Hence, because of its importance in many coastal regions, there is a growing urgency to understand the factors that enable the marine tourism sector, and agents within it, to cope with and positively adapt to global change and associated crises (Hall et al., 2004). Although, at a global scale tourist numbers continue to grow (UNWTO 2013), at a local destination scale, impacts associated with global and local drivers of change can have deleterious impacts on the tourism sector as a result of significant changes in tourist arrivals by number and/or by the type of visitor (Gössling and Hall, 2006; Prideaux et al. 2008; Lean & Smyth 2009; Nassar, 2012).