“Mine is bigger than yours” – the rise and rise of super-yacht tourism

From ‘maxi’ to ‘super’ to ‘mega’, recreational vessels over 30 metres in length are more prevalent than ever before. Improvements in technology and the application of materials such as carbon fibre and titanium have allowed the construction of recreational vessels of unprecedented size. The owners of these vessels continue to invest enormous sums in larger and more extravagant vessels each year. Super-yachts are now a specialist area of marine tourism that supports a significant industry which ranges from design, engineering and construction to navigation, hospitality, publishing, photography and art. A number of locations and events have been deliberately created to attract these floating palaces, but super-yachts are also becoming more self sufficient and visiting increasingly remote places. Alongside the impressive feats of engineering, opulence and economic impacts associated with these vessels are issues of piracy, security and environmental management.

Biography:
Professor Mark Orams is a respected researcher with interests in marine science, coastal and marine tourism, sport management and sustainable development. He is based at the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute and the School of Hospitality and Tourism at AUT University. Mark holds a Bachelor’s degree in environmental planning, a Master of Science and completed his PhD in 1995 at the School of Marine Science at the University of Queensland. His doctoral research focussed on marine mammal tourism. He has published three books, including the first published text on marine tourism, and over 30 scientific papers on the subject.

Mark’s research interests are diverse but he is primarily interested in applied research projects that have tangible benefits for resource management. He is particularly attracted to pursuing research outcomes that focus on informing wise decision making for policy makers, managers and industry practitioners. Topics of interest include; coastal, marine and island recreation and tourism, ecotourism and nature-based tourism, sport tourism and special events, extreme and adventure tourism, wilderness and wildlife.