706RTH Impact Of Marine Ecotourism In New Zealand Assessment 3 Answer

Answer :

Impact of Marine Ecotourism in New Zealand

Research Paper / Assessment 3 / 706RTH

Introduction

Although the term "marine ecotourism" has different meanings, its simplest definition is the use of the ocean for enjoying and appreciating the natural marine environment in all its forms, along with any associated cultural characteristic. Some of the benefits of marine ecotourism towards society are the regeneration of coastal communities and coping the challenges of reduced income, low investment levels, immigration issues, and high unemployment rates and so on. On the other hand, it is thought that marine ecotourism is a way of achieving an environmentally safe and sustainable development. The development through marine ecotourism can help meet the needs of the present, while not causing resource degradation for future generations (Bakar & Wall, 2018). 

Marine ecotourism should have the concept of intrinsic sustainability which can be possible if the concept of sustainability is integrated from the beginning of the process and therefore all the activities are planned and managed in the same way. The main issue with this concept is that economic benefits can indeed be achieved through marine ecotourism to the marginal areas of New Zealand, but unless it is planned and managed in an appropriate manner in accordance with the principles of sustainable development, it will not last long (Campbell, King, Heppenstall, Van Gool, Martin & Hewitt 2017). Marine ecotourism that is not truly sustainable exposes itself to destroy the base of its own resource, and thus, the cycle of disintegration among the marginal areas along the coastal regions in New Zealand continues (Shone, Rose, Espiner, Thompson & Stewart, 2015). To achieve the true spirit of marine ecotourism it is crucial that the universally accepted principles of sustainable tourism are applied by the entire Pacific Area focusing on providing solutions to local issues since the marine resource is not confined to a boundary and it is a shared resource (Bakar & Wall, 2018).

Tourists are often considered to be at the root of problems and are also the most likely to reduce the problems associated with tourism by their behaviour. Yet knowledge about tourist preferences is incomplete, which limits the effectiveness of the strategies put in place by the various stakeholders in the ecotourism sector. The scientific literature is a corpus of numerous case studies where the results are difficult to compare with each other and not generalizable to consumers’ ethical behaviour towards ecotourism and particularly marine ecotourism (Campbell et al., 2017).

Research Question

What factors influence consumers ethical behaviour towards sustainability of Marine Ecotourism?

Research Aim

In regard to the research question, the aim of the current research is to determine the importance of marine ecotourism and the issues associated with it in New Zealand and what factors impact on the consumers’ ethical behaviour, values and preservation of the oceans for future generations. 

Research Rationale

Recent researches speak of "positive ethical consumerism" when the consumer expresses a preference for more ethical products and services. However, the existing research studies on ecotourism do not include the consumer, the most important stakeholder who, by paying, conditions the survival of companies. It is, therefore, essential to conducting research that revolves around ethical behaviour of consumers towards marine ecotourism and the factors that influence their behaviour (Shone et al., 2015). This research is not only indicated for the educational community but also for companies that already function as "marine ecotourism" in one way or another. 

In addition, although it is well known that New Zealand's current marine ecotourism regulations have limitations, it is unrealistic to completely change the legal system. However, it is also unrealistic to avoid solving the intrinsic weaknesses (Cohen, Prayag, and Motilal, 2014). Thus, the current research also explores the legislation concerning marine ecotourism in New Zealand.

Literature Review

Ecotourism as a tourism industry sector provides the tourists with a chance to understand the natural environment and its compatibility with the principles of sustainable development. The concept of marine ecotourism is a form of ecotourism that covers the oceans and coastal areas or sometimes both. With its development, coastal communities are able to face economic and social challenges with better preparedness (Bakar & Wall, 2018). 

The natural environment and the marine life can achieve a number of benefits from Marine ecotourism, for example, in the form of funds raised by it so that it can be utilized to protect the environment. Moreover, it can exacerbate the natural environment by increasing knowledge about ecotourism and sustainable development principles and providing economic alternatives to tourism activities. However, proper planning for the development and marketing of marine ecotourism is required to play its role effectively to ensure that the ecotourism and sustainability practices are compatible with each other (Cohen et al., 2014). Commercializing ecotourism means to bring visitors more close to nature. It has the objective of carrying out such activities that enable the tourists to discover the things or the acts that cause serious damage to the environment. Marine ecotourism if not carried out in good conditions, or if done in excess, can cause more harm than good (Lück, 2015).

Marine ecotourism revolves fundamentally around the issue of establishing and maintaining an interdependent relationship of tourism with the marine environment. Thus, ecotourism must be directed to provide tourists with a satisfactory experience (for which they will pay) while increasing the value of the natural environment and protecting the marine life since marine ecotourism depends on these (Parsons, 2012). 

The necessity of marine ecotourism of a quality environment is both a weakness and a virtue. Where on one hand, marine ecotourism involves putting tourists in contact with the natural environment; on the other hand, there is a risk that they damage the surrounding discovered by ecotourists. Thus, for example, the observation of whales from motor boats can affect them negatively at key points in their life stage (Parsons, 2012). As a result, the whale population can be threatened by marine ecotourism that ecotourists intend to observe (Walker & Weiler, 2017). Marine ecotourism depends on the base of a sustainable and quality environment that have the responsibility of respecting and protecting the environment while at the same time discover the negative factors affecting the environment and provide the funds for its preservation and development. (Lück, 2015). 

The most challenging issue facing marine ecotourism planners is the dynamic nature of the marine environment. Although the terrestrial environment can often be compartmentalized in a spatial manner, the same cannot usually be applied to the marine environment due to several reasons. In the ocean and the coastal regions, the pollution or sediments released through sea transports can spread in a larger area through the action of water currents, ocean currents and atmospheric processes (Jupiter, Weeks, Tawake, & Govan, 2014) and therefore, can affect other localities, often very distant. Physical changes in the coastal environment also threaten these areas, such as destroying habitats that are critical to ecosystem health (Bearzi, 2017). 

Influence on international hospitality and future trend

International destinations of various countries must make tourist aware about the various marine environment issues and promote marine tourism activities in such a way that it brings about a change in the ethical bevahiour choices and tastes of the international tourist and they have a unique experience what the host countries have to offer. As future trend, volunteer tourism has emerged as a niche market segment of seasonal travellers who are inspired and want to move away from the regular travel pattern and even assist in conducting and monitoring various conservation and community projects all based on the marine environment (Charters, 2011).

Ethical Issues

Dishonestness may be a possibility when conducting research. For example, this study has provided some information, but no one else has written about the same type of information. When conducting research, there are many academic articles that are based on their titles, and they do not necessarily provide a clear understanding of the information they need. In addition, there are some articles that are not accessible. Every reliable source and information used in this study is endorsed by any means and cited and referenced accordingly. Since the data used is public, copyright licenses do not cause an issue.

Gaps in literature

Journal articles studied during the research do not conduct extensive research on consumer ethical behaviors of marine ecotourism with a focus on New Zealand. The research article did not pay attention to the New Zealand government's policies and regulations for the protection of the ocean. The gaps in the literature will be limited research areas of interest in literature and New Zealand.

Methodology

This section discusses the methodology and the mixed method approach has been used to conduct research. The term “mixed method” refers to an emerging research approach that facilitates systematic integration or “mixing” of quantitative and qualitative data in a single survey or ongoing survey process (Wisdom & Creswell, 2013).

Primary data has not been used in this research due to time constraints. The current research is secondary research based on the academic source. A comprehensive literature search has been conducted on the importance and issues of marine ecotourism in New Zealand and the factors that influence the consumers’ ethical behaviour towards marine ecotourism. Internet search engine “Google scholar” has been the best source for collecting secondary data. The information from journal articles, academic reports and books were also used to obtained more secondary data. Online AUT libraray was accessed mainly to collected all the required information. 

Ethics

Ethical issues and constraints were taken into account before conducting this research. Consequently, ethical issues identified with it should be considered. The primary ethical issue is that the articles selected must be selected deliberate (The Research Ethics Guidebook, 2019). Each article has been evaluated in detail by looking at the methodology and findings as well as look at the claims of other articles that disagree with the findings of selected articles. The privacy of the authors was protected and only relevant data and names were used for the purpose of research. All relevant information sourced from the articles and information used from the articles and from credible websites were citied and referenced appropriately and no publishers had to be requested for permission to use their data as most of the information came from publicly available websites and journals.

< align="justify" style="text-align:justify;">Data Analysis and Findings 

In the data analysis, all the data have been analyzsed by using the graph and tabulation forms. The grapchial presentation of the gathered information have bene made which helps in easy understanding of data. The comparisino analysis has also been made to  assess the viability ofhte gathered data in context with the impact of htemarine ecotourism in New Zealand.   The regression analysis method have been followed to assess the relation between international tourist arrival and marine ecotourism in New Zealand. In the recent times, there has been a lot of awareness about the marine ecotourism and its sustainability. It is a market which is profitable and takes care of the environmental conservation along with promoting the interest of local communities. This can help in providing positive results in terms of a sustainable outlook of the world. The marine ecotourism needs to be based on nature, educational and is supposed to be managed with the theory of sustainability. The development should take place in a manner that the resources do not degrade for future generations (YAO, 2011).

The regression analysis is the estimation of the model parameters, based on the collected data. The rule or function used to calculate the regression equation from the observed data.

Marine ecotourism vessels

By using the regression analysis method and the graphical presentation, it has been found that there has been increasing expenditure and arrivals of the tourist as well on international level. Howeve in order to strengthen the Marine ecotourism, investment by the government for the support program has increased by average 15% it  can only be sustainable if those methodologies are taken care of since the beginning that there is proper planning to meet the needs. However, the issue still lies with the benefits in terms of economic welfare and if this has no proper planning, the future generation may have to pay a good cost associated for the same. Nothing is forever and hence the resources are to be used in an economic manner along with taking care of the ecological system. Tourists are a main concern for this matter and if they understand their responsibility better by not littering around and just enjoy the nature at its best, it can never be deteriorated. The purpose is to have such conservation projects that take care of this issue well and may provide the valuable insights that helps in sustainability of Marine Ecotourism (Palmer, & Chuamuangphan, 2018).

The issues with the environmental are consistently increasing which has been found by making the number of marine ecotourism vessels, by type, owned by operators surveyed. This means that people are still not aware with what harm they are causing to the environment. This is a resultant of them throwing waste around, air pollution, improper waste disposal, disturbance made to flora and fauna, intensive use of water, use of energy, and a lot more. This may result into the loss of biodiversity and there is no world when there is no biodiversity. Negative impacts on biodiversity is harmful for everyone. Non-seasonal rains, global warming, melting of glaciers are some of the impacts that people are facing these days, and this is not leading to any significant results. This has become a global issue now which is also at a deteriorating stage. Spilling of fuel in the water, throwing plastic, food and other things can make it difficult for sea animals to survive. There has been a research how they die because of consuming plastic each year and the coastal communities as well face the consequences (O’Keefe,  Messervey, and Squires, 2017).

After conducting the research and using the regrsion analysis method accompanied with th graph it has been found that Marine ecotourism takes care of both the oceans as well as the coastal areas. Commercialization of ecotourism brings more visitors to the live the nature. The objective is to carry out the activities that do not harm the nature and if this is not taken care of better, it may cause more harm. The issue of establishing and maintaining an independent relationship between tourism and the environment is what is called “sustainable development”. Therefore, ecotourism needs to be directed so that the tourists have a satisfactory and blissful experience that increases the value of natural environment along with protecting the marine life as this is the only basis of ecotourism. Marine ecotourism that is not truly sustainable exposes itself to destroy the base of its own resource, and thus, the cycle of disintegration among the marginal areas along the coastal regions in New Zealand continues (Shone, Rose, Espiner, Thompson & Stewart, 2015).

After evaluating the given graph based on the analysis method using the regression analysis method, it can be found that Marine ecotourism is such a need that it can be considered either a weakness or a virtue. This is because at one place it involves a direct contact of the tourists with the natural environment, while on the other hand there is a risk involved that may lead to damage the surroundings by the tourists. For example, observing whales from motor boats can have a negative impact on their life. This may lead to the decline of the population of whales. The most challenging issue facing marine ecotourism planners is the dynamic nature of the marine environment.

In context with the analysis made, it has been found that  relation of the tourism sustainbiltiy on the international level and ecotourism of marine depends largely on the sustainable and quality environment keeping in mind respecting, preserving and protecting the environment along with discovering the negative factors that affect the environment and providing funds as well so that it can be developed and preserved in a better manner.#

Discussion

Any business which is commercial in New Zealand needs to have a permit which is issued by the Department of Conservation (DoC). This department assesses each application carefully and then grants the permit. This operation should not be conflicting with the conservation management strategies or should not have adverse effects. It should always be having an interest in the conservation of the species that are targeted. The people who are responsible for the strategy need to hold an experience in the same so that the implementation of the strategy is easier and has a good success rate. The tourists need to be guided and educated well so that they don’t throw anything in water and understand the ecological balance (YAO, 2011). The permits also need to be regulated and should be granted to less ventures so that all the rules are being followed well. There are permitted, and non-permitted tour vessel operators around marine wildlife and these non-permitted vessels are the ones that are more harmful. Therefore, they should use other waterways.

On the basis of the research conducted and regression analysis method, anova method used in this research, it has been discussed that there is a weak link between the principles and practices that are being followed for ecotourism. However, ecotourism has got everything to do with the sustainability and the driver who operates ecotourism has an intension to have a financially profitable output from it. This leads to the increase in the people or the number of visitors that does the damage. Therefore, it should be a mixture of cost and benefits. There needs to be a proper planning in mind and have parallel efforts that ensure that the planning is being executed. The government needs to co-ordinate with the leading agency about the development initiatives that have been taken. The attention has to be paid to the spatial planning that provides a strategic framework for public sector investment. This will lead to the fact that the program as well as the individual projects will demonstrate that the planning is as per the requirement.

The data analysis made in thish research by using the grapchal presenation and regression analysis it has been found that the system of planning has a crucial role to play in promoting, regulating and organizing the marine ecosystem. The planning officials as well as the elected members need to have permit which is only granted to the people who understand the value of nature and the need of ecotourism. The initiators who take care of local marine tourism are supposed to review the policy context of planning. This will help in ensuring that any instruments that are being used are supportive with the goal of having ecotourism and do not harm marine life in any way. A clear policy statement is an important signal to take the decisions. There also needs to be a periodic review of the plans that are being executed and should be flexible enough that they can be revised as and when required. Also, there needs to be some rating system which can be proved as helpful that determines how well the responsible tourism is taking care of the preservation criteria and what all are the things that are still needed to be catered (O’Keefe, Messervey and Squires, 2017). There has been a research which reflects the key understaddning on the consuming plastic each year and the coastal communities as well face the consequences

Conclusion and Recommendations

There has been a rapid growth in marine ecotourism of New Zealand in last two decades and has been a point of focus. This helps in promoting the business of the New Zealand and lets people live nature more closely. However, all this should not be done on the cost of degraded environment, marine life and the coastal areas. There are several challenges, but sustainable development has always been the primary thing to focus. An appropriate strategy can help in gaining the ecological balance that helps not to deteriorate the nature for future generations of New Zealand (Bennett, 2016). Having an ecotourism can also benefit in many ways like there can be contribution to government revenues which can be categorized as direct and indirect taxes. Any income generated can have ecotax on it and there is no problem at all in paying a tax that works for the welfare of the nature. This can also lead to significant employment generation like in restaurants, taxis, souvenirs, and indirectly through the supply of goods needs to have that ecological balance (King, 2014).

This analysis and secoundary information gathered from this research, it has been discussed that there has been various benefits and hence should have regulators that take care of the planning strategies. The educated tourists are always better than those who haven’t been imparted with any training program (Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Sustainability in 2018, 2019). They better know how to treat nature and what are the implications associated with it. There should not be an adverse effect of the global environment and hence practicing marine ecotourism plays a vital role. High quality resources are required for the successful implementation but having people who have better knowledge can be really helpful.

Marine ecotourism can be taken as an opportunity that can help regenerating coastal communities get rid of the economic hardships in New Zealand. Marine development can also be helpful for the natural environment of New Zeland by raising funds that can be used for the conservation of the environment, and also provide alternatives to not deplete the natural environment (King, 2014). Propagating eco-awareness needs to be an important part and goes hand-in-hand with the principles of sustainable development. Efficient ways to cut down to emissions encourages in the sustainable growth. Since smart development is the one that takes care of the environment, there is no point on understanding the implications associated with it. Enjoying the unspoiled nature is what everyone intends to experience(Palmer and Chuamuangphan, 2018). Clean water and air are the basics and they should never be spoiled. A healthy community that has clear air and water defines sustainable development. Nature conservation needs to be everyone’s motive and there has to be potential strategies for the same. If nature is not preserved, there is no life for anyone and this is the only objective of having a sustainable Marine Ecotourism of New Zealand.