IMPACTS OF TOURISM ACTIVITIES ON THE ENVIRONMENT

My brother in law Collis worked really hard and finally today is "Blog Action Day" !!!! The day him and his wife have been planing and working on for so long. They day everybody writes something about the environment. Every blogger unites today for one cause only. Since I am studying Bachelor of Tourism, I thought I would write the impacts of tourism activities on the environment and how it contributes to the climate change mainly. My case study will be on Australia and Tasmania.

Tourism industry is dependent on the climate. Especially Australia is a tourist destination with its exceptional climate and environmental beauty such as different species and coral reef. Tourists usually choose their holiday destinations depending on the pleasant climate of the place. For instance, being on the southern hemisphere is an advantage for Australian tourism because of the opposite climate of the northern hemisphere. However, the issue of climate change largely affects tourism industry (Amelung, Nicholas & Viger, 2007) in every part of the world. Researchers claim Australia’s future as vulnerable because of the negative impacts of climate change. It is essential to know the interactions between climate change and tourism industry to be able to analayse the necessary outcomes which might affect the future of the planet. For this reason, this study explores the definition of climate change, its connection with tourism ad its impacts on tourism and also the impacts of tourism industry on climate change with a case study on Australia with a specific focus on Tasmania.


Climate change is the change by human activities which contribute earth’s atmosphere. This contribution is in addition to earth’s natural climate activity that has been examined over comparable time periods (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),?). Natural internal process or external forces may cause climate change but UNFCCC makes a distinction of climate change with referring to impacts of human activities on the atmosphere’s composition and “climate variability” as natural causes. Scientific researches show that some level of climate change is due to the high level of greenhouse gases. The ‘Greenhouse Effect’ is actually a natural process. Because this is caused by gases on the atmosphere, which helps to keep the temperature would be no greenhouse effect the average temperature would be -18°C. On the other hand, with human activities this natural level of greenhouse effect raised into risk level which leads to global warming. According to Agne and Viner (2001), over 0.5°C of temperature rise has been observed in global temperatures during 21^st century. The temperature rise in the 20^th century has been more rapid than any other times. This is because of the start of the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution started the release of vast quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases, which were caused by burning of fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, into the atmosphere.

Additionally, greenhouse effect refers to the effect of the warming of the planet trough the presence of the greenhouse gases, such as water vapour (H2O), clouds and other gases (see: Table 3) that absorb the heath radiated from the earth’s surface (Taylor, 1990). Taylor (1990) furthermore explains how human activities contributed for more release of greenhouse gases and create climate change. He indicates that the natural greenhouse gases already warm the atmosphere approximately 33°C.According to Viner and Amelung (cited in Dubois & Ceron,2006), climate change entered to tourism industry’s concern list in 2003 after the conference of World Tourism Organisation (WTO) on tourism and climate change, followed by two research workshops by NATO and European Science Foundation. Dubois and Ceron (2006) claim that tourism itself has never been concerned as the main contributor - apart from transportation - to the climate change and currently the perceptions of stakeholders are influenced by this. This shows that many stakeholders are not aware of the common problems that they share and also create. The issues about tourism and climate change are complicated since tourism industry involves many other industries with in as well. However, it is possible to classify the issues into three groups that are raised by the climate change; first issue is the impact of the climate change on tourism, second issue is the impact of tourism industry on climate change and the third one is the possible impacts of greenhouse gas mitigation policies on tourism. The last issue is usually ignored although it needs to be explored as well (Dubois & Ceron, 2006).

According to Dubois and Ceron (2006), research on tourism greatly depends on the climate change and its current situation. The general state of climate change on a world scale shows that the climate is getting warmer. Predicted warming range is between 1.5 to 6 degrees by the end of this century which also means that the continents will be getting 1.5 degrees warmer than the oceans. It has been forecasting that earth can face with climatic surprises, such as the disappearance of Gulf stream (Duplessy; Duplessy & Morel; Schwartz & Randall, cited in Dubois & Ceron, 2006), which happened 15,000 years ago and resulted with 5-6 degrees of decrease in the temperature in Europe. There could also extreme climatic events occur such as El Nina and La Nina in the Pacific, which is related to the 2 or 3 degrees of temperature change. These changes in temperatures actually depend on the geographic positions (Dubois & Ceron, 2006). The lack of reliable local scenarios about climate change creates a great issue of uncertainty for forecasting about the impacts of climate change on local tourism industry.

Climate conditions and physical natural environment is very important for tourists to decide the holiday destination (Smith, cited in Agnew & Viner, 2006). According Wall and Badke (cited in Agnew & Viner, 2006), even though the research about the impacts of climate change on tourism industry has just begun; the consequences of the possible scenarios are already being taken in consideration. As Australia has taken as a case study it will be helpful to explore the impacts of climate change on Australian tourism industry. To be able to see the impact on tourism industry, the impacts on the environment need to be shown. Table 4 summarises these impacts;

Climate changes:

• changing weather patterns
• increased number, range and severity of cyclones
• changes in rainfall and run-off changes in cloudiness;

Coastal impacts:

• inundation of coastlines
• coastal recession changes in coastal vegetation, eg. salt marshes
• storm surge levels
• increased drowning of the Great Barriers Reef
• changing fishery production

Hydrology and water resources:

• increased erosion due to wind and water
• changes in ground water recharge and salinity
• greater probability of large and damaging floods
• need to redesign flood carrying structures
• changes in soil moisture during the growing season
• changes in available irrigation water reduction
• changes in extent and duration of snow cover;

Natural biosphere:

• shifts in bioclimatic zones
• changes in the distribution and abundance of native flora and fauna
• local and regional extinction of species
• increased growth due to CO2 fertilisation
• increased frequency of bushfires;
  

Food production:

• reduced grain production capacity in southern Australia
• increased year-to-year crop variability
• increased growth due to CO2 fertilisation
• reduced production due to increases in cloudiness
• reduced yields of warm temperate crops due to less winter chilling;

Society:

• relocation of industry and populations
• economic impacts of the costs and response to climate change
• increased energy costs
• increased food costs
• increased insurance costs
• increase in diseases
• increases in natural hazards
• institutional responses to climate change national
• regional and industrial action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• changing international cooperation and policies

Table 4 – Potential impacts of climate change in Australia (source: Taylor, 1990)

Australia, as being the sixth largest country with 7,682,300 km² covering area and has a coastline 36,735 km (Agnew & Viner, 2001), can be taken as an example to show the effects of climate change. According to Agnew & Viner (2001), Australia has a very variable climate such as subtropical north and significantly colder regions of south. Northern parts have tropical monsoons in summer while having dry winters. In the southern parts of Australia, winter is the wet season. In terms of tourism industry, which is one of Australia’s largest and also fast growing industries, Australia is a country conducive to outdoor holiday. The Great Barrier Reef, the blue mountains, water based recreation activities and winter sports in Australian Alps are the main attractions for tourists (Agnew & Vine, 2001) Because of these tourism activities, many jobs have been created. For instance, according to Agnew and Vine (2001), just with winter tourism industry 12,000 full time jobs have been found. Clearly, tourism is a major contributor to the local economy.

As it has shown in table 4, one of the impacts of climate change is the decrease in snow cover because of the continuing warming of atmosphere, which means the Australian Alps might be having shorter ski season. In these resorts, snow usually last minimum 4 weeks up to 4 months. The worst scenario about the average snow cover says that by 2030 snow cover could contract by 66% and therefore, there would be insufficient natural snow for viable ski operations (Whetton, cited by Agnew &Viner, 2001). According to Whetton (2001), Australian winter tourism may lose 44% of their skiers. Among these resorts Mt Buller, Mt Buffalo, Selwyn Snow Fields and Mt Baw Baw are the most vulnerable ones. This negative impact of climate change will affect the job opportunities such as resorts; if they will be receiving less snow then the business will not last long very long and may face to close down the resorts. Although artificial snow could be a resolution it would depend on the cost of the artificial snow for a resort.

This increase in the temperature also means the high risk of bush fires (i.e. the last big bush fire in Hobart in December 2006). Moreover, the temperature increase may influence the seasonal and geographical abundance of the major malarias vector species and vertebrate hosts. In sequence, this would raise the risk of mosquito borne diseases in tropical and temperate Australia (Liehne, cited by Agnew & Viner, 2001). Another health risk, which has been slowly showing itself, is to get the skin cancer. As it has mentioned in table 4, the decrease in the amount of cloud cover eventually increases the ultra violet radiation (WMO, cited by Agnew & Viner, 2001). These potential health risks will possibly affect tourists’ decision on choosing the best holiday destination.

Coral reefs are one of the most important tourist attractions and therefore an essential economical income but with raising temperatures the reefs are facing with the coral bleaching events which might end up as catastrophe for these tropical marine ecosystems (Hoegh-Guldberg, cited in Agnew & Viner, 2001). Because when the temperature is higher than normal, the reef building corals become vulnerable to damage by light and die in large numbers (Birkeland, cited in Agnew & Viner, 2001). Researches show that in the next 20 years time the Great Barrier Reef will be severely damaged by increasing sea temperatures which will cause a decrease in tourist numbers (Hoegh-Guldberg, cited in Agnew & Viner, 2001).

If needed to be more specific and narrow down the region to analyse the impacts of climate change on tourism industry, Tasmania would be a good choice to focus on. Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) (2007) has published the impacts of climate change on Tasmania on their website under the sub heading of “Projected impacts”. According to AGO website (2007), Tasmanian weather is expected to be warmer than today’s and because of this change air-condition usage may increase and cause a growth in peak summer energy demand which may also include the risk of blackouts. This is important for a tourist on choosing their holiday destination. Tourists tend to choose the destination according to their comfort levels. On the other hand, the geographical situation of the island will still be keeping the region cooler than mainland and it is known that the southern hemisphere has the least land mass comparing to the north hemisphere which is an advantage for Australia especially for Tasmania. In terms of tourism industry, this geographical advantage may help to boost tourist flow to the island.

As the disease risks, snow cover and extreme weather events that have been mentioned for Australia earlier also apply for Tasmania. The expectation for 2030 is increased rainfall with the combination of high evaporation which may lead uncertain effects on run-off into rivers. Moreover, snow cover is expected to decrease by 10 to 40 per cent by 2020, which may potentially have significant effects on alpine tourism and fragile ecosystems. Increase in extreme weather events such as strong storms may have negative impacts on the infrastructure, water, communication etc. These elements are crucial in terms of tourism industry. The negative impact on these means damage on the industry in the region.

Bushfire risk may not be changing in Hobart by 2020; however, by 2050 the risk in Launceston might change from 1.5 to 1.5 - 1.9 days and to 1.6 - 3.1 days. Although some agricultural crops seem to benefit from high CO2, protein levels seem to be decreasing. Frost-sensitive yields possibly react positive but warmer weather also means less rainfall which may reduce yields (AGO, 2007). This may have a negative impact on backpack tourism since backpackers are after cheaper holidays and prefer to work in fields to earn money to support their holiday on their holiday destination. Moreover, food sector one of the most important parts of tourism industry may need to increase their prices on meals which might affect the accommodation costs of holiday makers.

As it has mentioned earlier, the second issue about climate change interactions is the impact of tourism industry on climate change. The International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism in 2003 highlighted that tourism industry recognises its contribution to climate change (Sustainable Tourism CRC Group (STCRC), 2007). STCRC explains that visitor activities such as using energy and limited sources are creating greenhouse gas emissions and are stressing the already stressed ecosystem that they are visiting is the main issue. Travel is the biggest sub industry for tourism. Tourists have to travel to get to their destinations and the growing transport sector as a whole has been a great contributor to the greenhouse effect (Dubois & Ceron, 2006). Although road travel is a bigger contributor than the air travel, expectations are on the rise of air travel, therefore rise on the contribution to greenhouse emission. Additionally, water and energy consumption of tourists are on average due to infrastructure design and facility use. Especially the focus on some specific ecosystems of tourism industry puts more pressure on the sensitive ecosystems which affects the local flora and fauna (STCRC, 2007).

The impact of climate change on tourism industry is not just negative, there are also some effects can be taken as positive impacts. For instance, the realisation on negative impacts on travel might help tourists to shift to domestic travel, which might help to improve the domestic tourism. Also, tourist demand on environmentally friendly hotels, transportation, infrastructure etc can help for business owners and governments to adopt the necessary equipments and follow the guidelines for environmentally friendly destinations. Because of the climate change and increasing temperatures, Tasmania’s tourism industry more likely to grow. Even with warmer climate Tasmania will be cooler than mainland which will be an important point to consider for holiday makers.

According to the climate change the market demand in tourism may change. For instance, the seasonality is expected to different than today, tourist attractions might replace with the human built attractions (i.e. human made ski areas) and improvement in marketing strategies to be able to cop with expanding and diminishing markets (STCRC, 2007). Nevertheless, the communication between the stakeholders seems to be a solution to reduce the greenhouse effect as result from tourism. STCRC (2007) recommends a communication strategy to improve the awareness amongst tourism industry. This communication would include all stake holders such as transport, finance, Commonwealth and general public. Government investments in this matter are also essential for the support to climate change concerns. It is also useful to use some tools and kits to promote the training of businesses and general public etc about the climate change (STCRC, 2007).

In conclusion, this study has focused on the impacts of climate change on tourism and impacts of tourism on climate change. Tourism is heavily based on the climate conditions for great amount of tourist attractions. Therefore, any change in the climate directly affects tourism industry and the tourist behaviour on choosing their holiday destinations. Many countries are vulnerable to these climatic changes and also economically dependent on the tourism industry income. Australia is one of these countries. Because of the geographical location, Australia becomes vulnerable as an outcome of climate change. Although economy of the country is not wholly dependent on tourism industry, its proportion on the economy is quite large. However, Tasmania’s location is better than the mainland and the climate change affects are not as negative as on Australia. For some cases, Tasmania might benefit from climate change as its impact is not just negative. On the other hand, the impact of tourism on climate change is the main issue that the industry facing. Internationally tourism industry seems accepting its impact on the climate change with the contribution of transportation activities and consumption of energy and water of tourists. Finally, the interaction between climate change and tourism industry is undeniable but it is up to stakeholders in tourism industry to reduce the impacts.

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References

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