Impact of Eco-Tourism on Local Communities in Kaikōura, New Zealand

This assignment explores the multifaceted impacts of eco-tourism in Kaikōura on its local communities. Students are required to assess both the socio-economic advantages, including job creation and cultural exchange, and potential drawbacks, like environmental degradation and disruption of local life. The analysis should draw upon various sources to evaluate sustainability practices and propose recommendations for enhancing positive outcomes while mitigating adverse effects.

Running head: TOURISM PLANNING
TOURISM PLANNING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Topic:
Significance of socio-cultural issues in the formulation of a Tourism Plan.
Using two case studies discuss how effective tourism planning can minimise potential
negative impacts and maximise positive benefits to the local community.

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Introduction
A blueprint that helps in providing focus and direction not only for a local tourism
industry but also for the local businesses, community and the government may be referred to
as a tourism plan. It may also be referred to as the mechanism that helps as a medium for the
local communities to assist the accommodation of the various aspirations of a community. A
tourism policy refers to the set of rules, regulations, directives, guidelines, and promotion or
developmental strategies which provide the framework that is inclusive of all the individual
and collective decisions that affect the development of tourism and the day-to-day activities
within the particular destination (Robinson, Lück & Smith, 2013). There are several
governmental institutions and bodies that formulate the tourism plans and policies.
Kaikoura is a small rural area situated on the eastern coast of the South Island of New
Zealand (Berger, 2017). The place is well-known for its eco-tourism aspects. The main
attraction of the place is the abundance of the marine life that find residence in the deep
Hikurangi Trench situated nearby. The following report deals with the ways in which
effective tourism planning may affect the local community in New Zealand. The report
discusses the positive impacts of the booming eco-tourism industry in the area. It also sheds
light on the negative impacts of the same and attempts at finding solutions for the reduction
of these issues.
Discussion
The socio-cultural impact refers to the changes in the daily experiences of the
residents of an area and the changes of their ways of life, values, artistic and intellectual
products. The socio-cultural impacts of tourism generally refer to the effects faced by the host
community on being linked directly or indirectly with the tourists that visit the place. The
host community is also affected by the interaction of the host community with the tourism
industry of the concerned region (Sharpley, 2014). The host communities are often found to
be the weaker party while interacting with the service providers or the guests. Impacts are
found to be long lasting and prominent in cases when changes are brought about by the
tourism industry in the value system of the host community thereby threatening the
indigenous identity of the host community. The tourism industry has some positive outcomes
as well. The industry fosters pride in the cultural traditions and serve as supporting drive
towards the establishment of peace (Kim, Uysal, & Sirgy, 2013). The tourism industry helps

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in creating employment windows in the local communities and thus helps avoiding relocation
to the urban areas (Stylidis et al, 2014; Spenceley, & Meyer, 2012).
The Kaikoura Peninsula stretches out into the sea in located at the southern part of the
town. This results in the abundance of the marine life that can be accessed from the place.
These marine life exists in the deep Hikurangi Trench. The town was primarily a center for
the whaling industry and owes its very existence to the residence of these whales, the
Hikurangi Trench. The word Kaikoura actually means the “meal of the crayfish”. The cray
fish industry plays a huge role in maintaining the economy of the country. In the modern
times, the area has transformed into a popular eco-tourism destination. The main attractions
of the spot are swimming alongside or near the dolphins and whale watching
(Media.newzealand.com, 2017). The tourists visit this place in order to watch the sperm
whales, an activity which is possibly the most developed and the best in the world at the
peninsula. There is yet another attraction that the tourists visit the place for. There is a readily
observed and large colony of the southern fur seals found at the eastern edge of the Kaikoura
town. During low tides, the rocky base is revealed from beneath the waves of the ocean. This
stretch can be easily explored on foot for a considerable stretch.
The Kaikoura Peninsula is one of those places of the world that are reasonably
accessible by the bird watchers as well. In this part of the country are found several sea birds
such as the petrels, shearwaters and the albatrosses. The Hutton’s shearwater is also found
nesting in the high mountains of Kaikoura (Whalewatch.co.nz, 2017). The place is well-
known for a branch of the Southern Alps, the Seaward Kaikoura mountains. The mountain
range are very close to the sea at this place thereby creating several walking tracks through
and over the mountains. The most common of them is the Mt. Fyffe track. The track winds its
way up to the Mt. Fyffe that provides a panoramic view of the peninsula of Kaikoura from
atop. The mountain is named after the first family that had settled down in the district of
Kaikoura. The cottage that the Fyffe family used as their residence is maintained till date by
Heritage, New Zealand, a Crown entity that aims to protect the ancestral sites and heritage
buildings of New Zealand. The house is famous for its structure. The supporting foundations
of the house are constructed with whalebones.
Resting on a peninsular of land between tall mountain ranges and the Pacific Ocean,
Kaikoura is an amazing attraction spot for tourism. The deep sea trench that extends inside by
500 meters, attracts rich marine life, including whales and dolphins. A town like Kaikoura,
has extensive chances of profit in areas like tourism. Tourism in mountainous ranges,

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swimming with dolphins and such whale-watching activities have helped this town get its
economic side up and balanced after the economic decline observed in 1980s.
There were quite a few reasons in favour of Kaikoura deciding for tourism for
instance:
 The threat of a reduction in visitor involvement and therefore income.
 Concern for the local environment was another reason directing towards
tourism.
 A local road accident resulted in spilling harmful chemical into the sea, thus
threatening the biodiversity there (Spiller & Bhowmick, 2014).
 Accumulation of waste was nearing the landfill limits.
Tourism encourages interaction with people from various cultures. This helps in
opening up prospective areas of trade and business opportunities. Such involvement is seen in
the case of Kaikoura Tourism Strategy, the District Council worked in hand with the
representatives of the local community and Lincoln University to guide the tourism direction
there. This benefitted the local community as they shared employment in the related areas of
such tourism. Councillors, tourism operators, Maori members as well as fishing industry
representatives all converged together in their effort to direct tourism efficiently in Kaikoura
(Unep.org, 2017).
This strategy worked by channelling in a diverse market base and developing land
based eco-tourism activities. Secondly, instead of directly working on the tourism front,
improvement from the tourism sector can also be achieved by regulating the environmental
factors and improving the overall habitat of the place. Hence, as is evident, another plus point
of tourism is furnished as the improvement of the environment of the local community. Thus
as a result, the local community is benefitted.
Waste management had begun to become an issue for the people of Kaikoura as
tourism was gradually increasing. Landfills were reaching its capacity and waste dumping
was becoming an issue. In order to mitigate the situation Innovative Waste Kaikoura (IWK),
a non-profit joint undertaking between the District council and a community trust came in to
action. They proposed the idea of recycling bio solid waste instead of just collecting and
dumping it (McDevitt, Langer & Leckie, 2013). This led to a 30 percent diversion of waste
from landfills. Gradually this scored up to 65 per cent when aided by a few more effective
measures such as investing into composting units, expanding recycling pick-ups, opening
second-hand shops and introducing Waste Management Protocols which reduced waste
accumulation and in turn saved money (United Nations Environment Programme. Division of

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Technology, 2005). This in turn aided the economic conditions and contributed towards
growth of life standards of the local community of Kaikoura.
The activity of tree planting has been incorporated as the Trees for Travellers project,
where the community ensures planting of some estimated two million trees to combat the
CO2 levels (Kaikoura.co.nz, 2017). Thereafter tourists buy those tress, to track their progress
via the internet. This project also undertakes a social aim of rehabilitating young law
offenders with tree planting and propagation jobs. This shows that the local community is not
only benefitted economically via the trade of trees with the tourists, but also socially, as the
troubled youth of the town finds suitable employment in a prestigious work contributing to
the wellness of the society. Overall energy consumption was reduced with the introduction of
a small business energy project that was started with the support of District Council. This
came into function as a result of managing tourism resources and thus minimizing energy
usage to enhance economy of the state. This contributed towards the benefit of local
community as well.
Although resident sperm whales are the main attraction here, other such whales
include the humpback, minke, blue, fin, sei, killer, beaked and pilot whales. The humpback
travels via Kaikoura on its annual journal to Antarctic waters for food. Hence biodiversity
preservation and proper land and coastal management are of primary importance to sustain
tourism. Various projects have been undertaken to ensure proper strengthening of
biodiversity which includes native ways of the Maori, as well as preventing overfishing, and
proper management of waterways, wetlands and other habitats. Introduction of Conservation
working holidays, identification of national as well as international importance of local
biodiversity and assistance for protection of such sperm whales via measures like rate reliefs,
construction of reserves and private contracts along with other aforementioned projects like
“Trees for Travellers”; all of these contributed to the conservation of natural habitat and
biodiversity thus ensuring the flow and growth of tourism in the town. As a result of proper
maintenance of the local flora and fauna the overall quality of the local ecosystem flourished
thus enriching the local community.
Kaikoura had to establish the fact that it was fulfilling the required standards with
respect to various management processes including various topics like energy usage;
greenhouse gas emissions, quality of air and water, biodiversity levels etc. At the 2013
census, most developed employment industries in the Kaikoura District were accommodation
and food services, agriculture, forestry and fishing and retail trade (Stats.govt.nz, 2017). The
wellbeing of the local community was also such a topic to be measured via close examination

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of the local residents. Kaikoura’s final certification as a Green Globe destination in 2004,
gave it the necessary exposure as a tourist spot internationally thus boosting its overall
economic as well as socio-cultural conditions. This also helped in creating awareness and
commitment to sustainability management amongst the entire community and the entire
world at large. Thus tourism, in a way, helped achieve the local community goodwill on the
national as well as international front.
Kaikoura has exhibited a sequential approach to make tourism sustainable by relying
on commitment from both the local authority as well as the local community. At a national
level the importance of such activities has been recognised thus uplifting the social strata of
the Kaikoura people. Presently the government is providing proper support and funding work
on sustainability with bands of individual tourism business ventures as well as local
communities. The region is also being looked upon for drafting a charter with regional
business corporations committing to its principles.
Marine animals inclusive of the endemic species like the Hector’s dolphin and the
New Zealand sea lion as well as the endangered species like the bottlenose dolphin are found
to be the main attraction of tourist operations. According to a study done to investigate the
effects of commercial tourism and the water vehicles used for recreational purposes on the
common dolphins in their natural habitat in the ocean, the behavior of the dolphins is found
to be altered on a major level. The behavior of the dolphins during foraging was found to
have undergone huge noticeable changes (Messiner et al, 2015; Lundquist, 2012). The
dolphins were found spending less time in foraging during the interactions with the vessels.
The creatures even took longer times to return once their foraging was disrupted by the
recreational vessels. There is seen a potential disruption in the feeding aspects of the dolphins
as well. The recreational vessels are mostly run on oil and chemicals. The leakage of such
material may prove harmful to the ecosystem of the Kaikoura peninsula. Thus these vessels
used for recreation and commercial tourism should be kept in check so as to maintain the
fauna of the peninsula. The commercialization of the activity of whale watching may hamper
the mortality of the whales due to collisions between the mammal and the vessels (Parsons,
2012).
Conclusion
In conclusion to the above report it may be said that the tourism industry affects the
socio-cultural conditions of a region in both positive and negative manners. Tourism affects
the local culture and may even turn them into commodities thus resulting in reconstructed

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ethnicity. The sites and objects that may be considered sacred by the host community may not
be respected in the same manner by the tourists who visit the place. The craftsmen are seen to
be catering to the demands of the tourists for the souvenirs thereby contributing to cultural
erosion. Hence, as is evident from the aforementioned facts with respect to Kaikoura, tourism
in general provides a lot of benefits to the indigenous people and the local community at
large. Economic development is seen, as well as improvement on the socio-cultural front can
also be observed which, although is supported by the cumulative efforts of quite a few
governing bodies, but is essentially the outcome of tourism interests.

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