Background: The expansion of marine protected areas (MPAs), alongside growing demand for coastal and marine tourism, has intensified the need for effective policy design for commercial tourism in MPAs. This review assesses the current state of knowledge and identifies priorities for future research.Methods: A keyword search of electronic databases was supplemented by backward and forward citation searching. Abstracts and full texts were manually screened using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Peer-reviewed journal articles, book sections, conference papers and technical reports that provided insights into MPA policy design concerning commercial tourism were included. The literature was analysed descriptively and narratively.Results: The review included 39 publications. The evidence base is sparse, fragmented, geographically concentrated and dominated by single-activity studies. Most research focuses on policy implementation, particularly regulation-based tools, with limited attention to policy formulation, decision-making, monitoring and evaluation, procedural instruments, policy target behaviour, and interactions among policy instruments. As a result, current knowledge provides limited guidance on how policy instruments operate individually or in combination across diverse MPA contexts. The review synthesises the available evidence into a conceptual framework of policy instrument mix interactions for commercial tourism in MPAs.Conclusion: Future research should move beyond single-instrument and single-site studies to examine policy instrument interactions, procedural tools, policy target behaviour, and variation across geographic contexts and commercial tourism activities. Advancing this agenda would strengthen the evidence base for designing policy mixes that support commercial tourism compatible with long-term MPA conservation goals.
This study develops a conceptual model of dark tourism using the push–pull–mooring (PPM) framework in the context of the 2004 tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia. A systematic, deductive thematic analysis was undertaken with a multi-method design, integrating qualitative data from 252 Google Reviews and 376 survey responses. Twelve codes emerged, clustered into four themes: internal motivations (push factors), destination attributes (pull factors), considerations (mooring factors), and psychological consequences. The findings show dark tourism goes beyond visiting disaster sites, involving education, unique experiences, ethics, and psychological effects. This study contributes to the limited literature by developing a conceptual model that integrates the Push–Pull–Mooring (PPM) framework with psychological consequences in the context of dark tourism. The proposed model provides a strategic lens for governments and destination managers to design policies and experiences in disaster-prone areas, helping to transform disaster legacies into opportunities for learning, resilience-building, and sustainable development.
Coastal ecosystems face severe threats from climate change, necessitating measures that include an understanding of human psychological drivers of stewardship. This study examined how cognitive and affective factors around climate change shape ocean stewardship among coastal tourists and recreationists, with Cape Town, South Africa, as a case study. Specifically, the moderating role of climate fatalism in the relationship between individual hope and ocean stewardship was assessed. A quantitative, non-experimental research design with a structured questionnaire survey (2024 – 2025) was deployed to collect data from 456 individuals. Hierarchical regression analysis confirmed that awareness, knowledge, and concern regarding climate change and individual hope were significant predictors of ocean stewardship. However, fatalism acted as an important psychological bottleneck. Specifically, the motivational power of individual hope was reduced by 23% among highly fatalistic participants. Results also revealed a polarisation in ocean stewardship behaviours; the participants tended to display relational and private-sphere environmentalism and were less likely to engage in more complex acts of ocean stewardship. This suggests high willpower yet low waypower in ocean stewardship. It is recommended that institutional stakeholders reframe climate change messaging, normalise stewardship and aggregate agency to promote proactive stewardship and maintain high levels of self-efficacy. Additionally, the humanisation of the ocean may serve as a tool to strengthen place attachment and remove the myth of helplessness, thus transforming coastal tourists and recreationists from passive observers to catalysts for change.
This study explores the policy–governance gap for marine tourism and proposes a framework for bridging policy imperatives with enforceable sustainable outcomes. Current policy instruments position marine tourism as a priority within the blue economy; however, governance arrangements remain fragmented and inadequately coordinated. The study adopts a qualitative case study methodology using an integrated analytical framework that combines policy cycle theory, stakeholder theory, and the sustainable tourism development model. The research triangulates critical discourse analysis of 34 formal policies and regulatory documents with findings from 20 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders within a case study setting of Bangladesh. Findings indicate that inconsistencies between policy recognition and effective implementation are attributed to particular institutional and participatory weaknesses. This study contributes to both theory and practice by advancing an integrated governance framework that prioritises regulatory redesign, coordinated institutional action, marine spatial planning, and robust monitoring systems to support sustainable marine tourism.
This special issue offers a timely reflection on the relationship between marine tourism and the blue economy, featuring five papers from coastal environments in Vietnam, Timor-Leste, India, and Australia. The United Nations recognises the blue economy as a concept for understanding economic activities in ocean and freshwater environments (Picken, 2025).
