Planning for the Future: Mapping Anticipated Environmental and Social Impacts in a Nascent Tourism Destination

Exploring the potential impacts of tourism development on social and ecological change in the Solomon Islands

“…The proportionately more positive perceptions of economic growth and development linked to tourism indicate that local people may view this form of development as more favourable to other more extractive economic activities. However, local dependence on natural resources which would likely be favoured by tourists (coral reefs, rainforests) and tourism infrastructure development (mangroves) could result in conflicts for use of space and access (Aswani et al 2015). Lack of experience could also limit locals from being able to use tourism opportunities as alternative livelihoods and could be one of the reasons so few of our respondents were engaged in tourism.…”

“…Collaborative, participative approaches that build on the current research could help the government align their aspirations for development with local needs. Given the strong ties to place governed by CM, participatory mapping exercises could also be useful for negotiating the spatial aspects of tourism and other types of development (Aswani et al 2015). Research and collaboration with local people could also be used to develop educational tools for schools to help build capacity among the younger generation to deal with Westernization in general, thus paving the way for a more adaptive society better equipped to benefit from development initiatives.…”

Sustainability and Tourism Competitiveness in Protected Areas: State of Art and Future Lines of Research

“…In this way, the concept of carrying capacity becomes important and regulation emerges as a key element, balancing flows and social and economic impact [122]. Likewise, the study of the need to know the perceptions of local inhabitants about predictable future changes has been proposed [123], and the willingness of the tourist to pay to preserve the area [124].…”

“…Cluster 3 addresses tourism as an evolving system [132], causing social and environmental changes [123]. These works focus on climate change, analysing the negative effects of tourism and the actions that can be taken to reduce them, both from the perspective of demand and supply.…”

“…The main results indicate the usefulness of improving stakeholder communications in order to raise awareness about the negative economic effects caused by damage to natural areas [136]. In addition, the need to improve tourism development plans is also highlighted [123], including monitoring and control of changes [137] and actions that promote production and market diversification and strengthening capacities [133].…”