Tourism is one of the main industries in Australia and the other islands of Oceania. It is an emerging economic force that generates a lot of employment in the region, since there is a considerable part of Pacific islands population working on that industry. During the last decades, there has been an appreciable grown in terms of tourists visiting Oceania, as it has approximately gone to 8,1 million tourist’s arrivals on the region in 1995 over to nearly 16 thousand in 2016 (UNWTO 2017). Therefore, it can be seen how tourism is a supportive pillar on Oceania’s economy, as it is the largest industry in the continent (based in the number of jobs that it generates and the money it provides through Oceania), so any impacts on this activity would lead to important consequences for the region.

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The growing of this industry through the last decades can be explained by some factors. First of all, it must be reminded the progress of the accessibility to the islands; the international connections provided by international air and cruise ships have contributed to make easier the travel to Oceania for the tourists. Another fact to bear in mind are the powerful websites and media designed by some of the most visited nations of Oceania as Australia, New Zealand or Papua Nova Guinea, which are taking advantage of the communication revolution and internet to make more attractive their destinations. Thus, governments programmes destined to assist visitors in order to make the region more accessible and providing interesting information as government assistance, services or incentives have emerged. Some examples of it would be the Australian Government Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, which has a promotion strategy to make more available information about transportation, accommodation or even financial assistance for business working on the tourism sector. Another example would be the Tourism Sector of the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, which is oriented on helping media and travel trade to develop New Zealand’s tourism by providing such things as accommodation recommendations, destination attractions… Finally, it also exists the Papua New Guinea Travel Promotion Authority, a corporation focused on travel trade. All these organizations added to lots of more websites can explain why these three nations mentioned above are the ones with the highest rates of tourism of Oceania. The most remarkable place is Australia, which is the most visited nation of the region with 7,8 million visitors in 2015, representing this way 3% of Australia’s GDP and generating employment to 580.000 people.

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Hence, tourism is a very important developing activity in Oceania which is considered as a key driver for the socio-economic development of the region, through the creation of jobs and enterprises, the progress of infrastructures… But there are some important issues when we deal with this concept that are important to keep in mind. Despite all the commented benefits that tourism provide to Oceania, there are also some disadvantages derived from this activity. The fact is that tourism can affect in a negative way to the ecosystems of Australia and the other island that made up Oceania, and these ecosystems are in turn the ones which contribute to make the region a beautiful zone with landscapes to be visited for tourists. Activities on which tourism is based like waters sports, fishing, trips with boats or cruises through the tropical ocean are creating pollution, increasing climate change and reducing the biodiversity of the zone, so they generate important alterations to the environment and its natural resources. Therefore, there has to be a growing awareness of keep tourism as a sustainable activity, because it relies on the environment for lots of aspects as climate, outdoor activities or the attractiveness of landscapes. In addition, tourism is an activity that, with energy used in accommodation, emissions from flights and other activities related to that, is contributing to the climate change problem (Professor Lesley Hughes 2018), which can produce both direct and indirect impacts as changing the environment and people choices about where to travel, affect places that tourists visit, so it can change the economy growth by affecting the tourism sector. Thus, as long as tourism is an activity susceptible to the effects of climate change and other environmental factors, it is important to manage it in a way that allow us to develop this business respecting nature and cultural heritage.

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This is especially important in Australia and Oceania, because according to a report made by Tourism Australia, the main attractions for tourists on the zones are: beaches, wildlife, the Great Barrier Reef, unspoilt natural wilderness and national parks (including forests and rainforests), so they can all be affected by climate change if there is not a good management of the natural resources involved on it. That means that iconic Australian destinations such the Great Barrier Reef, Kadaku National Park, Uluru and lots of wonderful beaches are being put in risk because of the climate change effects that tourism is increasing. For example, the Great Barrier Reef, one of the world’s seven natural wonders and the largest living marine structure, is experimenting an overexploitation derived from tourist activities, overfishing, deforestation… These activities added to climate change are driving to alterations like reducing biodiversity, rising temperatures of the ocean, coral bleaching and increasing ocean acidification because of the absorption of atmospheric CO2, that could affect tourist arrivals in the future (Climate Council of Australia 2018). The same phenomenon of climate change effects happens to the majority of famous attractions around Oceania, because as long as most of them rely on nature, are also affected by climate change. In fact, the United Nations Environment Programme has recognized Australia and New Zealand as one of the five Climate Change Vulnerable Hotspots for the global tourism activity, as some of the most Australian destinations are already feeling the effects of climate change. This can be seen on the decreasing of biodiversity, the look of landscapes and accessibility on beaches, but also on the incidence of vector-borne diseases that may lead to the re-emergence of other tropical diseases as Malaria (Climate Council of Australia 2018).

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Even though it is true that climate change won’t make people to stop travelling, it can change their preferences of places and modify the patterns of seasonable flows. For example, rainfall and temperatures are factors that can modify the preferences of which place to visit and when to do it (Amelung et al. 2007). Heatwaves, bushfires and storms are just a few of the weather events that can affect tourism industry in Oceania, which is a nature-based industry with attractions that really rely on the environment.

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As a result, it is shown that tourism is also a risking activity for the Pacific islands environment that needs to be more sustainable. Because of that, a new term known as “sustainable tourism” has started appearing to deal with these controversial issues and make of tourism a sustainable activity. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), a United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible tourism, sustainable tourism “meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources is such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems ((UNWTO) 1999).” Another definition of the term is the one provided by UNESCO, which settle sustainable tourism as “Tourism that respects both local people and the traveller, cultural heritage and the environment. It seeks to provide people with an exciting and educational holiday that is also of benefit to the people of the host country.” In both definitions it can be seen which the main goals of this new form of tourist are. Even the multiple definitions of the term, the main idea is to travel enjoying the natural resources, but without damaging those, so it implies travelling being respectful with the environment, heritage and the local people that lives on it. Therefore, some of the achievements that sustainable tourism wants to get are: increase the awareness of how tourism can influence environment and cultural heritage, plan new forms of teaching on a sustainable way of travelling and appreciate both the problems and the benefits arising from the tourism industry.

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Then, some organizations have been appearing to deal with this new way of tourism in Oceania. One example of that is the Oceania Sustainable Tourism Alliance (OSTA), an organization based in Australia and Fiji focused on promote the development of local business but preserving the natural resources, biodiversity and adapting climate change through the continent. The OSTA, with bringing together Ngo’s, universities and private sectors of tourism, develops innovative and market-based approaches in order to guarantee a sustainable way of tourism. Another major initiative that has grown up in the region of Oceania is the Oceania Sustainable Tourism Adaptation to Climate Change (OSTACC), which is a project focused on search renewable initiatives that can be used in tourism to fight climate change. It works with 13 Pacific islands of Oceania, including Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

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Hence, with the increasing number of organizations and projects related to it, it can be seen that there is a growing awareness on trying to reduce the threats that tourism industry is causing to the environment and local communities. Even that, it is true that sometimes state governments have ignored the associate risks to tourism, as the Australian government has done no mention on increasing the sustainability of tourism on its Australian government’s Tourism 2020 plan (Professor Lesley Hughes 2018), but there are other individual tourism enterprises working for the search of positive initiatives for sustainable tourism. Some examples of it in Oceania would be:

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• Greening Melbourne’s hotels: an environmental programme that works to reduce energy consumption in the hotels of Melbourne through other economically viable actions.

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• Intercity transportation in New Zealand is also working to increase it sustainability, with a programme to mitigate the impacts form resource usage.

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• Byron Bay Sustainable Streets is a programme aiming to achieve community level sustainability through activities such as rainwater harvesting, using solar power, local food and energy efficiency.

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• Some resorts as Ayers Rock Resort or The Lady Elliot Islands Eco Resort are using renewable energies such solar power to reduce its reliance on diesel. There are also solar zoos, that have large solar panels to contribute to sustainable tourism.

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• There are businesses such Sailaway that are replanting cleared rainforest areas to reduce the environmental impact.

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• The Undara Experience is a sustainable visit to Undara National Park.

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Besides the ones mentioned there are lots of other initiatives of tourism operators that are recognizing the climate change risks and are acting to solve them with sustainable solutions. Moreover, it is also important to mention that the United Nations declared 2017 to be the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, which is another way to raise the awareness on this issue by promoting the contribution of sustainable tourism to development with actions such as support to change policies or ways to find alternative business practices and consumer behaviors in order to achieve a more sustainable sector that will help, in turn, the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Moreover, there is also a Global Code of Ethics for Tourism adopted by the General Assembly of the UNWTO in 1999 and acknowledged by the United Nation two years later. This code is addressed to governments, travel industry, communities and tourists, and it is based on a set of principles that cover the economic, social, cultural and environmental component of travel to increase the benefits of tourism without damaging the environments, cultural heritage and societies. Despite that, the Code features a voluntary implementation mechanism through the recognition of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics, so it is not legally binding. With the creation of this Code other initiatives has shown up, like the Tips for a responsible Traveller, a more attractive format for travelers to understand the principles collected in the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.

To sum up, I would say that tourism is a wonderful activity that let us enjoy of different cultures and their environments in such a way that also generates important economic benefits for the destination region. Specially in Oceania, where this industry is mostly based on natural resources, it is very important to preserve it and travel in a responsible and sustainable way that not only don’t damage the environment, but that can also be an effective tool for the conservation and management of protected areas (IUCN, 2002).

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Anna Aguadé Rozadilla