Claire Beach: Hineteawa
Hineteawa, one of Milford Sound's two permanent waterfalls, sees nearly a million visitors each year. The emissions from these trips contribute to global warming, impacting the volume of water fed into the falls, while the sheer number of tourists overwhelms and degrades the existing infrastructure. The combined impacts of visitor numbers and trips is a critical threat to preserving the natural environment, like Hineteawa.This conflict highlights the numerous tensions in sustainability associated with tourism, between environmental stewardship and the negative impacts of travel, and the short-term economic benefits for the local communities and their long-term viability.My research examines how New Zealand’s tourism industry manages these tensions. By understanding how tensions in sustainability interact, we can identify strategies to target different levels of the tourism system – from tourists to firms to national policy – to accelerate the transition to sustainable tourism.