known Southern Ocean Lodge development within the Kangaroo Island in 2008. The lodge was designed in a manner that it minimizes the impact of the delicate coastline of Adelaide while maximizing on the environmental experience of the guests. Moreover, for construction, the developers used organic materials in a bid to encourage the sense of place including recycled timber and white limestone on both the floor and walls. Another development is Rawnsley Park Station, which is an eight luxury eco-villas designed with an aim of complementing the natural surroundings (Adelaide City Council, 2013). The park boasts of the current environmental designs with features such as rendered straw bale walls, overhanging eaves, and polished timber floors. Other grants have assisted in developing the tourism industry such as installation of solar power, bio-cycle wastewater treatment facilities, promotion of sound environmental management activities, and boardwalks. For years, South Australia has been recognized in championing the sustainable tourism. The state participated in the Ecotourism Australia’s Climate Change Certification Program in 2008, which was the first world pilot program (Living in Australia, 2016). The program recognizes institutions within the tourism industry for their action towards responding to climate change; as a result, the program allows the travelling public to identify the operators within tourism sector committed to various sustainable practices and reduction in the level of carbon emissions. Adelaide has a popular music festival known as WOMADelaide, which refers to “the leader in green events. The major sustainable activities supporting the festival are the use of 100% accredited Energy Green Power and adequately strategized waste management practices, which involve a three-bin system (Adelaide City Council, 2013). The festival made a sustainable move by turning four tonnes of wastes into compost in 2009 while more than 50% wastes diverted to the landfills. WOMADelaide event also offset carbon emissions by encouraging planting of trees: more than 700 trees native to Australia through the largest environmental institution, Greening Australia. Various sustainability actions in the city would increase the density of Adelaide. Such sustainability not only increases the growth of the city but also the entire metropolitan. Proper management of the state’s natural assets could strengthen the reputation of Adelaide for being sustainable, clean, green, and contribute towards the achievement of the required objectives (Adelaide City Council, 2013). In Adelaide, the objectives of the assets include growing prosperity, improving wellbeing, attaining sustainability, and building connection (Living in Australia, 2016). South Australia has unique natural and cultural assets responsible for underpinning the economic success. The state’s cultural and natural environment play an important role in motivating travel and tourism which makes substantial contribution to the local economies through provision of income and employment opportunities. Most of Adelaide’s natural attributes of tourism are based natural parks and reserves (Department of Planning, Transport, and Infrastructure, 2015). Various research indicate that visiting the national parks is the major activity that the holiday travellers undertake. In Adelaide, important tourism and recreational assets include Wittunga Botanic Gardens and Mount Lofty with tourism becoming a vital economic mainstay within the city’s regional areas including Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island (KI), Fleurieu Peninsula, Flinders Rangers, and York Peninsula, which acts as unique natural and cultural attractions. The Botanic Gardens of Adelaide play vital role South Australia’s tourism industry. The Gardens remains steadfast and committed to the horticultural prosperity, which would in turn shape the living collections for ensuring effective utilization of the resources. The Gardens have sustainable collection management, which focus on prioritizing and the securing the gardens and collections (Living in Australia, 2016). As a result, the Gardens managements seem to prioritize formalization and documentation of policies and procedure for the delivery of the desired results. While the plans and policies seem to define priorities for what the gardens and collections that require management, sustainable horticultural practices outline mechanisms of maintaining and managing the gardens. Moreover, the sustainable horticultural practices tend to address issues associated with resourcing, environmental, health, and safety issues to assist in determination of appropriate standards for the gardens and collection (South Australian Tourism Commission, 2006). Heysen Trail is another tourism and recreational asset, which is a premier long distance trail that stretches 1200km from Cape Jervis to the centre of Flinders Rangers. Such trail offers insight into the beauty of the varied landscape of the city. The South Australia’s Strategic Plan (SASP) proposes various biodiversity corridors that link the public and private lands across the state by 2020. As a result, the government works with the regional communities with an establishing the corridors and integrating biodiversity. Adelaide has three main corridors including “east meets west” which is an integrated biodiversity management that crosses the land and sea from the Eyre Peninsula to the Western Australia through the Great Victoria Desert and Nullarbor Plain. “Bounceback Extension” which is a corridor that extends from the successful ecological restoration project encompassing biodiversity conservation on and off the reserves from the Gammon Ranges and Southern Flinders Ranges (South Australian Tourism Commission, 2006). The Cape Borda to Barossa is another corridor that involves integrated biodiversity management that crosses Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island, and Backstairs Passage. Other prestigious and unique resources of South Australia are the coastal, marine, and estuarine environments, which offer most of the biologically diverse resources in the world, and highly valuable resources that support activities such as fisheries, aquaculture, and shipping. SWOT analysis of Adelaide’s future tourism planning Strength The city has huge labour force with relatively high skills that could assist in boosting the tourism industry. Tourism is one of the major contributors of the economy; thus, contributes significantly to the revenues. Adelaide is a digital economy that has high-speed band that attracts more tourists. The city has proper establishment of the agricultural sector, which demonstrates the innovative practices in addressing the new markets and adapting to the ever-changing climate change. Adelaide Hills has high proximity to the major centres, populations, proper internet access, diversified economy, and relatively high median household, which could attract the tourists. Weaknesses The city has community in which the population and economic growth are constrained by the water catchment area of Mount Lofty Rangers, water allocation planning, and topography that contributes to the various risks associated with different natural events. The city also has high proportion of commuters to the metropolitan area of the city; however, there is limitation in the intra-regional travel due inadequacy of scheduled public transport. Moreover, the community is susceptible to the bushfire especially with increment in climate change issues. Opportunity Global growth and projections in reveal proper performance in the tourism industry. As a result, South Australia is increasingly becoming integrated economically with the regions experiencing growth in the premium food trade to ensure long-term growth. The city has properly distributed settlement patter that it could tap into the market. Different natural resource assets could be utilized effectively to ensure increased tourists of attraction sites (South Austrian Tourism Commission, 2015). The government’s policy has significant impact on the region, which provides growth opportunity supporting tourism industrial growth. The state also improves the tourism industry opportunities through building the links to various industries such as arts, heritage, history, and culture. Threats Increasing climate change affects various tourism activities and sites. Rising population within the city contributes to encroachment into the protected areas, which affects various sites of attraction. Another factor is poor development strategies, which only considers the economic aspect, but not environmental and social factors. Increased level of competition internationally which affects Australian tourism industry (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2012). Strict laws and regulations that hinder most travellers and tourists from visiting Australia and poor infrastructural development that link the parks and reserves also affect the tourism industry. Discussions and recommendations Sustainability involves proper use of the resources without compromising their ability to satisfy the needs of the future generation. Adelaide has numerous resource assets that could help satisfy the strategic plan of South Australia (Adelaide Hills Council, 2011). In 2004-2005, South Australia’s tourism industry generated $3.7 billion with numerous benefits. With such economic impact, the tourism industry could as well be the catalysts that ensure effective community development and proper balance between social, cultural, and environmental factors (Hashemkhani et al., 2015, 25). With continued dynamism and growth in the sector, the sector continues to provide opportunities and challenges to Adelaide. By recognizing the significance of the tourism sector, the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) and the Local Government Association of South Australia (LGA) have forged stronger partnership of helping in building sustainable tourism (Adelaide Hills Council, 2011). For effectiveness of the South Australian tourism industry, the local authorities need to coordinate different activities associated with tourism, proper development of the tourism strategies and increasing the use of performance measurement with an aim of gauging the success the plans and strategies of the council (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2012). Moreover, there is need for resource provision for the items of ensuring strategic significance including planning and regional marketing (People for Public Transport, 2009). With community tourism, the role of sustainable development is applicable to improve the quality of life of the residents through optimizing the local economic benefits, protection of the natural and built environment, and provision of quality experience for the travellers and tourists. Besides, there is need for proper strategies of ensuring limitation in the negative effects associated with the growing population and development, which encroaches the protected areas and, adequate measures of controlling the impact of climate change. Conclusion Adelaide is the aesthetically beautiful and clean city, which is the capital of South Australia. As a dynamic and ever-changing industry, tourism plays an important role in ensuring the development of Adelaide and contributing to its economic growth. In Australia, tourism contributes about 7% of the Gross National Product and employs about 550,000 people. Throughout the years, Adelaide has been able to maintain a strong connection to its natural environment in a bid to encourage sustainability. Sustainable tourism development involves an economic, environmental, and social tourism development that aims at ensuring continuous development in the experience of tourism. The major attractive jobs in Adelaide educational and healthcare with salaries similar to the Australian cities; however, the costs of housing is cheaper. Both the United Nations and WTTC strongly advocates for the international institutions and states to establish the policies and regulatory frameworks that support the growth of the tourism and travel sector. The South Australia’s Strategic Plan (SASP) proposes various biodiversity corridors that link the public and private lands across the state by 2020. References Adelaide City Council. (2009). Environmentally Sustainable City. Retrieved October 20, 2016, from http://www.adelaidecitycouncil.com/assets/documents/NATGEO-adelaide-environmentally-sustainable-city.pdf?utm_source=media%20release&utm_medium=PDF-download&utm_content=sustainable-city&utm_campaign=NatGeo Adelaide City Council. (2013). Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2009-2012. Retrieved October 21, 2016, from http://www.adelaidecitycouncil.com/assets/acc/Environment/plans-policies/docs/environmental_sustainability_strategy_2009-12.pdf Adelaide Hills Council. (2011). Economic Development Strategy. Retrieved October 20, 2016, from http://www.ahc.sa.gov.au/ahc-council/Documents/AHC%20Economic%20Development%20Strategy%202015%20-%20Adopted%20by%20Council.pdf Department of Planning, Transport, and Infrastructure. (2015). Building South Australia - Infrastructure. Retrieved October 20, 2016, from http://www.infrastructure.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/5195/nat_assets.indd.pdf Hashemkhani Zolfani, S., Sedaghat, M., Maknoon, R., & Zavadskas, E. K. (2015). Sustainable tourism: a comprehensive literature review on frameworks and applications. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 28(1), 1-30. Living in Australia. (2016). Adelaide’s Profile. Retrieved October 20, 2016, from https://www.livingin-australia.com/adelaide-profile/ People for Public Transport. (2009). Sustainable Adelaide: Action Now for the Future. Retrieved October 20, 2016, from http://www.ppt.asn.au/pubdocs/newconnbudgetfinweb.pdf Shen, F., Hughey, K. F., & Simmons, D. G. (2008). Connecting the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and Tourism: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 15(01), 19-31. South Australian Tourism Commission. (2006, July). Local Government’s Engagement In Tourism. Retrieved October 20, 2016, from https://www.lga.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Local_Governments_Engagement_in_Tourism_-_July_2006.pdf South Austrian Tourism Commission. (2015). South Australian Tourism Plan 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2016, from http://www.tourism.sa.gov.au/assets/documents/About%20SATC/satc-sa-tourism-plan-2014.pdf World Travel & Tourism Council. (2012). Tourism for Tomorrow | WTTC. Retrieved October 20, 2016, from http://www.wttc.org/mission/tourism-for-tomorrow/ Read More