A Systematic Assessment Framework for Sustainable Coastal Tourism Development

Abstract

Coastal tourism and ecotourism are two fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry in Taiwan in recent years. Wildlife and bird watching, camping, fishing, boating, rambling, and environmental education are gaining popularity around the island among Taiwanese tourists and recreationists. Many areas have shown adverse effects of these human activities on natural environments and neighborhood communities. It is, then, imperative to identify appropriate activities allowed and to assess the sustainability of individual sites before these fragile environments are irreversibly ruined. The purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic analysis of sustainability assessment of a coastal area, namely Haomeiliao Nature Preserve by utilizing integrated assessment and scenarios approach. The assessment framework proposed is a useful tool for sustainable tourism development. The analysis reveals that ”no equipment required, no access to resources” is the most appropriate activity type across all four scenarios. Our results suggest that the targeting method employed is a useful tool for sustainable coastal tourism development.