Building Community Commitment for a Region\u27s Future: The Case of Port Stephens, Australia

With tremendous growth in coastal communities of Australia within the last two decades, intense pressures have been placed on local communities, especially in the areas where tourism is a growing phenomenon. People living in these sensitive regions have been searching for long term solutions. There are many challenges, however, in meeting the needs and dealing with the complex relationships between tourists, residents, investors, providers of tourist and lifestyle experiences, non-government and government organisations. To meet these difficulties, community groups have attempted to gain local awareness of the costs and benefits of more responsible, community based approaches to tourism and other types of developments. This paper looks at how a community that has been embracing tourism while allowing increased residential development in a sensitive region, is also attempting to facilitate interaction and influence decision making within the community