Tourism Theories and Practices: Sustainable Tourism Plan for Gold Coast Beaches

Running Head: TOURISM THEORIES AND PRACTICES
TOURISM THEORIES AND PRACTICES
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Executive summary
The report enumerates a tourism issue faced by the Gold Coast beaches in Australia relating to
pollution and sea water rise. The issue has affected the tourism development capabilities of the
region. Therefore, the involvement of the different government and environmental protection
agencies is enumerated in the study, which will result to different regulations and policy that will
be implemented by the same in order to support sustainable tourism practices. The report will be
identifying the background of the issue and thereby devise a tourism development plan in order
to support the needs of sustainable tourism practices in the region.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Background of the issue...............................................................................................................4
2.1 Different factors behind the issue..........................................................................................6
3. Recommended tourism plan........................................................................................................9
4. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................18

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1. Introduction
Development of Tourism activities in the nations has contributed to the national income
through foreign investments that flow through the tourist activities. Moreover, the
industrialization and infrastructural growth in the different nations encompass around the growth
of tourism related activities (Amelung and Nicholls 2014). The gradual development of
different organizations in the context is based on the identification of the needs of the tourists
and thereby brings forth changes in the service and product offerings. However, the drastic
development that is undertaken by the organizations has affected the environment of the regions
(Dizdaroglu and Yigitcanlar 2016). The case of beach degradation in the Gold Coast, Australia,
is the result of continuous urbanization and industrialization. Excessive tourism activities in the
region have affected the coastal beach through intense weather changes and risk of pollution
through hard rubbish. Accumulation of the C&D wastes (Construction and Demolition) by the
beaches and the toxic releases in the atmosphere has affected the environment, flora and fauna
adjoining the different infrastructural developments. Cooper and Lemckert (2012) forecasted
that the tourists visiting the Gold Coast will be rising by 37% by the end of year 2020. Therefore,
the formulation of different policies in order to diminish the pollutants in the region will be
helping the government and the environmental protection agencies in maintaining the sustainable
tourism approach.
The elements of the waste management practices that are undertaken by the authorities
are based on the implementation of sustainable tourism, which will be helping the authorities in
diminishing the rate of pollution by the coastal regions. The regulations that are forwarded by
the government and the environmental protection agencies have aimed at decreasing the rate of

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pollution that is created through the infrastructural growth by the Gold Coast. The environment
protection agencies has undertaken Beach nourishment, beach cleaning, dune restoration and
restrictions on different tourism activities in order to protect the beaches from being eroded.
However, the growth of the businesses relating to the diverse preferences of the tourists has
affected the sustainable approach that is formulated by the protection agencies.
The purpose of the research is to study the background of the issue in detail and thereby
identify the factors that influence the issue. On the other hand, the report also enumerate4s
different recommended actions that might be taken by the environmental protection agencies in
order to promote sustainable tourism practices in the region for uplifting the needs of the tourists
and the development of different businesses. The tourism plan will be helping to exemplify the
different practices through which tourism activities might be supported in order to ensure the
sustainable tourism activities that will be having a keen objective of protecting the environmental
resources without negating the needs of the growth of tourism activities in the region.
2. Background of the issue
According to Phillips et al. (2015) there are a number of vulnerability factors that impact
heavily on the coastal environments. The climate change, population growth and the economic
boom are the intrinsic parts of those vulnerability factors. As a result of that there is a huge
pressure vested on the coastal environment. In this regard, the coastal environment of Gold
Coast, Australia has become the primary part of this discussion. It can be argued that the Gold
Coast city of Australia has grown substantially with the help of its ever increasing tourism
industry (Sedigh et al. 2015). As a matter of fact, this escalating trend in the tourism industry
facilitates an urban characteristics to the Gold Coast city. The Gold Coast beaches are very

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popular among the tourists as the city has a long stretched beach with blue ocean water that
attracts the tourist with a feel of paradise. Moreover, the Gold Coast beach was popularised due
to a huge variety of corals and marine biology that also pushed the visitors to come here again
and again. However, this paradise is losing its renowned beach because of the rapid erosion of
sands. In his research, Dhakal, Brown and Burgess (2015) showed that this part of Australia is
not only familiar due to its ecological diversity but the practice of intensive agriculture is also
prevalent in this region because of the fertile land. The flood plains and the river beds are best
known for their fertility and provides the most suitable environment for agriculture.
In this context, it can be advocated that the sandy beaches are identified as the valuable
for sustainable planning, practice and management of the coastline settlements and supporting
infrastructure. As a matter of fact, the coastline also develops a natural support in course of the
natural calamities like storm. However, the Gold Coast beaches are facing severe challenges in
terms of the continuous erosion trends that threatened the buildings and roads that are considered
to be one of the major factors for the development of Gold Coast (Tomlinson et al. 2014). In
1967, the coast alone faced severe threats due to the natural calamity of four severe cyclones. As
a result of that the erosion in the upper beach and dunes was not only by the wave but also due to
the cyclonic activity that transported large chunks of sands (Jackson and Tomlinson 2017). It can
be estimated that the long 35km beach line of Gold Coast has a great impact in the Australian
tourism. It can be stated that the Gold Coast region is considered to be top five tourism
performing regions in Australia with catering more than $4 billion in 2011 (Raybould et al.
2015). As per the government report it can be argued that the Palm Beach region in Gold Coast
is in a vulnerable position due to affected by the beach erosion. In fact, it is important to know
that the Palm Beach region, spanning over 3.8 km stretched beach is not only an unique