Marine Science (0697) | Tourism

👋 Welcome to the Tourism Chapter!

This chapter is all about how humans impact the beautiful marine world through travel and holidays. Tourism might seem like harmless fun, but when millions of people visit coastal and ocean environments, the effects—both good and bad—can be huge!

We are covering Section 6.2 of your syllabus: examining why tourism is important, how it damages ecosystems, and, most importantly, how we can make it more sustainable. Let's dive in!

1. The Socio-Economic Importance of Tourism

Tourism is a major source of income for many countries, especially those with attractive coastlines and marine life (like coral reefs). We call these benefits the socio-economic importance.

Key Concept 1: Socio-Economic Benefits (6.2.1)

When tourists spend money in a coastal area, it creates a chain reaction of benefits for the local community:

• Employment: Tourism creates jobs, such as hotel workers, dive instructors, restaurant staff, and boat captains.
• Income: Money flows into the local economy, helping businesses thrive.
• Improved Infrastructure: Increased income and government revenue often leads to better roads, communications (Wi-Fi), and essential services like hospitals and schools, benefiting all local residents.

Quick Takeaway: Tourism provides money and jobs, which can significantly improve the quality of life and basic services in coastal towns.

2. Ecotourism: A Sustainable Approach

Not all tourism is equally damaging. The syllabus requires you to understand a specific, positive type of travel called Ecotourism.

Defining Ecotourism (6.2.2)

Ecotourism is tourism that focuses on experiencing natural areas while being ecologically sustainable.

Don't worry if that sounds complicated! It just means travel done in a way that minimises harm and actively helps the environment and local culture.

Ecotourism encourages:

• Environmental Understanding: Tourists learn about the fragile ecosystem they are visiting (e.g., learning why you shouldn't step on coral).
• Appreciation and Conservation: Because tourists appreciate the environment, they are willing to pay for its conservation.

Analogy: Think of regular tourism as a massive hotel built right on the beach, polluting the water. Ecotourism is a small, quiet, solar-powered cabin built slightly inland that runs conservation tours.

3. Analyzing the Impacts of Marine Tourism (The Good and The Bad) (6.2.3)

We must discuss both the positive impacts (which often relate to ecotourism) and the significant negative impacts of tourism on the marine environment.

Positive Impacts (Benefits for the Marine Environment)

• Preservation Interest: Tourists appreciate the environment and often want to preserve it for the future. This creates public pressure and support for conservation.
• Marine Protected Areas (MPAs): Income from tourism (like entrance fees or diving permits) can fund the development and management of MPAs, which are vital for protecting marine life.
• Conservation Involvement: Tourist operations often involve or partner with conservation organisations, providing funding and manpower for research and cleanup efforts.

Negative Impacts (Damage to the Marine Environment)

Unfortunately, many tourist activities can directly harm sensitive marine ecosystems, like coral reefs or mangrove forests.

1. Habitat Destruction and Resource Competition:

• Land Use: Building large hotels, resorts, and related infrastructure requires land, often resulting in the destruction of valuable coastal habitats like mangrove forests.
• Damage to Sensitive Ecosystems: Anchors dragging across reefs, careless diving/snorkelling, and walking (trampling) on exposed organisms at low tide.
• Land Reclamation: Creating new land for resorts often involves dredging, which destroys the seabed and releases sediment into the water, smothering nearby organisms.

2. Pollution:

• Litter and Plastics: Tourists generate waste, much of which ends up as **litter and plastics** in the ocean.
• Noise and Light Pollution: Boat engines, jet skis, and resort lights disrupt the natural behaviour of nocturnal organisms, turtles, and fish.
• Water Pollution: Sewage and chemical runoff (sunscreen, cleaning products) from large resorts can degrade water quality.

3. Interaction with Organisms:

• Removal of Organisms: Tourists sometimes collect organisms (like shells, pieces of coral, or small animals) to sell or keep as souvenirs.
• Behavioural Consequences: Tourists feeding marine animals (like fish or turtles) can make them dependent on humans, change their natural hunting/migration patterns, and often expose them to disease.

Quick Review: The key negatives are habitat destruction (building/anchors), pollution (plastic/noise/chemicals), and changing animal behaviour (feeding/collection).

4. Case Study Example: Australia's Great Barrier Reef (6.2.4)

To answer exam questions, you need to describe the impacts of tourism on a named marine ecosystem. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a perfect example.

The GBR is a massive coral reef system off the coast of Australia and a huge tourist attraction.

How Tourists Impact the GBR:

• Anchor Damage: Large tourist boats constantly dropping anchor can crush and destroy centuries-old coral structures.
• Diving and Snorkelling Stress: While generally well-regulated, high numbers of divers can still cause localized damage through accidental kicking or touching the coral.
• Pollution: Chemical runoff from coastal resorts and islands (like pesticides and fertilizers) can travel into the reef waters, encouraging algal growth that smothers the coral.
• Vulnerability to Climate Change: While tourism isn't the primary cause of coral bleaching (rising temperatures are), heavy tourism stress makes the reef less resilient to the effects of climate change.

Did you know? In sensitive areas of the GBR, moorings (fixed points for boats to tie up) are installed to prevent tourist boats from dropping anchors onto the coral itself.

5. Strategies for Sustainable Tourism (6.2.5)

We know the problems; now we need the solutions! Governments and conservationists use a combination of methods to reduce the negative impacts of tourists.

The Three Pillars: Education, Legislation, and Planning

These are the main methods used globally to manage environmental impacts:

(a) Education: Teaching people how to behave responsibly.

• This includes briefing divers/snorkellers on reef etiquette, putting up signs warning against littering, and promoting the use of reef-safe sunscreen.

(b) Legislation: Creating and enforcing laws.

• This involves fines for illegal activities (like collecting marine organisms), strict regulations on waste disposal from boats, and legally declaring areas as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) where certain activities (like fishing or anchoring) are banned.

(c) Strategic Planning: Careful, forward-thinking development.

• This means limiting the number of visitors allowed in one area, building resorts away from sensitive shorelines, and creating designated paths or diving routes to minimize random damage.

Practical Limiting Strategies (6.2.6)

Here are specific, concrete actions tourist businesses can take:

• Use of Renewable Energy: Resorts can use solar power or wind power to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, lowering carbon emissions.
• Limiting Water Use: Implementing rainwater harvesting or efficient plumbing systems to minimize strain on local freshwater resources.
• Banning Single-Use Plastics: Eliminating disposable plastic bottles, straws, and bags used by tourists, greatly reducing plastic pollution entering the ocean.
• Limiting Motorised Transport: Encouraging non-motorized activities (like kayaking or sailing) or restricting fast, noisy vehicles (like jet skis) to protect sensitive marine mammals and reduce noise pollution.

Tip for Exams: When asked to evaluate strategies, remember that legislation is effective but can be expensive to enforce, while education is cheap but relies on tourists choosing to follow the rules.

🌊 Chapter Summary: Quick Review

We need tourism for socio-economic benefits (jobs and infrastructure).

We want ecotourism: sustainable travel that encourages conservation.

The main negatives are pollution, habitat destruction (e.g., anchoring), and changing animal behaviour.

To reduce damage, we need: Education, Legislation (MPAs, bans), and Strategic Planning (limiting transport, using renewable energy).