Advancing Sustainable Development and Protected Area Management with Social Media‐Based Tourism Data

Sustainable tourism involves increasingly attracting visitors while preserving the natural capital of a destination for future generations. To foster tourism while protecting sensitive environ‐ ments, coastal managers, tourism operators, and other decision‐makers benefit from information about where tourists go and which aspects of the natural and built environment draw them to particular locations. Yet this information is often lacking at management‐relevant scales and in remote places. We tested and applied methods using social media as data on tourism in The Bahamas.

Effects of whale-based tourism in Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga: Behavioural responses of humpback whales to vessel and swimming tourism activities

Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga, is a well-established whale-watching destination in the South Pacific. Between July and October, the waters around the archipelago represent one of the most important breeding grounds for Oceania humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). The Tongan government allows tourist swimming activities with whales and tour operators strongly promote the practice of swimming-with-whales, focusing primarily on mother-calf pairs.

Great barrier Reef, Australia. Credit - Getty Images
What happens next? The impact of coronavirus on Australia’s endangered coral reefs

In 2018, following two years of unprecedented mass coral-bleaching across Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, I travelled to Queensland to talk to experts about how tourism is both helping and hindering conservation efforts there and what we can all do to help preserve the world’s largest coral reef

Fiji: Destroying Paradise
Fiji: Destroying Paradise

Fiji is sold to tourists as the land of white sandy beaches and clear blue waters but a new resort development is threatening the Pacific nation's idyllic image. A Chinese-owned company is building a casino hotel on Malolo Island, near a world-famous surf break.