The role of tourist icons for sustainable tourism

Abstract

This paper provides a discussion of tourist icons as pull factors of a destination and problems associated with icons. According to interviews held with major wholesalers in Australia and inbound tour operators in New Zealand, tourist icons vary in importance to different segments of the market, with coach tourists placing more importance on icons than free independent travellers. Moreover, the need to base overseas marketing on icons depends on the maturity of the targeted market. A tourist survey in New Zealand revealed that Milford Sound and Rotorua were indeed the most commonly known attractions, but that in addition to these two key icons, tourists were attracted to natural features in general, such as mountains and glaciers. This paper argues that an overemphasis on tourist icons potentially leads to unsustainable tourism development, for the following reasons: tourists travel large distances to visit the spatially very dispersed tourist icons, and this results in considerable amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, even if they visit New Zealand for a short period of time; the high visitation levels at popular sites result in infrastructural bottlenecks, reaching carrying capacity, which results in potentially significant environmental and social impacts; and the uneven geographical distribution of tourism spending is a missed opportunity for much-needed regional development. The current ‘100% Pure’ campaign by Tourism New Zealand potentially contributes to a more holistic promotion of New Zealand as an attractive ‘natural landscape’ destination.