Report on the Management Challenges of Island Tourism

This report examines the multifaceted challenges of managing tourism on small islands, focusing on geographic, demographic, and economic factors. It highlights problems such as water scarcity due to limited freshwater resources and the impact of tourism on marine environments, including pollution from sanitation facilities and non-biodegradable waste. The report also addresses the degradation of coral reefs due to tourist activities like diving and snorkeling, as well as overfishing. Integration issues, stemming from the islands' distance from the mainland, are discussed in terms of transportation, healthcare, and service delivery. The report uses examples from Heron and Green Islands in Australia to illustrate these challenges and references relevant literature on sustainable tourism and environmental management.

Running head: MANAGING TOURISM ON ISLANDS
MANAGING TOURISM ON ISLANDS
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1
MANAGING TOURISM ON ISLANDS
The tourism in the small islands like those in Australia, different Asian countries and
Philippines have exceptional geographic, demographic and economic features that attract
millions of tourists from various parts of the world. The coral reefs in Australian islands like
Heron Island and Green Island situated in Queensland offer great scenarios along with
facilities that no tourist can ignore. However, the tourism industry of these small islands face
grave problems due to numerous reasons such as inadequate resources mainly human as well
as financial (McLennan, Becken & Moyle, 2017). Beside these, they are more vulnerable to
the natural disasters. The location of these islands reveals their distances from the mainland
therefore have limited surface areas and natural resource bases. The main problems that the
management of resorts located in these areas face are mainly related to natural as well as
economic.
Unavailable freshwater:
One of the major problems that this island tourism suffers from is the shortage of
fresh water. These small islands have limited capacity to store water therefore largely depend
on the ground water resources. These ground water resources exist as the freshwater lenses
that also contain limited quantity (Qtic.com.au, 2018). This is because the islands are
surrounded by Marin water from all sides, which often damages the freshwater lenses. To
solve this problem, the authorities, have utilised technologies but this is the costliest method
of supplying available freshwater.
Pollution:
Tourism in these small islands has violated the natural lives greatly which has
affected the lives of the local inhabitants as well as the flora and fauna. These islands have
concentrated population, which is doubled due to tourism (Amelung & Nicholls, 2014). For
this, both the marine water and the fresh water supplies are being polluted by the sanitation

2
MANAGING TOURISM ON ISLANDS
facilities sited too close to the source. Beside this, excessive use of non-biodegradable
materials littered in the beaches and leach ate from solid waste disposal sites have become the
concern for the management team.
Tourism:
Tourist in both Heron and Green islands come to visit and explore the marine life
beneath water. Unfortunately, the most important factor that contributes in the economy of
this place is the reason of its degradation. The management feels it difficult to manage the
numbers of tourist indulged in snorkelling or diving in the deep water. They are disturbing
the marine life by coral mining or mass bleaching of corals. The management is also
concerned with the increasing issue of over fishing in the oceans near the islands (Cheng &
Wu, 2015). The increased use of cyanide for fishing has disturbed the marine life, which is
gradually affecting the tourism sector also.
Integration:
One of the chief management problems in this areas are of integration. Due to their
distance from the mainland, it has become problematic to manage the issues like
transportation, health care, conventional energy sources and service delivery. Despite the
fact, these islands have scope to utilise many facilities through various programs of the
government but disintegration between land-use planning and human settlements have greatly
affected the tourism in these islands.

3
MANAGING TOURISM ON ISLANDS
References:
Amelung, B., & Nicholls, S. (2014). Implications of climate change for tourism in
Australia. Tourism Management, 41, 228-244.
Cheng, T. M., & Wu, H. C. (2015). How do environmental knowledge, environmental
sensitivity, and place attachment affect environmentally responsible behavior? An
integrated approach for sustainable island tourism. Journal of Sustainable
Tourism, 23(4), 557-576.
McLennan, C. L. J., Becken, S., & Moyle, B. D. (2017). Framing in a contested space: Media
reporting on tourism and mining in Australia. Current Issues in Tourism, 20(9), 960-
980.
Qtic.com.au. (2018). QTIC - Supporting Qld Tourism Operators - Queensland Tourism
Industry Council. Qtic.com.au. Retrieved 21 January 2018, from
https://www.qtic.com.au/