Theory: Tourism Impacts and Challenges

CASE STUDY: Pacific Island Challenges

The South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) Sustainability Monitoring Program was motivated by the need to address the various environmental, socio-cultural, and economic challenges that the Pacific Island countries face. These challenges tend to be common challenges shared by small islands that are largely due to their small size, isolated location, and coastal geography.

Some of the specific challenges affecting the Pacific Islands include:

• Increased pressure on natural resources, which are inherently limited in Pacific Islands;
• Insufficient waste management infrastructure to handle waste disposal, including limited landfill capacity and lack of on-island recycling capabilities;
• Harm to marine habitats and wildlife from coastal development and marine-based activities, as well as water pollution and debris;
• Increased vulnerability to climate change impacts, including rising sea levels, natural disasters, and warming water temperatures;
• Loss of local cultural resources, traditions, and awareness;
• Limited and low-paying economic opportunities for residents;
• Economic vulnerability and leakage;
• Lack of market differentiation to distinguish the destination offering and visitor experience

Tourism growth in small island destinations has the potential to exacerbate or help alleviate these existing challenges. Because of the impact that tourism can have on islands and their inhabitants, it is particularly important to enhance the overall sustainability of the industry across the Pacific Islands region. Because the tourism industry is comprised of many individual entities and actors; therefore, to create change at a regional level requires tourism enterprises to adopt more sustainable habits and ensure that destination development support this.