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RESOURCES: PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS

Author : Valentina Dinica
School/Work Place : Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Contact : valentina.dinica@vuw.ac.nz
Year : 2014

For the tourism sector the government aims to “Grow the number of new business opportunities on public conservation land in order to deliver increased economic prosperity and conservation gain” (New Zealand Government, 2012: 23). In relation to this objective, the 2013 progress report to Government on the Business Growth Agenda mentions that DOC and MBIE have already implemented changes to the concession regime, which were implemented as part of two bills (2010, 2013) to amend the 1987 Conservation Act, (New Zealand Government, 2013:22). The change in the concession system is only one of several key changes implemented by DOC; but it was the first one, initiated by the Conservation Minister by means of a Concession Reviewing Process (DOC, 2010). The Conservation Chapter of the 2013 Treasury Budget Report signals that, in exchange for the new business opportunities, those obtaining DOC concessions are expected to start contributing to DOC’s work on biodiversity conservation (such as pest trapping, native flora and fauna breeding/repopulation) and the maintenance of facilities and infrastructures used by tourism across the country (Treasury, 2013: 3;12-13).

Additionally, it is also hoped that concessionaires, communities, recreational user groups, and individuals will increase their contributions through donations and volunteer work to implement DOC’s legal objectives (Treasury, 2012 and 2013; New Zealand Government, 2012). However, the Conservation Minister acknowledged that “Currently the pervading attitude by those operating on public conservation land is that they do so by ‘right’ rather than a privilege in which they are prepared to invest. Changing this attitude will require DOC to demonstrate and deliver real value in any established partnerships.” (Treasury, 2013: 11).

In this context, the research question that emerges is: what are the prospects for sustainable tourism and recreation in the National Parks of New Zealand, given the recent shifts in regulation and governance to facilitate a Conservation Economy? This research question will be addressed by considering a number of sub-questions, which emerged not only from the above introductory considerations, but also from the wider literature review:

  • What is the legal-institutional space available to the Department of Conservation to influence the sustainable development of tourism and recreation in National Parks?
  • How do the current National Park Management Plans and visitor planning framework guide the approval, management and monitoring of tourism concessions? What changes in these relationships can we see, or expect, following a shift to a Conservation Economy?
  • How does the new concession regime look like, since 2009? Do the existing and new concession contracts deliver on the promise made by the neo-liberal decision-makers - that opening up conservation lands for tourism businesses will deliver biodiversity and environmental gains in National Parks?

The paper concludes with some policy recommendations based on the preliminary findings reported in this article.


List of Articles
No. Subject Views Date
294 Think Tank XV The social enterprise as a vehicle to poverty alleviat... file 1836 Jul 27, 2015

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293 Think Tank XV The operational challenges of community-based tourism ... file 12079 Jul 27, 2015

Community-based tourism is increasingly being developed and promoted as a means of reducing poverty in developing countries assisting local communities to meet their needs through the offering of a tourism product. The Swaziland Tourism Auth...

Author: S. E. Lukhele & K. F. Mearns 

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292 Think Tank XV Environmental Practices and Hotels’ Performance: an em... file 1559 Jul 27, 2015

Firms are nowadays facing growing pressure from governments and environmental institutions to reduce their ecological footprint. While a growing number of empirical studies have examined the impact of green management policies on firms’ fina...

Author: Christelle Cortese & Mondher Sahli 

Year: 2015 

291 Think Tank XV A modified value chainanalysisoftourism development in... file 3106 Jul 27, 2015

Tourism development in a relatively unknown country is faced with various challenges. The difficulty is not only choosing an appropriate tourism development strategy but also managing it in a complex sociocultural, economic and political env...

Author: Sonja Frommenwiler & Péter Varga 

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OPA: Runner Up Outstanding Paper Award 

290 Think Tank XV Perceptions of local communities participation in rura... file 2831 Jul 27, 2015

In order to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs, rural communities should be able to participate actively in all aspects of tourism, including planning and management. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the local communit...

Author: Limpho Lekaota & Jarkko Saarined 

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289 Think Tank XV Rural renewal or requiem? Establishing new creative ve... file 1102 Jul 27, 2015

During the past decades, concern for rural poverty and underdevelopment of the rural communities of Namibia has been central to government development efforts. This has further given rise to several rural development programmes. While, some ...

Author: Erling Kavita 

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288 Think Tank XV Social Representations of Tourist Selfies: New Challen... file 2813 Jul 27, 2015

A number of recent incidents have focussed media attention on the phenomenon of tourist selfies, described their negative consequences for tourist destinations and identified a number of challenges for tourist site managers. This paper repor...

Author: John Pearce & Gianna Moscardo 

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287 Think Tank XV Why Africans do not visit their national parks: A case... file 1582 Jul 27, 2015

Present-day Western approaches relating to nature and natural resources management assume that humans are independent from the natural world (Pierotti & Wildcat, 2000). Protected areas such as Yellowstone National Park were created with ...

Author: Lesego S. Stone & Gyan P. Nyaupane 

Year: 2015 

286 Think Tank XV Protected areas and community wildlife-based tourism i... file 799 Jul 27, 2015

Tourism planning in protected areas (PAs) entails addressing two partly competing and overlapping goals: preserving heritage and providing access. Resolving potential conflicts between these two goals is particularly challenging at the inter...

Author: MorenTibabo Stone & Gyan P. Nyaupane 

Year: 2015 

285 Think Tank XV Deconstruction of Man-nature Dialogue Nexus: A Critica... file 8812 Jul 27, 2015

The relationship between man and nature dates back to the millennia. The intimacy of man-nature interaction increased with decreasing healthy nature, as man’s insatiable desire to know and control nature as a commodity becomes more dynamical...

Author: Michael Kweku Commeh 

Year: 2015 

284 Think Tank XV Enhancing stakeholders’ participation for sustainable ... file 2091 Jul 27, 2015

Tourism is a fragile industry with multiple stakeholders. Globally, the desire of its stakeholders is to gain more benefits and eliminate negative impacts on resources that support the industry, particularly in protected areas (PAs) such as ...

Author: Richie Wandwi 

Year: 2015 

283 OPA award Active community participation in nature conservation ... file 3547 Jul 27, 2015

This paper provides a conceptual framework of community- based nature conservation and tourism (CBC-T). The following themes are guiding discussions in this study, i.e.: land rights of local communities in and around protected areas; communi...

Author: Jones Muzirambi & Kevin Mearns 

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OPA: 2015 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

282 Think Tank XV A novel review approach on adventure tourism scholarship file 1563 Jul 24, 2015

As a niche market, adventure tourism has been developing rapidly in many regions and territories, evidenced by increasing number of participants and intensive growth of adventure tourism products (Adventure Travel Trade Association, 2013; T...

Author: Mingming Chen, Deborah Edward, Simon Darcy 

Year: 2015 

281 Think Tank XIV Current Global Initiatives to Address the Sustainabili... file 5075 Jul 07, 2014

A number of ongoing and new initiatives aim at the tourism sector with the intention of improving sustainability within the sector and through tourism in other economic and social activities. Dirk's presentation reflects on UNWTO’s position ...

Author: Dirk Glaesser 

Year: 2014 

280 Think Tank XIV Sustainable tourism, market failures and the challenge... file 10968 Jul 07, 2014

David's presentation outlines the major market failures in tourism production and consumption and questions the changing role of (public sector) governments in market regulation and ‘economic’ development. The presentation focuses specifical...

Author: David G. Simmons 

Year: 2014 

279 OPA award A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Sustainab... file 10007 Jun 26, 2014

Emerging tourist destinations can challenge ecological, economic, social, and quality of life barriers. These issues draw attention towards the consequences of increasing complexity that are often found as a tourist marketing system grows an...

Author: Sarah Duffy & Larry Dwyer 

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OPA: 2014 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

278 Think Tank XIV Exploring the potential of Community Based Ecotourism ... file 5179 Jun 27, 2014

Development in developing countries often results in mass land-use change and subsequent increase in greenhouse gas emission by deforestation or forest degradation. For instance, approximately a-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions was a...

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277 Think Tank XIV Exploring Policy, Politics and Governance through Stak... file 5283 Jun 27, 2014

This paper looks at the development of an ecotrekking industry on the Kokoda Track and demonstrates how the use of participatory methods in community based tourism can align two different “regimes of truth” (that of the community and of the ...

Author: Stephen Wearing, Paul Chatterton & Amy Reggers 

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276 Think Tank XIV Bird-watching Routes as Collaborative Stakeholderships... file 11068 Jun 27, 2014

Although there are numerous birding trails with varying levels of success, prior to this study, little research existed as to how birding trails are designed, implemented and managed. Thus, the study posed and answered the following research...

Author: Krisztian Vas 

Year: 2014 

275 Think Tank XIV Can "Slow Travel" Contribute to Sustainable Tourism? file 5790 Jun 27, 2014

Slow travel as a research field has increased in popularity in the last decade. The concept started to gain attention through online communities, and tourism researchers have become interested in the possible benefits that slow travel may ha...

Author: Tina Roenhovde Tiller 

Year: 2014 

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