Making Coral Reefs Matter to Tourism Under Threat in Guam

The tourism industry of Guam served a record number of tourists in 2017, and has ambitious goals to continue to grow these numbers. However, Guam faces intense geopolitical pressures threatening the vitality of the industry.... [ view full abstract ]

The tourism industry of Guam served a record number of tourists in 2017, and has ambitious goals to continue to grow these numbers. However, Guam faces intense geopolitical pressures threatening the vitality of the industry. Meanwhile, Guam’s coral reefs also face heavy pressures threatening their survival. How do we make coral reefs matter in the context of such global pressures?

While sustainable marine tourism management is not a nascent topic, one would argue it is for Guam. Given the multitude of stressors facing reefs today, reef managers have not yet had the capacity to address tourism impacts until now.

My work seeks to reduce impacts of tourism and recreational use on Guam’s coral reefs, while maximizing benefits to the tourism industry. A strategic communications process with tailored marine conservation messages is employed for each of four target audiences: marine tour operators, the hotel industry, tourists, and government agencies.

Through relationship building, targeted outreach and education, and the development of various training modules, I am assimilating reef-safe practices into the industry through a process of buy-in as opposed to regulation.

My talk will share how coral conservation may be institutionalized to collaboratively develop solutions for reef-safe tourism, from both a top-down and bottom-up approach. I will discuss the need for sustainable relationship-building across sectors, rather than those traditionally built on an individual level susceptible to turnover. Finally, we will explore communications frames making coral reefs matter to those motivated by its extractive use, in the context of global pressures.