Position statement

Discuss about the Climate Change Affecting the Tourism in Great Ocean Road.

This report presents how the change in climate affects the operations of tourism in Great Ocean Road. Climate change has led to significant challenges to the normal operations of tourism sector within the Great Ocean Road in several ways. Some of the key challenges brought by the change in climate include intense as well as frequent weather events like heavy rainfall, heat waves, storms, along with floods among other issues (Scott et al., 2012, p. 219). This is the report by the Australian Tourism Board manager who is responsible for reporting any influence of climate on operations of tourism within Australia. The organization has the role of improving the services of the tourism sector in Australia. Therefore, the manager is responsible for maintenance of the suitable business environment for the construction and repairing of Great Ocean Road. Besides, manager operates at the level of making the decisions on the recommendable approaches to take in controlling, preventing, and maintaining best weather conditions that support activities of tourism in Great Ocean Road and other regions within Australia. The plan of the report offers the best ideas for prospect administration of travels within the coastal areas because of changes in climate.

The proposed focus on the interest of agency for the preparation on the issue of the influence of the change in weather in the sector of tourism in Great Ocean Road as it is significant because no other organization is more reliant on addressing effects of variation in climate in Australian tourism sector. According to the report by Farneti (2016, p. 441), tourism in Great Ocean Road is likely to make progress towards high altitudes as well as latitudes. Such places always experience adverse climate change influences that are not drastic. Such cases lead to the competitive position of vacations spots will change, thus leaving some regions around Great Ocean Road to decline as others become more popular among the tourists (Capstick et al., 2016, p. 765). This detailed report comprises of the main conclusions together with the plan for the actions resulting from the seminars along with discussions at the forum, together with the Djerba statement on an influence of the change in climate in the sector of tourism.

Climatic changes put tourism in Great Ocean Road at risk. The changes in weather conditions make the tourisms to seem likely to suffer, notably from beach erosion, massive harm from sea flows along with hurricanes, high sea levels, and the decline in the supply of water. Several researchers have shown that, while some regions along the Great Ocean Road may witness the decrease of demand for the travel during their free timer, others are presently unuseful as the destination of tourists and may undergo an enhancement. Several publishers have reported that many tourism sectors in Great Ocean Road are exposable to numerous direct as well as indirect climate changes (Zeppel 2011, p. 97). The rise in sea level and more acidic ocean tend to threaten infrastructure of the coastal tourism as well as its natural attraction. Besides, the issue of the negative effect of climate shift on tourism in Great Ocean Road exists because of the rising temperatures that tend to shorten winter sports seasons and threaten the availability of some ski resorts (Heinze 2014, p. 101). Therefore, climate change in coastal lines in Australia is the leading cause of biodiversity that affects the eco-tourism in the region. The plan is to show how tourism in Great Ocean Road suffers from poor design of structures, weak admission to green space, and dangerous events of weather. It is recommendable that Australian federal authorities adopt the best design together with the development of energy retrofits to be applicable in the construction of deep energy efficiency levels for the new infrastructure within Great Ocean Road, as well as transiting efficiency.

Background context

Adapting to different climatic changes exists, although most are likely to add costs and offer only short-term relief to the tourism sector in Australian Great Ocean Road. Climate change impacts sector of traveler using the road by leading to rising of sea level that affects the coastal settlement and this has resulted in declining in income, as more employment opportunities are lost (Zeppel 2012, p. 612). Tourism industry the estimated one point nine billion US dollars to the economy of Great Ocean Road while employing approximately twenty thousand seven hundred people annually. Therefore, the plan can show how climate change predicts to have significant impact tourism in Great Ocean Road by predicting on its physical resources that support tourism (Simpkins 2017, p. 234). Government tends to provoke the shifts in tourism leading to low income among the people who depend on the tourism sector. Besides, the change in climate does not only affect the coastal areas along the Great Ocean Road, but it also influences light outdoor activities and winter sports that making people who visit the region as tourists to reduce in number. The reduction in the number of visitors has largely led to the loss of employment among the people within tourism sector leading to loss of income on the other side.

Driving issues that lead to climate change is impacting tourism in Great Ocean Road are economical, social-cultural, environmental, technological, demographic, and agency-based concerns. Some of the driving issues to change in climate in tourism in Great Ocean Road include the rise of the sea level, melting of snow and glaciers, deforestation by the increase in the number of population in the surrounding, harmful biodiversity, along with desertification and the scarcity of water. All these issues result because of the incidences of global warming within the area. The rise of sea level in the area has led to the eventual submerge of small islands and coastal regions that have been attracting tourism, and this has led to decline in the number of tourists (Goldberg et al., 2017, p. 11). According to Heinze (2014, 102), melting of snow along with glacier because of the use of different technological devices and disposal of wastes in the ocean by some industries has remained to be one of the major causes behind rising of sea levels. The increase in sea levels has then affected mountains and ski resorts along the Great Ocean Road, resulting in the shifts of destination demands, depending on the most attractive conditions of the climate. Therefore, for tourism in Great Ocean Road, change in environment is not the isolated event, but it is a phenomenon affecting tourism sector and particular destinations along the road.The-affected destinations are the mountain regions and coastal destinations among other landscape along the Great Ocean Road. Any significant reduction in tourism arrival in the Great Ocean Road results to serious employment impacts and generate further poverty because the region solely depends on tourism as the primary economic activity (Zeppel 2012, p. 612). Therefore, the most drivers towards the climate change that affect tourism in Great Ocean Road are environmental.

Opportunities, issues, and challenges faced by tourism sector due to climate change

The coastal regions of the Great Ocean Road are the mainstay of Australian’s tourism industry and are essential places for recreational and sport. The change in climate has resulted in various impacts, including rising temperatures, changing patterns of rainfall, the increase in sea levels, extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones, and East coast Low-pressure systems, along with environmental changes like ocean acidification or ecosystem changes. According to the report by global assessment, not all climate change in the region has equal effects on the different types of coastal tourism in Great Ocean Road (Dawson & Scott 2012, p. 127). For instance, wetlands in Great Ocean Road are facing increasing pressure from multiple changes in climate influence such as the rise in the level of the sea, increase in temperatures, along with extreme events.

The region is regardable to have high-use environments with high pressure on dune ecosystems and limited space for retreat.Therefore, there are need to encourage business developers in Great Ocean Road to minimise built structures close to the beach while planning for some form of managed retreat and adaptive access points to beaches (Zeppel 2011, p. 97). Climate change like the rise in sea level and extreme temperatures in Great Ocean Road present unique events leading to absolute risk where the large concentration of persons as well as economic activities are exposable to extraordinary hazard events.

There is a need for the best plan for controlling adverse weather conditions on tourism. Besides, plan of controlling weather changes has to follow the set regulations in the tourism sector. The need of tourism plan in managing climate change is essential, as the changes are considerable the most significant threat to Great Ocean Road. Climate change poses a significant influence on the physical resources that support tourism in Great Ocean Road and provokes shifts in the sectors of tourism. While there has been considerable improvement in recent years on developing plans to manage climate change is impacting tourism in Great Ocean Road, there should be more considerations set in place to address the impacts of climate changes (Elrick-Berr et al., 2013, p. 76). The climate change remains to be the primary cause of acidification of the ocean in the boundary of the Great Ocean Road and have vast and dire consequences for all the tourism activities.

The Australian government has initiated the program that focuses on integrating environmental sustainability into the course of deciding the tourism industry and into purchasing choice of the customer (Trano & Davoudi 2014, p. 171). The government achieves all these initiative programs by disseminating technical expertise along with developing business networks to catalyze sustainability in the sector of tourism in Great Ocean Road. It is important to ensure that Australian government understands how climate change in tourism in Great Ocean Road may affect its economy vis-a-vis its current or potential competitors. Therefore, authorities within Great Ocean Road have a huge impact in making tourism within the region to be more suitable. The government has the role of offering review as well as technical support services on strategies, plan for development, and systems of management, along with measuring instruments to fit in suitable beliefs into their process of decision-making and daily actions.

Visitor numbers, income, and employment issues are relevant

Stakeholders who are the essential part of addressing climate change influencing travel in Great Ocean Road are the United Nation Agencies that include Global Meteorological Corporation along with the Convention by the United Nations to fight desertification. The other primary stakeholders comprise of the Framework Convention of the UN on the alterations in climate, the panel of Intergovernmental on the variation in climate, the Environment Programme for UN, and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission among other stakeholders. The role of these stakeholders is to work together to recognize the two-way relationship between variation in climate and travel sector (Jianming & Chunyan 2013, p. 58). The stakeholders focus on ideas that help in minimizing the adverse impact of the relationship on the environment. The stakeholders form the understanding that raising the tourism awareness to be the global issue

The need to provide the blueprint for the Australian government to formulate as well as implementing sustainable policies remains to be the key influence on the plan (Zeppel 2012, p. 291). Development of proper guidelines on climate sustainability and tourism management in Great Ocean Road continues to be one of the essential issues that form the building block between the government and other stakeholders within the tourism sector. The need to select sustainable environmental policies by the national and local government is a key trend influence how climate changes affect tourism in the region.

The tourism sector is unlike most other business sectors, as the tourist visits to the producer and the product (in this case, the Great Ocean Road) as opposed to the other way around. The dependency of Great Ocean Road tourism on the coastal environment, such as its beaches, reefs, forests, and local communities, is indisputable. Considering such dependence, the influence of variation in climate on the environment of Great Ocean Road is of importance for the continuation and further development of their tourism sector. Other challenges that variation in climate poses to agency include coastal tourism facilities with poor construction being hit by hurricanes (Lehman 2014, p. 399). The change in climate result to increase in consumption of energy and resulting in carbon emission that is dangerous to the ecosystem. Additionally, climate change result in increased waste and pollution problems such as storms along coastal regions causes air pollution by carrying sand away. Consequently, the agency can respond by focusing on strategies that can make tourism to bring many positive benefits while improving the sustainability of the community (Hall et al., 2013, 118). Some of the ways to respond to climate changes by the agency are through the provision of finance for community development and environmental protections. They can also increase environmental education together with awareness programs. Besides, the organization can enhance security and reinforce environmental regulations and laws in ensuring that human activities do not contribute to change in climate.

Rising issues to climate change in tourism in Great Ocean Road

The decline in foreign exchange earned from the tourism sector in Great Ocean Road remains to be the major contributor of the government intervention on the climate shift. The plan aim on showing authorities how climate shift can impacts the water carrying capacity of region, vegetation cover, quality of free air, water bodies that surround the Great Ocean Road, the water table, natural phenomena, and wildlife. All these environment species when affected, the government always has to conduct an intervention to know the causes and their controls. The responses have to be before looking for the appropriate strategies to put in place to prevent such occurrences (Jamieson & Di Paola 2014, p. 107). Therefore, climate change continues to be a global concern that needs government intervention, but since the change of weather in tourism in Great Ocean Road is a local phenomenon, government interventions to adapt to its effects require the engagement of other stakeholders at national as well as local levels.

There are both positive as well as adverse effects of communities related to the strategies plans to control climate change in influencing tourism in Great OceanRoad. The plan aims at addressing the adverse conditions of weather by increasing employment opportunities, improving quality of life of locals and foreigners, and growth in wealth of the regions adjacent to Great Ocean Road (Filimonan 2015, p. 63). Additionally, the outcome of such plan is essential in addressing adverse weather conditions along the Great Ocean Road. Such plans remain beneficial in rebuilding as well as restoring historic sites while encouraging the utilization of culture. Besides, the plan has led to increase or to make better tourism sector as the host community that resides along the Great Ocean Road in Australia (Scott et al., 2012, p. 224). Therefore, tourism in Great Ocean Road has had positive impacts because of the improvements to the natural surroundings like the improved weather conditions leading to the development of the current ecosystem.

The authorities and other stakeholders within the climate and tourism sector have diverse programs. The contents of their programs aimed at managing the impact of variation in climate in travel in Great Ocean Road. Several strategies focus on the need to understand the size of the problem and its stake. The need to anticipate changes that arises because of global warming and adaptation to the new environment that is emerging. The agency has to set the plan that responds to the combination of the labor of the world community along with developing the proposed strategies for the valuable reactions in every sector. According to Jackson & Lynch (2011, p. 8), plan available addresses the ideas that aim at making each stakeholder have the responsibility of taking the fair share of the responsibilities and has to act responsibly in ensuring that every policy approach is practical.

Examples climate changes in impacting tourism in the Great Ocean Road

The risk of climate change in tourism in Green Ocean road has the severe impact on the development and incoming income to the area. The plan involves the use of foreign agencies and groups, financial support, government actions, and setting of laws and regulations as the primary instruments that are appropriate in handling cases of climate change in tourism. The market-based instrument to address climate change involves the use of ICT conferences by hosting groups like United Nations Agencies (Nepal 2013, p. 1). These include the UN that has the plan of fighting cases of desertification by campaigning for reafforestation along the oceans. The plan of other primary stakeholders like the Framework Convention of the UN focus on the variation in climate, the panel of Intergovernmental concentrates on the change in weather, program of the UN on the environment, along with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission among other stakeholders. The role of these stakeholders is to work together to recognize the two-way relationship between climate change and travel sector (Travel & Tourism In The Age Of Climate Change: Robust Findings, Key Uncertainties 2013, p. 91). However, material like money and government laws and actions are more useful in making the plan to work efficiently. The plan of the correct amount of money can be applicable in changing the pattern of operations by offering diversification of products and services to decrease the dependency on climatic shifts. The plans of using the government actions are more effective because they aid in promoting the high potential of the tourism industry for mitigation of Greenhouse Gas emission as well as lowering the consumption of energy.

The types of resources essential in planning to control climate change in influencing tourism are the money and strict adherence to environmental regulations as set by the Australian government. The major advantage of the policy of involving other agencies in controlling cases of climate change in tourism continues to be the transparent and coherent as well as the dual relationship between the tourism sector and environmental actors (Duvemage et al., 2011, p. 112). Besides, the policy allows companies that produce Dupont to look for alternatives that cannot cause harm to climatic conditions. Moreover, the policy set by the agencies can provide the direction to scientists to focus on the study on causes of variation in climate and solutions that can be applicable in controlling or preventing such cases.

For the plan of controlling weather conditions to be successful, Australia tourism industry plays a role in reacting to the challenges of variation in climate. The plan by the industry always involves processes of mitigations along with adaptation strategies at the national, destination-based, together with business enterprise levels. Conducting of the scheme at national level consists of the establishment of national climate change steering body and the climate change advisory committee (Witshier 2011, p. 196). The national level plan for controlling changes in climate involves ideas that investigate the development of national carbon offset program that can be offerable to tourism industry through their sustainability portal. Besides, at the destination-based level, the plan is achievable by implementation of the risk management strategies across Great Ocean Road. The reviewing of the action plan involves focusing on the implementation activities such as national policy initiatives that need to have the proper address before the tourism in Great Ocean Road can move forward with developing appropriate devices and the policy response to climate change. Therefore, determination of the success during the implementation of the plan is always evident in the increased or developed economies. It is also apparent through the development of scientific ideas along with technological capabilities of the tourism sector in Great Ocean when compared to previous years.

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