Special Interest Tourism Assignment

Running head: SPECIAL INTEREST TOURISM
SPECIAL INTEREST TOURISM
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion....................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Implications for economic sustainability...............................................................................3
2.2 Implications for cultural sustainability..................................................................................6
2.3 Strategies for social sustainability.........................................................................................7
2.4 Implications for environmental sustainability.......................................................................9
3. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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1. Introduction
A Special Interest Tourism, Whitsundays, Beach tourism
Seaside tourism is one of the nature-based tourism that has been gaining popularity, more
people are attracted towards viewing the natural view of beaches. In Australia, coastal tourism is
very popular. In Queensland, people are attracted towards the coral beaches; the beauty of the
corals across the Great Barrier Reef provides an excellent spot for the tourists who love beaches
and admiring the beauty of marine life. Whitsunday is an archipelago of seventy four tropical
islands it lies just near the Queensland coast, which is close to the Great barrier reef. People from
all around the world visit the destination to see the white sands of the white heaven beach. Many
hotels cater the needs of the travelers who visit Whitsunday. It is a nature based tourism because
it is not at all like the traditional tourist destination, because corals are not available and Great
barrier reef is one of the natural wonders of the world. Only those tourists visit this place who are
attracted towards the marine life.
Statement of Argument: “You need to analyze various strategies for the management of positive
and negative impacts of nature based tourismand achieving the goals of sustainability”.

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2. Discussion
2.1 Implications for economic sustainability
Fig: International tourist expenditure:
Source: (Authority, 2016)
Tourism is the main reason behind the boost in the economy in the region. In order to
achieve the goal for the year 2020 there are certain implications. Economic strategies aim at
maximizing the profit of Whitsundays. Self regulating strategies are to be taken from the end of
government to provide jobs and living standards of the local people.
Accommodation

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The occupancy rate forecasted for the year 2020 is 55 percent. As per the potential of the
industry the estimation is 70 percent occupancy rate. There is need for more accommodation
facilities for fulfilling the demand of the visitors. The local leaders are required to provide full
service brand named hotels at the islands of Whitsundays (Authority, 2016).
They will be delivering 4.5 and 5 star plus accommodation so that they can attract the MICE
tourists. For sustainability it is very important that the destination has enough facilities for the
tourists so that the visitors have a wonderful experience.
Access- The connectivity to the destination is good still the high air fares makes it
difficult for the tourists to visit the place. So a collaborative role of the Airlines is required to
provide a reasonable fare for the travelers. The local tour operators with partnership with the
various airlines can offer attractive packages for the tourists so that they can plan their vacation
to Whitsunday and boost the economy of the place. Making the place accessible to the tourists
will improve the tourist experience and the tourist flow in that destination will automatically
increase.
During the annual wet season the place becomes flooded and the road connectivity is
totally disrupted in such case the local and the Government authorities are required to work
more actively during these period so that the tourists are not discouraged to travel during this
time of the year. The road link to Prospine to Airlie is completely disrupted (Mason, 2015).
For increasing the economic sustainability, it is very important that the allied services are
improved, the living standard of the place is raised, which can be done by increasing the number
of job opportunities.
Promotional strategies

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If the marketing is properly done by the tourism board and the local service providers
then the can expect a financial sustainability. Apart from promotion of the destination, the
tourism boards can also focus on creating awareness about the environmental issues in that
region so that the environmental challenge can also be met.
Development of infrastructure is very important for improvement of service quality,
when the service quality is good then it would be easier to achieve the goals of economic
sustainability because the destination will become a source of revenue generation. Engaging the
local people in construction of bridges, roads will help the local authorities in infrastructure
development in a very less cost, hiring employees from outside might cost a huge amount for the
Government and local authorities.
Strategy for increasing positive impacts of tourism
Employment
Tourism in any particular destination creates employment for the local people, it is one of
the positive impact of tourism that positively affects the lives of the local people. Providing
required skills and knowledge to the local people will help the community gain maximum
advantage of this opportunity. This will help both the tourists and the local people. Educating the
local people about tourism and its related services, like tour guiding and escort services would
provide employment opportunities for the local people.
The local government of the area has decided to provide full employment within the
region. They are planning to provide surplus local jobs; they will be promoting migration and
settlement within the community. They will be providing an array of skilled jobs to the people.

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2.2 Implications for cultural sustainability
Collaborative strategy will be taken for cultural sustainability. Every place has a history
and culture of its people. It is very important that the tourists understand the relevance of culture
of the place and the people. This can only be done if the tourists are well aware of the relevance
of the place to the tourists. Often when tourists do not have the understanding of the culture of
the culture of any particular place, they end up hurting the sentiments. The local population of
Whitsunday as estimated by the Regional Council is 33,324. The local people are very
supportive to the tourism industry and tourism development. They appreciate the fact that it
supports the local economy and generates employment; it also improves the living standard of
the local people. The community involvement with tourist would make sure that the place would
make the tourists more eager to know the culture of the place. The local tour operators would
provide offers during festivals so that tourists the destination can also be represented as a cultural
tourism destination because too much use of the destination as seaside or beach tourism might
destroy the ecological balance of the place.
For encouraging the cultural sustainability, the government is planning activities that seek
full community involvement, like cleaning tourist spots, planting trees, waste management.
Apart from this cultural festivals and celebrations are promoted especially festivals of aborigines
living in that region so that their culture is known to outside world and sustainability is
maintained (Haward et al., 2013). The strategy is to take advantage of the population growth
in the region and the other surrounding regions like Galilee and Bowen basins so that it increases
the scope for day-trips and short break and the VFR tourism is also increased. As per the date of
Queensland Trade and Treasury office of Economic and statistical Research, it has been
estimated that the population of the region is going to increase by 20 percent, approximately

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100,000 by 2020. So, if the local service providers take advantage of this fact then they
would receive a good revenue from the domestic tourism (Benur & Bramwell, 2015).
Increasing consumer recognition that Whitsundays is the heart of Great barrier reef one can
access the Great barrier reef from Whitsundays.
Supporting the development of projects that are appealing to the customers and enhances their
experiences (Lundberg, Fredman & Wall-Reinius, 2014)
A community, entertainment and events centre so that the place becomes more appealing
to the tourists. One such project is Wave pool. An investor is willing to establish a flow house in
the region. The venue will have flow-boarding, food, beverages, retail and events. Such
interesting and new ventures are needed to be promoted by the local government so that the place
can be represented as one of the best tourism destinations. Community capacity building is very
important for strengthening the culture of the local communities, engaging in community
services would help the local people realize the importance of community capacity building and
how it can be used in development of the destination with help of collaborative approach.
(Goldberg et al., 2017).
2.3 Strategies for social sustainability
The Government of Queensland has identified the destination as one of the sources that
generate income and boosts the economy of the area. With the help of the state Governments’
destination Q blueprint 2012-2015 the industry led by the regional tourism organization aims at
increasing the visitor expenditure across Queensland from dollar 21.5 billion in 2012 to dollar 30
billion by 2020 (Bramwell, 2015).

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A considerable growth in expected in the VFR market. Increase in the disposable income
of people in the local region will increase the number of short trips of the local people who
would travel to visit their friends, families and relatives. If the wages of the local residents are
increased then there would be rise in the number of hotel bookings for events like marriages,
social gatherings, parties and other festivals
Partnership- The local authorities, national authorities, non-governmental organizations,
volunteers, local people and customers all need to work together to achieve the sustainability
goals. The local authorities need to take charge and create awareness among the people about the
benefits of tourism so that the local people are not reluctant to tourism. They should involve the
local people into service providing activities because they are the ones who know the place and
hence would be able to provide services like sightseeing. The local people can also engage in
providing facilities like accommodation, like in rural tourism local people offering their places to
the tourists and catering their needs. This will help the tourists to understand the culture of that
place by mixing with the people, no extra expenditure would be required for accommodation
services. National bodies should create awareness amongst the tourists about the significance of
any particular place. It is very important to make the tourists aware about the significance of the
place and the environment. This can be done by using advertising techniques using, electronic
and print media. Public events can also be done to create awareness among the tourists,
appealing them to act responsibly, for achieving the sustainable goals. Volunteers would look,
monitor the tourist activities, and guide them wherever required (Dwyer, Čorak & Tomljenović,
2017).
To understand the impact of tourism it is very important that one understands how the
lives of people are affected by tourism. Positive impacts of tourism include, development of the

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place, which includes infrastructure development, employment generation of the local people.
Boost in the economy of the place. All this impacts are positive but not for long duration, it
completely depends on the tourist flows in that place. If the tourists visit the place, then only
employment will be generated, once the place reaches its saturation stage, the growth becomes
stagnant, the place is no longer able to generate revenue and employment to the people. On the
contrary looking at the negative impacts if a place is overused and polluted then the local
authorities will have to spend a lot of money for its recovery and in the meanwhile, the lives of
the local people are affected (Dwyer, Čorak & Tomljenović, 2017). It might also happen that the
attitude of the local people might change toward the tourists and they prefer that the tourists and
they might become hostile to the tourists. In such scenario that place no longer would serve as a
tourist destination. Therefore, it is very important that the tourists act responsibly.
2.4 Implications for environmental sustainability
Monitoring strategy would be used for encouraging environmental sustainability. One of
the major impacts of tourism that is significantly affecting the place is that the tourist activities
are continuously affecting the environmental harmony of the place. The marine life is in danger
and the coral reefs are deteriorating. Coral reefs are one of the most important natural products
that successfully attracts the tourists to this particular destination. If the coral reefs would be
destroyed then the place might lose its significance in terms of an ideal beach destination for the
tourists. This particular issue needs the intervention of the government authorities so that
relevant steps are taken for the improvement of the condition of the coral lives (Mason, 2015).
Another major issue is overusing of any particular destination causes unsatisfactory
delivery of services. With the number of tourists, increasing in this particular area beyond the
carrying capacity of the place it becomes very difficult to provide quality services. Even the

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scenic beauty and the value of the destination lessens with time. Activities like littering in the
beaches also cause massive pollution in the region. Water pollution not only harms the coral
reefs but also other aquatic animals. So tourists also needs to act responsibly and try not litter or
pollute the environment. They might just be visiting the place for a day or two but there are
people who live in that place so for their sake and for the sake of the future generations
sustainability is very important (Bec et al., 2017).
This strategy would aim at monitoring the activities of the tourists for these volunteers
are required to guide the tourists and restrict them from actions like writing on the walls of
historical monuments, littering, polluting and creating noise in tourist places. This activity
disrupts the harmony of the place. The volunteers should educate the tourists and tell them about
the people their culture and the heritage of the place. Their actions should not hurt the sentiments
of the local people. If they are guided properly then such situations would not arise (Authority,
2016).
Management of coral reefs
Controlling the outbreak of crown of thorns starfish-
The outbreak of crown of thorns causes decay of coral reefs. Stopping the crown of
thorns would stop the decay of coral reef. The natural beauty of the place is completely
destroyed, so if the local authorities takes initiative in this regard then such issues can be reduced
so that Whitsundays can be represented as an ideal destination for the tourists and the
sustainability concept of tourism can be maintained for a longer time. Engagement of the local
people in management of environment would help in a great deal, if the local people and the

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authorities work together then the goal of achieving sustainability can be achieved (Bec et al.,
2017).
Self-regulation
Self-regulations strategies are about people taking responsible roles for sustainable
tourism. This strategy would be the most effective strategy if done properly. People will have to
act wisely by not polluting the places they visit. Activities like littering and noise pollution
should be strictly affected because it disrupts the harmony of the place. Environment needs to be
taken care, flora and fauna of any place should not be destroyed. Ecological harmony needs to be
maintained by taking care of the place, people and environment (Bramwell & Lane, 2015).
3. Conclusion
Nature based tourism is based on the special interests of the tourists. Recently, there is an
increase in nature based tourism segment. the demand has been increasing. Whitsunday an
archipelago near Great barrier reef, people who like to see the beauty of coral reef and enjoy
seeing the marine life visit this place. This place is also excellent for enjoying beach tourism as
there are many resorts that offer travelers a quality stay. Development of infrastructure can
involvement of the local people with local authorities will help in gaining sustainable tourism.
There are some environmental concerns that can also be addressed if a collaborative role is taken
by the government both national and state, local bodies like the tourism board of Queensland,
local people and the tourist can make help preservation of marine life and environment so that
sustainability can be achieved.

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References
Authority, G. B. R. M. P. (2016). Tourism Reef Advisory Committee communique: Meeting 5,
14 and 15 September 2016-Whitsundays. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/11017/3059
Bec, A., Moyle, B., Moyle, C. L., & Keast, R. (2017). 10 Strategies for building community
resilience to long-term structural change in the Mackay and Whitsunday regions of
Queensland, Australia. Tourism, Resilience and Sustainability: Adapting to Social,
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Benur, A. M., & Bramwell, B. (2015). Tourism product development and product diversification
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Haward, M., Davidson, J., Lockwood, M., Hockings, M., Kriwoken, L., & Allchin, R. (2013).
Climate change, scenarios and marine biodiversity conservation. Marine Policy, 38, 438-
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