The project that has been proposed seeks to implement some changes in the eco-tourism activities in New Zealand. These changes cut across the local, national, and international concerns in the tourism sector. The project entailed adventurous tours organised with a motive of introducing the participants to the variety of flora and fauna found in the Fiordland of New Zealand. The activities were boat riding, hiking, camping, cycling and hills climbing among many others. Selection process for the activities to include in the project was influenced by some of the spectacular features that Fiord land National Park had to offer for the tourists. Some of the spectacular features that were considered are fiord waterfalls, snow covered mountains, steep hills, rivers among others (Warren and Taylor 12). As a guiding principle, the participant guests had to interact with the workers in the park who were involved in eco-tourism activities.
Justification of the project
Selection of New Zealand as the best location for the project was arrived at after an in-depth analysis of the historical events were analysed regarding the location. New Zealand is one of the few countries that were isolated from the entire world (Bejder, Stephen and Harraway 743). Therefore, it retained its ecological purity than any other possible location that could be thought of. However, due to the Europeans migrating to the area in the recent past, some major ecological impacts have started to be felt. The negative effects have made some of the endemic species to become extinct (Warren and Taylor 10). In this regard, the New Zealand fiord land has raised a global alarm on the need to conserve the environmental through proper eco-tourism practises in the area. On the same note, the project was proposed to enhance some of the measures that ought to be taken to actualise eco-tourism activities.
Overview of Negative Environmental Impacts
Some ecotourism activities performed by people and animals destroy the natural stature of animal and plant species. First, the physical distraction of the species habitat is one critical aspect that modifies their survival tactics. These negative environmental effects are apparent in such cases where roads are made or trees and rocks cleared. The endemic lizards are affected by such environmental disturbances. The infrastructural activities affect the lives of species making them part of the unpreserved conservation zone like national parks and reserves.
Fishing activities in the fiords: it has been observed that due to marine activities and the ignorance by some of the marine bodies, oils spillages have evidenced on the Fiord land; an aspect that has led to water pollution. Fishing also brings another fundamental effect involving overfishing. This activity deprives the ability of the marine life to multiply. It has been noticed that various species of fish such as whitebait are slowly becoming extinct. If overfishing is not controlled, then it is estimated that over varieties of species of fish will have ceased to exist. Finally, the fauna living in these aquatic habitats face another grave vice from agricultural effluents. In this case, the farmers neighbouring Fiord lands are often involved in discharging of chemicals to the rivers (Goldie 76). The chemicals destroy soil and marine life leading to imbalance in the ecological niche.
Thirdly, pollution is a critical result of ecotourism. For instance, noise pollution from marine activities such as cruise boat riding, oil drilling, and cars travelling are associated with creation of excessive noises believed to stress the fauna and disrupt their breeding behaviours (Bejder, Stephen and Harraway 745). Tourism activities may lead to littering, especially in respect to the popularity of the Fiord land in New Zealand. This region has exhibited an increased number of both local and international tourists in the recent past. However, some tourists have been noted to litter the areas they visit; a negative impact to the environment that threatens the life of the bird species in the Fiord land (Bejder, Stephen and Harraway 747).
Environmental Benefits of Project
If the project proposed is enacted, the following environmental benefits will be realised;
- The levels of pollution by either or a combination of noise, solid, and liquid waste will be minimised. Minimisation of waste ensures proper growth of micro and macro organisms which are depended upon by other organisms for survival.
- Fishing activities will be controlled to ensure survival of the marine life especially the fish species that faces extinction threat. By enhancing proper fishing activities, it is estimated that only mature marine species are fished, giving space for the offspring to grow and recreate (Bejder, Stephen and Harraway 740).
- Owing to monitoring of tourist activities, bio-degradation problems will be reduced to non-hazardous levels, an initiative that ensures the recreation of both flora and fauna (Hviding and Bayliss 23).
- In this quest, an environmental concern is impacted to the prospective tourists thereby building a beneficial relationship between the humans and the environment.
- By promoting proper eco-tourism activities, an eco-friendly environment is realised which directly benefits all the organisms (Kotler 13).
Social and Economic Benefits and Impacts
When viewed in a different angle, the project will provide a lot of social and economic benefits in New Zealand. In this project, proposed activities are estimated to provide education and knowledge to the local people in New Zealand. In this aspect, the various measures of environment conservation that have been proposed can only be achieved through training of the affected people. By so doing, important environment related information is passed from one generation to another (Briggs 132).
This information helps to conserve the environment for future generations. Most of the eco-tourism proposed activities will promote good co-existence between the fauna and the surrounding human beings. Consequently, the proposed activities and measures taken in the project, seeks to ensure that both the human beings and the fauna found in the fiord land have enough food for sustenance. In this regard, the distinct boundaries between the two key organisms are defined. Cultural practises define the way of living for people in a region (Le, David and Lawton 89).
Enrichment of cultural values for the inhabitants of New Zealand will be enhanced if the project is enacted. This aspect will be achieved through promoting eco-tourism, beautiful sceneries, marine life and other attractive features are which are preserved as the country’s symbol of definition; giving the surrounding community a mark of heritage that defines them to the outside world. In addition, the project proposes economic benefits in the revenue collection areas (Butler and Hinch 13).
This economic benefit will be achieved from the collection of gate charges, competitions organisation charges and many other forms of revenue collection. In this case, revenues are collected from both the local and foreign tourists through ticketing to the various sceneries and other places of interests. Consequently, through proper marketing strategies of the initiative, world environmental bodies may fund the project in order to facilitate its growth and expansion of proposed activities (Gibson, McDougall and Ireland 406). A pristine and ecological friendly environment ensures economical inter-dependability between humans and the environment (Bejder, Stephen and Harraway 739). This aspect can be viewed in terms of clean and safe to use water bodies, abundant food supply from the various sources such as marine and forest among others
Mitigation and Monitoring Program
In keeping the proposed activities in the right track as per the project objectives, it will be appropriate to enact a proper mitigation and monitoring program. In this case, the program should focus on quality checks and controls in the different areas proposed. Some of the elements to this program will entail giving the first priority to matters affecting the environment by ensuring that the activities are well defined and accepted by majority of the locals in New Zealand. In this regard, it is appropriate to involve the relevant authorities while undertaking all the planned activities (Fairweather and Swaffield 222).
It is also important to conduct regular surveys in the fiordland land and other sceneries in order to enhance the sustainability of the proposed activities (Fairweather, Crystal and Simmons 88). The various stake-holders in the eco-tourism should be encouraged to provide feedback on the contents in the project and some of the raised concerns adjusted to suit the needs of both the environment and the visiting tourists.
Marketing Plan
The need to conserve the endangered species has been given the top priority by the environment concerned bodies in the tourism industry. It is a goal for most tourism practising fields to maximise their number of customers in a geometric progression format over the entire lifetime of the firm’s existence. However, most firms do not reach the targeted goals due to poor marketing strategies enacted.
This project targets both the local and international eco-tourists in New Zealand. Local tourists are comprises mainly the hard eco-tourists that are encouraged to be part of the eco-tourism activities through subsidizing their charges (Warren and Taylor 7). In achieving a proper marketing strategy, the following plan is proposed;
Price breakdown: with reduced prices, most local and international eco-tourists are able to afford the services offered. As a strategy of retaining loyal tourists, 15% discounts will be offered to any customer who returns.
Promotional activities; in order to sell out the proposed eco-tourists activities, promotions are the bestselling tools to take. These promotions will be geared to promoting networking as an appropriate advertisement strategy. A customer is eligible for promotional packages if he brings a new member to any of the activities proposed in the project. The promotion will also be based on number of active customers who provide timely responses in the survey process either conducted manually or online. In order to market the eco-tourism activities proposed reach a wide range of recipients, a well-established in-bound tour operator would be hired to sell out the business activities (Shoemaker 213).
The other strategies that can be applied to facilitate effective and productive marketing include the use of social media, mass media, websites and physical ads. The electronic adverts can be used through connecting internationally to attract the tourists. This aspect allows many people searching for places to visit for their endeavours to find the suitable and advertised location as in this plan.
Works Cited
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