EMPLOYING GIS DATA FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

A REVIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF MARINE TOURISM AND HOW GIS DATA CAN BE USED TO MAKE MARINE TOURISM MORE SUSTAINABLE IN CALIFORNIA

Tourism is known as one of the biggest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world. Although it provides many job opportunities, there are negative consequences when tourism is not properly managed such as overtourism and degradation of the destination’s natural resources.

This study provides an overview of how marine tourism impacts the marine environment and as a case study on how GIS-data can be employed to reduce these impacts in California. Impacts of tourism on the marine environment were divided in 4 different categories: coastal development, physical damage, impact from water-based activities and wildlife interactions. All 4 categories were found to have negative impacts on the local biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

GIS-data was obtained containing the following delimitations for the coastal areas of California: coral reefs, Marine Protected Areas, critical habitats, areas with anchoring restrictions, Biological Important Areas, Important Bird Areas, areas with fishing restrictions, no discharge zones, seabed types, and areas with shipping restrictions. The proposed implementations include the creation of a vulnerability index, the creation of snorkeling trails in combination with artificial reefs and the most promising approach is found to be using GIS-data for on board education.

Celine Demey