ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE IN TOURISM STRATEGY IN NEW ZELAND AND FIJI

“Tourism in International Relations”
Lecture: Drs. Usmar Salam MIS
Name: Destania Sagitarisheylla
NIM : 07/250443/SP/21954

“Eco-tourism is distinguished from other forms of educational or nature based tourism by a high degree of environmental and ecological education, delivered in the field by qualified interpreters. Eco-tourism contains a significant portion of human wilderness interaction that, coupled with the education provided, tend to transform tourists into strong advocates for environmental protection. Eco-tourism practice minimises the environmental and cultural impacts of visitors, ensures that financial benefits flow to host communities and places a special emphasis on financial contribution to conservation efforts”. (Allen, K.,1993. ‘South Australian market review’, in Down to Earth Planning for an Out-Of-The-Ordinary Industry, Paper presented at the South Australian Eco-tourism Forum, August 19-20, Adelaide).

It is to accept this third millennium, most of human life aspects experiences greatly fast growth. Some parties concluded the growing aspects to 4T (Transportation, Telecommunication, Tourism, and Technology). However, till in this time tourism aspect is always considered as a soft activity. The 4T aspect always has relation with the factual issues growing recently about global warming and other environmental issues. Why is global warming? It is because this issue represents the most sensitive central issue in the 21st century, some experts stated that all developments concerning with this issue, the global warming issue would relate to the continuity of all life beings on earth planet in the future.
As respond to it, the 4T aspects above as human life aspect growing most quickly must have been always going to be an analysis material and criticism object. The transportation aspect for instance, produced emission in a great amount, accelerates global warming process. The combustion result of fossil fuel as a “soul” of almost all transportation devices in the world makes it one of many enough huge global warming source. To accept it, the experts began to create alternative technologies to omit produced emission. Then some technologies had been created, such as the electrical transportation device which is friendly with the environment, and so on.
It is similar but not the same with another 4T aspect which is the tourism aspect that also represents fast growing aspect. The criticism addressed to this aspect is positively not too sharp as that addressed to the transportation aspect as explained before. Yet, it doesn’t mean that this aspect didn’t experience the similar growth. The “environment-friendly” aspect is also more intensive in its application in various tourism systems in many countries in all around the globe.
The tourism can not be separated from natural substance inside, however, the natural beauty represents the biggest factor presented by tourism to take the benefit inside. Just only, sometimes human forgets to allocate gained profit from nature to be returned to nature as a responsible being. These things become then criticisms object of many environments experts, they often refer it as an uncontrolled exploitation. We cannot just let the exploitation to keep on it’s pace, re-arrange the damage of the mother nature can not be done in a single day, a month, or a year, it needs time, a lot of time, it even needs more than one human generation just to see a tree grow perfectly in the middle of the forest. Nature has each own balance and it has been lined since the nature created. Uncontrolled intervention to ecological balance will only bring the impact of harming the human being itself.
Leaving from that fact, government of the nations whose tourism systems has bad history with environment started to improve their human-to-nature relations matter. The effort was called Sustainable Tourism Development. Nevertheless, Sustainable Tourism Development did not only include the improvement of relation between the tourism and the nature, even though it more often equaled with the nature itself or ecotourism. Sustainable Tourism Development also included another consideration such as local society empowerment, culture, custom, until life style, as well as social system and general issues such as prevailing economy’s growth level. Sustainable Tourism Development aims to make the tourism constantly come the profit for the party concerning in it without exploiting the nature which is finally could become an environmental degradation, the damage of local society culture, or damage to social system prevailing in around the place of the tourism destination.
Sustainable Tourism Development has 3 main points:
The necessary interactions between the environment and economic activity;
Long-term time scale; and
Inter- as well as intra-generational equity – providing for the needs of current societies without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Tourism Development Strategy: New Zealand and Fiji.
The STD concept offered by New Zealand and Fiji represents the reflection from an “era of changes” demand which more requires improvement in every aspect of human life to bring the good not only to another human, but also to every living creature.
In its tourism strategy (New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015), New Zealand attempted to adapt with various happening of changes, either in global level, or in domestic level. The government of New Zealand stated that the new tourism strategy made up a respond of various global change demands happening since 2001, especially related in environment issue.
Changes at the global level include:
1. Growing concern about the impact of travel on climate change
2. Greater use of the internet and online bookings
3. Higher fuel prices.
At the domestic level, the industry faces challenges in:
1. Recruiting appropriately skilled staff
2. Becoming more environmentally sustainable
3. The provision of appropriate, high quality infrastructure.

To make above changes vision can be fulfilled, hence it needs the existence of correct strategy formula. The outline of the strategy formula is poured into four main points such as those existed in the following draft of Tourism Development Strategy 2015 of New Zealand:
1. New Zealand delivers a world class visitor experience
In a competitive international environment, it is vital that we capitalize fully on the many wonders New Zealand has to offer. We must deliver products that are high quality, authentic, unique and delivered with superb service.
2. New Zealand’s tourism sector is prosperous and attracts ongoing investment
Our goals for the industry can only be realized if we can ensure continue upgrading our products.
3. The tourism sector takes a leading role in protecting and enhancing the environment
These actions are essential to protect tourism’s greatest asset, and ensure the ongoing prosperity of our tourism industry.
4. The tourism sector and communities work together for mutual benefit
Tourism is a major economic contributor to many regions of the country. It is important that communities and operators build strong relationships and recognize each others’ important contribution.

It is seen from the four big formulas, it is reflected that New Zealand really wishes to fulfill what is burdened by the concept of sustainable Tourism Development.
While Fiji, in formula of its tourism strategy (Fiji Tourism Development 2007-2014) expresses that they use 4 special approach aspects as its tourism development focus, the four aspects are:
1. Social
2. Cultural
3. Environmental
4. Economic

The key to developing Fiji Tourism Development Plan will be to ensure there
is balance between the four planks of prosperity and acknowledge the unique structure of Fijian society and administration. The aim is to collaboratively prepare a Tourism Development Strategy Plan that comprehensively identifies, considers and prioritizes the tourism development, management and marketing strategies for Fiji’s tourism industry.
Guiding Principles
The project has adopted the following initial principles to guide the development of the Tourism Development Strategy Plan:
Sustainable development
Regional prosperity
Facilitating the future
Guiding growth
Balanced supply
Linking opportunities
Encouraging initiative

From the strategic plan of tourism of the both countries above we can see that there is need similarity of adaptation to the “era of changes”. The environmental issues now more insist their needs. There are many international agreements in various forms which presently consider environmental issues are not the things which could be compromised, moreover just due to willing to maximize the profit. The international actors nowadays can insist a state to take care of the ecological system unity of its environment. This matter also bases more popular the tourism ecotourism in many parts of the world, no exclusion in New Zealand and Fiji.
A tourism activity can be categorized ecotourism tourism if it fills the 5 ecotourism principles (Cooper, 1997). The five principles are : 1) sustainable principle is tourism concentrating on support of continuity of nature; 2) that natural environment has to be safe and safety-well ensured to be made heritage for future generation; 3) maintaining various being existing around, either human, animal, plant and any others which come from nature and live in the related nature. The variety of live being is trusted to be able to survive if the ecosystem kept; 4) formulating the planning holistically and the implementation must be holistically also. Natural harmonizing with human and environmental integrity must be real; 5) carrying capacity, it means that all parties involved in the tourism activity get the benefit. Beneficial level must be gained either in dimensional for provider or tourists.
Now it just wait whether the tourism strategy of the both states positively can make a condition tourism which includes the 5 conditions above so that it can make its governance, its society, its nature all get benefit from every tourist who visits.