Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T12:04:37.217Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lifestyle values, resilience, and nature-based tourism's contribution to conservation on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2012

D. BIGGS ,
N. C. BAN  and
C. M. HALL
D. BIGGS*
Affiliation:
Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia Scientific Services, South African National Parks, Private Bag X402, Skukuza 1350, South Africa Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia
N. C. BAN
Affiliation:
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia
C. M. HALL
Affiliation:
Department of Management, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies, Freiburg, Germany
*
*Correspondence: Dr D. Biggs e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Innovative partnerships for conservation are required to stem the tide of continued ecosystem degradation. Nature-based tourism is one such partnership. Yet the natural attractions that nature-based tourism depends on are under increasing anthropogenic threat. Because of their dependence on international visitors, nature-based tourism enterprises are under additional pressure from socioeconomic and political crises in a globalized world. Recent research shows that lifestyle values, the motives that entice owners and staff of tourism enterprises to live and work in a chosen natural attraction, strengthen the resilience of enterprises to crises. This paper empirically explores the relationship between the lifestyle values of nature-based tourism enterprises, their resilience, and their support of and contribution to conservation of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Semi-structured interviews with the owners and senior managers of 48 reef tourism enterprises showed that those that reported high lifestyle values had higher levels of conservation ethic and participated more extensively in conservation actions. The relationship between resilience and conservation ethic was not statistically significant. Bureaucratic, regulatory and cost constraints, and a lack of knowledge, limit enterprise participation in conservation. Conservation agencies can work to reduce some of these constraints to ensure that conservation benefits from nature-based tourism enterprises are maximized.

Keywords

coral reefscrisesecotourismGreat Barrier Reeflifestyle valuesmarine conservationnature-based tourismresilience
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 370 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ateljevic, I. & Doorne, S. (2000) Staying within the fence: lifestyle entrepreneurship in tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 8: 378–392.Google Scholar
Access Economics (2007) Measuring the economic and financial value of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, 2005–6. Research publication 88, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville, Queensland, Australia [www document]. URL http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/5588/gbrmpa_RP88_Measuring_The_Economic_and_Financial_Value_Of_The_GBRMP_2008.pdfinfo_services/publications/research_publications/rp088/access_economics_report_0607Google Scholar
Anthony, A., Atwood, J., August, P., Byron, C., Cobb, S., Foster, C., Fry, C., Gold, A., Hagos, K., Heffner, L., Kellogg, D.Q., Lellis-Dibble, K., Opaluch, J.J., Oviatt, C., Pfeiffer-Herbert, A., Rohr, N., Smith, L., Smythe, T., Swift, J. & Vinhateiro, N. (2009) Coastal lagoons and climate change: ecological and social ramifications in US Atlantic and Gulf Coast ecosystems. Ecology and Society 14 (1): 8 [www document]. URL http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss1/art8/Google Scholar
Australian Government (2011) Clean energy legislation [www document]. URL http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/clean-energy-future/legislation.aspxGoogle Scholar
Balmford, A., Beresford, J., Green, J., Naidoo, R., Walpole, M. & Manica, A. (2009) A global perspective on trends in nature-based tourism. Plos Biology 7 (6): e1000144 [www document]. URL http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1000144Google Scholar
Barthel, S., Folke, C. & Colding, J. (2010) Social-ecological memory in urban gardens: retaining the capacity for management of ecosystem services. Global Environmental Change 20: 255–265.Google Scholar
Bensemann, J. & Hall, C.M. (2010) Copreneurship in rural tourism: exploring women's experiences, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship 2: 228–244.Google Scholar
Bernard, H.R. (2002) Research Methods in Anthropology. Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Third Edition. Lanham, MD, USA: Altamira Press.Google Scholar
Biggs, D. (2011) Understanding resilience in a vulnerable industry: the case of reef tourism on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Ecology and Society 16: 30 [www document]. URL http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol16/iss31/art30/Google Scholar
Biggs, D., Biggs, R., Dakos, V., Scholes, R.J. & Schoon, M. (2011) Are we entering an era of concatenated global crises? Ecology and Society 16: 27 [www document]. URL http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol16/iss2/art27/Google Scholar
Birtles, A., Valentine, P., Curnock, M., Arnold, P. & Dunstan, A. (2002) Incorporating visitor experiences into ecologically sustainable dwarf minke whale tourism in the northern Great Barrier Reef. CRC Reef Research Centre Technical Report no. 42, Townsville, Australia [www document]. URL http://www.reef.crc.org.au/publications/techreport/techrep42.htmlGoogle Scholar
Boutin, S. (2010) Conservation planning within emerging global climate and economic realities. Biological Conservation 143: 1569–1570.Google Scholar
Brodie, J., Fabricius, K., De'ath, G. & Okaji, K. (2005) Are increased nutrient inputs responsible for more outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish? An appraisal of the evidence. Marine Pollution Bulletin 51: 266–278.Google Scholar
Buckley, R. (2009) Evaluating the net effects of ecotourism on the environment: a framework, first assessment and future research. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 17: 643–672.Google Scholar
Carlsen, J., Getz, D. & Ali-Knight, J. (2001) The environmental attitudes and practices of family businesses in the rural tourism and hospitality sectors. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 9 (4): 281–297.Google Scholar
Carmody, J. & Zeppel, H. (2009) Specialist accommodation operations in North Queensland: barriers to the implementation of environmental management practices. International Journal of Management and Decision Making 10: 201–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, P. (2007) Social capital, embeddedness, and market interactions: an analysis of firm performance in UK regions. Review of Social Economy 65: 79–106.Google Scholar
Cundill, G., Cumming, G.S., Biggs, D. & Fabricius, C. (2012) Soft systems thinking and social learning for adaptive management. Conservation Biology 26 (1): 13–20.Google Scholar
Curtin, S.C. & Wilkes, K. (2005) British wildlife tourism operators: current issues and typologies. Current Issues in Tourism 8: 455–478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, G.J., Lockington, D.A. & Baldock, T.E. (2008) A survey of tourist attitudes to renewable energy supply in Australian hotel accommodation. Renewable Energy 33: 2174–2185.Google Scholar
Davenport, M.A. & Anderson, D.H. (2005) Getting from sense of place to place-based management: an interpretive investigation of place meanings and perceptions of landscape change. Society and Natural Resources 18: 625–641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De'ath, G. & Fabricius, K. (2010) Water quality as a regional driver of coral biodiversity and macroalgae on the Great Barrier Reef. Ecological Applications 20: 840–850.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dewhurst, H. & Thomas, R. (2003) Encouraging sustainable business practices in a non-regulatory environment: a case study of small tourism firms in a UK national park. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 11: 383–403.Google Scholar
Diamantis, D. (1999) The concept of ecotourism: evolution and trends. Current Issues in Tourism 2: 93–122.Google Scholar
Dobson, A., Borner, M. & Sinclair, T. (2010) Road will ruin Serengeti. Nature 467: 272–273.Google Scholar
Dunlap, R.E. & York, R. (2008) The globalisation of environmental concern and the limits of the postmaterialist values explanation: evidence from four multinational surveys. Sociological Quarterly 49: 529–563.Google Scholar
Dunlap, R.E., Van Liere, K.D., Mertig, A.G. & Jones, R.E. (2000) New trends in measuring environmental attitudes: measuring endorsement of the new ecological paradigm: a revised NEP Scale. Journal of Social Issues 56: 425–442.Google Scholar
Ecotourism Australia (2010) Eco-certification program [www document]. URL http://www.ecotourism.org.au/eco_certification.aspGoogle Scholar
Elks, S. (2011) Tax could sink tourism industry already at rock bottom. The Australian 12 July [www document]. URL http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/carbon-plan/tax-could-sink-tourism-industry-already-at-rock-bottom/story-fn99tjf2-1226092661225.Google Scholar
Field, A. (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS. Third edition. London, UK: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Frost, W. & Hall, C.M., eds (2009) Tourism and National Parks: International Perspectives on Development, Histories and Change. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
GBRMPA (2009 a) Great Barrier Reef outlook report 2009. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville, Queensland, Australia [www document]. URL http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/3843/OutlookReport_Full.pdfGoogle Scholar
GBRMPA (2009 b) Great Barrier Reef tourism climate change action strategy 2009–2012. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville, Queensland, Australia [www document]. URL http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/3987/gbrmpa_CCActionStrategyFull_2011.pdfGoogle Scholar
GBRMPA (2010) Number of tourists visiting the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park [www document]. URL http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/key_issues/tourism/management/gbr_visitation/numbersGoogle Scholar
GBRMPA (2011) Tourism operator's emissions calculator [www document]. URL http://www.emissionscalculator.gbrmpa.gov.au/tourism/about.gsp?page=aboutGoogle Scholar
Getz, D. (2004) The Family Business in Tourism and Hospitality. Oxon, UK: CABI Publishing.Google Scholar
Goodwin, H. & Swingland, I.R. (1996) Ecotourism, biodiversity and local development. Biodiversity and Conservation 5: 275–276.Google Scholar
Gössling, S. (2010) Carbon Management in Tourism: Mitigating the Impacts on Climate Change. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gössling, S. & Hall, C.M., eds (2006) Tourism and Global Environmental Change. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gössling, S., Peeters, P., Hall, C.M., Ceron, J-P., Dubois, G., Lehmann, L.V. & Scott, D. (2012) Tourism and water use: supply, demand, and security. An international review. Tourism Management 33: 1–15.Google Scholar
Hall, C.M. (2010) Tourism and biodiversity: more significant than climate change? Journal of Heritage Tourism 5 (4): 253–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, C.M. & Williams, A. (2008) Tourism and Innovation. London, UK: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harriot, V.J. (2002) Marine tourism impacts and their management on the Great Barrier Reef. CRC Reef Research Centre Technical Report No 46, Townsville, Australia [www document]. URL http://www.reef.crc.org.au/publications/techreport/techrept46.htmGoogle Scholar
Holmes, J.H. & Day, P. (1995) Identity, lifestyle and survival: value orientations of south Australian pastoralists. Rangelands Journal 17: 193–212.Google Scholar
Jackson, J.B.C., Kirby, M.X., Berger, W.H., Bjorndal, K.A., Botsford, L.W., Bourque, Z.J., Bradbury, R.H., Cooke, R., Erlandson, J., Estes, J.A., Hughes, T.P., Kidwell, S., Lange, C.B., Lenihan, H.S., Pandolfi, J.M., Peterson, C.H., Steneck, R.S., Tegner, M.J. & Warner, R.R. (2001) Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems. Science 293: 629–639.Google Scholar
Kass, G.V. (1980) An exploratory technique for investigating large quantities of categorical data. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (Series C. Applied Statistics) 29: 119–127.Google Scholar
Kendra, A. & Hull, R.B. (2005) Motivations and behaviors of new forest owners in Virginia. Forest Science 51: 142–154.Google Scholar
Kiss, A. (2004) Is community-based ecotourism a good use of biodiversity conservation funds? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19: 232–237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lai, P.-H. & Lyons, K. (2011). Place-meaning and sustainable land management: motivations of Texas hill country landowners. Tourism Geographies 13: 360–380.Google Scholar
Likert, R. (1967) The method of constructing an attitude scale. In: Readings in Attitude Theory and Measurement, ed. Fishbein, M., pp. 90–95. New York, NY, USA: Wiley.Google Scholar
Mair, J. (2011) Exploring air-traveller's voluntary carbon-offsetting behaviour. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 19: 215–230.Google Scholar
Marshall, N.A., Marshall, P.A., Abdulla, A., Rouphael, T. & Amr, A. (2010) Preparing for climate change: recognising its early impacts through the perceptions of dive tourists and dive operators in the Egyptian Red Sea. Current Issues in Tourism 13: 1–12.Google Scholar
McCook, L. J., Ayling, T., Cappo, M., Choat, J.H., Evans, R.D., De Freitas, D.M., Heupel, M., Hughes, T.P., Jones, G.P., Mapstone, B., Marsh, H., Mills, M., Molloy, F.J., Pitcher, C.R., Pressey, R.L., Russ, G.R., Sutton, S., Sweatman, H., Tobin, R., Wachenfeld, D.R. & Williamson, D.H. (2010) Adaptive management of the Great Barrier Reef: a globally significant demonstration of the benefits of networks of marine reserves. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107: 18278–18285.Google Scholar
Moon, K. & Cocklin, C. (2011) A landholder-based approach to the design of private-land conservation programs. Conservation Biology 25: 493–503.Google Scholar
Naidoo, R. & Adamowicz, W.L. (2005) Biodiversity and nature-based tourism at forest reserves in Uganda. Environment and Development Economics 10: 159–178.Google Scholar
Nowaczek, A. (2009) Questioning the unquestioned: scale development to assess ecotourist ethics. PhD thesis, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Orams, M.B. (1995) Using interpretation to manage nature-based tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 4: 81–93.Google Scholar
Ostrom, E. & Schlager, E. (1996) The formation of property rights. In: Rights to Nature, ed. Hanna, S., Folke, C. & Maler, K., pp. ?–?. Washington, DC, USA: Island Press.Google Scholar
Pannell, D.J. & Wilkinson, R. (2009) Policy mechanism choice for environmental management by non-commercial ‘lifestyle’ rural landholders. Ecological Economics 68: 2679–2687.Google Scholar
Pollnac, R.B., Pomeroy, R.S. & Harkes, I.H.T. (2001) Fishery policy and job satisfaction in three southeast Asian fisheries. Ocean and Coastal Management 44: 531–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, R.B., Kellert, S.R. & Ham, S. (2008) Antarctic tourists: ambassadors or consumers. Polar Record 44: 233–241.Google Scholar
Prange, J., Johnson, J. & Morris, S. (2009) Reef Water Quality Protection Plan Marine Monitoring Program 2007/2008 Summary Report. Report prepared by the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Consortium of monitoring providers for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns: 128 pp. [www document]. URL http://www.rrrc.org.au/publications/downloads/MMP-Summary-Report-2007-2008_lowres.pdfGoogle Scholar
Quinn, G.P. & Keough, M.J. (2002). Experimental design and data analysis for biologists Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rands, M.R.W., Adams, W.M., Bennun, L., Butchart, S.H.M., Clements, A., Coomes, D., Entwistle, A., Hodge, I., Kapos, V., Scharlemann, J.P.W., Sutherlands, W.J. & Vira, B. (2010) Biodiversity conservation: challenges beyond 2010. Science 329: 1298–1303.Google Scholar
Rivera, J. (2002) Assessing a voluntary environmental initiative in the developing world: the Costa Rican certification for sustainable tourism. Policy Sciences 35: 333–360.Google Scholar
Roberts, S. & Tribe, J. (2008) Sustainability indicators for small tourism enterprises: an exploratory perspective. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 16: 575–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rotherham, I.D., Doncaster, S. & Egan, D. (2005) Nature-based leisure and tourism in England's Humberhead Levels. Current Issues in Tourism 8: 214–230.Google Scholar
Russell, S.V., Lafferty, G. & Loudoun, R. (2008) Examining tourism operators’ responses to environmental regulation: the role of regulatory perceptions and relationships. Current Issues in Tourism 11: 126–143.Google Scholar
Scott, D., Hall, C.M. & Gössling, S. (2012) Tourism and Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Simpson, M.C., Gössling, S., Scott, D., Hall, C.M. & Gladin, E. (2008) Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in the Tourism Sector: Frameworks, Tools and Practices. Paris, France: UNEP, University of Oxford, UNWTO, WMO.Google Scholar
Spenceley, A. & Goodwin, H. (2007) Nature-based tourism and poverty alleviation: impacts of private sector and parastatal enterprises in and around Kruger National Park, South Africa. Current Issues in Tourism 10: 255–277.Google Scholar
Tidball, K.G., Krasny, M.E., Svendsen, E., Campbell, L. & Helphand, K. (2010) Stewardship, learning, and memory in disaster resilience. Environmental Education Research 16 (5–6): 591–609.Google Scholar
Trumbo, C.W. & O'Keefe, G.J. (2001) Intention to conserve water: environmental values, planned behavior, and information effects. A comparison of three communities sharing a watershed. Society and Natural Resources 14: 889–899.Google Scholar
Valentine, P (1992) Review: nature-based tourism. In: Special Interest Tourism, pp. 105–127. London, UK: Belhaven Press.Google Scholar
van Haastert, M. & de Grosbois, D. (2010) Environmental initiatives in bed and breakfast establishments in Canada: scope and major challenges with implementation. Tourism and Hospitality Planning and Development 7: 179–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vermeulen, S. & Sheil, D. (2007) Partnerships for tropical conservation. Oryx 41: 434–440.Google Scholar
Vernon, J., Essex, S., Pinder, D. & Curry, K. (2003) The ‘greening’ of tourism micro-businesses: outcomes of focus group investigations in South East Cornwall. Business Strategy and the Environment 12: 49–69.Google Scholar
Wilderness Safaris (2011) Hwange anti-poaching project [www document]. URL http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/conservation/related_projects/overview.jsp?project=2380Google Scholar
Zeppel, H. (2011) Climate change workshops for Great Barrier Reef marine tourism operators. Tourism in Marine Environments 7: 95–98.Google Scholar
Zeppel, H. & Muloin, S. (2008) Conservation benefits of interpretation on marine wildlife tours. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 13: 280–294.Google Scholar
Zeppel, H. & Beaumont, N. (2011) Green tourism futures: climate change responses by Australian government tourism agencies. In: CAUTHE 2011 Conference: Tourism Creating a Brilliant Blend, 8–11 February 2011, ed. Gross, M.J.. Adelaide, Australia: University of South Australia.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

D.BIGGS Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download D.BIGGS Supplementary Material(File)
File 42.4 KB