Introduction
Tourist attraction plays a major role in the Gross Domestic Product of any country and is majorly taken into consideration by the policy makers of the country. A lot of investment is put into this and part of the investment involves setting aside areas that will specifically be used for nothing but tourist attraction. Marine Protected Areas (MPA) is reserves in the marine environment that are set aside by the state for this purpose only (Gubbay, 1995, pp.1). Not only is the State the only group involved but tribal groups, constituencies counties and natives at large come together to make sure that the cultural heritage of a given region is maintained at its best.
The natural splendor of some of these MPA’s as seen by the natives, is worth preserving, instead of exploiting the region for other human activities. In addition, this might be a deliberate move, even involving the international community, so as to preserve endangered species and their natural habitats. Without doing so, many of these animals quickly get extinct even without the world realizing it. So rare are some of these animals that they might only be found in tens or a couple of hundreds in the world. The work of protection zones therefore is to make these places no-go-zones unless authorized to do so or under strict supervision,
Some of these areas include national parks, many water catchments areas, marine sanctuaries and the like, as the article suggests. Human activities that are not closely related to tourist attraction are greatly discouraged in these areas so as to preserve their natural feel, which is a natural necessity in many of these sites.
In the Oceania Islands of the Southern Seas, the amount of land and space in and out the sea that has been set apart for marine attraction is quite extensive. This stretch of islands is ones that are scatter along the Pacific Ocean between Australia and the American continent. Amy (2009, para.3) gives a whole line-up of these islands that are grouped into three main categories: Micronesia, the Melanesia and Polynesia. Admiralty Islands, Bismarck archipelagoes, the Santa Cruz Islands, New Caledonia, and the Loyalty Islands make part of the many islands in Melanesia.
The islands in Polynesia include the famous Hawaii, the Line Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Easter Island, the Society Islands, the Marquesas Islands, and the Tuamotu Islands. Micronesia has a stretch of land over thirteen hundred miles and include islands like the Caroline Islands, Marianas Islands, and the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands (Goodrich, 1850, pp. 373-376).
South-east Asian nations have formed associations as explained by an abstract (2002, para.1) that specify wildlife’s habitat, requirements that are needed in management of the MPA action agendas and frameworks that are agreed upon in maintaining the islands as formidable attraction sites. Without doing so, the protected areas will be a resource site for many other activities like fishing, which when overdone may even affect the balance in nature of the marine life in the region.
Care is therefore taken by member states to ensure the effectiveness of the area as attraction sites and by doing so, benefit a whole lot than a group of individuals who possibly aim at exploiting the MPA for their own individual benefits.
Reasons that make the Oceania Islands effective for Tourist Attraction
In looking at the reasons for this we will consider the intrinsic as well as extrinsic values that the islands posses so as make them “heavens” of tourist attraction. The latter may involve some of the policies that different governments have come up with so as to give an upper hand to this sector making them to be viable attraction sites. With more than twenty thousand small islands, the region make many visiting people spoilt for choice as one plans to go hiking, riding surfing or even on a honeymoon.
The region is a warm tropical zone most of the year round and boasts of splendid weather for tourists to go visiting. Attraction sites include coral reefs, such as the ones found in Mangaia Island southeast of Cook Island (Cook Island, 2010,para.2). The reef surrounds the island with a sixty meters high ring that makes activities like swimming along the rocky pools a sensation.
The villages in this particular island are at the center and are surrounded by these reefs, making the place a secluded spot for anyone or any party of people who enjoy this kind of atmosphere and environment. With the coral reefs in place, fishing is a common activity in the island and many that visit the region enjoy such enjoyable activity. Coral reefs are usually a sight to behold, and these being an intrinsic value of the island, it gives the region an upper hand as a tourist destination.
Another attractive intrinsic feature about the Oceania islands is their beeches. Proudfoot (2010,para,4) explains how one of the best beeches in the world can be found in the Australian islands. The stretch of pure beech between Cape Naturaliste and Leeuwin may well be an example of why the region profits so much from the tourist industry. The 135km. stretch gives the visitor a chance to pitch his tent as he is given a peek to the coastal bush land that is a common feature of this place.
These beeches are a popular attraction especially to the younger population where a good number of beech sports warmly welcome the visitors. Hiking is also an activity that makes the place attract a large number of people. Proudfoot continues to say how challenging climbing the “Hazards” (granite outcrops) is in Freycinet National Park. Features such as these give the region the Oceania Islands an upper hand as an attraction destination for the whole of the world.
If that is not all, the museums of New Zealand will be an attraction sight to those who are interested to know of the history of the region. A guide to the tours in Oceania (2010) tells of how Oriental Bay provides this opportunity to the world and thus makes yet another reason for regarding the Oceania Island as a destination sight. Policies have also been set up to preserve the waters of inland areas of the islands of the South Seas. A good example to this is the waterfalls at Mele Cascades.
This is an attraction sight set aside a few minutes’ drive from Port Vila (Krissy, 2009,para.1). The water-fall does not just serve as a sight to behold but also provides a place where one can also take a deep in the base of the waterfall under the cascade. This is yet another attraction that makes the region of Oceania do well as an attraction sight. By conserving the waterfalls as an attraction sight, effort has been put in order to restrict usage of these waters for other domestic purposes. Residential areas have not been set up round about it in order to give room for these activities to take place. The safari tour that the region has is also quite an attraction.
These are basically game drives that give the tourist a guide on the different types of animals and physical features that are present in this particular region. This has seen made possible by the good road networks that have been put in place in most of the urban centers of the Oceania Islands. Fraser Island is one of those sites where tours have been known to attract a large number of tourists as one parades the rainforests and views the raging waters (Isango 2010. para3).
Maheno, a shipwreck in the1930’s stands out as one of the great views in this region. The view on the wildlife includes spectacular ones especially of the kangaroos which have most of their habitat in the plains of the Australian National Parks.
The government in most of these regions has done a lot in conserving the wildlife. The kangaroo, koalas, echidnas and the Tasmanian devil are one of the most attractive sights to behold. Having had set up national parks to protect these areas, a level of restriction is set aside to the movement and building up of structures around these areas. Bonorong National Park even allows for the feeding of its kangaroos by the visitors at a limited rate (Rowlands, 2007. para.1).
The marine life also showcases a range of sea creatures that will give the visitor yet another sight to behold. Unique sea creatures ranging from the small starfish to the large octopus are just part of the numerous different kind of oceanic wildlife that the island has. Aquatic zoos are a common feature in these areas and a moment in these zoos gives the tourist an almost equal opportunity of life under the sea.
It is never enough to have a large number of attraction sights without proper government policies in place to govern and manage the many attraction sights that the islands boast of. This is one example of extrinsic factors that make it possible for the region to harvest so much in terms of foreign exchange. The government understands how vital it is to preserve these areas without which the region suffers.
Not only are policies playing major roles in giving room for tourism but the natives have opened their tradition and culture to the world. Islands such as Hawaii have comfortably managed to keep attract a large and consistent number of visitors all year round through this. Fro the onset of their visit at the airport, visitors will be treated to a showcase of the people’s culture; their food, entertainment, clothing and also part of their tradition.
Beech activities during the day and night will widely surround the culture of the people of this island. Another helpful factor that can be considered here is the fact that there is a huge amount of human resource. It can not be possible to host the vast number of visitors without having the hands required to handle them. Ranging from tour guides to vendors, fishermen at the coast to swimming and surfing instructor, cooks who prepare indigenous dishes to entertainers for the visitors, all of these people make it possible for a visitor to have a wonderful time as he tours these wonderful islands.
With all these playing to the advantage of the islands’ tourism sector, one can only speculate the amount of foreign exchange that the islands acquire from our pockets. All these factors when summed up create the perfect environment for business and have over the years given rise to the fame of some of the islands as potential travel destinations, for example, the island of Hawaii. Nevertheless, there are challenges that may deter the sector from advancing, if not maintaining the sector’s smooth flow as an income earner to the economy. These factors may not necessarily be caused by natural occurrences but actually most of them might be caused by a number of human activities that are either overdone or done in the wrong manner.
Challenges facing the Marine Protected Areas
Most of what we are going to discuss under this topic is mainly caused by the disturbances cause by human activities more than natural occurrences. Natural disasters are unavoidable and in many times unavoidable. Islands are known mostly to be formed through volcanic eruptions. After their formation, some of these islands do not stop becoming active. Dormant volcanoes can wreck havoc when they suddenly become active and release ash, poisonous gases and even lava from their cores.
These mess up the balance of nature that was there previously and can also cause death and consequently the halt of tourism as whole. Rough water activities, for example, tsunamis, also give a big challenge as far as tourism is concerned. Such seismic occurrences cannot be overcome by human effort and man just has to live with them and their consequences.
Nevertheless, man has greatly been involved in destructing the balance of nature in some of these islands. Ecologists such as Jackson (2010, para.4 ) showcase studies of how much the coral reefs in some of the islands are being affected by activities such as over fishing. The reefs are basically a culmination of the fossil remains of sea creatures which pile up together near the shores of these islands and over the year are compressed and harden to make up the reefs as they are seen today. In essence, without the fish, we cannot have these reefs. As has been discussed earlier, these reefs provide a heaven for tourist activities such as water surfing, boat rides and swimming.
Not only so but these reefs are a protection against the dangerous deep sea creatures. They protect against creatures like sharks and jelly fish which pose a threat to the safety of the tourist. The reefs are also breeding places for fish. Messing around with these reefs will therefore bring about serious repercussions to the fishing industry and also the tourism industry. Jackson also adds that pollution of the marine channels kill the sea life in a large way. A survey shows of how oil licks affect the liver of fish when the dish come into contact with the oil and hereby cause infection and consequently their death.
Global warming is a serious threat to many of the small islands’ beeches. The green house effect created by the emissions from our industries are having a toll in these small islands of the South Seas, Maldives is such an example of these islands. As an attraction especially for honeymooners, it is under the threatening of disappearing at least in the next one hundred years thanks to the melting of ice in the southern and northern poles.
Consequently, this give rise to rising sea levels in our oceans and the disappearing of such beeches as in Maldives (Club Kani, 2009, para.1). With infrastructure already set up in so many of these places, it is a complete waste of resources to have these islands immersed with their surrounding water especially if the result of such is due the careless emission of fumes in our industries.
The museum industry is also facing challenges. One of its challenges so far is maintaining its living museum. This is basically an aquatic reserve where exotic and endangered species are viewed. Some of these up and coming tourism attraction sites like Galapagos which boasts of a vast number of species of sea creatures require investment in maintaining their museum (Duffie, 2001, para.1). Aquatic zoos are expensive to create and maintain and therefore need heavy investment to run. Some of the islands mentioned in this paper are very small, with little or no governance or recognition by the international community.
It is therefore a challenge to invest in some of these areas so as to increase revenues collected from the tourism industry. Another challenge that may be faced by the protected areas is the extinction of some of its species. Human activities have over the years disturbed the habitat of creatures like the sea turtles; a rare species in these regions. Light pollution will easily cause their death through infections they get. They drown when caught by fishing nets that are intended for fish when they are at a young age. The sea turtle are extensively hunted for their meat, their eggs and their calipee (used in the making of soap).
Having such demand from the natives for their value is making the sea turtle suffer from annihilation at a very fast rate. In addition, sea turtles, as observations have it, confuse human garbage for their food. When they consume human garbage for food, it causes their infections in their stomach and consequently, their death (Westman, 2010, para.2). This is just one of the many animals that are close to facing extinction and without which tourist numbers will in one way or the other, be affected.
Another challenge facing the sector is the rapid change in climatic conditions. Poor or extreme weather patterns are a big negative to tourism (Hall, 2005, pp.181, para.2) Times of heavy flooding in a region or times of drought will eventually cause the industry to be hard hit. Tourists avoid extreme weather and when some of these islands are going through such, these places suffer from lack of foreign exchange.
Prolonged droughts have caused a number of damages including the drying up of tree leaves of the eucalyptus which is the staple food for Australia’s famous koalas (Earth Island, 2008, para.1). This is just a small example of what a challenge a change in climatic condition can bring. Human burning of fossil is another cause of death of death for the wildlife in some of the islands. Heat island effect causes a rise in temperatures and this causes a reduction in attraction to the particular island (McMichael, 2003, para,5).
The loss of some the habitat to some of the rare birds in Palau island is also a challenge due to the cutting down of a large chunk of forest cover to create room for human activities like building and construction like in Fuji Islands (Hillstrom, 2003, pp 92, para.2). These birds are also being lost to hunting for sport and for consumption to the point that some of the laws implemented currently are the banning of firearms in the region (Groove, 1997, para.3).
So intense are the challenges facing this industry that there are some regulations that have to be set in place so as to control and eventually save some of the attraction sites that are under siege at the moment.
Ways to make Marine Protected Areas more Useful to Marine Tourism
One of the most efficient ways of improving on the use of MPA is by educating the indigenous people about the importance of maintaining the attraction sites as naturally as they are. Without the natives being enlightened on the advantages of doing so, they will in ignorance continue destroying the remaining Increasing global awareness of the importance of conserving the environment one is in is one of the most vital tools the natives can be armed with (Johannes, 2002, para.7).
Another way that has proved to be effective is by equipping the natives in these islands with the technology necessary to maintain and educate them even further. Poverty stricken islands with children without the ability to go to school are benefiting from issuing of technology like laptops that equip the villages with necessary technology (Vota, 2007, para. 6). Another way of improving this sector is by improving not only the infrastructure but also the financial status of some of these islands. Kiribati Island has been aided by the UK to improve its GDP to an outstanding 25%-50% (Central Intelligence, 2002, para.3).
The purpose here is simply to increase tourist comfort as he/she tours the particular island. Infrastructure is the key to any move upwards to the country’s economy. Heavy investment is required and will be a benefit all round to the natives and the visiting tourists.
Conclusion
The South Sea Islands have over the years shown a lot of potential in the tourism. It has arguably the best beeches coastline and attractions in the world, well, depending on ones taste. The weather is favorable for this economic activity and is usually consistent all year round. The islands are breath-taking and should one get the opportunity to visit, will understand what it really means to be on holiday, Nevertheless, without managing the MPA in a way that will conserve the environment, the natives of these islands are bound to loose their greatest income earner: Tourism.
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