Overtourism in New Zealand
Introduction
Once identified as a growing concern particularly for the developing countries, the issue of over-tourism, including its environmental impacts, crowdedness, and cultural impacts its causing to the society such as gentrification and degradation, have continued to be felt in developed urban places such as in Spain, Italy, and Croatia. Various interests in the consequences and antecedents of over-tourism have developed rapidly across other parts of the world since the term ‘over-tourism’ first came into use in 2016. With that, several devotions have been made over social media and other channels to sensitize people on the issue, particularly under the hashtag “#over-tourism.” While the number of tourists has continued to grow internationally, from 25 million tourists in 1950 to over 1.24 billion tourists in 2016 around the globe. With such a trend of increased tourism activities been experienced, particularly in developing countries, over-tourism in small countries such as New Zealand has also become a worrying trend for the last few years. According to statistics, tourists’ activities in New Zealand grew by 3.6% to reach 3.8 million arrivals in 2018 (Phi, 2019). Although this trend has been listed to be among the leading earners for the country and has continued to contribute billions into the country’s economy, the numbers are also growing concern for communities in destination areas due to the negative impacts this has continued to cause for their lives.
The rise of tourism in New Zealand
The tourism industry has constantly been growing over the last few decades globally. According to Blackall (2019), there were 25m tourist visits in 1950, while in 1970 this number grew to 166m and later to 435m in 1990. This constant growth was also visible in the UNWTO report, where they identified 6% growth in tourist visits from 2017 to 2018, with the number reaching up to 1.4 bn tourists around the world. In a similar recent report, Blackall (2019) identified a continued rapid growth in the industry, where it played an increasingly crucial role in global economies. The industry contributed over $1.7tn, which is 2% of the total GDP globally to the economy. Just like with many other parts of the world, the tourism industry in New Zealand has been on constant growth for the last few decades. According to Tsui et al. (2019), tourism now contributes to over NZ$15.9 billion to the economy in New Zealand annually. The data also shows this industry contributing to over 200,000 jobs, which is a good thing for the country’s economy. Similarly, data shows that there has been steadfast growth in this particular sector, with the number of tourists growing to over 160% from 1998 to 2018. In estimation, these numbers are expected to continue growing by a large margin, with the number of visitors expected to reach 5.1 million by 2024, which depicts the growth of 4.6% annually. Which, according to Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie (2012), it can be attributed to the branding of the country as an attractive destination for tourists, which has been an effective campaign for the last few decades. For example, the launch of a ‘100% pure’ campaign in New Zealand marketing in 1999, and the subsequent attention gained through popular movies of the Lord of the Rings, these were successful and promising promotions which placed the country at a position to offer the beautiful experience to the tourists.
Causes of over-tourism in New Zealand
The rise of tourism and the resultant over-tourism could be attributed to various aspects of today’s world. With the world recording over 1.3 billion tourists annually, it is likely that many places are experiencing a surge in the number of visitors in a particular period. With New Zealand identified as one of these areas, various causes, which are also similar to others in different destination areas, have been identified. These causes can be put in two broad categories; demand and supply. On the demand section, they include: the change of people’s lifestyle, globalization process, increased propensity of spending, improved transportation, and improved economic conditions. Also, in the supply section, they include poor planning, poor management of the tourism sector, lack of resources, lack or insufficient sustainability goals, and vulnerability of the destination areas, among others (Milano et al., 2019). For example, the increased and improved transport system, such as that of a cruise ship, enables many tourists to come at once and in large numbers to New Zealand.
Effects of over-tourism in New Zealand
Tourism has become one of the leading earners in the New Zealand export economy. It contributes to over NZ$15.9 billion to the economy. However, the main concern and interest have been turned on how this industry has been growing rapidly with adverse impacts of the tourist visits been felt in various destination areas in terms of pollution, congestion, negative emotions from the locals, and destruction of various sites during the visits. At high seasons, many destination areas are overcrowded with tourists. An aspect that fosters struggle for them to deliver the good experience and image promised during their campaign. The negative impacts of congestion caused by tourists are being felt in almost every part of the country, particularly in destination areas such as Auckland, where those areas have risked their natural resources and the environment by straining them. This has also not worked well with the residents’ goodwill, leaving them with no option but to take action against the huge tourist number flowing in the area. For instance, locals from Kakapotahi in the West Coast settlement have constantly demonstrated this by restricting tourists from accessing the popular freedom camping site, especially when it reaches its capacity (Kearns et al., 2017).
Auckland might just be one of the few tourist destinations areas in New Zealand, yet this city is the largest per capita for the country. The city has emerged as the fastest-growing in the region and has constantly acted as the tourist gateway for the past few years. According to XX, the total revenue that visitors spend in Auckland rose from NZ$4711 million to NZ$8268 million in 2009 and 2019, respectively, which depicted over 75.5% growth in revenue for ten years. Similarly, an increased domestic expenditure from international tourists was recorded at Queenstown-Lakes District, where it increased from NZ$1182 million to over $2914 million for ten years. However, the emotions of residents in those areas were changing over time, with many of them, from 30% in 2009 to 52% in 2019, feeling this growth was ‘too high,’ and that it exerted ‘too much pressure’ in the destination areas (Kantar, 2016).
Similarly, negative perceptions about increased pollution and traffic congestion resulting from various tourists’ activities have increased among locals in the South Island, especially those in the Otago Region. The overall feeling is that the increased number of tourists exert increased strain on the infrastructure built to sustain the locals, as well as continued litter in their environment. Various tourist destination areas lack enough infrastructure to support these growing numbers of tourists adequately. This has led to increased road congestion, which also leads to a lack of safety. However, the main concern of the locals remains to be their environment, which has adversely been affected by pollution as a result of tourist visitations. These two regions were further identified to have experienced these adverse negative impacts of over-tourism in a report by Peeters et al. (2018). Using the measure of density and intensity, the authors noted over-tourism as the main cause of pollution and congestion in these two regions.
Furthermore, locals, especially from tourist destination areas, have constantly complained about the constant destruction of important sites due to large numbers of tourists visiting those areas. The overwhelming number of tourists has caused some of these important historical sites to slowly start disappearing. According to Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie (2014), many historical sites in New Zealand, just like in other parts of the world, have been destroyed due to mass numbers of tourists visiting the area. In particular, the substantive growth in the number of tourists in major towns and spots such as Queenstown and Bay of Plenty has resulted in huge losses on both natural, cultural, and social sites in those areas. As a result, this has led to negative attitudes from the local community, who perceive the visitors as causing these issues to their community.
Again, over-tourism in New Zealand has further caused locals to flee their homes in search of a better place to live, which is termed as gentrification (Plog, 2001). Over-tourism is constantly associated with noise, rowdiness, and other behaviors that may affect people living in such areas. Too much of these, therefore, could have caused many people to shift their places of living to try and find peaceful homesteads somewhere else. With livelihood becoming more expensive, such as hiking of price of land, houses, and food, as well as other essentials in those destination areas, many locals lack those huge amounts of money to live the kind of luxury lifestyles brought in by the tourists. This, therefore, puts at risk many people’s lives, even rendering others homeless.
Benefits of developing tourism in New Zealand
Not every aspect of tourism is associated with negative outcomes. Tourism has been associated with various benefits in the country, from an improved economy to cultural and social benefits. According to Mak (2004), the development of tourism has supported the New Zealand economy, contributing to over NZ$15.9 billion annually. This appears to be one of the best performing industries in the country. The industry has also contributed to more jobs compared to other sectors in the country today, employing over 200,000 people by 2018. Similarly, the tourism industry has contributed to the rise and development of other industries in New Zealand, such as the airline industry, businesses, and construction industry. This can also lead to direct benefits to the New Zealand economy by creating other more jobs and revenues for the country. The development of tourism has also been associated with cultural exchange and integration of people from other parts of the world. The industry promotes the movement of people from other parts of the world into New Zealand, bring with them their cultural values, which they exchange with the locals in their destination areas.
Steps to mitigate over-tourism in New Zealand
While tourism in New Zealand has been associated with positive impacts on the economy as well as the lives of the New Zealanders as a whole, over-tourism, a term that has been associated with many negative aspects of tourism activities, has put the life of tourism in the country at risk. However, both the government and the local communities have come up with various steps to try and mitigate these effects of over-tourism in their country. To do this, several initiatives have been put in place, some of which could have shown wider application in other areas around the world, to help prevent the impact it is causing to the environment as well as those surrounding the destination areas. One such initiative, as Kearns et al. (2017) records, has been seen when the local community, such as residents of West Coast settlement of Kakapotahi, restricting access to tourists in popular sites around the area due to inadequate resources, especially when these sites gets to full capacity. Similarly, the government has boosted funding for critical conservation and infrastructure to help grow destination areas. As a result, the government imposed a levy for any international visitor in the country, aiming to collect over NZ$80 million every year to sustain growth in those areas with huge numbers of tourists.
Similarly, the council also voted to prevent further plans to grow the Queensland Airport, which could have seen further growth in over-tourism around the country. This, together with other similar policies intended to promote over-tourism, have in the recent past, been declined to prevent any further negative impacts caused to the destination areas. Progress is also being made to enact laws preventing overspending on the destination areas, which will shield the locals from adverse effects of luxury lifestyle lived by the tourists in their areas. To achieve environmental conservation, the industry has also enacted measures leading to sustainability in the environment, as well as using sustainable tourism to drive a season-long solution to the issue of over-tourism (Brien, 2019). Other multiple agencies have also put in place coordinating efforts to target over-tourism and reduce diverse effects caused by visitors in their country, intending to protect the culture and people of New Zealand.
In conclusion, the main focus of tourism has shifted from not only focusing on making profits, to the goal of sustainability in New Zealand. The government, locals, and the industry itself are not concerned about how much they make anymore, especially if that will leave the destination areas destroyed. Therefore, focus on carrying capacity, with efforts to only have the required number of tourists in a particular destination area, is now being given priority. Similarly, the New Zealand tourism industry is now driving efforts to promote sustainability in the country. Although far from reach, these efforts have promoted various conservation efforts from both locals and tourists in the country. Although a good move to collect more revenues, the aspect of over-tourism in New Zealand is becoming of concern to both locals and the government. It has caused such negative effects like pollution, congestion, destruction of sites and natural environment, negative emotions from the locals, as well as local’s alienation, especially in destination areas. However, various measures to mitigate the effects of over-tourism have been identified and are being pushed by both the government and the local community to prevent further negativity in their country. Just like it has been possible in other tourist destinations around the world, in future, it’s possible to see the government of New Zealand and the locals able to reduce and mitigate the negative impacts caused by over-tourism in their country
References
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