Marine Atlas: Maximizing Benefits for Tonga

BEYOND THE BEACH: MARINE TOURISM

“The true South Pacific” is Tonga’s tourism slogan. Many tourists take this slogan to heart and come to Tonga to see the true South Pacific, with all its wonders both above and below water.

ed that the gross value of tourism is worth about TOP 29.2 million per year to the Tongan economy (Salcone et al., 2015). This makes it more valuable than the fishing sector. The majority of tourists, approximately 18,000, come to Tonga by plane through Fua’amotu Inter- national Airport on the main island of Tongatapu. Direct flights are available from Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. The main tourist hub of Vava’u is serviced by the Lupepau’u International Airport, providing access to some 34 islands. Additional airports operated by Tonga Airports Limited are found on the islands of Ha’apai, ‘Eua, Niuatoputa- pu and Niuafo’ou. Cruise ships, ferries and yachts are moving tour- ists through Tonga’s waters. In 2018, there were 19 scheduled port visits by cruise ships, with the ports of Vava’u and Nuku’alofa being the main ports visited. Approximately 10,000 visitors arrive per year via cruise ships, making this a significant sector of the tourism industry in terms of number of people (Tonga Tourism Statistics Report, 2012– 2013). However, cruise ship visitor expenditure is relatively low compared with other visitors—TOP 97 per cruise ship visitor in contrast to TOP 1,383 for airline visitors. Additionally, Tonga is a key des- tination for cruise yachts, with approximately 2,000 visitors per year arriving by yacht. Tonga is also popular with dive tourists. For ex- ample, 30 per cent of tourists surveyed indicated that scuba diving either strongly influenced or was their primary reason for visiting Tonga (Sal- cone et al., 2015). Tonga is one of a few places in the world where dive tourists can dive with whales. Every year, between July and October, humpback whales arrive in Tongan waters from their feeding grounds in the Antarctic. The whales give birth and then perform courting rituals. Many companies offer the opportunity to swim and dive with the whales, making them an important asset for marine tourism. Marine tourism in Tonga takes advantage of its natural beauty and amazing wildlife. The success of the tourism sector is thus reliant on these natu- ral resources being well managed for the future.

Humphead parrotfish can grow to a length of 1.3 metres and are one of the many underwater tourist attractions in Tonga.

T

O

E

U

One of these wonders, whale watching, attracts close to 15 million visitors globally and is worth over US$1 billion per year, a figure that continues to grow. About 17 per cent of global whale watch- ing occurs in the Pacific and most of this happens in Tonga. It is estimated that humpback whales may be worth in excess of US$700,000 annually as a tourism attraction, with a huge potential to boost Tonga’s tourism industry. As such, Tonga is serious about taking a lead on this marine tourism activity. It successfully host- ed the Whales in a Changing Ocean Conference in April 2017, for example, which resulted in the adoption of the first Pacific Whale Declaration, already signed by 11 SPREP members. It is interesting to see how whale hunting, prevalent in Tonga only a few decades ago, has shifted to whale watching and conservation, contributing to Tonga’s marine tourism that brings in TOP 9 million to the economy every year (Salcone et al., 2015).

N

R

I

I

R

S

TOP 9 M

A

M

M

Tourism is important to Tonga, with approximately 30,000 holidaymakers per year (Tonga Tourism Statistics Report, 2012–2013). It has been estimat-

MAXIMIZING BENEFITS FOR TONGA

USES

49