Tracking the Concept of Sustainability in Australian Tourism Policy and Planning (Essay Sample)

Tracking the Concept of Sustainability in Australian Tourism Policy and Planning
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Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u 1.1 Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc415231695 \h 32.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc415231696 \h 33.1 Concept of Sustainability PAGEREF _Toc415231697 \h 43.2 Two general Conceptions of Sustainability PAGEREF _Toc415231698 \h 43.2.0 Weak Sustainability PAGEREF _Toc415231699 \h 43.2.1 Strong Sustainability PAGEREF _Toc415231700 \h 54.1 Overview of Sustainable Tourism PAGEREF _Toc415231701 \h 64.1.0 Challenges in Implementation of Sustainability PAGEREF _Toc415231702 \h 85.1 Sustainable Tourism in Australia PAGEREF _Toc415231703 \h 85.1.2 Case Study: Tracking the Concept of Sustainability in Australian Tourism Policy and Planning Documents PAGEREF _Toc415231704 \h 96.1 Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc415231705 \h 117.1 Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc415231706 \h 128.1 References PAGEREF _Toc415231707 \h 14
1.1 Executive Summary
This report attempts to track down the concept of sustainability in Australian tourism policy and planning. The Australian government have integrated the concepts of sustainability and sustainable tourism principles into the tourism industry policy and planning, and this is mostly important. Even though the Australian Government have used sustainability in terms of policy and planning use, at a national level as well as state level, it has been heavily criticized for its economic and marketing focus when it comes to the policy of tourism that has been at the expense of social and environmental considerations. This reported has been organized into eight parts, and it has been appropriately numbered throughout the document. The methodology that was used is reviewing of secondary sources, and it has been referenced appropriately.
2.1 Introduction
Unexpected and rapid change has become a modern society norm. However, the world has become a steadily volatile place with water shortages, health epidemics, terrorism, changing consumption patterns,economic crises, increasing fuel prices, food and global warming confronting most countries (Sterman, 2012). The impact combination of such factors has reignited focusing of sustainable development as a continuing problem for governments and businesses in general, and for tourism specifically. It has been argued that the tourism sector is required to be prepared to address current and forthcoming problems in order to maintain the viability of the industry and the resources upon that it is depending; and therefore, there is a need for proactive strategic planning and decision-making by governments, businesses and any other stakeholders to increase opportunities, reduce adverse impacts as well as maintaining competitive merits.
Furthermore, Sharpley (2000) argued that the sustainable tourism principles are accepted in general, but the function of tourism remains justified by the economic development objectives. Recently, Sharpley (2009) stressed that the discourse of sustainable tourism has been all going around in circles without a breakthrough and little use in the sector, suggesting a need to go beyond sustainable tourism so that tourism development can progress. However, it is still apparent that the rising focus on the climate change, environment, and sustainable development has led to wider planning perspectives for tourism worldwide, overcoming previous fixations with marketing growth and economic strategies (Kozak & Baloglu, 2010). Such a shift toward a sustainable development platform is representing a major step forward for the tourism sector. Therefore, in this context, the focus of this report is to track how the concept of sustainability has infiltrated and evolved in Australian tourism planning and policy.
3.1 Concept of Sustainability
Sustainable development can be defined as a kind of development that is meeting the needs and desires of todays generation without compromising the ability of generations in future meeting their needs. However, these term is somehow general and broad definition: for instance it does not specify the future as well as current needs. Therefore, as same as with the growth concept, there are diverse definitions of what is sustainability and there would always be diverse views and opinions on what values need to be attached to landscapes, biodiversity, habitats.
The Brundtland aligned social sustainability as a necessary element. This is also the reason for it being so positive towards economic growth, as the case is: what is required now is a brand period of economic growth, a growth that is stronger as well as environmentally and socially stable. It is significant to bear in mind that sustainability is not a definitive concept. It implies that there would always be conscious or unconscious political position in relation to the choice of development in production and environment. In general, it is significant to differentiate between two sustainability concepts, the "weak" and "strong" sustainability.
3.2 Two general Conceptions of Sustainability
These can be characterized briefly as follows:
3.2.0 Weak Sustainability
Depleting resources, species' extinction, breaking down of the ecosystems can be compensated for if it took place in a process that is supporting opportunities for continuing maintenance or even expanding the economic opportunities. Additionally, nature, in this respect, is a form of capital that can be substituted with other forms of capital. However, development can be termed to be sustainable so long as it does not cause harm to the prospects of the continued attainment of the economic necessity.
3.2.1 Strong Sustainability
This view point lays emphasis on development not leading to irretrievable loss of resources. Plants and animal species, raw materials and ecosystems have a value in themselves and not just as input in the economic process. Many of the indicators for development that have been suggested as alternatives or even supplements to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) concept can be classified according to these two sustainability perspectives. These two perspectives lead to potentially fundamentally different views of the given pattern of development. Their weigh is different among the ecology and economy and, therefore, also provides vast, diverse policy recommendations.
They are, however, not always conflicting with each other. In Danish environmental policy, a good example of strong sustainability is the conservation legislation, while the weaker sustainability is a characteristic of all things ranging from the issuing of environmental permits for agriculture and businesses to permits for building houses and even to the new infrastructure construction. However, the discussion is just as very old as fundamental it is.
It must be realized that there can be fundamental uncertainty about the consequences of the economic activities. It is always here that the main section of the debate is situated. The most recent example is the question of global climate, where there have been attempts to calculate future consequences of the present day emissions by ways of constructing bigger computer models of the worldwide climate that are regularly upgraded with data from for example air as well as sea temperatures, inland ice drilling in Greenland and with subsystems such as feedback effects from clouds, the sea and melt of tundra. The prognoses would, thus, also keep on being reviewed on a regular basis.
In the light of these uncertainties, the proponents of strong sustainability will presumably refer to the precautionary principle. Perhaps, sustainable development is not in a harmony field state, but instead a process of change in which the orientation of technological development, the direction of investments, resource exploitation, and change in institution are made consistently with present and future needs as well as.
4.1 Overview of Sustainable Tourism
A sustainable tourism is defined as a multidisciplinary field of study, diverse perspectives have been proposed, that has led to lacking of consensus that surrounds the definition, the theoretical underpinnings and the concept implementation (Sharpley, 2009). However, this debate has arguably advanced theoretical understanding of the subject of sustainable tourism; it has rarely been perceived as relevant to practitioners. It has been argued that there existed gaps between the idealism of sustainable tourism as it is conceptualised by academics and the reality of adopting it as a tourism development paradigm of practical use for the tourism sector.
Sustainable tourism is useful in guiding all the resources management in a way such that social, economic, and aesthetic requirements can be attained while maintaining biological diversity, cultural integrity, and important ecological processes (UN World Tourism Organisation, 2004). Moreover, tourism can be an effective and efficient tool for the management and conservation of the most protected areas. Additionally, well-managed tourism has the potential of generating the political support and financial required in sustaining the protected areas values. It can as well raise understanding of reserves and their cultural values, environmental, and contribute to enriching tourism experiences.
A classic example is, in Austalia, that every year about 1.4 million tourism visit Commonwealth terrestrial reserves in order for them to experience culture unique and natural landscapes to Australia. However, these tourist are providing significant support for the conservation of reserves through public support, advocacy recognition, and revenue. Nationally, the nature-based tourism sector is contributing close to $23 billion to the economy in Australia every year. In the year 2009, there were close to 3.3 million international nature tourist to Australia, representing 64 pe...