Methodologies for measuring thresholds of change from tourism impacts on New Zealand natural assets

Abstract

The demand to see and the level of diverse use made of natural assets by tourists is increasing and a methodology is needed to measure change in the condition of these assets and whether or not that change is acceptable to users and managers. A preliminary framework for the integrated management of natural assets used for tourism was developed and applied by Ward et al., (2002). This framework included: A simple and applied system for tourism natural asset classification; A framework for sustainable management of natural assets incorporating management and monitoring guidelines; A Decision Support System to integrate the above requirements. More recently further work on the integrated management framework has been undertaken by Hughey and Ward (2003) and Hughey et al. (in press) who found that despite the benefits that the classification framework apparently offered, feedback from stakeholder consultations showed that it failed to allow for many of the site-specific differences that determine an asset's priority for management. These differences may relate to a range of factors such as the ecological value of the asset, its rarity or distinctiveness, its history of use, or its value to local Maori and other such cultural, social, and economic factors. In some instances, certain asset types have attributes such as these clearly defined in policy to determine their importance and management priority (e.g., caves, vegetation and bird species). Accordingly, a further revised framework was developed and the classification of an asset's level of management was replaced with an assessment of its importance. Through this method, guidelines could be developed and allocated in a manner compatible with existing policies and criteria for individual asset types.