Diving Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Diving Tourism - Essay Example Sustainable driven tourism is a way for nations to show their commitment to conserving the environment and local traditions while still earning an income and creating job opportunities. The reason why sustainable tourism is being encouraged all over the world is due to the fact that there is dire need to have positive development. Currently, diving as part of the tourism sector is a booming business. Many nations which have reef lined coasts are making a lot of money from dive tourism activities. However, the problem that is going to affect the economies of such booming business is the mechanical damage that is consequential of these activities. Niche tourism addresses one of the fastest growing sectors in the tourism industry. This paper looks at the integrated picture of niche tourism. This tourism category is divided into micro and macro niche (Johnson 2002). This concept has an all-inclusive theoretical structure and it discusses policies, initiatives and strategies that are to be implemented internationally (Swarbrooke et al 2003). There is a growing concern on the international scene over issues like global warming, energy crises and climate changes. This influences personal choices such as travel destination, lengths of journeys and other issues like environmentally friendly services e.g. use of oil in transportation and waste management in tourism. To retain international competitiveness, nations are ensuring that they considerably decrease carbon emission and waste management (Jennings 2007). The coasts that are used for diving tourism are often fragile ecosystems and most of them run a limited scope of action in creating alternatives that conserve the environment (Neto 2003). Diving tourism has been developing very fast and hence tourism activities often had a very rapid and relentless impact on natural resources (Novelli 2005). The chief tourism related environmental concerns that face these coasts are several as outlined. The degradation of the environment is usually caused by developing infrastructure and services as well as the direct impact of the activities of the tourists. At the tourism coasts, there is a very high competition for land use (Jennings 2007). The prices of building are increasing causing much of the fallow land to be cleared for construction; as a result, erosion results. The developing tourism is a threat to the environment as human beings interfere with biological life both wildlife and vegetation. It is feared that this can lead to the permanent damage of the susceptible ecosystem (Swarbrooke et al 2003). With increased tourism, there is often a problem of waste management at the coast. Treating and disposing solid and liquid waste becomes very complex. Some coasts have very limited infrastructure and the capacity becomes overwhelmed during peak season. Dive tourism has been indicated to exacerbate this condition (Novelli 2005 & Uyarra et al 2008). There is so much disposition of unprocessed effluent to the areas that surround the sea. As a consequence, there is very high risk if not considerable loss of precious marine life, silting, erosion, and destruction of coral reefs on which tourism is highly dependent (Johnson 2002). Increasing tourism at the coast especially because of the increasing popularity of the dive tourism has be