Sustainable Resources

About

Internationally, Australia is perceived as a clean, green destination. The natural environment is a key element of Australia’s global tourism appeal and is an attribute that differentiates Australia from competing tourism destinations globally. Australia’s Protected Areas contribute the key elements of this international image.

Many of Australia’s most important and globally recognised tourism icons are located within Protected Areas (such as National Parks, Marine Parks, Historic Sites, Coastal Reserves, Recreation Parks, and Conservation Areas) or on public land such as State Forests. These attractions are of great importance to the Australian tourism industry.

For Australia’s tourism industry to reach its full potential it is vital that Protected Areas are adequately funded and managed; that they provide high quality visitor experiences; and that they are promoted effectively, while ensuring the protection of their conservation values. It is time that Protected Areas became a national tourism priority.

Tourism in Protected Areas provides significant economic benefits to both regional areas and the Australian economy as a whole. For example, if the Cape Tribulation section of Daintree National Park (in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area) did not exist, it is estimated that over $100 million per annum in visitor expenditure would be lost from the Port Douglas region (Sustainable Tourism CRC Report by Lindberg & Denstadli, 2003). Furthermore, there are 2,778 jobs in the local area that rely on tourist expenditures, comprising 39.5% of local jobs (against a national average of 6.0% employment in tourism) (Tourism Employment Atlas, TTF 2001).

In recent years, the tourism potential of Australian Protected Areas has been a vital element in the arguments put forward for increased ‘Protected Area’ designation. It is critical that the appreciation and awareness of Protected Areas by visitors is effectively communicated to all levels of government, as political support is vital for conservation.

This text is taken from Griffin, T., Vacaflores, M., Buckley, R., Wearing, S., Nelson, H. and Higginbottom, K. (2004). A Natural Partnership: Making National Parks a Tourism Priority. TTF Australia & CRC for Sustainable Tourism, Sydney.

Mission

To deliver, and promote the uptake and application of, nationally strategic knowledge and knowledge-based products in order to facilitate enhanced economic, environmental, social and cultural sustainability of tourism in natural areas.

Scope

Tourism based on natural areas, with a focus on protected areas, and including both natural and cultural heritage.

The cultural heritage component potentially includes Indigenous tourism (defined as tourism based on Indigenous culture)- potentially covering all aspects, including enterprise development issues, but principally in terms of the component occurring in natural areas.

Includes issues facing nature-based tourism operators with regard to their use of natural areas (especially protected areas)

Environmental management of tourism in non-natural areas falls within the Sustainable Destinations Program.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee’s Role:

• Provide input into determination of research topics - through advising on priorities of their own organisations and direct involvement in the research topic development process (in practice, the steering committee has been the primary driver of the research agenda)
• Provide input into development of research projects – through commenting on project briefs and draft proposals.
• Coordinate the designation of industry reference group members for each project in which the agency is to be directly involved.
• Provide feedback to the program leader regarding any common issues of interest and any concerns regarding CRC operation.
• Work with program leader and project leaders to coordinate appropriate dissemination and uptake of research outcomes.
• Input is principally in the form of one face-to-face meeting per year, an additional teleconference if required, and occasional email correspondence.

Steering committee members are required to attend one national meeting per year at the cost of their agency, to provide email feedback on circulated documents (which may in some cases require obtaining an 'agency view' on an issue), and to help facilitate liaison between their organisation and researchers (including finding suitable representatives. for project reference groups, where the project is of particular interest to the agency).