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Introduction.

This report will discuss the different impacts that tourism has had on the city of Rotorua, New Zealand. It will also report the ways in which these impacts are affecting the city, the ways in which they are being both managed and the effectiveness of these different forms of management. Included in this report will be quotes from prominent members of both the Rotorua city council and the Rotorua tourism committee to demonstrate the ways in which these organizations are managing tourism in Rotorua.

The Nature of Rotorua.

Rotorua has been one of New Zealand’s major tourist destinations since the turn of the century, with a relatively mild climate, central location and easy access to a large number of lakes, thermal reserves and other natural attractions. Once the local population realized that there was money to be made from the large number of visitors to the region, not only have the number of tourism activates in the area grown but with the advantage of the internet and the growing eases of information access people have so has the number of visitors, and thus the amount of revenue the city has been generating (Rotorua District Council 2011). According to Statistics New Zealand’s tourism satellite account for 2010 the total revenue generated by tourism was 22.4 billion dollars, while according to RotoruaNZ.com the city received 3.2 million visitors who generated 551 million dollars in revenue; this works out to be roughly 2.5 percent of the total income generated by tourism. For a small city of 60-70 thousand people tourism can cause significant impact to the local area.

Tourism impacts on Rotorua.

Economic Impacts.

The economic impact that tourism has had on Rotorua is reported to be both a blessing and a curse to the city. According to Tony Marks, chairman of the Rotorua tourism board (personal communication, April 6, 2013), “roughly 30-40 percent of all the jobs in Rotorua are related to tourism”, either directly or indirectly. While this can be seen as a positive impact, the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 saw massive reductions in tourism numbers and, thus, a corresponding loss of income to the city, which led to large numbers of job losses and increasing numbers of people moving away from the city looking for employment. Another problem arises from rising prices of products and services that are sold directly to tourists, as these prices rise the ability of locals to purchase them becomes more difficult (Ardahaey, 2011). This effect is easiest to see in Rotorua’s food industry with the prices in the restaurants and cafes frequented by large numbers of tourists raising their prices beyond what most locals are willing or able to afford, a good example of this is the rising price of coffee from two dollars several years ago to four to five dollars in more recent years, and while tourists are willing to pay such prices most locals are not. The multiplier effect ( which is where money spent by tourists visiting filters down to the local population), as well as the increase in employment that stems from the increasing number of visitors Rotorua is receiving every year (assuming that a repeat of the 2007-2008 economic crisis does not happen) are the most significant economic impacts of tourism. Another big advantage is the investment that the city gets from outside investors such as large hotel chains and well known overseas investors, although this can also be a negative impact to local control of the investment.

Social/Cultural Impacts.

As far back as the turn of the century, Rotorua has been a tourist hotspot and it is possible to see the way that the increase in tourist’s numbers over the years has impacted the city. Socially, Rotorua is very touristic centric with most residents coming into contact with tourists on an almost daily basis; however since this is how the city has been operating for many years most people simply take it as part of daily life. One of the most noticeable social impacts is on local crime (Horn, Simmons & Fairweather, 2000), specifically the locations crimes take place, the more “touristy” an area, the less likely there are to be crimes, weather this comes from an increased police presence or local criminals not wanting to drive away tourists has been in debate for a long time. In fact one local councilor C. Sturt stated “Not only do the locals treat tourists well, so do the criminals” (personal communication, April 6, 2013). From a cultural stance, perhaps the biggest impact has been on the local Maori culture. Since the discovery that tourists are willing to pay to experience Maori culture, the way it has been portrayed has changed drastically. “Rotorua is a well-established tourism center in New Zealand and it is the main destination where Maori culture is displayed to tourist’s” (Lawson, Williams, Young, & Cossens, 1998), this statement while somewhat dated still holds true. Rotorua is the most well-known destination in the world to view the Maori culture. The problem arising from this is the commodification, or commercialization, of the Maori culture involving its loss of cultural authenticity. While this is the case with most native cultures around the world, the problems of Maori tourism are still evident in Rotorua. For instance, attractions such as Tamaki Tours continue to offer stereotyped cultural experiences, and demand research shows that this tends to be what many tourists want to see.

Environmental Impacts.

While tourism has had an effect on the economy and culture of many locations, possible the largest and most difficult to cope with effect has been on the environment. This is particularly true in extremely popular destinations such as Hawaii, Fiji and Singapore. Tourism has had some very polarized environmental impacts on Rotorua. On one hand with the need to make the city more desirable to visiting tourists and to attract others the city has undergone a massive makeover in the last 20 years. These changes range from the city no longer simply dumping its sewage straight into Lake Rotorua to the complete redesign of the city center. The planting of large amounts of trees and the general increase of maintenance in the city’s tourist spots has been steadily increasing over the years as well. However, Rotorua is one of the most geothermal active places in the country, and with the increasing number of tourists to the city, the erosion of various walking tracks especially in areas such as Kuirau park and the Te puia thermal reserve have required some major maintenance over the years (though some of that was from natural causes). The physical environment has also suffered from the construction of new attractions and hotels, as well as the expansion of existing ones. This combined with the fact that Rotorua is located in a crater, means that there is only so much land that can be exploited. One simply has to look at some of the more developed tourism destinations around the world such as Taiwan or the Gold coast of Australia to see the effects of overdevelopment on the physical environment. In both cases not only is there less and less land left to be developed, but the beaches the main draw for both these locations are beginning to erode away and need constant maintenance in order to cope with the increasing number of visitors.

Modes of management.

As Councillor C. Sturt said “tourism is both a blessing and a curse”; this is because while tourism does indeed bring in a huge amount of revenue to the city without proper management many problems will, and have, arisen. The council had begun to take notice of these problems, and are shifting from a boosterism managerial mode in which the only point of the tourism trade in Rotorua is to attract more and more tourists with all forms of marketing, as well as bring in more operators and investors. All around the world, cities are transforming themselves for places of industry to places of tourism and play (Lew, 2001), and this is exactly what has happened to Rotorua. While this form of tourism management can work for the short term in the long run it will only lead to problems, particularly when the tourists stop coming. Indeed, in the case of Rotorua, the most obvious effect is that as the drive to attract tourists grew the city become more and more polarized, with the centre city effectively being divided in to two distinct sections. With most of the cafes, restaurants and other hospitality business being placed near to the lake there are an increasing number of empty stores between them. As stated earlier, the council has seen these problems developing and has begun to take a more “sustainable” approach to tourism (Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter, 2013). This was begun in 2010 with the creation of the Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter, the vision of which is “Create a sustainable destination through commitment to continual improvement in actions that protect and enhance natural and physical environments” (Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter, 2013). While this is a great first step all it really is doing is stemming the tide of tourism development in Rotorua while doing little to fix the problems and damage that have already been caused by the many years of boosterism.

Other ways in which the city has begun to address the problems of excess tourism is the creation of new roads to allow faster travel through the city and ease the traffic effect on local people, the problem with this is not so much the idea as it is the way it is being instituted with the creation of a large new four-lane highway that will require the demolition of many homes. Another major way in which the city is trying to minimize the problems that tourism can cause is the reopening and repurposing of older buildings both within the cbd and in the general area of the city, either in the form of new non tourism centred business or more sustainable tourism business. Specifically, the encouragement of eco-tourism within the Rotorua region is a positive sign of change, with several new businesses that focus on the maintenance and recuperation of the local area. The reason this is a good sign is from observing how other tourism destinations are using forms of eco-tourism to not only minimise the impact they are having on the natural environment, but are also able to cut down on the waste they are producing by adopting various sustainable practices.(Wall, 1997)

Effects of Tourism management on Rotorua.

The effects these changing forms of tourism management have had on Rotorua have for the most part been a positive change; the lake is cleaner the city looks nicer and the roads are well improved from what they once were. However, the lack of high paying employment has caused many people to move in order to seek employment. Another problem is the overestimation that sustainable tourism will solve all the problems caused by tourism, this is best summed up in a quote by the tourism committee chairman T. Marks, “Thanks to our new outlook on sustainable tourism Rotorua is well on its way to becoming one of New Zealand’s most sustainable tourist destinations” (personal communication, April 6, 2013)

Conclusion.

In conclusion it must be said that while the impacts of tourism on Rotorua over the years have been both damaging and problematic, they are not irreparable; rather pro-active planning is required. What they do require however is for both the city council and the city’s tourism committee to gain a better understanding of just what sustainable tourism is. Indeed, previous studies have indicated the importance of education in achieving sustainable tourism. Simply creating a sustainable tourism charter is not going to fix the problems that the city has until all the different stakeholders involved (council, local business and local residents) agree on this as a course of action.

References.

Ardahaey, F. T. P. (2011). ''Economic Impacts of Tourism Industry. International Journal of Business and Management,'' 6(8), 206-215.

Horn, C., Simmions, D. G., Fairweather, J. R. (2000). ''Tourism Research and Education Centre'' (TREC) report; no. 14. Evolving community response to tourism and change in Rotorua. Retrieved from Lincoln University Research Archive.

Lawson, R. W., Williams, J., Young, T., & Cossens, J. (1998). A comparison of residents' attitudes towards tourism in 10 New Zealand destinations. Tourism Management, 19(3), 247-256. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0261-5177(98)00018-1

Lew, A. A. (2001). Place promotion, boosterism and tourism. Tourism Geographies, 3(3), 247-248. doi:10.1080/14616680110055394

Rotorua District Council. (2011). Annual Economic Profile. http://www.rdc.govt.nz

Rotorua Sustainible Chater Inc. (2013). Rotorua Sustainible Charter. http://www.sustainablenz.com/