Evolution and change in Kaikoura : responses to tourism development

The primary focus of this report is on the way that tourism has affected the Kaikoura community and how that community has adapted to the changes that tourism has brought. As research progressed, it became obvious that the social structure of the community and the historical context have a direct bearing on both the way that tourism has developed and the way that the impacts are felt. Tourism, particularly international tourism, is the most recent form of resource development in Kaikoura. It developed against a backdrop of large economic and social changes which occurred across New Zealand and, indeed, all over the world. It has proved difficult to separate the impacts of tourism from the impacts of other changes such as the decline of the public sector, technological change, the renewal of Maori cultural identity, the changes in environmental legislation, and changes in the roles and responsibilities of local government. All of these things have come to the fore during the last 15 years and they are linked in the minds of local people to each other and to the development of tourism in Kaikoura. In this context, tourism itself is an adaptation to the effects of restructuring at the same time as it creates impacts to which the local community have to adapt. Thus, tourism is just another form of resource use in a long line of resource uses in Kaikoura such as farming, fishing and forestry and is both a cause and an effect of change