ognizant Communication Corporation

Tourism in Marine Environments, Vol. 3, pp. 77-88
1544-273X/06 $60.00 + .00
Copyright © 2006 Cognizant Comm. Corp.
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Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Calgary, Earth Sciences 356, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada

Cruise tourism in Arctic Canada is increasing, albeit haphazardly. This article discusses the elements of management and planning that are expected to be important in the development of sustainable cruise tourism activities in Arctic Canada. Stakeholders might benefit from cruise tourism management and planning being given higher priority in approaches to integrated coastal management. This approach is viewed as useful in northern Canada where resource management operates in an environment of uncertainty. There is a sense of urgency to address the issues raised because sovereignty challenges and climate change are likely to accelerate the development of cruise tourism in the Canadian Arctic.

Key words: Cruise tourism; Tourism; Arctic Canada; Sustainable; Integrated coastal management

Address correspondence to Emma J. Stewart, Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Calgary, Earth Sciences 356, 2500 University Drive N.W, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada. Tel: (403) 374-1714; Fax: (403) 282-6561; E-mail: ejstewar@ucalgary.ca

School of Tourism and Leisure Management, The University of Queensland, Ipswich Campus, Ipswich, Queensland 4305, Australia

While the cruise industry has been identified as an ever-increasingly important aspect of the wider tourism industry, this sector remains relatively underresearched. Cruises have shown strong year on year growth and, in 2004, was the holiday of choice for more than 12 million tourists worldwide. Challenges facing the industry are concerned with market segmentation and the development of new and exciting ports of call. This research focuses on one aspect of the luxury cruise industry: that of the development of cruise itineraries. Specifically, this research will identify the itinerary planning process in the luxury cruise industry, determine the main issues and challenges faced when developing itineraries, and finally present an overview of the influences that might shape luxury cruise itinerary planning in the future.

Key words: Cruise industry; Luxury market; Itinerary planning

Address correspondence to Paul Barron, School of Tourism and Leisure Management, The University of Queensland, Ipswich Campus, 11, Salisbury Road, Ipswich, Queensland 4305, Australia. Tel: 07-3381-1313; E-mail: p.barron@uq.edu.au

¹Jean-Paul Orsini and Associates, Environmental Consultancy, Swanbourne, Western Australia, 6010, Australia
²CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 2601 and South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
³School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, 6150, Australia

This study investigates the effects of human visitation on Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea) hauled out at Carnac Island Nature Reserve, near Perth, Western Australia. Male sea lions haul out on Carnac Island's main beach year round, and this is also where recreational boaters and tourists land when visiting from the mainland, thus coming into close contact with the sea lions. There was no significant difference in the rate of return of sea lions to the beach between low-moderate and high human visitation seasons. However, there was a specific profile of sea lion response to human approaches; the level of sea lions' vigilance was mainly a function of age (higher in juveniles than in adults) and time of the day (higher in the early part of the day). Remarkably, vigilance levels did not change with the distance of approach of humans to sea lions nor with the number of humans involved. With regard to spatial competition between sea lions and people on the beach, the section of beach where most people landed was the least often used by sea lions. This last result, however, was inconclusive, as habitat preference could have been involved in where sea lions chose to haul out. Finally, repeated incidental observations were made of direct interference of sea lions by humans, including approaches at very close range of less than 2.5 m, and throwing water and sand at sea lions. Suggested visitor management actions to reduce potential impacts of human presence on sea lions included: limiting the overall numbers of visitors to Carnac Island's main beach at peak visitation times, implementing a visitor interpretation and education program, and establishing a stronger ranger presence at the site.

Key words: Wildlife tourism; Wildlife management; Australian sea lion; Neophoca cinerea; Carnac Island; Western Australia; Human-wildlife interactions; Wildlife disturbance; Human impacts; Vigilance

Address correspondence to Jean-Paul Orsini, Jean-Paul Orsini and Associates, Environmental Consultancy, 15 Hooley Street, Swanbourne, Western Australia, 6010, Australia. E-mail: jporsini@bigpond.net.au

¹Duke University Marine Laboratory, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
²Geo-Marine, Inc., 2201 K Avenue, Suite A2, Plano, TX 75074, USA

Numerous studies have quantified the impacts of tourism on marine mammals; however, few studies have investigated tour operators' procedures and their compliance with regulations and guidelines. This study quantifies operator compliance with NOAA guidelines, examines the structure of tour educational programs, and investigates dolphin behavior during encounters between tour vessels and bottlenose dolphins in Clearwater, Florida. During 45 encounters, operators adhered to the guidelines approximately 60% of the time. Operators complied with the viewing time limit but failed to end encounters when dolphins exhibited potential disturbance behaviors. Operators approached dolphins within the 50-yard distance limit and used inappropriate techniques to maneuver around dolphins. The educational programs were unstructured and lacked critical components of effective interpretation programs. Considering these findings, we make suggestions for ways to improve educational programs, increase compliance and minimize the impacts of tour vessels on dolphins.

Key words: Dolphin watching; Tourism; Human impacts; Bottlenose dolphin; Education

Address correspondence to Amy Whitt, Geo-Marine, Inc., 2201 K Avenue, Suite A2, Plano, TX 75074 USA. E-mail: adwhitt@yahoo.com

Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, Xenia Building, University Hill, Mytilene 81100, Lesvos Island, Greece

Alternative tourism signals a new era of tourism development and policy in Greece, especially for disadvantaged regions such as the Region of North Aegean. The dive industry is an attractive choice of investment given its significant market and the opportunities it provides for qualitative upgrading of tourism, entrance into new markets, and extension of the tourism season. However, the Region of North Aegean exhibits important deficiencies in infrastructure and human resources in order to develop dive tourism within an already highly competitive environment, both domestic and abroad. On the other hand, it possesses exploitable natural resources in relation to dive tourism and a very favorable funding environment for the development of alternative forms of tourism. The Region of North Aegean could succeed in gaining funding resources from the European Union (EU) and private investors by strengthening the dive industry's lobby in alternative tourism and using ample experience from similar groups worldwide. It should also decide on scale of investment and follow a business approach based on a management plan.

Key words: Alternative tourism; Dive industry; Greek tourism; North Aegean

Address correspondence to Angela Dikou at her current address: School for Field Studies, 1 West Street, P.O. Box 007, South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands, BWI. E-mail: adikou@fieldstudies.org

¹Institute for Tourism, Zagreb, Croatia
²Adriatic Expert, Split, Croatia

While nautical tourism is experiencing a strong demand in the Mediterranean, this growth presents a significant challenge to destination planners. The question of how well nautical tourism destinations are meeting increased demand, in terms of both capacity and quality, is of crucial importance for nautical tourism destinations and their competitiveness. While measuring destination competitiveness is a common practice worldwide, the competitiveness of nautical tourism has not received much research attention. The study reported here aims to fill this gap by addressing not only the competitive position of countries in the Mediterranean, especially Croatia, but also by providing a valuable discussion on issues relating to measuring nautical tourism competitiveness. The study focuses on nautical tourism supply, price competitiveness, and nautical tourists' perceptions of competitiveness. The results revealed that the natural resources and feeling of safety are the strongest Croatian advantage, but this is undermined by the lower standards of infrastructure and services with accompanied lower value for money. While this, at the moment, does not appear to adversely affect demand for the Croatian nautical tourism, failure to address these issues would reduce competitiveness and threaten the long-term sustainability of nautical tourism.

Key words: Nautical tourism; Marine tourism; Competitiveness; Marina; Croatia

Address correspondence to Sinisa Horak, Ph.D., Institute for Tourism, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Tel: 385 1 3909 656; Fax: 385 1 3909 667; E-mail: sinisa.horak@iztzg.hr

Department of Health and Applied Human Sciences and Department of Environmental Studies, University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), Wilmington, NC, USA

Managers are consistently challenged to reconcile the impacts of recreational activity and tourism with protection of the integrity of the natural resources upon which these experiences depend. In the absence of opportunities for active resource management, the ability of natural mitigation processes to sustain natural resources becomes a critical attribute of resource viability. This case study, therefore, examines the relationship between natural mitigation processes and a specific form of tourist management - signage - on the Zeke's Island Component of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve Program (NCNERR). The island features of the Zeke's Island Component of the NCNERR are primarily accessible by small boat. Activities common for tourists to engage in at the Reserve are fishing, swimming, hiking, bird watching, and camping. Phase #1 of the study examined whether, given the absence of visitor management, natural processes mitigate recreation and tourism impacts caused by these activities. Phase #2 of the study examined whether the use of signs is an effective passive management technique in restricting recreation and tourism camping behavior. The results of the study indicate that: 1) natural processes mitigate most, but not all, recreation and tourism impacts on the subject site, and 2) signage can be an effective approach for passively managing human behavior and tourism in natural resource settings.

Key words: National Estuarine Research Reserve Program; Tourism management; Visitor management; Signs; Recreation; Coastal management

Address correspondence to Dr. James H. Herstine, Ph.D., UNC Wilmington—Department of Health and Applied Human Sciences, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403-5956, USA. Tel: 910-962-3283; Fax: 910-962-7073; E-mail: herstinej@uncw.edu

¹Department of Zoology and ²Department of Marine Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
³Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

Bottlenose dolphins are a key resource of the tourism industry in Fiordland and are used on a daily basis by the tour operators offering cruises on the fiords. Recent studies have shown that the current levels of dolphin-boat interactions in this region cannot be sustained by bottlenose dolphins. Interactions have both short- and long-term effects on both individuals and their populations. Population models indicate that these effects may be affecting the viability of the three bottlenose dolphin populations living in Fiordland. We are currently observing drastic changes in the bottlenose dolphin population living in Doubtful Sound, which can be linked to the level of boat interactions to which they are currently exposed. The creation of a multilevel marine mammal sanctuary would help minimize dolphin-boat interactions and still allow for some further growth in the tourism sector in Fiordland.

Key words: Whale watching; Sustainability; Conservation management procedure; Regulations; Sanctuaries

Address correspondence to David Lusseau, Dalhousie University, Department of Biology, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, NS B3H 4J1, Canada. E-mail: d.lusseau@dal.ca

¹University Marine Biological Station Millport (University of London), Isle of Cumbrae, Glasgow, UK
²Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
³School of Hospitality and Tourism & New Zealand Tourism Research Institute, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand
⁴Minerals Management Service, Department of Interior, Herndon, VA, USA

Whale-watching research encompasses a wide variety of disciplines and fields of study including monitoring the biological impacts of whale-watching activities on cetaceans and assessments of the effectiveness of whale-watching management and regulations, to the sociological and economic aspects of whale watching on communities hosting such activities. This article is the latest of a series of annual digests that describes the variety and findings of whale-watching studies published in the year following the 57th meeting of the International Whaling Commission, in 2005.

Key words: Whale watching; Code of conduct; Regulations; Management; Whale watchers; Protected areas

Address correspondence to E. C. M. Parsons, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444, USA. E-mail: ecm-parsons@earthlink.net