The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of Australia
Report by Mark Lees 2003 Churchill Fellow
The Blakeney Millar Foundation Churchill Fellowship to study overseas developments in Visitor Centres and National Park Operations
I understand that the Churchill Trust may publish this report, either in hard copy or on the Internet or both, and consent to such publication.
I indemnify the Churchill trust against any loss, costs or damages it may suffer arising out of any claims or proceeding made against the Trust in respect of or arising out of publication of any report submitted to the Trust and which the Trust places on a web site for access over the Internet.
I also warrant that my final report is original and does not infringe the copyright of any person, or contain anything which is, or the incorporation of which into the final report is, actionable for defamation, a breach of any privacy law or obligation, breach of confidence, contempt of court, passing-off or contravention of any private right or of any law.
Signed: ______
Dated: 9 February 2004
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ...... 2 Introduction: ...... 5 Acknowledgment ...... 6 Executive Summary ...... 7 Mark Lees, Visitor Services Manager – Churchill Fellow 2003 ...... 7 Visitor Centre and National Park Operations, Marketing and Promotions ...... 7 The Programme...... 10 Findings...... 12 1. Community Involvement and Support ...... 12 1.1 How do Visitor Centres and National Parks complement local communities and the ...... 12 Tourism industry? ...... 12 1.2 What support is received from local business and tourism operators? ...... 13 2. Signage...... 13 2.1 For what reasons are signs used in parks...... 13 2.2 How important is the use of signs within parks...... 14 2.3 What factors affect the erection of signs in parks or on park approaches? ...... 14 3. Interpretation Systems ...... 15 3.1 How important are interpretation systems for delivering key messages to visitors at visitor centres or parks...... 15 3.2 What are the main reason/areas interpretation is used to deliver information...... 15 3.3 What interpretation systems and methods are used within parks and visitor centres?...... 15 3.4 When developing interpretation for specific sites are special interest groups consulted...... 15 3.5 Do Visitor Centres or parks have a set of policies and guidelines for use in this area?...... 16 3.6 Park Guides and Brochures...... 16 4. Park Access...... 17 4.1 What are the main issues faced in parks in relation to visitor access? ...... 17 4.2 How is visitor access governed in parks?...... 17 4.3 Is visitor access restricted in parks? ...... 17 4.4 Are specific areas set aside for different recreational users of the park and if so how...... 17 is this managed?...... 17 4.6 Are visitors charged for park access?...... 18 5. Visitor Statistics ...... 18 5.1 Peak Visitation National Parks...... 18 5.2 Main Reason for visit...... 18 5.3 What are the main Questions and information sought by visitors?...... 18 5.4 Where do visitors come from?...... 18 5.5 Percentage of visitors using visitor centres...... 18 5.6 What methods are used to count visitors to parks?...... 18 5.7 Do parks and visitor centres conduct visitor surveys? ...... 19 6 Visitor Centre Services...... 19 6.1 Most important Visitor Centre services offered to visitors...... 19 6.2 Most important services offered to local tourism/business operators...... 19 6.3 Hours of opening...... 19 6.4 Charges for business services...... 20 7. Visitor Centre Staffing...... 20 7.1 What are the staffing levels within visitor centres?...... 20 7.2 Are volunteers used within visitor centres?...... 20
2 8 Visitor Centre and National Park Marketing & Promotions ...... 21 8.1 Main Target Markets...... 21 8.2 The importance of Marketing and Promotion...... 21 8.3 How is marketing and promotion undertaken?...... 21 9 Visitor Centre and National Park Displays...... 22 9.1 Static displays...... 22 9.2 Interactive displays...... 22 9.3 TV and video systems...... 22 9.3 Interpretative Displays...... 22 10. Visitor Centre Funding ...... 22 10.1 How are Visitor Centres funded?...... 22 10.2 What would happen if the Visitor Centre lost funding from any source?...... 23 10.3 Are Visitor Centres expected to operate from revenue raised through business activities?...... 23 11. Visitor Centre Control...... 23 11.1 How are Visitor Centres controlled? ...... 23 11.2 Do Visitor Centres use business plans?...... 23 11.2 Do Visitor Centres use an operations manual?...... 23 11.4 Do Visitor Centres operate under an accreditation program?...... 23 12 Retail Operations ...... 24 12.1 Do Visitor Centres have a retail section and how important is it to overall operations...... 24 12.2 What are the most important factors for ensuring a successful retail operation?...... 24 12.3 Are profits from retail sales expected to cover other Visitor Centre running costs?...... 24 12.4 How important is the retail section in the overall presentation of the Visitor Centre?...... 24 12.5 Do you have a policy document on what retail lines are stocked at your centre?...... 24 13. Accommodation ...... 25 13.1 Do you supply accommodation within your park?...... 25 13.2 What type of accommodation do parks offer? ...... 25 13.3 How important are accommodation ventures to your park?...... 25 13.4 How do you control accommodation bookings and reservations? ...... 25 Conclusions and Recommendations ...... 27 1. Community Involvement and Support ...... 27 1.1 How do Visitor Centres and National Parks complement local communities and the tourism industry? ...... 27 1.2 What support do you receive from local business and tourism operators?...... 27 2. Signage...... 27 2.1 For what reasons are signs used in your park...... 27 3. Interpretation Systems ...... 28 3.1 How important are interpretation systems for delivering key messages to visitors at Visitor Centre or park...... 28 3.2 What are the main reason/areas interpretation is used to deliver information...... 28 3.3 What interpretation systems and methods are used within parks and visitor centres?...... 28 3.4 When developing interpretation for specific sites are special interest groups consulted...... 28 3.5 Do visitor centres or parks have a set of policies and guidelines for use in this area?...... 29 3.6 Park Guides and Brochures...... 29 4 Park Access...... 29 4.1 What are the main issues faced in parks in relation to visitor access? ...... 29 4.2 How is visitor access governed in parks?...... 30 4.3 Are specific areas set aside for different recreational users of the park and if so how is this managed?...... 30 4.6 Are visitors charged for park access?...... 30 5. Visitor Statistics ...... 31
3 5.1 Peak Visitation National Parks...... 31 5.2 Main Reason for visit...... 31 5.4 What are the main questions and information sought by visitors?...... 31 5.5 Where do visitors come from?...... 31 5.6 Percentage of visitors using Visitor Centre...... 31 5.7 What methods are used to count visitors to parks?...... 31 5.8 Do parks and visitor centres conduct visitor surveys? ...... 31 6 Visitor Centre Services...... 31 6.1 Most important Visitor Centre services offered to visitors...... 31 6.2 Top Five most important services offered to local Tourism/business operators...... 32 6.3 Hours of opening...... 32 6.4 Charges for business services...... 32 7. Visitor Centre Staffing ...... 32 7.1 What are the staffing levels within Visitor Centres?...... 32 7.2 Are volunteers used within Visitor Centres?...... 32 8. Visitor Centre and National Parks Marketing and Promotions...... 32 8.1 Main Target Markets...... 32 8.2 The importance of Marketing and Promotion...... 33 8.3 How is marketing and promotion undertaken?...... 33 9 Visitor Centre and National Park Displays...... 33 9.1 Static displays...... 33 9.2 Interactive displays...... 33 9.3 TV and video systems...... 33 9.4 Interpretative Displays...... 34 10 Visitor Centre Funding ...... 34 10.1 How are Visitor Centres funded?...... 34 10.2 What would happen if the Visitor Centre lost funding from any source?...... 34 10.3 Are Visitor Centres expected to operate from revenue raised through business activities?...... 34 11 Visitor Centre Control...... 34 11.1 How are Visitor Centres controlled? ...... 34 11.2 Do Visitor Centres use business plans?...... 34 12 Retail Operations ...... 34 12.1 Do Visitor Centres have a retail section and how important is it to overall operations...... 34 12.2 What are the most important factors for ensuring a successful retail operation?...... 35 13Accommodation ...... 35 13.1 Do you supply accommodation within your park?...... 35 13.2 What type of accommodation do parks offer? ...... 35 13.3 How important are accommodation ventures to your park?...... 35 13.4 How do you control accommodation bookings and reservations? ...... 35 Appendix...... 36
4 Introduction:
The tourism industry in Australia is in its infancy compared to other parts of the world, which receive far greater visitor numbers per annum than most parts of Australia such as Yellowstone National Park receives over 3 million visitors every year. Because of this they have had the time to develop best practice in many operational, tourism and customer service areas. The sites selected and visited around the world were chosen to deliver a broad perspective on NSW National Parks and Visitor Centre Operations from varied views and cultures.
The opportunity given to me by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and the Blakeney Millar Foundation and the support supplied to me from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Tumut Shire Council and many others has allowed me to experience and gather information first hand.
It is hoped this report will deliver insights and recommendations to others, which will ensure development and the improvement of National Parks, Visitor Centres and Tourism operations in the future and hence increase tourism visitation and help to ensure economic prosperity for all parts of Australia.
At all times it must be remembered that the main role of National Parks are to protect the environment, preserve our heritage and cultural sites for future generations and the sustainable good of the earth, but National Parks are also there to be enjoyed, experienced and respected by all. This means a balance between preservation and sustainable recreational access must be found to ensure National Parks remain relevant and supported by most Australians in the future, which in the end are owners of the parks and must be let to have there say.
Visitor Centres play a key role in ensuring visitors, tourists and locals have the information they need to experience all a region, city or town has to offer. They are funded from many sources but mostly from local government and the tourism sector and are more and more being asked to help cover operational costs from other forms of revenue generation. The services offered by visitor centres can be multifaceted including retail sales, travel, tours and accommodation reservations, information and interpretation, tourism marketing and promotion as well as other services. Staff are normally well trained, dedicated, friendly and have the knowledge to deliver quality information services. If tourism is to grow in the future benefiting all communities through increased business and employment then visitor centres must be maintained and supported financially to ensure this valuable communication link is not lost.
The topics covered in this report are varied but all relate to National Park or Visitor Centre roles, operations or functions. They include maintaining community involvement and support, directional and information signage used to guide and deliver information to visitors, interpretation systems used to ensure the delivery of key messages and themes. Park access issues, what is faced and how visitors are controlled, visitor statistics and why it is important to maintain them. The importance of visitor services and adequate staffing to achieve suitable service standards, visitor centre displays and the part they play in the overall presentation of a visitor centre, visitor centre funding, where does it come from and who controls it, retail operations and accommodation ventures.
Due to the fact I wanted to cover as many areas as possible and gain a broad range of knowledge within a limited time it was hard to gain in-depth detail on some topics and in hindsight I may have been a little ambitious. But hopefully this report will help to identify what we are doing well in, areas we need to improve in and how we can achieve this.
At the time of writing this report many items of information such as sample brochures, guides and maps and other information posted from Italy including items from France have not arrived and questionnaires supplied to some parks and visitor centres have not been returned. This information will be added to the report as attachments when and if they arrive.
The following pages contain my final report and there are many attachments available for further information and reference such as policy documents, guidelines and survey material, brochures promoting parks, regions and other tourism services, completed questionnaires and other useful information.
5 Acknowledgment
To all I give thanks:
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and The Blakeney Millar Foundation in Tumut for awarding me the Fellowship in 2003 and for the experience and opportunity of a lifetime.
To my wife Jenny Lees, my two children Sam and Toby, my family and friends for all their support, encouragement and patience before and during my Fellowship.
To all the great people I visited in the USA, Canada – Quebec, Scotland, France and Italy. The time, effort, knowledge and hospitality they showed me was very much appreciated and they helped to ensure that I had a successful, enlightening and mind expanding experience that will stay with me forever.
Dianne Chalphant – Visitor and Interpretations Manager, Cheryl Matthews – Visitor Services Officer, Yellowstone National Park - U.S.A. Marius Arsenault, Director - Musée d'histoire naturelle Parc national de Miguasha and his staff, Norman and Christine – Quebec Canada. François Boulanger - Directeur de parc national de la Gaspésie – Quebec Canada. Remi Ploud - Directeur du Parc-de l’île- Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé – Quebec Canada. Tim Edwards - Director of Visitor Services, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park – Scotland. Dominque Giard, Guido Meeus, Elisabeth Berlioz – Parc National De La Vanoise - France. Claude Dautrey, Chef Du Service Communications – Parc National Des Ecrins - France. Cristina Del Corso, Environmental Education Office - Gran Paradiso National Park Italy.
To my sponsors and referees Hugh Packard – Tumut Shire Council, Peter Davies – Tourism NSW and Steve Redden – National Parks & Wildlife Service - Snowy Mountains Region for your time effort and support with my application and project development.
To the National Parks & Wildlife Service, Steve Horsley – Regional Manager SWS, Frazer Muir – Regional Operations Coordinator SWS, the Director of Southern Area, Tony Fleming for their full support and all the staff at the Tumut Region Visitor Centre for their hard work in keeping the Visitor Centre running while I was away.
To Tumut Shire Council for their support and encouragement of this worthwhile project which will help us to improve in many ways.
The information in this report has been complied through a series of questions asked, written information supplied, face to face visits and through site visits of parks and visitor centres. The time and patience of all these people was greatly appreciated.
6 Executive Summary Mark Lees, Visitor Services Manager – Churchill Fellow 2003
Work Contact Details Home Contact Details Tumut Region Visitor Centre PO Box 607 SWS Region – NPWS Tumut NSW 2720 PO Box 123 Ph: 02 6947 6026 Tumut NSW 2720 mailto: [email protected] Ph: 02 6947 7025 mailto: [email protected]
Visitor Centre and National Park Operations, Marketing and Promotions
With a focus on signage, interpretation, visitor and recreational access, retail and accommodation ventures.
Highlights
Visited 15 National Parks, 2 in the USA, 3 in Canada – Quebec, 1 in Scotland, 2 in France and 2 in Italy, which supplied a wide and varied prospective and insight into their operations, procedures and guidelines. Experienced new countries, their landscapes, cultures, history and flora and fauna. Experienced 5 World Heritage sites and gained knowledge of their practices in visitor services delivery and information and interpretation systems. Visited over 30 national and regional Visitor Centres to see first hand how they delivered service, disseminated information and produced/delivered interpretation systems at their centres. Meet with over 20 experts in the field of visitor services and National Parks operations. Seen first hand examples of informational and directional signage used in encouraging tourism and to ensure successful orientation.
Key Findings Following are the main key findings:
1. Community Involvement and Support.
How do Visitor Centres and National Parks complement local communities and the tourism industry? This is an area of great interest and importance as Australian Visitor Centres and National Parks seek to show the benefits they deliver to local, regional communities and the tourism industry. Most Visitor Centres and parks visited worked hard to build strong bonds with their local communities and tourism industry. This ensured understanding of their operations and the services they offer visitors including service, facilities, experiences and to deliver understanding of the role they play in building and supporting local communities, economies and to ensure understanding of their operations, goals and future directions. Visitor Centres and National Parks complement communities and the tourism industry in many ways which are listed in findings 1.1.
2. Signage.
For what reasons are signs used in parks. Signs play an important part in delivering information on what visitors are seeing and will be experiencing in the park, for the delivery of interpretive information and key messages and ensuring visitors are able to orientate themselves around the park.
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3. Interpretation Systems.
How important are interpretation systems for delivering key messages to visitors at visitor centres or parks. All parks visited stated that the use of interpretation is of vital importance in delivering information and key messages to visitors. Without interpretation systems being in place it would not be possible for parks to ensure visitors have access to information on places of interest including cultural/heritage sites, flora and fauna located in the area visited, the landscape and its varied environments.
4. Park Access.
How is visitor access governed in parks? Visitor access was a concern for most parks visited as they try and maintain a balance between environmental factors such as fragile ecosystems or heavy usage areas and the need to ensure visitor access.
5. Visitor Statistics.
Peak Visitation National Parks. Peak visitation varied across the parks visited and depended on what activities were available, most parks had two main high visitation periods being summer and winter with autumn and spring being lower.
6. Visitor Centre Services.
Top Five most important Visitor Centre services offered to visitors. Information Services including a wide range of brochures, maps, guides, face to face contact for answering customer questions and comprehensive listings on services/facilities available.
7. Visitor Centre Staffing.
What are the staffing levels within Visitor Centres? These varied depending on the location of the visitor centre and seasonal influences affecting their operations such as peak visitor and holiday periods. Most visitor centres had a minimum of two reception staff on at anyone time to ensure customer service was maintained, added to this a manager or supervisor was normally on duty from Monday to Friday with some centres utilising the manager as the second staff member on weekends.
8. Visitor Centre Marketing and Promotions.
Main Target Markets. The main visitor target markets were the same or very similar across all National Parks and Visitor Centres and this was consistent in all countries visited. The main target markets are listed in findings 8.1, which are very similar if not the same to those in Australia. It must also be noted that all parks and visitor centres felt that people from all walks of life were their target markets as they wished for all people to experience the wonders of their park or region.
9. Visitor Centre Displays.
Static displays. Approximately 80% of all visitor centres had some form of static display, these included displays of local flora and fauna, the environment and its geology, the history/culture of the region, the region’s industries and tourist attractions. Displays ranged in quality from small displays produced in-house to very large professionally built displays including replica animals, humans, environments, interpretation systems etc.
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10. Visitor Centre Funding.
How are Visitor Centres funded? This varied across visitor centres and differed depending on if it was a National Park or regional visitor centre. National Parks visitor centres were fully funded through park operating budgets and were supplemented through retail sales and commissions from other services provided such as accommodation bookings, licence and permit fees. Some visitor centres also had a donations box available for visitors to make a contribution, which was then used specifically to improve the centre and its display and interpretation systems.
11. Visitor Centre Control.
How are Visitor Centres controlled? This again varied depending on if the centre was under the control of a National Park, local government or tourism organisation. All visitor centres had developed a set of policies, guidelines and procedures to be followed which covered all major operational issues and service standards.
12. Retail Operations.
Do Visitor Centres have a retail section and how important is it to overall operations? Only 50% of visitor centres had a retail section as part of their operations and these stated that it provided a valuable source of income which helped to offset other operational costs, provide a great service to visitors wanting a souvenir of their visit and added to the overall presentation of the centre.
13 Accommodation
Do you supply accommodation within your park? Only 60% of all parks visited ran accommodation operations above the standard camp grounds found in most parks. These ranged from very basic cabins in Yellowstone to 5 star hotels such as Cite Mt Albert located in Parc de la Gaspésie - Quebec. Most other parks had at least a minimum of 1 to 2 camping/caravan parks with the exception of Parc Miguasha that only allowed day visitors due to its size and special focus of a museum dedicated to Devonian fossil fish.
Information Dissemination
The information in this report will be disseminated through the Winston Churchill Fellowship, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Tourism NSW and other interested web sites. In person presentations to community groups and interested organisations and through any other means possible.
9 The Programme
Yellowstone National Park – Wyoming and Montana USA 10 to 17 October 2003 • Visited all major sites within the park. • Met with Chief of Interpretations, Visitor Services Officers and other park staff. • Met with Yellowstone Store Retail Manager and staff. • Visited 3 Yellowstone Visitor Centres. • Visited 3 Yellowstone Retail Stores. • Viewed visitor centre displays, interpretation systems, service areas and overall presentation.
Jackson Hole Visitor Centre – Wyoming USA 17 October 2003 • Visited Jackson Hole Visitor Centre and met staff. • Viewed displays, interpretation systems, service areas and overall presentation.
Miguasha National Park – Carleton, Quebec Canada 18 to 25 October 2003 • Visited Miguasha Museum. • Experienced World Heritage Site. • Visited Miguasha Retail Store. • Tour of park and fossil sites. • Met with park Director, museum and field staff.
Parc-de l'île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé – Rocher-Perce, Quebec Canada. 26 to 27 October 2003 • Visited and toured park. • All facilities closed for winter. • No meeting as contact could not be arranged.
Parc de la Gaspésie, Quebec Canada 27 to 30 October 2003 • Visited major park sites. • Visited and toured Visitor Centre. • Met with Director, Visitor Centre and field staff. • Visited and toured retail store.
Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, Scotland. 02 to 09 November 2003 • Visited all major sites within the park. • Visited 6 Visitor Centres around the Scottish Highlands. • Met Gateway Visitor Centre Manager and staff. • Tour local tourism attractions and sites. • Met with park staff.
Reserve Vexin Francais – Paris France 10 to 12 November 2003 • Visited park sites. • Visited Visitor Centre. • No meeting as no contacts.
Paris Visitor Centres and Tourism sites – Paris France. 12 to 16 November. • Visited 1 central and 3 regional Visitor Centres. • Visited major tourism sites.
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Parc National De La Vanoise – Chambery France. 17 to 20 November 2003 • Visited park ski fields and operations centre. • Visited park sites. • Visited 3 Visitor Centres. • Visited 4 alpine park accommodation sites. • Visited Museum and Tourist Complex. • Met with Park Director, Area Managers, Rangers and field staff.
Parc National Des Ecrins – The Gap France. 21 to 21 November 2003 • Visited park sites. • Visited 1 Visitor Centre. • No meeting but has agreed to supply information.
Parco Nazional Del Gran Paradiso – Valle D Aosta Italy. 22 to 25 November 2003 • Visited park sites. • Visited 1 Visitor Centre. • No meeting but agreement to supply information.
Parco Nazional Del Monte E Delle Foreste Castentinesi - Florence Italy 26 to 29 November 2003 • Visited park sites. • Visited 1 Visitor Centre. • No meeting as no contact.
Parco Nazional Deie Monu Sibillini – Rome Italy. 30 November to 4 December 2003 • Visited park sites. • Visited 1 Visitor Centre. • No meeting but has agreed to supply information.
Singapore Stop Over. 4 to 9 December 2003. • Visited 3 Visitor Centres. • Visited Major Tourist Sites.
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Findings
1. Community Involvement and Support
1.1 How do Visitor Centres and National Parks complement local communities and the Tourism industry? • This is an area of great interest and importance as Australian Visitor Centres and National Parks seek to show the benefits they deliver to local, regional communities and the tourism industry. Most Visitor Centres and parks visited over the research worked hard to build strong bonds with their local communities and tourism industry. This ensured understanding of what they offer visitors in the way of service, facilities, experiences and to deliver understanding of the role they play in building and supporting local communities, economies and to ensure understanding of their operations, goals and future directions. Visitor Centres and National Parks complement communities and the tourism industry in many ways, some of which are listed below.
Visitor Centres: • Through the delivery of information including what’s on, what’s to see, do and experience in the local region. • Through the delivery of information to locals and visitors about other tourism regions outside our own which helps to encourage locals and visitors to travel and see other parts of Australia and hence increases tourism for all. • By acting as an information resource holding a wide variety of brochures and other information on local and regional business including services, accommodation, attractions, eating houses and other business. • Through the distribution of event listings to other tourism centres to ensure exposure of what’s on in the region and endeavour to attract more visitors to the area. • By promoting and marketing local tourism products to potential visitors from national and international markets. • Through maintaining tourism listings in publications and on web sites. • By working with the local tourism industry to increase visitation and improve tourism and tourism services. • By being the first point of contact for a large percentage of visitors to the region and helping to ensure a well informed and hence, positive experience.
National Parks • By being major tourism icons in their own right and attracting thousands of visitors every year to local regions and communities. • Through the protection, preservation and management of the environment, its fragile ecosystems and diversity for future generations. • Through the protection, preservation and management of historic and culturally significant sites. • Through the creation and on-going management of visitor facilities, services, tourism experiences and opportunities. • Through the set-up, funding and support of Visitor Centres with in National Parks. • Through joint funding and support of Visitor Centres outside the National Parks, normally with in local towns or communities. • Through participation and support of local committees and special interest groups. • By marketing and promoting National Parks and hence local communities. • By delivery tourism services through their Visitor Centres, Visitor Services Officers and Rangers. • By working with local tourism bodies to increase visitation.
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• Visitor Centres and National Parks visited during my research confirmed the above stating that they worked hard to ensure support of their tourism industry and felt that they were an important and major part in this area. Both Visitor Centres and National Parks visited in the USA and France had an extremely high level of support from their local communities and tourism bodies, they worked together in many ways to ensure tourism and visitation growth in their area improved. Local communities supported National Parks and Visitor Centres through funding and staffing of Visitor Centres including volunteers, funding special exhibits and displays within Visitor Centres, taking part in joint management committees and by acting as ambassadors for their parks and centres. • Kosciuszko National Park like their overseas counterparts need to continue to gain strong support from the local communities that surround them which will help to ensure communication is maintained and that the lack of understanding and in some cases resentment of the park, its management, priorities and staff is avoided. There are many causes for this resentment including past relocation of people from their family homes and farms from when the areas first became national parks. Closure of access to fragile ecosystems and other areas of the park requiring protection or regeneration and management strategies that some groups in the community do not agree with which is unlikely to change in the future. • Because of the above it is vital that parks continue to improve communication and consultation with the community to help develop a sense of ownership, pride and support from the local community, which will hopefully ensure understanding and commitment to its priorities in the future.
1.2 What support is received from local business and tourism operators? • Most Visitor Centres that were visited received a high level of support of their operations from local communities and the tourism industry. It was found that like in Australia it was difficult to keep information updated, as local businesses, including those in tourism had to be constantly contacted to supply brochures and updates on their information. This has a major affect on visitor centre operations as the time involved in chasing up information places a heavy burden on staff resources and financial operations. • In some countries it was found that National Parks were supported through Visitor Centres from outside the park, which were happy to display brochures, posters and give out information on visitor activities within the park. • Visitor Centres located in towns around Yellowstone NP were run by local Chambers of Commerce and supported by tourism bodies and National Parks. Support for Visitor Centres in some of the other countries visited varied from local communities, local government bodies and tourism organisations. In all cases it was found that a high level of support was given to Visitor Centres and National Parks to ensure smooth, professional and informative operations and visitor services that benefited the community and helped to increase business and employment through tourist visitation. • This was particularly so in France where out of all the countries visited they had a high level of commitment and support from local government and the tourism industry. This included funding of the operations, management committees to ensure Visitor Centre objectives were being met, volunteer staff to offset permanent staff, marketing and promotion. The outcome of this support ensured that Visitor Centres were able to deliver a high level of service, maintain accurate and up to date information and play a valuable roll in improving the local economy. By working with their communities Visitor Centres and National Parks have built strong bonds that ensure community support, appreciation and dedication to the ongoing viability of these facilities, services and visitor opportunities.
2. Signage
2.1 For what reasons are signs used in parks. • Signs play an important part in delivering information on what visitors are seeing and will be experiencing in the park, for the delivery of interpretive information and key messages and ensuring visitors are able to orientate themselves around the park.
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• All parks stated that it was imperative to have adequate signs located strategically on track heads, trails, roads and other sites that required the delivery of information or to ensure visitors stayed on track. For example Yellowstone NP used a combination of signs to deliver information on their trails including site identification signs on access roads, interpretation signs at the track head and track end, directional arrows and interpretation signs located at sites of interest along the track.
2.2 How important is the use of signs within parks. • As above all parks visited stated that the use of signs within the park play a highly important part in delivering information and orientation to visitors, they help to deliver key messages and are highly visible. Without signs it would not be possible to deliver information and visitors would have no idea where they were going or what they will see.
2.3 What factors affect the erection of signs in parks or on park approaches? • Most parks visited stated that all signs located on roads heading into parks must be erected with the approval of local government authorities and be within guidelines and policies set down. Inside park boundaries most parks maintained their own policies and guidelines for this purpose to ensure consistency, safety and overall sign presentation. • All parks stated that the location of signage was very important to ensure visibility and to give adequate warning to visitors that they were approaching a site, facility or service. • Most parks also stated that available funding was a major factor in the erection and display of signs and that due to other priorities this area was sometimes neglected resulting in signs being out of date or of poor quality. This was an area that they felt funding should be increased to ensure quality signage out of materials that would last.
2.4 At what distance from park entry are signs displayed to give warning to visitors of park use fees. • This varied across all parks visited. At Yellowstone NP signs displaying that park fees would be payable were posted up to 60km from the main entrances. Other parks did not display that park fees would be payable but did display that visitors were approaching the park and these varied from 2km up to 20km.
2.5 Are signs designed to fit in with the local environment? • Most parks visited had policies and guidelines relating to signage and these included the need to ensure that signs fitted in with the environment they were to be located in. For example if a sign was erected at a heritage site it would be made out of materials that blended in with the surrounds, for track head signs located in a forest area the sign would consist of native timber and other suitable materials.
2.6 What material is used in sign erection? • Most parks visited used a wide variety of signage erection materials including timber, mainly hardwood or treated pine, stainless steel, aluminium, plastic, perspex, vinyls and other materials. There was a trend away from materials that were subject to quick deterioration due to the elements such as wood and perspex towards stronger and more long lasting materials such as steel or aluminium. • One of the major materials now being used for the production of signs was stainless steel or aluminium, which is used for support poles, sign holders and often stainless steel was also used for the sign panel. Stainless steel sign panels used etching systems to display text and graphics and were produced in black and White as well as colour. Perspex was also used in a lot of signs to protect the text and graphics underneath, as it was relatively cheap and easy to replace. • Timber is still being used in some instances but is mainly only used for support structures and to fit in with the environment.
2.7 Do parks have signage policies and guidelines? • Most parks have policies and guidelines relating to this area, which are included in the overall operations documents.
14 • Yellowstone NP has a section in their long term Interpretation Plan May 2000 and in their Yellowstone Resources and Issues document 2001. Copy supplied for information.
3. Interpretation Systems
3.1 How important are interpretation systems for delivering key messages to visitors at visitor centres or parks. • All parks visited stated that the use of interpretation is of vital importance in delivering information and key messages to visitors. Without interpretation systems being in place it would not be possible for parks to ensure visitors have access to information on places of interest including cultural/heritage sites, flora and fauna located in the area visited, the landscape and its varied environments. • Interpretation is the main communication system used to deliver information, facts and insights to visitors in the park and enables parks to have information available at sites that would not otherwise be possible. • As stated in the Yellowstone NP Interpretation Plan May 2000, the art of interpretation is to provide the meaning behind the message to connect the tangible resources visitors see with the multitude of intangible ideas that weave the web that is the park.
3.2 What are the main reason/areas interpretation is used to deliver information. • To provide information to visitors on sites of interest within the park. • To deliver specific details on habitat, flora and fauna within the park environment. • To tell stories and present visitors with useful facts and details. • To engage and interact with visitors to ensure key messages are delivered, awareness, knowledge is ensured and visitors are educated and informed. • To inform visitors about policies and park regulations to ensure coherence and understanding. • To entertain and help to develop understanding and increased knowledge about the park environment and to deliver goals relating to visitor experiences.
3.3 What interpretation systems and methods are used within parks and visitor centres? • Most parks visited used similar systems and methods to deliver interpretation, which are following. • Visitor Centres to ensure face-to-face access and delivery of information with personal individual contact. • Interpretive media, which includes film, video, audio and audiovisual productions. • Printed material including brochures, posters, information boards, books, maps and newsletters. • Exhibits and displays covering relevant topics associated with the park and its flora, fauna, history and ecosystems. • Signs ranging from small directional such as arrows to large more detailed interpretive signage. • Computer interaction systems to enhance and give access to in-depth information for visitors. • Rangers and Visitor Service staff on-site within the park to offer assistance, advice and information through face-to-face contact.
3.4 When developing interpretation for specific sites are special interest groups consulted. • All parks visited stated that they endeavour to include special interest groups in the development of their interpretational information. Most parks understand that a high level of importance is placed in this area to ensure accuracy of information content, relevance and cultural sensitivity. • Most parks have found that by working closely with special interest groups they are able to avoid miss information, incorrect historical facts and a reduction in the chance of offending or mis interpreting the specific groups involved. • It was also felt that including these groups in the development of interpretation enhanced the overall information content and delivered new insights and facts of knowledge that may have otherwise been missed or not included.
15 3.5 Do Visitor Centres or parks have a set of policies and guidelines for use in this area? • Most parks and visitor centres have as part of their overall policies and guidelines a section relating to interpretation delivery and the standards expected. • Yellowstone NP has produced a specific document relating to interpretation, which has been supplied for reference of those interested.
3.6 Park Guides and Brochures. • Park guides and brochures play an important and vital part in delivering information and were used in all parks and visitor centres. This form of information was produced both in-house and through graphic design companies and normally ranged from DL size to A5/A4 size. • Brochures are mainly used to deliver information such as location, access issues, costs and opening times etc, to tell stories and to supply background information, to sell products and inform customers about services and facilities. Brochures are normally used to market and promote a location, product, service or facility. • Guides are mainly used to supply orientation, deliver access information and interpretation on what will be seen and the experiences to be expected. They normally include a mud map and written directions, site facts such as wildlife to be found, cultural and historic information, pictures and other useful information to deliver key messages and ensure ease of visitor access. Guides are used as an orientation and information delivery tool. • A number of countries visited have now started to produce a large range of their information brochures and park guides in other languages, these range from English, French, Italian and Chinese to name a few. This is a great service and a real bonus to any overseas visitor resulting in high levels of customer satisfaction. Although having translated guides and brochures available for overseas visitors can be costly to achieve the results of a positive visitor experience and the creation of a tourism ambassador ensures visitor growth in the future. • Most sites visited stated that they preferred to use publications produced by graphic design companies, which ensures professionally produced material but can prove to be very expensive compared to publication produced in-house. The decision to use either in-house production or a professional service depended on the budget available and the purpose the information will be used for. • For example it was found that some brochures and guides with information that changed regularly was best produced in-house due to the expense of updating information often through a professional company, these included information listings such as accommodation, attractions and other services that were subject to regular price changes. This material was normally produced in black and white, sometimes utilising colour paper for added effect and increased enhancement of the information to be presented. • For publications used in marketing and promotions it was felt professionally produced material was best used due to the high quality it offered, the overall end presentation and the eye catching layout that can be achieved through professional graphic design. • Most countries supplied information guides free to their visitors but are now looking for ways to help offset the cost of production. In Yellowstone NP an honour system is used for trail guides, which are provided in solid steel dispenser boxes located at the track/trail heads. These allow a visitor to take a guide and then pay a 50-cent donation, which is dropped into a secured lockable section, which is fairly vandal proof. This has proved very successful for Yellowstone with a high percentage of visitors doing the right thing and paying the 50 cents with a good percentage paying more than is expected. Yellowstone has found that the donations collected more than cover their annual printing and production costs of the guides and has also covered the original production costs of building and installing the dispensers. • They stated that the donations received have also allowed them to increase the quality of the guides from black and white in-house produced to full colour professionally produced which has met with much praise and positive feedback from customers as well as delivering extra value. By having trail and site guides available for visitors Yellowstone has found that it is better placed to deliver key messages and ensure visitors are well orientated and have the information on hand to guide them. • Some other sites within Canada and France also charge or ask for a donation for some of their guides. These are normally available at entry stations or through visitor centres and again production and distribution costs are being fully recouped.
16 4. Park Access
4.1 What are the main issues faced in parks in relation to visitor access? • High visitor numbers that impact on the parks, their environment, ecosystems, facilities and services. • Access for special interest groups such as fisherman, hikers, mountain bike riders, horse riders and hunters that can create high impacts on specific sites within the park. • Weather conditions including heavy rain, snow or extreme temperatures. • Unauthorised access into closed areas. • Adequate staffing to ensure service and information delivery, park regulations compliance and visitor monitoring.
4.2 How is visitor access governed in parks? • Visitor access was a concern for most parks visited as they try to maintain a balance between environmental factors such as fragile ecosystems or heavy usage areas, and the need to ensure visitor access. This resulted in most parks having in-depth sections within their operations manuals that dealt specifically with visitor access and the need for strict control in this area. Following are some examples of how this is achieved and maintained. • Through the use of signs displaying warnings, directions and access information. • By conducting patrols of the park by Rangers, Field Staff and other employees. • By placing physical barriers and locked gates on roads and trails. • Through media releases and other printed material such as fliers and posters. • By delivery information to visitors on why access restrictions may apply in some areas of the park, which in turn helps to develop understanding and stronger compliance.
4.3 Is visitor access restricted in parks? • In most parks visited the same visitor access issues were found. All parks have areas that require visitor access status to be changed depending on the time of the year, weather, environmental factors and so on. In most cases the points listed in the above paragraph are used to ensure visitor access is stopped or restricted as required. • The most common reasons for limiting visitor access is to stop visitors travelling into high risk areas that may place them in danger, areas that have high wildlife concentrations that again may pose a risk to visitor safety, such as Yellowstone NP with its bears, bison, wolves and elk. Other reasons include fragile environments or ecosystems requiring regeneration and weather which was the case in most areas visited in the USA, Canada, France and Italy, where due to heavy winter snows and extreme temperature most parks close major tracts of their park or some parks close access completely.
4.4 Are specific areas set aside for different recreational users of the park and if so how is this managed? • Most parks visited did not have specific areas set aside for any one individual type of park user but did have rules and regulations in place to govern their activities. • Following are some examples; Mountain bike riders are not allowed on hiking trials, motor homes are not allowed to access roads or trails due to size limitations. Fisherman can only fish in designated waterways, campers can only camp in areas set aside for that purpose. Hunters must have permits to undertake these activities and can only hunt in open seasons and set park areas. • Through the use of signs displaying warnings, directions and access information. • By conducting patrols of the park by Rangers, Field Staff and other employees. • By placing physical barriers and locked gates on roads and trails. • Through media releases and other printed material such as fliers and posters. • By delivery information to visitors on why access restrictions may apply in some areas of the park, which in turn helps to develop understanding and stronger compliance. • Through the use of Law Enforcement Officers that patrol the park, educate visitors, ensure compliance and issue infringements and fines.
17 4.6 Are visitors charged for park access? • These varied across parks visited but most had an access charge with some charging for only part of the year such as parks in Quebec that did not charge in winter due to closure of their main facilities. • Park use fees in most cases reverted back to the specific parks operational budget and are mainly allocated back to improving visitor services and facilities.
5. Visitor Statistics
5.1 Peak Visitation National Parks. • Peak visitation varied across the parks visited and depended on what activities were available, most parks had 2 main high visitation periods being summer and winter with autumn and spring being lower. Summer was the most popular time visitors come to parks in most counties to undertake hiking, fishing, mountain bike riding, touring and site seeing. Countries whose parks were located in Alpine regions that included snow sports such as down and cross country skiing, stated that visitation was high during winter but most visitors tended to only undertake snow sport activities and very rarely activities similar to those available during summer.
5.2 Main Reason for visit. • All parks stated that the main reasons visitors came to their park included the following. • To experience new sights such as wide-open spaces, waterfalls, mountains, forests and wildlife. To experience new smells including fresh clean air, the smell of the forest and its wild flowers and to experience the sounds of the parks from wildlife to mountain streams. • To learn about and experience nature, history and culture. • To experience new landscapes environments and ecosystems. • To get exercise through hiking, canoeing, fishing and other outdoor activities. • To share experiences with others and create special memories. • To get away from it all and escape from the pressures of every day life.
5.3 What are the main Questions and information sought by visitors? • What to see and do in the region, what are the best sights to experience, how do you find something like an attraction, accommodation or walking trail. • What are the best locations to experience the outdoors including fauna and flora, where might they run into local wildlife or see a waterfall? • Orientation advice and directions to specific locations. • Information on attractions, accommodation, restaurants and other local services. • Advice on touring options and tour packages.
5.4 Where do visitors come from? • Most parks visited did not keep comprehensive visitor statistics but those that did stated that the biggest proportion of visitors came from large cities and towns located within a 2 to 3 hour drive from the park. Other national visitors from within their country, then a good percentage of international visitors followed this. • It was stated by most parks that international visitor numbers have been increasing steadily over the last few years but no analysis had been undertaken to find out why this is the case.
5.5 Percentage of visitors using visitor centres. • This varied across the parks visited and depended on the location of the visitor centre and convenience of accessibility but overall at least 60% to 75% of visitors used these facilities to gain information and orientation. Visitor Centres are well utilised around the world and most visitors are educated and understand the benefits, time and frustration that can be saved by having a visitor centre available that has the knowledge and information to ensure they enjoy all the park has to offer.
5.6 What methods are used to count visitors to parks? • Counting of visitors varied across the parks visited and a number of systems were used to achieve visitor statistics.
18 • Parks such as Yellowstone only counted visitors as they passed through entry gates as all visitors must pass one of these points to access the park. This was the same for many of the parks located in Quebec, France and Italy but visitors were also counted by utilising road traffic counters and door counters within their visitor centres. • In some parks visited in Quebec and France electronic visitor counters are used on selected tracks and walking trails to gauge the amount of traffic utilising these areas, this is used to assess the future requirements.
5.7 Do parks and visitor centres conduct visitor surveys? • Most parks and visitor centres conducted surveys at least 1 to 2 times every couple of years. The information gathered included how often they visited, family make up or group size, racial and ethnic background, how many days spent in the region, where did they stay and what form of accommodation did they utilise, where are they from and other demographical information, how did they rate service and facility standards etc. • The information gathered is used to help set marketing and promotional strategies, to improve and enhance services and facilities, to research and identify current and future visitor needs, to ensure information is being delivered in a format that is easily understood by all ages and to gauge the effectiveness of the operation in general. • Surveys were seen by all parks and visitor centres to be a valuable tool in planning for the future and ensuring policies, goals and priorities are being met. It also helped to confirm that customer service standards are being met and that their expectations are being delivered.
6. Visitor Centre Services
6.1 Most important Visitor Centre services offered to visitors. • Information Services including a wide range of brochures, maps, guides, face to face contact for answering customer questions and comprehensive listings on services/facilities available. • Professional, prompt, friendly and helpful service. • Assistance with orientation including attractions to visit, sites to see and experience, safety tips and what you can and cannot do within the National Park, how to get there, distances from and to and accommodation availability. • Education on the region, its history, culture, people, places of interest, flora and fauna which would deliver information to visitors on what they are seeing and help to provide a deeper prospective.
6.2 Most important services offered to local tourism/business operators. • Professional, prompt, friendly and helpful service. • Customer referrals to their business and the supply of information about their business to visitors. • Promotion of their business and display of information to visitors through brochures, fliers and other information listings which are handed out to prospective customers. • Equitable servicing of their business by the visitor centre. • Assistance and advice on marketing and promoting their business to potential tourists/visitors.
6.3 Hours of opening. • Opening hours varied across the visitor centres with most operating from 9.00am to 5.00pm, five and a half days per week. Some other visitor centres opened for extended hours during peak visitation periods such as main school holidays. This varied between opening hours of 8.00am to closures of 9.00pm with busy visitor centres opening 7 days per week. • As a tourist it was noted that some regional visitor centres that worked on reduced opening hours restricted the availability of information for tourists, which was extremely important when arriving in a town or region looking for accommodation or other services. This was particularly true with some visitor centres in France that were closed for a half day on Saturday and all day Sunday which resulted in the visitor being disadvantaged and unable to gain access to helpful and valuable information.
19 6.4 Charges for business services. • This varied across all visitor centres with most providing their service for free through subsidies received from local government bodies and other revenue raising activities. The basic level of service supplied at no charge was for brochure display, information listings and in person information delivery. • Services that were charged for included extra brochure display, bold listings in accommodation/facilities/attraction guides, paid advertisements in suitable publications produced by the visitor centre, booking and reservation services for accommodation or tour packages and consultancy in the production of marketing, promotions and advertising. • Most visitor centres were fully supported financially in one way or another from local business or from their local government so it was felt that it would not be fair to level a charge for most services offered at a visitor centre. Services above those seen as standard would be charged for at a competitive market rate, which would enable local business to take advantage at an affordable rate.
7. Visitor Centre Staffing.
7.1 What are the staffing levels within visitor centres? • These varied depending on the location of the visitor centre and seasonal influences affecting their operations such as peak visitor and holiday periods. Most visitor centres had a minimum of two reception staff on at anyone time to ensure customer service was maintained, added to this a manager or supervisor was normally on duty from Monday to Friday with some centres utilising the manager as the second staff member on weekends. • In busy city, park or attraction based visitor centres staff numbers ranged up to 8 reception staff at anyone time with management support. • It was felt that staff levels must be maintained at reasonably high levels to ensure customer service and completion of other operations and administrative requirements placed on visitor centre staff. • Visitor Centre managers interviewed stated that they felt most committees, local government or other controlling bodies responsible for visitor centre operations failed to understand the high workloads and demands placed on visitor centre staff in a public contact role. This resulted in not enough funding being allocated to their staffing budgets and hence only minimum staff being rostered which resulted in most other operational and administration requirements not being met.
7.2 Are volunteers used within visitor centres? • Most National Park Visitor Centres did not use volunteers to offset their staffing requirements and felt through past experience that volunteers sometimes created more work through supervision than they saved. It was felt that paid staff had a higher commitment to customer service, work ethics and the overall goals and priorities of the park compared to volunteers. This was mainly true in staffing of visitor centres and all parks visited stated that volunteers were utilised in other areas such as in Yellowstone NP where volunteers are used in research and study based activities, camp ground hosts delivering information and advice, interpretation delivery at major sites and, in some cases, as protection officers issuing permits. • All National Park Visitor Centres stated that they would not like to undervalue the role volunteers play in supporting their parks and the high value and dedication they can bring to a parks overall management and operations. • Visitor Centres located outside of National Parks varied on their use of volunteers depending on the level of financial support they received from local government, the tourism industry or local business. In the USA most visitor centres were run by the local Chamber of Commerce, which utilised volunteers to a high degree. These centres ran with staffing consisting of a manager/supervisor, 1 to 2 permanent full-time, 1 part-time and up to 4 casual staff offset by volunteers as required. They stated they were very happy with the standard of their volunteers and that the value they added to their customer service standards and the financial savings made in their operational budget ensured it was well worthwhile to continue utilising volunteers in the future.
20
8. Visitor Centre and National Park Marketing & Promotions
8.1 Main Target Markets. • The main visitor target markets were the same or very similar across all National Parks and Visitor Centres and this was consistent in all countries visited. The main target markets are listed below which are very similar if not the same to those in Australia. It must also be noted that all parks and visitor centres felt that people from all walks of life were their target markets as they wished for all people to experience the wonders of their park or region. • 1) Families topped the list as it was felt targeting this type of visitor ensured the opportunity to deliver information and education to both adults and children at the same time. This group also spent more money in the local community and tended to spend more time in the area compared to other types of visitors. 2) Seniors came next, as it was understood that these travellers had time on their hands and normally had a reasonable disposable income. 3) Duel income no kids was seen as a valuable target market due to good incomes and extra time on their hands to explore and experience new things. 4) Educational tours, which consisted from school levels K to yr 12 were targeted due to their large volume of students and aim of delivering educational messages to ensure future understanding of the Role National Parks, play in protecting the environment for future generations. 5) Adventure based tourists; this was a strong target market in all parks visited.
8.2 The importance of Marketing and Promotion. • This varied across all parks visited and most felt that this was not of major importance due to the fact they already received very high visitor numbers and promotions and marketing continued through word of month, media releases, TV documentaries and news stories. Some smaller parks whose visitor numbers were low did undertake marketing campaigns and placed a much higher focus on promotion of the park and its environment. • Visitor Centres whose main functions are to deliver information and encourage tourism placed marketing and promotion as one of the highest priorities. As in Australia the tourism market is very competitive between tourism regions and visitor centres play a vital role in ensuring awareness and the desire to visit their region is generated amongst potential tourists. • Some visitor centres stated that it was not an easy task to convince national and local government bodies responsible for visitor centre funding to supply adequate marketing budgets and that this resulted in the region losing market share to regions with larger budgets. • To offset the lack of marketing funding some visitor centres took advantage of as much free publicity as possible. This came in the form of free listings on web sites, tourist publications and listings, through media releases and news stories. Those that undertook this initiative stated that it was most beneficial resulting in higher exposure of their region for very little financial outlay, which mainly related to staff time in maintaining listing information. This is an area that Tumut Region Visitor Centre is already focusing on and which is providing sound results.
8.3 How is marketing and promotion undertaken? • National Parks, most parks include the role of marketing and promotions within their interpretation and information divisions, which are responsible for ensuring awareness and education to visitors on the park, its environment, and the role it plays in preserving and protecting these valuable sites for the future. • Parks utilise a wide range of marketing and promotional methods, which include the electronic and print media through advertisements, media releases, news stories, talkback and special promotions. Tourism bodies and visitor centres through setting up displays, supplying information such as guides maps posters and brochures. Through word of month by ensuring positive experiences and by supplying written material on park experiences and through face to face visits to special interest groups including schools, adventure groups, seniors etc. • In most visitor centres, the manager of the centre with the support of other staff undertook marketing and promotion. The manager would normally instigate or identify the opportunity and then delegate work to ensure completion. Visitor centres employed the same methods as parks to promote their services but with a much higher focus on encouraging visitation and increasing tourism.
21 9. Visitor Centre and National Park Displays
9.1 Static displays. • Approximately 80% of all visitor centres had some form of static display, these included displays of local flora and fauna, the environment and its geology, the history/culture of the region, the regions industries and tourist attractions. Displays ranged in quality from small displays produced in-house to very large professionally built displays including replica animals, humans, environments, interpretation systems etc. • Displays were seen to play an important role in educating visitors on the region, its sites, history, culture, environment and people. Displays also helped to entertain and give visitors something to participate in or experience, they also help to keep visitors in the centre longer and offset the time spent waiting for service during busy periods.
9.2 Interactive displays. • To complement static displays many visitor centres also included many hands on exhibits such as touch sites where visitors can experience and feel selected items such as flora and fauna including flowers, shrubs, trees. Taxidermy animals including elk, bears, wolves, eagles etc, geological examples including rocks and minerals and finally historical items including old wares, industrial items and other period items relative to the area. This form of display was seen to be very important in delivering information and educating visitors on what can be seen or experienced in the region and again helped to entertain visitors and ensure a positive experience. • Many centres used computer interactive systems to deliver information and educational facts to visitors; these included touch screen technology with information on local sites, attractions, history and many other varied topics specific to the area. Educational games with a good example coming from the Gateway Visitor Centre located at Loch Lomond and the Trossachs NP in Scotland of “be a park ranger” where visitors get to answer a series of questions that are presented with holographs on a touch display board, which include environmental, operational and other questions to gauge their knowledge of the park and what the role of a Park Ranger is.
9.3 TV and video systems. • 60% of visitor centres had a TV video system, which was used to run topical videos on the local region, its activities, sites to be seen, experience to be had, the environment and its region’s history and culture. This was again seen to be a valuable educational and information delivery tool which ensured visitors had access to knowledge but also delivered the opportunity for advertising special events, attractions, accommodation and other hospitality services available.
9.3 Interpretative Displays. • Most visitor centres had at least one interpretative display located in their centre which focused on special events, sights, history, culture or people of the region and again was used to educate and deliver messages to visitors.
10. Visitor Centre Funding
10.1 How are Visitor Centres funded? • This varied across visitor centres and differed depending on if it was a National Park or regional visitor centre. National Parks visitor centres were fully funded through park operating budgets and were supplemented through retail sales and commissions from other services provided such as accommodation bookings, licence and permit fees. Some visitor centres also had a donations box available for visitors to make a contribution, which was then used specifically to improve the centre and its display and interpretation systems. • Visitor centres located outside National Parks mainly relied on funding from their local government, tourism organisation or Chamber of Commerce and again as with National Parks Visitor Centres relied on extra income from retail sales, commissions etc to offset their operational budgets. Some centres also included a donations box to raise extra income, which was used to improve the presentation and information delivery systems of the centres.
22 10.2 What would happen if the Visitor Centre lost funding from any source? • All visitor centres stated that if they were to lose income from any source it would result in the reduction of service to their customers, reduced opening hours or complete closure in the worst case. All centres stated that they felt funding of their operations was always an issue as government or organisation policies, directions and priorities changed and tourism became of less importance.
10.3 Are Visitor Centres expected to operate from revenue raised through business activities? • Most visitor centres were not expected to run on revenue raised from their business activities alone but were expected to help offset the overall operational costs from this area. Over the past couple of years centres have noticed a stronger push from organisations responsible for their control to increase the funding contributions from this area but felt this was not realistic as retail sales played only a small part in its overall activities and that most of their business activity was in visitor services such as information delivery which could not be charged for. • All centres stated that it was imperative for those organisations responsible for overseeing visitor centre funding and control not to lose sight of why a visitor centre exists. That is to deliver information and service to visitors, to encourage, increase and improve tourism visitation and to help improve the local economy through increased business levels due to high tourist visitation.
11. Visitor Centre Control
11.1 How are Visitor Centres controlled? • This again varied depending on if the centre was under the control of a National Park or local government or tourism organisation. All visitor centres had developed a set of policies, guidelines and procedures to be followed which covered all major operational issues and service standards. • Most centres ran under the control of a management committee made up of local tourism and government representatives who supplied direction and approval for the centre. Added to this a manager was employed to undertake the day to day operations and decision making process as well as financial control and staff supervision. The manager was then supported by a number of full-time, part-time and casual staff.
11.2 Do Visitor Centres use business plans? • Only 50% of visitor centres had a current business plan, 30% had a business plan that was out of date and in need of review and 20% had no business plan at all. All centres stated that a business plan was an important tool in ensuring goals, priorities and service standard were met, maintained and improved in the future. • Those centres with an outdated or no business plan stated that developing a business plan was a major priority for them and that time and funding constraints were the only things stopping them from having a business plan.
11.2 Do Visitor Centres use an operations manual? • Most larger visitor centres had an operations manual which included and covered all operational matters such as specific procedures, policies, guidelines, templates and codes of practice, service standards and so on. • Most centres updated their operations manual at least every 2 to 3 years to ensure relevance and coherence to any changes in policy or operating systems and believed this was a vital part in ensuring smooth ongoing operation of the centre day to day and in the future.
11.4 Do Visitor Centres operate under an accreditation program? • Only 40% of visitor centres ran under an accreditation program, which was normally provided by a National Tourism Organisation. These programs were very similar to our own such as Aurora in NSW, which is responsible for supplying operations manuals, guidelines and relevant policies for the delivery of visitor information services. This program ensures that visitors can expect the same levels of service at all NSW accredited visitor centres and that these centres are professionally run and operated.
23 • The other 60% did not operate under any form of accreditation program but half of these centres did have guidelines and policies in place to achieve suitable standards but in no way matched the professionalism of those centres with accreditation programs in place.
12. Retail Operations
12.1 Do Visitor Centres have a retail section and how important is it to overall operations. • Only 50% of visitor centres had a retail section as part of their operations and these stated that it provided a valuable source of income which helped to offset other operational costs, provide a great service to visitors wanting a souvenir of their visit and added to the overall presentation of the centre. • Those centres without a retail section stated that they felt it would be a valuable addition to their centre but could not include a retail section due to a lack of space and inadequate staffing resources. Only a few centres stated that a retail section would be more trouble than it would be worth. • Overall it was felt that a retail section can play an important part in ensuring visitors can purchase items that will remind them of there visit and help to encourage a return visit. A retail section also complements and enhances the presentation of the centre and offers a visitor something extra to do while in the centre hence improving their experience and the length of time spent at the centre.
12.2 What are the most important factors for ensuring a successful retail operation? • Most centres stated that there are a number of factors that can ensure a successful retail operation which include fast, friendly, helpful and professional service as a major key, good presentation of stock and product location, clean safe retail area which is well spaced to ensure easy access, retail stock that is priced at an affordable level and that represents good value for money and a good relevant range of stock that is of high quality.
12.3 Are profits from retail sales expected to cover other Visitor Centre running costs? • In most cases no but they are expected to help cover some of the operational costs wherever possible.
12.4 How important is the retail section in the overall presentation of the Visitor Centre? • In most cases extremely important as it delivers visitors the opportunity to purchase goods from the local region and gives depth to the presentation of the centre through having good quality stock on display. A well-presented retail section helps to ensure visitors have a good impression of the centre and enhance the customer’s experience. • Many visitor centres stated that relevant good quality stock that complements the centre and the region it belongs to added great value to the services it offered.
12.5 Do you have a policy document on what retail lines are stocked at your centre? • All visitor centres had a policy that related to how and what they stocked in their retail section. These policies were similar to our own stating that a major percentage of stock held must be made locally from the general region, be made in the country and be relevant to the area the visitor centre is located in. All items must be of high quality and represent good value for money. Retail lines must also ensure a good return of profit while still being affordable to the visitor. • All retail lines must also be safe for the age group they are targeted to, for example stocking children’s lines that have passed government safety standards, stocking food items that meet government health and food preparation guidelines and again ensuring only quality retail lines are purchased.
24 13. Accommodation
13.1 Do you supply accommodation within your park? • Only 60% of all parks visited ran accommodation operations above the standard camp grounds found in most parks, these ranged from very basic cabins in Yellowstone to 5 star hotels such as Cite Mt Albert located in Parc de la Gaspésie - Quebec. Most other parks had at least a minimum of 1 to 2 camping/caravan parks with the exception of Parc Miguasha that only allowed day visitors due to its size and special focus of a museum dedicated to Devonian fossil fish.
13.2 What type of accommodation do parks offer? • There were a variety of accommodation styles available in various parks, which are listed below. • Cabin and hut accommodation were available in most sites visited, these consisted of basic cabins that visitors were required to supply all their items including bedding, cooking utensils, cleaning gear etc. Most of this type of accommodation was only accessible by walking and was utilised by hikers, hunters, fisherman etc. • Camping/Caravans, all parks had this form of accommodation available which ranged from sites with full facilities including power, water, set camp or caravan sites, toilets, shop/café, playgrounds, swimming pool etc, to basic camp grounds with pit toilet, wood, gas or electric BBQ and picnic tables. • Motel accommodation was not found in any parks visited. • Lodge style accommodation was very popular in parks visited at Yellowstone, some French and Italian Parks. Lodges were run by either the park themselves, private groups and organisations as well as tendered contractors as was the case in Park Vanoise, France. • Hotel accommodation was not found in most parks but a good example was Cite Mt Albert in Gaspesie Quebec which was a 5 star establishment offering superior accommodation, silver service dinning room serving meals throughout the day, bar, swimming pool and other facilities. • Backpacker accommodation is a major growth area for most parks and regions visited and the demand for this type of accommodation is being met both on and off park offering budget accommodation and unique experiences such as in Loch Lomond which has a YHA that occupies a heritage castle on the shores of the loch and offers backpackers not only great views but delivers the feeling of stepping back in time.
13.3 How important are accommodation ventures to your park? • All parks stated that accommodation supply played an important part in their parks operations but that it was hard to ensure profits were made from these operations due to the high level of facility maintenance required, staff resources and other related operational issues. Most parks believed that visitors expected to find at least one to two different forms of accommodation within a park with at least basic campsites being available. Visitors expect to pay fees to camp within the park borders but expect fees to be in line with the standards and facilities the site offers. • Most parks stated that having accommodation available in the park for visitors to stay in helped to enhance the overall visitor experience of the park and ensure visitors have enough time to explore, relax and enjoy all the park has to offer. It also helps to ensure a captive audience for park information nights, fireside Ranger talks and other organised park activities such as guided discovery walks. • In the countries visited most visitors expected that accommodation be available within the park boundary as staying overnight or for a length of time within the park was considered to be one of the major experiences sought after and remembered by visitors for a long time to come.
13.4 How do you control accommodation bookings and reservations? • This varied greatly between visitor centres and parks visited with a number of systems used, these ranged from manual systems using a diary to professionally developed computer reservation systems with full Internet connection and on-line bookings.
25 • The most successful accommodation operations were using computer based reservation systems linked to the Internet and stated this supplied many benefits including improved, more accurate financial reporting, tracking and profit and loss of the operation. Tracking of customer reservations and past client history, ensuring maximisation of room availability, delivering back office information for room servicing and maintenance and client information for identifying marketing and promotional opportunities through client information and demographics held in its data bases.
• Those centres and parks that have on-line reservation systems stated that they had experienced an increase in enquires and bookings since its introduction and that it is proving to be a valuable investment saving on staff and customer time, staff errors and frustration, plus the added benefits of improving service standards and increasing customer satisfaction.
26
Conclusions and Recommendations
1. Community Involvement and Support
1.1 How do Visitor Centres and National Parks complement local communities and the tourism industry? 1.1.1 National Parks and Visitor Centres work to maintain, enhance and ensure stronger community support and involvement of their operations and appreciation of the tourism services they provide. 1.1.2 National Parks and Visitor Centres continue to work, maintain and improve communication between themselves and the local community and tourism bodies. 1.1.3 A communication strategy is maintained and further developed to ensure information flow between Visitor Centres, National Parks and the communities and tourism industries that support then. This will help to ensure transparency and deliver the opportunity for input from all sectors. 1.1.4 Visitor Centres and National Parks continue to involve local communities more in the planning process to help ensure ownership and understanding of policies, guidelines and future directions by listening and acting on input supplied when feasible. 1.1.5 National Parks and Visitor Centres develop information sheets of how they benefit local communities and the tourism industry. The information should show the main benefits of having a National Park in the region and a Visitor Centre within their town and should help to foster greater understanding and commitment to supporting the functions of these facilities and services.
1.2 What support do you receive from local business and tourism operators? 1.2.1 It is imperative that Visitor Centres and National Parks continue working together to build stronger business and tourism industry support by actively including local business and tourism bodies in their planning processes, ongoing operational planning and management where appropriate. This is being achieved currently at a reasonable level by the inclusion of business and tourism representatives and volunteers on management and advisory committees, in working groups and with other related management operations, but needs to be enhanced further to ensure future support and understanding. 1.2.2 Visitor Centres and National Parks work to enhance support from local communities and tourism bodies by being more pro-active in disseminating information on how and why they operate. There is a need to continue to form stronger bonds and ownership of Visitor Centres and National Parks by communities by delivering the opportunity for community participation wherever possible. 1.2.3 Visitor Centres and National Parks undertake a campaign of community education which will ensure local business and tourism bodies clearly understand the roles we play and the reasons why this is so. This could include why our services are of high value and complement local business and tourism and the benefits they bring to a region just by being here. There is a need to continue responding to the negative through open, honest, informative reply by supplying accurate, transparent and precise information in a timely manner.
2. Signage
2.1 For what reasons are signs used in your park. 2.1.1 A signage strategy be set up and included in interpretation plans to ensure all major sites, points of interest and road/trail access areas have suitable and adequate signs in place to ensure visitor safety, orientation and information delivery of key messages. 2.1.2 It is imperative when developing road, track, trail and interpretation signage to keep information clear and not cluttered, easy to read and understandable for all ages. Signage must be suitable in size and construction materials which will fit in with and complement the environment. It must be entertaining and informative with a good balance of text, graphics and photographs and be made out of strong, durable materials that will stand up to the environment and potential damage from other causes such as vandalism.
27 2.1.3 Signs play a vital part in our national parks by ensuring identification of site locations, interpretation of what is ahead and may be seen or experienced, they help to ensure information delivery and visitor safety and therefore must be maintained and increased where appropriate.
2.2 At what distance from park entry are signs displayed to give warning to visitors of park use fees. 2.2.1 That National Parks look into the viability and worthiness of installing warning signs that inform visitors in advance that park use fees will be payable ahead. This is especially required when a major road or highway will take visitors through a park where charges will apply. Signs may also inform visitors of the availability of a transit pass to travel trough the park if applicable.
2.3 Are signs designed to fit in with the local environment? 2.3.1 When developing signage that the environmental location is taken into consideration and that signs are designed utilising materials that fit in with and complement the site wherever possible. For example a heritage hut site may have a sign made out of similar materials used in the construction of the hut such as corrugated iron and timber.
2.4 What material is used in sign erection? 2.4.1 That any future signs developed be made out of materials that will enhance their appearance, ensure longevity and deter vandalism.
3. Interpretation Systems
3.1 How important are interpretation systems for delivering key messages to visitors at Visitor Centre or park. 3.1.1 National Parks and Visitor Centres continue to list as a major priority in their management plans the importance of having available and maintaining a high level of interpretation systems and that these systems include a wide variety of educational, entertaining and informative information delivery formats. 3.1.2 National Parks and Visitor Centres currently understand the importance of delivering high quality interpretation to visitors but this sometimes can be fragmented due to a lack of sufficient funding and resources available within some parks, reserves and Visitor Centres. It is therefore imperative that funds are committed and increased to ensure the standard of quality is maintained and consistency and relevance is ensured.
3.2 What are the main reason/areas interpretation is used to deliver information. 3.2.1 National Parks and Visitor Centres continue to supply a broad range of quality interpretation systems to meet the demand of visitors in their quest for information, knowledge, entertainment, direction and orientation. 3.2.2 National Parks and Visitor Centres ensure that interpretation systems used deliver information to visitors across a full range of topics including sites of interest, cultural and heritage messages facts and stories, fauna, flora and landscape, regulations and other key messages.
3.3 What interpretation systems and methods are used within parks and visitor centres? 3.3.1 That a variety of interpretation systems be used to ensure communication with the widest possible visitor audience. These systems should utilised a full range of interpretive tools such as computer based programs including touch screen technology for visitor interaction and information delivery. TV and video equipment for running documentaries, advertisements, news items, nature/cultural/historic stories and print media including newsletters, fact sheets, information guides and kits, brochures, site/trail guides, maps etc. Face to face interpretation through rangers, guides, educators, storytellers, and other Visitor Service staff, displays both static and interactive to ensure participation, education and key message delivery.
3.4 When developing interpretation for specific sites are special interest groups consulted. 3.4.1 National Parks and Visitor Centres continue to consult and include special interest groups in the decision-making and development process for the creation of any interpretation that may be relevant and of interest to them due to past historic, cultural links or other significance.
28 3.4.2 National Parks and Visitor Centres ensure that they have policies and guidelines in place to ensure special interest groups have their input into any interpretation planned in the future.
3.5 Do visitor centres or parks have a set of policies and guidelines for use in this area? 3.5.1 National Parks and Visitor Centres continue to ensure they have in place a current, comprehensive and workable set of interpretative policies and guidelines to ensure ongoing consistency, relevance, quality control and information standards.
3.6 Park Guides and Brochures. 3.6.1 If not in place a set of polices and guidelines be developed and implemented to ensure brochures, guides and other printed material are produced and maintained within a set of quality control standards, set format and presentation requirements suitable for their application and intended target market. This should include a section on the inclusion and development of a range of multilingual guides and brochures to deliver information to overseas visitors and those from other ethnic backgrounds. 3.6.2 That National Parks and the Tourism Industry undertake and work together to introduce a range of multilingual park guides, information and tourism guides, maps, orientation guides, service directorys and other relevant information. This needs to be produced to ensure overseas visitors have a range of information they can understand on getting around, places to see, things to do, safety tips, food, accommodation and so on. It must be ensured that a range of multilingual guides and brochures be developed at all national and local tourism levels to ensure consistency and market cover. 3.6.3 National Parks look at the viability of introducing a range of trail/track/site/information guides that are professionally produced for visitors and supplied in suitable vandal proof dispensing units made out of steel or other suitable materials. The guide dispensing units would be located at major visitor access sites within the park network and consist of a secure metal donation chamber, secure coin slot and guide dispensing box. Guide stocks around the park could be maintained during rounds conducted by rangers or other suitable field staff. 3.6.4 This system is working well in Yellowstone NP with high levels of favourable comments and visitor satisfaction being recorded and very little to no vandalism or theft of income occurring. The cost of printing the guides, distribution, installation, supply and ongoing maintenance of the dispensers as well as improvement in the quality of the guides being produced has been fully covered in most cases by the donations received from park visitors.
4. Park Access
4.1 What are the main issues faced in parks in relation to visitor access? 4.1.1 National Parks are under pressure due to high visitor numbers and this is mainly impacting on the most popular and major visitor sites such as waterfalls and areas where wildlife can be viewed. This is something that will be harder to cope with as our populations grow and the demand for nature experiences increase. Now is the time to identify and develop other suitable sites within the parks system that will appeal to visitor expectations and help take the pressure off other more overused sites. All visitor sites must be developed to ensure they can cope with future visitor growth. This would be achieved by having facilities that can be adapted to meet the future influx of visitors and access infrastructure such as walkways, steps and ramps to keep visitors on track and ensure the protection of the environment and visitor enjoyment. 4.1.2 National Parks continue to strive to ensure it maintains a balance between its major priority, which is to preserve and protect the environment and the need to ensure suitable visitor access is allowed that will provide the full range of opportunities available in relation to visitor activities and experiences. This is vital to maintain public support of the service and the National Parks system. 4.1.3 That National Parks continue to close off areas of the park that require repair or regeneration, are deemed to be ecologically in danger from visitor overuse or are found to be habitat of endangered native plants, animals or other living things. This is a major challenge that staff at all levels of the service are aware of and can only be achieved by gaining stronger support from the community as a whole and through the delivery of timely, transparent and easy to understand information and facts.
29 4.1.4 When a closure is necessary National Parks should continue to supply full information and consult transparently with the public and any special interests groups as to why the closure is necessary and take all comments into consideration to ensure a balanced outcome agreeable to all sides is achieved. 4.1.5 That any budgets being developed in relation to park access take into account the importance of having adequate staff members to cope with information delivery, law enforcement, road and facility maintenance, fee collection and other operation positions.
4.2 How is visitor access governed in parks? 4.2.1 National Parks need to continue the development and improvement of policies and guidelines in relations to park access and this will be an ongoing challenge as governments change and public opinion sways. National Parks need to ensure a balanced approach is used when dealing with visitors with access issues as many have different perceptions, ideals, knowledge and education standards. Therefore a range of tools must be available to deliver information, which will ensure a visitor has every opportunity to learn and abide by any rules and regulations in place before being issued with any form of penalty. 4.2.2 Parks must ensure that clear messages regarding park access issues are delivered to visitors within a timeframe that will ensure they do not go out of their way, place themselves in danger or misdirect them, messages must be easily understood and seen to ensure impact and to be noticed. Visitors must also be educated and supplied information such as maps and guides showing where access is closed and information on why the closure has occurred to ensure education and compliance.
4.3 Are specific areas set aside for different recreational users of the park and if so how is this managed? 4.3.1 National Parks continue working to ensure all recreational users and special interest groups are catered for when planning to open or close any park access excluding any activity that would cause excessive damage or be against the parks, conservation charter. 4.3.2 That park access is controlled and maintained in a fair and equitable way that will ensure access for future generations and protection of the environment. 4.3.3 That any site identified for use by a special group be clearly identified to warn other visitors of the activity and information supplied on policies, use regulations, access and safety issues. 4.3.4 That a permit system be looked at to track special interest activities, their impact or benefit to the environment, to ensure sites are not over utilised and to supply usage statistics for future planning.
4.6 Are visitors charged for park access? 4.6.1 Most parks around the world charge for visitor access, it is felt that visitors were happy to pay a fee for park access as long as they understood it was being used to improve park facilities, services and the environment. It is therefore necessary to ensure that parks educate visitors as to why fees are charged, what the fees are used for and the improvements they achieve to ensure compliance, visitor satisfaction and agreement to pay fees in the future. 4.6.2 NSW National Parks research the possibility of combining with other National Parks around Australia to produce a Special Australian-wide National Park Pass which represents good value for money and ease of park access for international visitors and locals travelling interstate but still delivers suitable returns to the park which could be used to offset the costs of supplying customer service, undertaking facility improvement, new facility development and environment protection. This would eliminate a major cause of visitor frustration and expense, as visitors have to purchase a separate pass in each state. A pass of this nature would help ensure visitors travel to more regions to experience their parks, local towns, attractions and tourism/hospitality businesses resulting in more visitors, tourism growth and economic development. 4.6.3 The same principle above of an Australia-wide National Park Pass should be used for concessionaire entry such as pensioners and senior discounts. 4.6.4 That National Park access fees are standardised across Australia where possible to accommodate the implementation of the above park pass.
30 5. Visitor Statistics
5.1 Peak Visitation National Parks. 5.1.1 National Parks continue to collect data on visitor numbers and demographics to identify visitation trends and patterns. 5.1.2 National Parks work to increase visitation in off peak months to ensure a more even balance throughout the year and alleviate the pressure on high visitation periods.
5.2 Main Reason for visit. 5.2.1 That National Parks continue to allow access to visitors which will ensure a wide range of experiences can be undertaken and enjoyed.
5.4 What are the main questions and information sought by visitors? 5.4.1 Visitor Centres and National Parks continue to deliver a wide range of information and information services to satisfy the needs of visitors and that information available is maintained by ensuring relevance, accuracy, educational content and ease of access.
5.5 Where do visitors come from? 5.5.1 Visitor Centres and National Parks continue to or implement data collection on visitor demographics to ensure identification of place of origin and future market trends.
5.6 Percentage of visitors using Visitor Centre. 5.6.1 That National Parks and Visitor Centres work more closely to ensure awareness amongst visitors of the benefits of using a visitor centre and that communication strategies are in place to ensure visitors are educated and informed of the availability of this service. 5.6.2 That visitor centres aim to ensure at least 80% of all visitors to a park or region call into or use visitor centre services to ensure future viability and ongoing relevance.
5.7 What methods are used to count visitors to parks? 5.7.1 It is vital to know how many visitors a visitor centre or park receives per year and what the peak visitation periods are to ensure adequate staff and service levels are maintained. Because of this an accurate recording system is essential to ensure all visitors are captured. At this time the best systems for recording this information are electronic counters that come to suit most application requirements and can be used in doorways, on roads and on bush tracks/trails etc.
5.8 Do parks and visitor centres conduct visitor surveys? 5.8.1 National Parks and Visitor Centres continue to undertake surveys of visitor opinions to ensure visitor services are relevant and that they are meeting visitor expectations and to improve facilities in line with future visitor needs. 5.8.2 Surveys play an important role in ensuring planning for future and development of services, facilities, marketing and promotion and ensure feedback to management that supplied great insight on if the operations gaols and priorities are being delivered. Therefore it is recommended that at least one survey be conducted per annum to ensure the operation is on track.
6. Visitor Centre Services
6.1 Most important Visitor Centre services offered to visitors. 6.1.1 That Visitor centres work to ensure they continue to supply a wide range of quality services that are relevant to visitor needs. 6.1.2 That Visitor Centres continue to deliver information services including a wide range of brochures, maps, guides, face to face contact for answering customer questions and comprehensive listings on services/facilities available. 6.1.3 That Visitor Centres continue to deliver professional, prompt, friendly and helpful service. 6.1.4 That Visitor Centres continue to assist visitors with orientation including attractions to visit, sites to see and experience, safety tips and what you can and cannot do within the National Park, how to get there, distances from and to and accommodation availability.
31 6.1.5 That Visitor Centres include in their displays education on the region, its history, culture, people, places of interest, flora and fauna which would deliver information to visitors on what they are seeing and help to provide a deeper prospective.
6.2 Top Five most important services offered to local Tourism/business operators. 6.2.1 That Visitor Centres work to ensure they continue to supply a wide range of quality services that are relevant to tourism and business needs. Professional, prompt, friendly and helpful service. 6.2.2 That Visitor Centres continue to deliver customer referrals to business in their regions and maintain the supply of information about their business to visitors. 6.2.3 That Visitor Centres continue to promote businesses in their area and the display of information to visitors through brochures, fliers and other information listings which are handed out to prospective customers. 6.2.4 That Visitor Centres continue to deliver equitable servicing of their businesses.
6.3 Hours of opening. 6.3.1 Visitor Centres ensure that they are opening the hours and days that are suitable to their peak visitor periods and meet the needs of their visitors.
6.4 Charges for business services. 6.4.1 That Visitor centres continue to supply a basic level of service to tourism businesses at no charge such as brochure display, business detail listings and information referral. This is necessary to ensure visitor centres deliver on their ongoing support of the tourism industry and to ensure visitors have access to a high level of information. 6.4.2 That Visitor Centres develop extra services above those offered free of charge to deliver the option of increasing the exposure of the business through bold listings, paid advertisements and other marketing and promotional opportunities.
7. Visitor Centre Staffing
7.1 What are the staffing levels within Visitor Centres? 7.1.1 It is imperative to ensure adequate staff are available to service visitor needs and at the same time maintain administration and management of the centre. This requires a balanced approach to ensure equal attention to both areas and is often overlooked when setting visitor centre annual staffing budgets but is essential to ensure smooth operations and a high level of customer service standards. 7.1.2 As visitor centres are encouraged more and more to cover their operational costs from revenue raising activities such as retail sales, reservations and commissions from other services it must not be forgotten that the main role and function of a visitor centre is to deliver information and encourage increased visitation. These areas are core functions that must remain free of charge to customers and therefore will not supply revenue to offset other operational costs.
7.2 Are volunteers used within Visitor Centres? 7.2.1 This is an area were it is hard to recommend or not recommend the use of volunteers as volunteer use depends on the location and size of the visitor centre, its core functions, funding base, type of services offered and paid staffing levels. Volunteers can play an important part in ensuring a successful Visitor Centre operation through their commitment, knowledge and willingness to serve but can also in some cases be hard to manage compared to paid staff.
8. Visitor Centre and National Parks Marketing and Promotions.
8.1 Main Target Markets. 8.1.1 That Visitor Centres and National Parks continue to market to all relevant market segments to ensure distribution of information to potential visitors from as wide as possible area. Marketing should be specifically aimed at each market segment by supplying information on activities and experiences available that suit their requirements, will create the desire to come and experience, and ensure visitation in the future.
32 8.2 The importance of Marketing and Promotion. 8.2.1 To ensure future business growth and potential visitor awareness it is essential that marketing and promotions be maintained at levels that will keep the centre or park in the public eye and ensure product and service awareness in the future. 8.2.2 Visitor Centres and National Parks increase the level of importance placed on the need for marketing and promotions, which in turn can ensure the delivery of information and educational messages, increase awareness, visitation levels and create understanding of services and facilities available. 8.2.3 That Visitor Centres and National Parks ensure adequate funding allocations to marketing and promotion when setting their annual operations budgets.
8.3 How is marketing and promotion undertaken? 8.3.1 To increase value for money and achieve greater exposure Visitor Centres and National Parks need to ensure their marketing and promotional plans include sections on how to take advantage of free information and service listings which are available through many tourism organisations, marketing businesses, website developers and other media companies. For very little financial outlay which mainly relates to staff time this method adds great value and increased exposure for visitor centres and national parks.
9 Visitor Centre and National Park Displays
9.1 Static displays. 9.1.1 Displays play an important part in educating, entertaining and delivery information to visitors both in the visitor centre and national park environments. In most cases displays must be professional produced to ensure quality and overall presentation but this can be achieved in some cases with in-house production as long as suitable materials are used and the displays fit in with the overall theme.
9.1.2 It is important that a balanced approach be used when including displays and that they have a good ratio of text, graphics and pictures to engage as many of the visitors senses as possible without causing overload. Wherever possible displays should include visitor interaction in some form or another to ensure interest and on-going attention to the messages being delivered.
9.2 Interactive displays. 9.2.1 Static displays that require a lot of reading and effort by visitors to decipher information are fast being replaced with more interesting and interactive displays that create visitor participation, which ensures messages are absorbed more quickly and easily. Visitor Centres and National Parks need to ensure that any future displays developed should include some form of interactive component if suitable and possible. 9.2.2 When developing interactive displays a good balance must be found between electronic and manual operation to ensure visitors of all abilities can operate or achieve the interactives goal. 9.2.3 That interactive displays play an important role in not only entertaining visitors and delivering information and key messages they deliver the opportunity to keep visitors busy and less likely to become bored and frustrated while waiting for service.
9.3 TV and video systems. 9.3.1 The Gateway Visitor Centre located in Balloch Scotland was the most advanced in the use of this information medium and presented the best opportunity to learn. This visitor centre is under 2 years old and has utilised the most up to date technology to achieve a high level of information delivery. Their systems include standard TV monitors up to large multi-screened displays running interactive programs, advertisements, feature presentations of the park, its activities and environment, and a range of individual key photographs depicting major sites, landscapes and other park icons. 9.3.2 To increase the overall effectiveness and presentation of visitor centre displays and to ensure information and key message delivery, it is recommended that this form of information delivery system be more highly utilised and included in future displays.
33 9.4 Interpretative Displays. 9.4.1 Interpretive displays play an important part in delivering messages and telling stories on the local environment, its people, history and culture. They also help to educate and entertain visitors and therefore are a valuable addition that should be included where possible to ensure visitor satisfaction and increase their desire to explore more of the region. 9.4.2 That when developing interpretive displays involving information in relation to any third party that they are contacted and consulted to ensure accuracy, relevance and suitable information content.
10 Visitor Centre Funding
10.1 How are Visitor Centres funded? 10.1.1 Visitor Centres must continue to ensure they prove their relevance and worth to their local communities, organisations and supporting agencies by providing information to these parties on the benefits they deliver and provide. To remain in operation and continue to receive the funding necessary to survive visitor centres must take a more active role in educating and informing all sectors on the services they offer. 10.1.2 Visitor centres must look at introducing other business activities and new services that will attract fees for service and help to increase revenue generation, which could be used to offset other funding sources.
10.2 What would happen if the Visitor Centre lost funding from any source? 10.2.1 To ensure the continued operations of visitor centres and to maintain quality service standards it is imperative that funding be maintained and increased to ensure future growth and relevance of visitor centre services. Any withdrawal of funding will result in a reduction of services provided and reduced service availability.
10.3 Are Visitor Centres expected to operate from revenue raised through business activities? 10.3.1 That visitor centre continue to receive the bulk of their operational funding from supporting government bodies and organisations and that visitor centres continue to look for ways to raise income to offset expenditure.
11 Visitor Centre Control
11.1 How are Visitor Centres controlled? 11.1.1 That visitor centres continue to be run under the guidance of a management committee to ensure equitable and professional service, ongoing adherence to policies and guidelines and assistance with future planning and directions. 11.1.2 That visitor centres maintain their membership of a national accreditation program to ensure consistency in customer service standards, management and overall visitor centres operations. 11.1.3 That if not already in place visitor centres develop and implement a complete operations manual containing policies, guidelines and procedures for completing all tasks involved in the day to day running of the operation.
11.2 Do Visitor Centres use business plans? 11.2.1 To ensure future directions are identified and planned for and business goals and priorities are achieved it is recommended that all visitor centres have a current business plan to work with which will ensure the centre keeps on track and remains viable in the future.
12 Retail Operations
12.1 Do Visitor Centres have a retail section and how important is it to overall operations. 12.1.1 If not already included in the visitor centres operation that the viability be looked into for the inclusion of a retail section which not only offers the opportunity to raise much needed revenue but adds extra value to the overall presentation and services the centres offer to visitors.
34 12.2 What are the most important factors for ensuring a successful retail operation? 12.2.1 That visitor centres maintain a high level of customer service, ensure they stock only high quality, relevant and value for money retail lines. Ensure a high level of presentation is maintained at all times in relation to stock and the centre as a whole, ensure suitable profit margins are in place and that the financial tracking systems are suitable to the centres requirements for reporting, reconciliation and budget control.
13 Accommodation
13.1 Do you supply accommodation within your park? 13.1.1 That National Parks continue to ensure a variety of styles and standards of accommodation are available to suit the varied requirements and expectation of the many visitors seeking lodging in a park environment. This can only be achieved as long as it will not be in conflict with current policies and be detrimental to the park environment. 13.1.2 National Parks look at ensuring a variety of accommodation styles within the park and that they look at contracting out the running and operations of accommodation to outside leases that have passed a strict selection process that will ensure compliance with policies.
13.2 What type of accommodation do parks offer? 13.2.1 As above with the added recommendation that National Parks research the viability of developing an up-market accommodation venue within selected NSW National Parks at the 4 to 5 star level which would cater for top end visitors willing to pay top dollar for unique experiences. These type of travellers are growing in numbers every day and have high levels of disposable income which they are willing to part with to experience the great outdoors but do not like to forego any of their creature comforts. At this stage compared to other parts of the world Australia is behind in the development and availability of high quality on park accommodation and now has the opportunity and prospective customer base to grow in this area. To achieve this current policies would need to be changed. 13.2.2 That Kosciuszko National Parks and the Tumut Region support the development of Backpacker accommodation in the park or region to ensure the gap in this style of accommodation is filled, as currently the region does not offer backpacker accommodation in any form. Our region has much to offer this market segment with a wide range of visitor opportunities available such as adventure sports, hiking trails, fishing, skiing, water skiing and horse riding. Kosciuszko National Park with its extensive flora and fauna such as Kangaroos and Emus in the Blowering Valley, which we can almost guarantee will be seen. At this stage a major barrier to this market is the lack of suitable public transport to and within the region which restricts the potential arrival of backpackers to our region and then once here means they have no way of getting around. Any future development of accommodation in this area would require the transportation issue to be addressed and resolved.
13.3 How important are accommodation ventures to your park? 13.3.1 That National Parks continue to ensure visitors have the option and availability of on-park accommodation to ensure the full delivery of a great outdoor experience.
13.4 How do you control accommodation bookings and reservations? 13.4.1 That parks and visitor centres ensure they have suitable reservation systems in place to ensure quick efficient customer service and financial tracking. The most successful accommodation operations overseas were using computer based reservation systems linked to the Internet and stated this supplied many benefits including improved and more accurate financial reporting, tracking and profit and loss of the operation. Tracking of customer reservations and past client history, ensuring maximisation of room availability, delivering back office information for room servicing and maintenance and client information for identifying marketing and promotional opportunities through client information and demographics held in its data bases.
35 Appendix
1. Yellowstone National Park Questionnaire. 2. Parc Miguasha Questionnaire. 3. Parc Gaspesie Questionnaire. 4. Parc-de l'île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé – Rocher-Perce Questionnaire yet to be supplied. 5. Loch Lomond & the Trossachs NP Questionnaire yet to be supplied. 6. Par Natural Vaniose Questionnaire yet to be supplied. 7. Parc National Des Ecrins Questionnaire yet to be supplied. 8. Parco Nazional Del Gran Paradiso Questionnaire yet to be supplied. 9. Parco Nazional Del Monte E Delle Foreste Castentinesi Questionnaire yet to be supplied. 10. Parco Nazional Deie Monu Sibillini Questionnaire yet to be supplied. 11. Reserve Vexin Francais Questionnaire yet to be supplied. 12. Fellowship Itinerary. 13. List of Resource Material Collected. Which will be added to as received.
36 37 Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited Park Name - Yellowstone National Park. Contacts: Cheryl Matthews [email protected], Diane Chalfant, Chief of Interpretation [email protected] PO Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming USA 82190. Phone: 307-344-2252, Fax: 307-344-2252.
Location Park Size Visitation Facilities Main Features U.S.A Wyoming 899,139 Hectares Yearly Ava 8 Visitor centres. 5% covered with water. 91% 8,987 square km 3,120,830 9 Hotels/Lodges (2,238 Cabins/Rooms). 15% meadow and ranges. Montana 7.6% 7 NPS operated campgrounds (454 sites). 80% forested. Idaho 1.4% Summer Ava 5 leased campgrounds (1,747 sites). 10,000 thermal features. 2,920,830 2,000 + buildings. 200-259 active geysers. 49 Picnic areas. 230 water falls. Winter Ava 59 species of mammals. 200,000 350 staff winter, 800 staff summer. 309 species of birds. 18 species of fish. 6 species of reptiles. 4 species of amphibians. 8 species of conifers. 1,100 species native vascular plants. 170 species of exotic non-native plants. 186 species of lichens.
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Visitor Centre/Services Operations
Visitors:
1. How many visitors do you receive per year? 3,120,830
2. What are your peak visitor periods? Please list visitor numbers per season. Summer: 2,920,830. Main visitation is in summer, July-Aug, 8 weeks. Autumn: 30,000. Figure not available, estimate used. Winter: 140,000. Winter visitation has doubled since 1975 to 2000 Spring: 30,000. Figure not available, estimate used.
3. Where do your visitors mainly come from? Please list % or numbers. Local Region: N/A Your State: N/A National: 95%, from within the USA International: 5% from outside the USA, no breakdown available.
4. What are the main reasons visitors come to your region or park? To experience sights, smells and sounds. Such as geysers, views, wildlife, open spaces etc. To learn about nature, history and culture. Variety of wild life, natural features including fauna and flora, How the park was founded and its geological features and history. How the native Indians lived in and used the region. To get exercise. Hiking, canoeing, fishing. To share experiences with others.
5. What are the main questions and information sought by visitors at your centre or park? What to see and do. The best locations to view wildlife such as Bison, Elk, Bears, Wolves etc. Directions to major thermal sites such as geysers, thermal pools. What is the history of the park and the people that used the region before it became a park, specifically native Indians, hunters, farmers etc.
6. How do you count visitors to your centre or park? Eg: door counters, road traffic counters manually or other method. Visitors are counted as they enter the park; as all visitors must pass through entry gates, use a multiplying factor of 2.5 per vehicle. Visitors are not counted at their visitor centres. Visitors are counted manually at entrance gates, no traffic counters.
7. Out of all the visitors to your region as a whole, what percentage do you feel use your centre? Approximately 2.1 million or 70% of all park visitors used Yellowstone visitor centres in FY02. The park has 5 major visitor centres and it is likely that most visitors will call into at least one or two. The park is fairly isolated from major cities which means visitors have come to specifically see the park.
8. Do you conduct visitor surveys and if so what information are you trying to gather. Visitor surveys are conducted to gain insights into demographics of visitors including place of origin, age and sex of visitors, family makeup and group size, racial background. Other information includes number of previous visits, how many days spent in the park, where did they spend the nights eg: camped in tent motor home etc, stayed in hotel/motel and what are visitor preferences for service delivery such as delivery of interpretation including face to face, static displays, videos etc. Information is used to improve services and facilities, identify visitor needs and satisfaction levels. Also to ensure information is being delivered to visitors in formats that are easily understood and suitable to age groups and specific needs. Founding is limited for this purpose and funding is often sought from other government agencies and the private sector such as foundations and benefactors. C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
9. Would you be able to supply copies or examples of your visitor surveys? Copy of the most recent surveys has been supplied. Old faithful Visitor centre front-end evaluation report and Visitor experiences and Media Effectiveness of Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone National Parks. Information above contained in more detail within these reports.
10. What statistics do you collect regarding your visitors, eg place of origin, post/zip codes, age, family makeup etc? As in item 8
11. How do you use information collected on your visitors? As in item 8
Marketing & Promotion:
1. What are your main target markets? Families, Seniors, groups including schools K to yr 12.
2. How do you market & promote to these markets segments? No marketing undertaken. Park visitation is high and there is no need to promote. Also Yellowstone is extremely well know and there is high awareness of the park both within the USA and overseas.
3. How important do you feel it is to market and promote your centre or park? Promotion and marketing of the park is not considered important because of the already high visitation the park receives. Most facilities within Yellowstone are contracted out to private companies, which include most accommodation, eating houses and gift/souvenir stores. These contracted companies do market and promote their business facilities and services but I was unable to contact these operators to survey and gain their responses.
4. What percentage of you annual budget is set aside for marketing and promotion? N/A
5. Do you have a marketing/promotional plan and if so how often is it reviewed? N/A
6. Would you be able to supply either an electronic or hard copy of your marketing/promotional plan? N/A
Visitor Centre Services:
1. Please list the top five most important services you feel your visitors expect of your centre or park. 1) Orientation around the park. 2) Planning of sites, attractions to visit. 3) Information services. 4) Safety tips, what you can and cannot do. 5) Education.
2. Please list the top five most important services you feel local businesses expect of you centre or park. N/A
3. What are the main services you offer to Tourism operators at your centre or park? No outside brochures displayed at park VC. Licenses and permits for rights to conduct tour-guiding services within the park such as hiking, fishing, horse riding and back country tours. Support advice and information.
4. Do you charge operators for services such as for advertisements and information listings etc? Operators from outside the park are not aloud to display brochures within park visitor centres, the park services C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
rely on outside visitor centres to undertake this role and mostly this is completed by the local chamber of commerce.
5. What form of interpretation systems do you use at your centre? Eg: information panels, video displays, in person etc. Out of 5 visitor centres in Yellowstone it was possible to only visit 2 due to seasonal closures. Within the 2 visitor centres visited the following systems were used. Both centres had staff available to answer questions and deliver information; these staff are employed by the park services as rangers with the specific role of delivering information. Both centres also had a wide range of static displays with examples of native flora including flowers, trees and shrubs and native fauna including taxidermy animals such as Wolves, Elk, Bear, Big Horn sheep, Otters, Beaver. Displays also included information and exhibits on the indigenous native Indians of the region, famous explorers of the Rocky Mountains, first settlers and the items used to support them such as hand guns, farming implements and house hold utensils. The VC at Mammoth Hot Springs had a picture gallery depicting the history of life in Yellowstone, lighting in these areas was automated and activated when you moved into and around the different displays. Display exhibits included items that were available to be touched and handled included local rocks and minerals, examples of native wildlife such as Bison, Deer and Sheep horns etc. The use of video interpretation systems were also used which ran a range of videos on various topics relating to the park, its history and rules and regulations on park activities and sites.
6. What are your hours of opening and doe’s this vary through out the year and if so why? Hours of operations at Yellowstone NP visitor centres varied depending on the time of year as follows: Summer? to ? Winter, Autumn and Spring 9.00am to 5.00pm.
7. Do you charge for businesses, attractions, accommodation or other regions to display brochures in your centre or park? No other businesses, attractions or accommodation operators were aloud to display brochures within park visitor centres.
8. If so what is your charging policy and charge rates? N/A.
Visitor Centre Funding:
1. How is your visitor centre funded and is the funding guaranteed? Total operating budget $983,036. Base funding $431,633. Non Appropriated funds $63,359 Visitor centre operations run with an annual deficit of approximately $488,043.
2. What would happen if you were to lose or have your funding reduced? If funding was reduced there would be a decrease in the services offered to visitors and some of the visitor centres would be required to reduce there operations and, opening times.
3. Is your centre expected to operate from revenue raised through your business activities? No as the centre is funded to supply information delivery to visitors. It was noted that all visitor centres did have donation boxes located in various sites within the centre; these funds are used specifically to improve the centre and are not used for any operational purposes.
Centre Staffing:
1. What are your staffing levels and how is this made up? Centre staffing depends on the time of year as visitation varies greatly with summer being the peak visitation C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
period. Visitor Centres are run under the control of Yellowstone Division of Interpretation and headed by the Chief of Interpretation who is responsible for all visitor services including visitor centres, interpretation etc. Visitor services make up 18% of expenditure from the total park-operating budget. The expenditure of 18%, which relates to a total budget of $16,863,889 per annum is broken up as follows; Concession management 6%, Education 3%, Fee Collection 19%, Interpretation 19%, VEE management and Administration 8%, Visitor Centre Operations 7%, Visitor safety 31% and visitor Use Services 7%. Staff at visitor centres are employed as Interpretive Rangers and depending on the time of year range from 2 to 4 Interpretive Rangers per centre which are supported by volunteers at peak times of the year.
2. Do you use volunteers at your centre or park and if so what are the main benefits or negatives associated? Volunteers contributed 88,088 hours of time to the park in the 2002 FY and totalled 444 people, hours volunteered were broken up into the following areas; 59% Resource Management such as research assistance and study related projects. 22% as campground hosts delivering information, offering assistance with routine problems and light maintenance. 10% in interpretation for helping to run the parks museums and helping to deliver interpretation information at the parks visitor centres. 5% in protection roles normally utilised in back country offices issuing permits and answering questions from visitors. 4% other duties including administration, maintenance, cheological duties. Most volunteers are mainly used during the busy summer months to deliver information to visitors. All volunteers are given full training in the roles undertaken.
Benefits include cost savings on staffing budget, commitment to service as they have a desire to help people and a true interest in Yellowstone NP, most have in-depth knowledge of the park through many years of involvement and return year after year to offer their service. Negatives include?
3. Are staff paid according to the level of experience they have and is this linked to national training levels and standards? Visitor centre staff are employed as Interpretive Rangers and are required to be fully trained within these roles. Need to check employment requirements of staff in this area.
4. What is your policy in relation to staff training and development? Need to check for this policy.
Visitor Centre Control:
1. Does a committee, organisation or other enterprise control your centre or park and if so what type of body is it? Yellowstone visitor centres are run by the National Park Service, which comes under the control of the United States of America Department of the Interior. Other satellite visitor centres outside the parks are run by the Yellowstone Association which is a non profit cooperative that was originally set up to supply a research library for Yellowstone staff and others, this has grown to now include supplemented educational programs for the park and a bookshop component within the parks visitor centres. Other satellite visitor centres that support the park are ran by U.S Forest Service, which have a number of visitor centres outside and close to the park, and local Chamber of Commerce, which run centres on behalf of local communities and business partners.
2. If so how do you feel this affects or compliments your operation? The support and contribution of these satellite visitor centres is considered to be extremely valuable as this delivers the opportunity to ensure visitors have information and orientation before they enter the park and hence ensure that visitor experiences are positive and hassle free. Such cooperation is expected to capitalise upon each organizations strengths and ensure they complementary rather that competitive. The affect of this cooperation is very positive and beneficial to both the park and its outlying communities and therefore is fully supported and encouraged by the Yellowstone National Park Service.
3. Doe’s your centre or park have a business plan and if so how often is this plan reviewed and updated? Yellowstone has a business plan that covers all operational issues and is current with a review having taken place in July 2003. The business plan covers all park operations including visitor centre operations. C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
4. Doe’s your centre park have an operations manual and if so how often is it reviewed and updated? Yellowstone has a current operations manual, which was last reviewed in 2001, the operational manual is due for review in the next financial year.
5. Would it be possible for you to supply an electronic or hard copy of your business plan and operations manual? Copy of the 2001 operations manual has been supplied.
6. Does your visitor centre work within an accreditation program developed by a government of tourism body? Yellowstone visitor centres do not operate under any outside accreditation programs but do have their own set of standards, which are contained in the operations manual.
7. Are you required to maintain accreditation to operate as a visitor centre and if so does the accreditation scheme supply procedures, policies and guidelines that must be followed? N/A
8. How do you feel your centre or park compliments your local or regional tourism industry? Yellowstone is a major attraction which brings close to 3 million visitors to the Yellowstone region every year, this alone benefits all outlying communities in close proximity to the park as it results in major levels of business for tourism operators including visitor services like professional guides that take back country hiking, fishing, horse riding and other types of tours, hospitality services such as motels/hotels, restaurants/cafes and the services sector including, retail outlets, service stations and other business. Yellowstone is also a major employer in the region which results in employment opportunities that would other wise not be available, the park also utilises many contracted services from outside the park which again helps to strengthen local economies of the region which surround the park.
9. What support do you receive from your local or regional tourism industry? The local tourism industry supply support by helping to deliver information to visitors before they enter the park by supplying information on park attractions, services and facilities, they also display and hand out information brochures.
Retail Operations:
1. Do you have a Retail section attached to your visitor centre and if so how important is it to your overall business? Yellowstone visitor centres have limited retail operation at their sites and mainly stock in-depth information and books relating to the history of the park and its people. Other retail operations such as souvenirs, gifts, clothing, food sales etc are contracted to outside companies which gross $80 million annually, this in turn delivers $12 million back into the parks operating budget which helps to reduce the commitment of funds from the US government and therefore is extremely important to its overall success and future operations.
2. What do you feel are the most important aspects to ensure a successful retail operation? Waiting to have information delivered. Need to seek answers from concession operators.
3. Do you have a policy relating to what items you stock in your retail section, eg must only stock items relevant to your park or region? As above.
4. If so how do you ensure to maintain your stock along these lines? As above.
5. Is your retail section expected to help cover other running costs of your visitor centre, if so how? No but it is expected to return some its profits to help with the running of the centres.
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6. Do you feel that your retail section plays an important role in the overall presentation of your centre and if so why? Yes as it helps to ensure the delivery of information to visitors and increases the overall presentation of the centre and gives visitors a chance to take home something, which will educate them on the history of the park, its wildlife, history and people.
7. Please list the top five most important aspects that you use to ensure your retail section is successful. As above, number 3 and 4.
8. What is your expected and ideal profit margin on retail sales? As above, number 3 and 4.
9. Is there any other information you can supply which would give us an insight of best practice in visitor centre operations? As above, number 3 and 4.
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National Park Operations:
Interpretation:
1. How important is interpretation in delivery information and key messages within your park? Extremely, the art of interpretation is to provide the meaning behind the message to connect the tangible resources visitors see with the multitude of intangible ideas that weave the web that is Yellowstone. (As stated in the Yellowstone Interpretation Plan May 2000). The profession of interpretation in the National Park Service (NPS) began in Yellowstone. Unfortunately today, Yellowstone is not a national leader in interpretation. In fact, Yellowstone,s 1999 state of the park report lists Yellowstone,s Interpretive program as achieving 20% of its full potential. Many of the interpretation methods within the park have changed little through the past several decades. While it is important to retain the successful aspects of interpretation used during the past century, it is incumbent on us to ensure that Yellowstone remains relevant to today,s visitors. The major goals and recommendations in this Executive summary of Yellowstone,s long range Interpretative Plan (LRIP) are to keep the park meaningful, relevant, and valued to our diverse and increasingly sophisticated Public. The LRIP recommends programs, technologies, and methods to achieve these goals within the next 7-10 years. (As stated in the Yellowstone Interpretation Plan May 2000) by the Superintendent of Yellowstone NP Mr Michael V. Finley).
2. What are the main areas you use interpretation to deliver information? To deliver goals relating to visitor experiences to ensure key messages are delivered and information is supplied on the parks history, natural attributes, attractions and reasons for being. Following are the primary themes as listed in the Yellowstone NP’s Long Range Interpretative Plan May 2000. Geology, Geothermal Features, Ecosystem, Wildlife, Management, First National Park, Natural Resource Preservation, Human History, Wilderness and Laboratory.
3. What interpretation methods and systems do you use within your park? Visitor centres to ensure face-to-face access of information to visitors including the primary functions of interpretation, orientation and information, and visitor services. Satellite visitor centres that are aimed at working with outside partners, for example U.S Forest Service, Yellowstone Association and local Chambers of Commerce to deliver information and orientation to visitors before they enter the park and to work with other partners including State Highway, Tourism and Airport Authorities to design and install information kiosks to deliver information and orientation to visitors within a 3 hour drive of the park. Interpretive Media, which includes film and video production or audiovisual programs. Most productions would run for approximately 10 to 20 minutes with longer productions for sale or broadcast, themes have been developed to compliment each of the major visitor centres and the specific natural attractions, historical sites and wildlife that they represent. Topics include park orientation, wildlife, wilderness, geology etc, and are produced in a number of language formats such as French, Spanish, German and Japanese with safety segments developed for park orientation. On e of the aims is to educate visitors to minimise disturbance of wildlife and natural resource preservation.
Printed material is developed along the same lines to ensure relevant issues and topics are covered and are produced to provide information, which can be free items to those for sale to the public. The park works with the Yellowstone association and other park divisions to develop and implement a park wide publication plan. The park has developed interpretive sales areas within their visitor centres to ensure visitors have the opportunity to obtain high quality, in-depth material which is seen to be an important component of there operations. These areas needed to take into consideration space when developing and planning facilities and carry a wide range of material including software, videos, books, CDs and other appropriate products that again will expand and enhance upon the relevant themes of the centre. The park has over 5,000 permanent exhibits located within visitor centres, museums, information kiosks and other sites within the park, these exhibits are first class and have the potential to deliver information on a 24 hour basis depending on their location. The use of natural examples of flora and fauna including taxidermy wildlife enhance visitor experiences and deliver information about the park in an exciting format. A wide variety of outdoor media is used such as information kiosks at roadside, camp grounds and specific C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
sites of interest to deliver orientation, site information, history, rules, regulations and other important facts such as weather conditions, road or park works etc. The park has developed a comprehensive website which is assessed regularly to ensure relevance, accuracy and user friendliness. The site is constantly expanded to keep pace with new technology and includes a wide range information, facts, maps, web cams of specific sites within the park, virtual tours news releases, kid’s stuff and technical facts. In 1999 the main page received more than 500,000 hits and delivers the opportunity for those people not lucky enough to be able to visit the park to undertake a virtual tour as well as gain access to a wide range of information on the park. Yellowstone produces a number of different trail and site information books which are expensive to produce, to help reduce these costs a donation of 50c U.S is requested, this works on an honour system where guides are supplied at specific sites in specially made secure metal stands containing the guides and coin slots were visitors drop their payment. This has proved very successful with most people doing the right thing by paying their 50c with a good percentage even donating more the 50c required. Monies received more than cover the cost of producing the guides and have resulted in the ability for Yellowstone to produce guides of a higher quality than before a donation was requested.
4. When developing interpretation for sites within your park, do you include specific groups such as indigenous people to ensure accuracy, relevance and cultural sensitivity? Yellowstone has realised the importance of ensuring input into its interpretation from specific groups that have a link to the park including its indigenous people. The park works closely with these groups when developing its interpretation to ensure relevance, correctness of facts and cultural sensitivity. They have found that by working with these groups it has reduced the occurrence of miss information, incorrect historical facts and a reduction in the chance of offending or miss interpreting the specific groups involved.
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5. Do you use different methods of interpretation depending on if you are dealing with Cultural, Heritage, flora, fauna, environmental or Indigenous issues? The park uses a wide variety of interpretation methods all of which are suitable to delivering information on the topics listed above and interpretation used depends on the message, information to be supplied and audience it is aimed at.
6. Does your park have interpretation policies and guidelines, and if so would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy? Yellowstone has a well-developed, relevant set of policies and guidelines, which have been supplied.
Signage:
For what reasons do you use signage within your park and is this directly related to your interpretation policies? Signage is used for a wide variety of reasons such as to deliver information on topics including park orientation, trail, road and site identification, weather, wildlife and road condition warnings, location and specific wildlife of an area, park entrance fees, rules and regulations to name a few. Yellowstone uses signage to ensure visitors can orientate themselves, have relevant information, can be educated on all facets of the park, its operations, policies, regulations, its history, fauna, flora, sites of interest, relevance and key messages. All signage is developed and linked to their Interpretation policies and guidelines.
Does you park have signage polices and guidelines, and if so would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy? Contained in the Yellowstone Long Range Interpretation Plan, May 2000 and the Yellowstone Resources and Issues document 2001, which a copy of has been supplied.
How important is the use of signs in your park? Signage is of major importance to Yellowstone and other parks within the United States national parks service and with out signage the park would not be able to deliver information, ensure visitor safety, protection of its historical sites, wildlife and other key messages it wishes to deliver.
What factors affect the erection of signs in your park or leading into your park, such as other government body’s agencies etc? All signage within the parks is controlled by the park but must meet relevant government policies and guidelines. Outside the park it varies depending on the state, region and authorities involved which can includes roads and traffic, local government, state forests etc. Yellowstone works hard to ensure sound communication with these bodies and strict adherence to the policies and guidelines.
In regards to signs relating to park use fees, how are these handled/controlled? Within normal park operational guidelines.
At what distance from your park entrance do you display signs relating to park use fees and how many locations do they cover? The requirement that park use fees will need to be paid are displayed at various distances from the park depending on the location of the nearest town and can be up 100km from park entrance. All major access routes in to the park have signage displaying the requirement that park access fees will need to be paid. A full list of all fee options are displayed at entrance points/gates and all visitors must pass one of these points to gain access into the park.
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Are signs used designed to fit in with the environment they are situated in? And if so please give some examples. A number of different formats of signage are used within the park, these include information panels containing photographs, drawn pictures and text information which are produced in vinyl and give protection from weather and ultraviolet light, some panels then have a Perspex cover for further protection. Depending on the location of the sign they are housed in either steel or wooden frames mounted on stands set at an appropriate height. The steel signs were mainly found on or near the roadside, at major points of interest or at points that information needed to be delivered. Wooden sign frames included overhead roofs for protection from the elements so visitors could read the information without being to exposed.
Signs ranged in size from small 15x15cm made out of wood used for track/trail identification, medium signs made out of either wood or steel size from 30x40cm to 1000x500cm located at major information points and information kiosks to larger signs located at major interpretation sites.
Park Access:
1...... What are the main issues faced in your park in relation to visitor access? A major issue relating to park access is the appropriate recreational use of the park such as fishing, canoeing, camping, hiking and wildlife watching etc. As the park has up to 3 million visitors per year it is imperative to ensure visitors are educated in what they can and cannot do, this helps to ensure the protection of its historic sites, natural features, wildlife and flora. The park has many fragile ecosystems and endangered species that must be protected, because of this certain areas are regularly closed to visitors to ensure regeneration takes place, species are given time to recover and areas are not over utilised. Weather also plays an important part relating to visitor access and safety, such as in winter when extremely cold temperatures would result in high risk of exposure to the elements for visitors and due to budget constraints mean the park is not able to have staff available to ensure visitor safety.
2...... How is visitor access governed in your park? By closing areas and sites to visitor access using locked gates and the installation of physical barriers. By closing roads leading into areas that need to be closed. Yellowstone use signs and staff to inform and educate visitors were they can and cannot go supplying reasons for areas not being accessible. All entry points in to Yellowstone display park information which informs visitors of any current access issues, staff such as Rangers also inform visitors on these issues and the park produces a newspaper which also contains information to help visitors understand the reasons and necessity for access restrictions.
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3. Do you restrict visitor access to your park? And if so please state areas and reasons. For example these may include fragile environments, areas that my be hazardous to visitor safety or require special protection. Visitor access can be restricted for a number of reasons including dangerous thermal sites, high risk areas, fragile environments and ecosystems requiring regeneration and protection, areas were wildlife may pose a risk to visitor safety such as Bears, Bison and breeding Elk etc. Weather also plays a big part in necessitating limited access to areas such as backcountry wilderness during winter when the risks are high to visitor safety.
4. Do you set aside specific areas for different recreational users such as 4X4 vehicles, horse riders, hikers etc, and if so how is the managed. No specific areas are set aside for specific recreational users but it does have regulations to control what they can and cannot do such as mountain bike riders are not aloud on hiking trails, Motor homes can not access certain roads due to size limitations, fisherman can only fish in designated rivers and steams and campers can only camp in areas set aside for this purpose. Yellowstone employ Law Enforcement Rangers to control and ensure compliance with park regulations which have the power to issue fines, arrest offenders if necessary and educate visitors on appropriate use of park facilities and sites. 5. Do you have a plan of management relating to park access and if so would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy? Need to request.
6. What are the main challenges your park faces in regards to visitor access? Over use due to the high number of visitors. Damage to fragile environments and ecosystems, visitor safety from weather, wildlife and hazardous sites. To ensure visitors are educated about the wonders of the park, the ways and reasons it needs to be preserved, the correct, acceptable and sustainable uses of the park that will ensure its future for generations to come. To find the balance between visitor access and preservation of the parks natural environment, its historical sites and the flora and fauna that live there.
8. Do you have a park use fee exemption policy for special groups such as pensioners, staff and other park users? Need to request.
9. Would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy of your park use fee exemption policy? Need to request.
Other Information:
1. Would you be able to supply a range of the brochures you use to deliver information on your park and services? Supplied.
2. How do you deal with the media, eg: good news stories, contentious issues and marketing? Need to request.
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3. Is there any other information you could supply us on best practice operations within your park?
Thank you for your time and effort in supplying the answers to these questions. On the completion of this research a report will be developed containing comparison of information with other parks researched, examples of best practice in operations including, marketing, interpretations, retail, visitor services and will supply recommendation to the industry on future directions.
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Park Name – Parc national de la Gaspésie Parc http://www.sepaq.com Contact: François Boulanger – Director [email protected] Location Park Size Visitation Facilities Main Features Sainte-Anne-des- 802 sq km Yearly Ava Visitor centres 1 % covered with water. Monts. 170,00 Hotels 1 % meadow and ranges. Gaspesie Lodges/Cabins27 within park. % forested. Peninsula. Summer Ava NPS operated campgrounds 4 with 230 sites. thermal features? Quebec, Canada July-Aug Leased campgrounds, 1 operated by a non- active geysers? 120,000 profit organization plus 4 cottages. water falls? Other Ava Picnic areas 5 small. species of mammals? 50,000 16 huts located along cross country and species of birds? hiking trails. species of fish? species of reptiles? species of amphibians? species of conifers? species native vascular plants? species of exotic non-native plants? species of lichens?
Answers if possible and applicable.
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Visitor Centre/Services Operations
Visitors:
12. How many visitors do you receive per year? 170,000
13. What are your peak visitor periods? Please list visitor numbers per season. Summer:120,000 Autumn, winter and spring: 50,000.
14. Where do your visitors mainly come from? Please list % or numbers. Your State and local region: 75% to 80% National including International: 15% to 20%
15. What are the main reasons visitors come to your region or park? Winter visitors come mainly for cross-country snow skiing, snow shoeing, bob sledding. Summer visitors mainly come for the senary, hiking, wildlife observation
16. What are the main questions and information sought by visitors at your centre or park? What are the main sites to visit in the park. What are the best hiking trails and their grade of difficulty. Directions to camping sites, cabins and other accommodation. Orientation on the park, where to see wildlife and fauna.
17. How do you count visitors to your centre or park? Eg: door counters, road traffic counters manually or other method. Count visitors that are utilising camping areas, visitor entrance fee we are charged on a per person basis. In relation to season passes the park looks for average visitors. Electronic counters are used on trails to count visitors using specific tracks to gage popularity, counters are normally located on trail stair ways as visitors tend not to back track as with say on bridges where visitors may go back and forth taking pictures etc..
18. Out of all the visitors to your region as a whole, what percentage do you feel use your centre? Approximately 80% of all visitors use the park visitor/interpretation centre.
19. Do you conduct visitor surveys and if so what information are you trying to gather. Yes, one major survey per year which is conducted Sepaq (Parks Quebec), which asks visitors how much they know about parks in Canada such as how many they can name, time of year they visit, visitor ages, demographics including place of origin to find customer base. Some parks within the network conduct specific surveys on facilities and service satisfaction levels of visitors. Other surveys again averaging 1 per year cover different topics to gain information as required.
20. Would you be able to supply copies or examples of your visitor surveys? A sample of a survey will be supplied.
21. What statistics do you collect regarding your visitors, eg place of origin, post/zip codes, age, family makeup etc? Information will be contained in sample survey to be supplied.
22. How do you use information collected on your visitors? To provide information which will help to decide future directions of the park, its services and facilities to ensure they are meeting visitor needs and fore filling park objectives. Most recent survey conducted was aimed at customers visiting during winter, what activities do they prefer to undertake, what activities do they do outside the park so as to be able to set priorities for visitor activities within the park. Information is also used to help develop services and facilities and where future development will proceed.
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Marketing & Promotion:
1. What are your main target markets? Visitors from main city areas such as Quebec city, Montreal etc, age groups 30 to 45 years, couples including duel income, no children. Target markets include the well educated who enjoy practicing outdoor activities and are happy to spend money on equipment, supplies, other needs including accommodation and will spend a weekend up to several weeks in the park. Families are a major target market for summer months.
2. How do you market & promote to these markets segments? No major advertising is undertaken during the summer period as visitation is already at levels where facilities are close to capacity and any more visitors would result in an over load of these facilities. During other periods through out the year the park uses radio advertising in major areas around the park including the Gaspesie Peninsula and Nth Brunswick. No other marketing is used at this stage.
3. How important do you feel it is to market and promote your centre or park? Very important during fall and winter due to low numbers, no marketing promotion in summer due to high visitor numbers, most visitor facilities are full and visitors may not be able to access camp grounds etc. During peak summer periods only media liaison is undertaken to inform the public of special events or other happenings within the park. Marketing is used to increase low visitation periods only. The park uses slower seasons to encourage visitors to return at other periods by providing information that will create a desire to return. Winter is a challenge to ensure visitors are interested in discovering the park and visitation is essential to ensure revenue flows to pay for workers and facility upkeep during these periods.
4. What percentage of you annual budget is set aside for marketing and promotion? To be supplied
5. Do you have a marketing/promotional plan and if so how often is it reviewed? To be supplied.
6. Would you be able to supply either an electronic or hard copy of your marketing/promotional plan? To be supplied.
Visitor Centre Services:
1. Please list the top five most important services you feel your visitors expect of your centre or park. 1) Orientation within the park, 2) information on activities, 3) accommodation reservation for cabins, campgrounds and hotels within the park, 4) signs and information boards, 5) restoration of the park.
2. Please list the top five most important services you feel local businesses expect of you centre or park. 1) Employment for local people that live around the park, expect more jobs from the park than direct business, 2) opportunity for local communities to provide services to visitors outside and within the park.
3. What are the main services you offer to Tourism operators at your centre or park? All tourism services within the park are strictly controlled and are mainly only offered to non-profit organizations. These organizations mainly work with the park to supply lodging outside the park and to develop value added packages. The park has a fine dinning restaurant and café/bistro and were ever-possible use local produce from the surrounding region.
4. Do you charge operators for services such as for advertisements and information listings etc? The park produces information newspapers and operators are charged to place advertisements within it, in return these advertisers are given the opportunity to display brochures at their information centre. The park at this stage does not charge for brochure display but tries to ensure that the services offered will compliment the C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
park and its activities.
5. What form of interpretation and display systems do you use at your centre? Eg: information panels, video displays, in person etc. Photographs of the park icons, sites, views etc, interpretation panels supplying information on wildlife, fauna, geology and history, computer interactive media, slide presentation on the park, interpretation activities including ranger presented talks up to six per week covering varied topics, theatha using props, video presentations and artefacts.
6. What are your hours of opening and doe’s this vary through out the year and if so why? Summer open 8am to 10pm because of night activities including ranger talks, theatre presentations, videos etc. Most activities stop at 9pm then visitors may stock up on supplies or by a souvenir from the retail section attached to the centre. Fall and at other times outside summer the centre is open 8am to 5pm.
7. Do you charge for businesses, attractions, accommodation or other regions to display brochures in your centre or park? Not at this stage, but the park has to be selective on what brochures it will alough to be displayed due to limited space.
8. If so what is your charging policy and charge rates? No charge.
Visitor Centre Funding:
4. How is your visitor centre funded and is the funding guaranteed? Government funding is included in the budget but is not guaranteed and depends on the priorities and directions of the government at the time. Revenue from retail sales is returned to the parks operations budget after paying for its running. Money from other government sources is used for education activities. Some grants are received from outside sources such as foundations, which are mainly used to again conduct educational activities and specific scientific research but are not used for operational components. Some activities are charged for and visitors pay for these extra services. Average annual retail sales are approximately $200,000 of which normally 50% is returned to business operations.
5. What would happen if you were to lose or have your funding reduced? Services would be reduced or stopped altogether, facilities would close due to staff reductions.
6. Is your centre expected to operate from revenue raised through your business activities? Yes, revenue raised is very important to the overall operations of the park and is necessary to ensure its future.
Centre Staffing:
5. What are your staffing levels and how is this made up? 160 staff within the park, mostly hospitality working in accommodation services such as Gite de Mont Albert a 4 Star Hotel, which is a major revenue raiser and employment area of the park. 10 staff are employed in information and retail services, 6 people are employed in interpretations eg rangers and park wardens. 3 law enforcement rangers are employed to ensure adherence to park regulation but have no power to issue infringements. Sepaq undertakes infringements and Quebec wildlife protection rangers that are not dedicated to a specific park but undertake law enforcement within all parks. This program was developed to help parks and reserves to cope with visitors that break park regulations and these rangers have the ability to search cars for contraband such as wildlife and resources. 15 field maintenance staff are employed to maintain the parks facilities, trails and infrastructure.
6. Do you use volunteers at your centre or park and if so what are the main benefits or negatives associated?
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No volunteers are used within the park and there is no set program. Work experience students sometimes undertake duties within the park, which normally relate to scientific research.
7. Are staff paid according to the level of experience they have and is this linked to national training levels and standards? Yes, paid to level of training and position descriptions. Park employees are covered by a union that sets level of remunerations in line with employment requirements and education standards. Staff are awarded wage increases on a sliding scale for progression on experience and years of service, which is similar to our increment policy and is obtained through negotiation. Park wages are equivalent to national wages. Park employees are not sivil servants, need to check on what this means, to ask for clarification.
8. What is your policy in relation to staff training and development? Policy to be supplied.
Visitor Centre Control:
10. Does a committee, organisation or other enterprise control your centre or park and if so what type of body is it? Yes all parks within the Quebec/Canada network are under the control of parks Sepaq which sets standards of operations but the individual parks have the ability to set their own guidelines and specific procedures to ensure their goals and directions are achieved.
11. If so how do you feel this affects or compliments your operation? By having the guidelines and procedures for park operations set by Sepaq it enables the park to concentrate on other more specific operations. Each park then develops a specific set of policies and guidelines tailored to suit their individual needs. If possible need to seek expansion on this question.
12. Doe’s your centre or park have a business plan and if so how often is this plan reviewed and updated? The parks business plan is in its last year and will be starting the process of rewriting the business plan to set new targets, strategies and goals.
13. Doe’s your centre park have an operations manual and if so how often is it reviewed and updated? The park does not have a specific operations manual but do work with a set of standards, which are very specific.
14. Would it be possible for you to supply an electronic or hard copy of your business plan and operations manual? Yes will be supplied.
15. Does your visitor centre work within an accreditation program developed by a government of tourism body? The park does not work under an accreditation program.
16. Are you required to maintain accreditation to operate as a visitor centre and if so does the accreditation scheme supply procedures, policies and guidelines that must be followed? No
17. How do you feel your centre or park compliments your local or regional tourism industry? The park preceded the tourism industry in the region and therefore is the reason for the tourism industry beginning in the area in the first place. The park attracts many visitors per year, which directly benefit the local communities that surround it.
18. What support do you receive from your local or regional tourism industry? C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
Help with promotion, increased information supply and education to the public.
Retail Operations:
10. Do you have a Retail section attached to your visitor centre and if so how important is it to your overall business? Retail operations are considered very important as they provide valuable revenue and benefits, which include the following: provides a way to project the name of the park to ensure awareness by specifically helping to promote the park and its image. People have the opportunity to purchase quality souvenirs and mementoes that will help to remind them of their visit to the park and ensure future awareness. The added revenue generated through retail sales ensure park facilities can be improved and developed further to ensure it keeps pace with visitor needs and other operational requirements. Retail sales also help to promote the park to others by have the name out in the public.
11. What do you feel are the most important aspects to ensure a successful retail operation? Quality of goods for sale, relevance to customer needs, presentation of retail lines, a pleasant atmosphere, lighting and helpful, friendly speedy service is also important.
12. Do you have a policy relating to what items you stock in your retail section, eg must only stock items relevant to your park or region? The park network has a line specific to Quebec parks and adds specific products that relate to the park its self and the area it is within, eg camping/hiking goods, souvenir lines and clothing. There is no policy that states that each park must stock locally made goods so no % required but do try and ensure inclusion of as many products as possible to help support local industry and to ensure retail lines are relevant and that they will remind visitors of their stay. Items stocked try to also ensure that they are interesting to visitors, relevant to the park, look good and represent value for money.
13. If so how do you ensure to maintain your stock along these lines? Not applicable as no policy.
14. Is your retail section expected to help cover other running costs of your visitor centre, if so how? Yes, any profits from retail sales go back into supporting other park operations.
15. Do you feel that your retail section plays an important role in the overall presentation of your centre and if so why? Yes, as it adds extra value to a visitors experience and ensures visitors can purchase a memento of their visit. It also helps to increase the length of time spent at the centre and adds extra things to do especially on rainy days for example, families with children can pass extra time and buy goods that can be used to fill in time. Also offers a way to bring people to the centre with a good combination of retail lines, information, exhibits and other presentation.
16. Please list the top five most important aspects that you use to ensure your retail section is successful. Presentation of retail goods for sale, furniture/lighting, layout and design of the centre, good professional staff with excellent sales skills that provide top service to their customers. The centre must also be tidy and presentable at all times.
17. What is your expected and ideal profit margin on retail sales? The retail section works on a 50% mark up or double of what they pay to purchase goods. The park may mark up goods at a higher value if possible but tries to ensure visitors receive value for money, while still maintaining profit margins.
18. Is there any other information you can supply which would give us an insight of best practice in visitor centre operations? No answers supplied.
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National Park Operations:
Interpretation:
7. How important is interpretation in delivery information and key messages within your park? Highly important as without interpretations it would not be possible to deliver key messages and educate the visiting public.
8. What are the main areas you use interpretation to deliver information? Within the visitor and interpretation centre. Ranger guided activities at specific sites within the park, which helps to target information about the site directly to visitors. The park also uses interpretation signage at the start of track/trail heads and at major icon locations. The park runs set activities up to 2 times per week including special campfire nights at their camping areas and short presentation every afternoon at their visitor centres.
9. What interpretation methods and systems do you use within your park? Static displays as above, video presentations, teata presentations using props and examples of fauna and flora relating to the park. Direct face-to-face contact through ranger talks and presentations and the production of printed material including brochures, newspapers etc. There is no set program developed by Sepaq and their parks as a hole and therefore individual parks develop interpretations and signage specifically for each park needs. Resean impregnated, very tuff, main problem is fading. Use black line text.
10. How do your interpretation methods fit in with other communication strategies used and is this considered important to your overall operations? Need to seek further clarification.
11. When developing interpretation for sites within your park, do you include specific groups such as indigenous people to ensure accuracy, relevance and cultural sensitivity? Special interest groups are included in developing park interpretation were ever possible to ensure accuracy of information. The park has no involvement with indigenous groups as non have association or history with the park.
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12. Do you use different methods of interpretation depending on if you are dealing with Cultural, Heritage, flora, and fauna, environmental or Indigenous issues? No, same standards are used with all interpretation within the park.
13. How important is it to ensure indigenous people and other interest groups have a say in interpretation of their sites? No, but parks as a whole do work with special interest groups which are encourage to take part in developing information, discussion takes place to were ever possible to ensure inclusion.
14. Does your park have interpretation policies and guidelines, and if so would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy? Yes on activities and education. Policy to be supplied.
Signage:
For what reasons do you use signage within your park and is this directly related to your interpretation policies? To deliver information on sites of interest, to ensure visitors are orientated within the park. To inform visitors of park regulations and were they can and cannot go.
Does you park have signage polices and guidelines, and if so would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy? Need to gain this information.
How important is the use of signs in your park? Good signage is considered highly important to ensure visitors have the information required to understand what the park has to offer and to ensure adherance to park policies.
What factors affect the erection of signs in your park or leading into your park, such as other government body’s agencies etc? Has standard set of guidelines that ensure consistency etc. Need further clarification.
In regards to signs relating to park use fees, how are these handled/controlled? Within normal park guidelines and policies.
At what distance from your park entrance do you display signs relating to park use fees and how many locations do they cover? Need to seek clarification.
Are signs used designed to fit in with the environment they are situated in? And if so please give some examples. Were ever possible signs are to fit in with the natural environment but this will depend on suitability for weather conditions to ensure longevity
Park Access:
1...... What are the main issues faced in your park in relation to visitor access?
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Activities are set according to the needs, environment of the park. Fragile or preservation zones for example may not have roads to limit access, no fishing in some extreme preservation zone and no visitor access except for special purpose such as scientific research. Total isolation of an area may be required to preserve some sites considered to delicate to cope with visitor usage.
2...... How is visitor access governed in your park? Through policies and guidelines set down to preserve the park and its environment which is controlled by rangers, road blocks, signs and information supplied at visitor centres.
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3. Do you restrict visitor access to your park? And if so please state areas and reasons. For example these may include fragile environments, areas that my be hazardous to visitor safety or require special protection. As stated above. Repeated question.
4. Do you set aside specific areas for different recreational users such as 4X4 vehicles, horse riders, hikers etc, and if so how is the managed. Need to gain further information on this question.
5. Do you have a plan of management relating to park access and if so would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy? Need to gain further information on this question.
6. What are the main challenges your park faces in regards to visitor access? Over usage of some fragile areas. Over loading of areas set aside for visitor use for example camp ground facilities, picnic areas and infrustructer included toilets, garbage etc.
7. Do you limit park access at certain times of the year and if so how is this controlled? The park closes some areas at certain times of the year, this is achieved through locked gates, signage and ranger enforcement.
8. Do you have a park use fee exemption policy for special groups such as pensioners, staff and other park users? Yes, children, schools up to university, seniors are given either free or discounted entry, free access is also supplied for visitors transiting through the park.. First nation indigenous Indians (Mic Mack) are also given free entry to parks as with our NPWS policy.
9. Would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy of your park use fee exemption policy? Failed to ask for this policy, need to seek information.
10...... Does your park have park entry gates and if so how do you manage these gates including the issuing of park passes such as day and annual? The park has entry stations located at all major access points, these are staffed during the summer, spring and autumn seasons but close during winter when park visitation is low. The park has a range of options for the purchase of park entry permits which include annual, day and exemptions. Visitors must provide proof of exemption to gain discounted passes.
Other Information:
4. Would you be able to supply a range of the brochures you use to deliver information on your park and services? Supplied.
5. How do you deal with the media, eg: good news stories, contentious issues and marketing?
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6. Is there any other information you could supply us on best practice operations within your park?
Thank you for your time and effort in supplying the answers to these questions. On the completion of this research a report will be developed containing comparison of information with other parks researched, examples of best practice in operations including, marketing, interpretations, retail, visitor services and will supply recommendation to the industry on future directions.
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Nom de Parc (Park Name) MIGUASHA NATIONAL PARK – Contacts (Contacts): L'endroit Taille de Parc Visitation Équipements (Facilities) Les Caractéristiques Principales (Main Features) (Location) (Park Size) (Visitation) Miguasha, Québec 62 hectares Moyenne Annuelle Visiteur Centre? (Visitor centres?) Not as les % couverts avec de l'eau? (% covered with water?) nil except when completed (Yearly Avg) such. A foyer of the museum serves as a the beach 87.5 hectares visitors centre Between 32000 and 35000 Des hôtels/ Loges (Carlingues/Salles)? (Hotels/Lodges (Cabins/Rooms))? NO
Moyenne D'été (Summer Avg) Terrains de camping actionnés par service de parc national (emplacements)? l'espèce des poissons? (species of fish?) 22 fossil species ! (NPS operated campgrounds (sites)?) Privately own only but outside the park
Moyenne D'hiver l'espèce des conifères? (species of conifers?) 2 species of (Winter Avg) Terrains de camping loués (emplacements)? progymnosperms Closed (Leased campgrounds (sites)?) 55 species of spores, Bâtiments? (Buildings?) Museum, workshop and two houses (one for the staff0 and a new one we purchased two months ago.
Secteurs de pique-nique? (Picnic areas?)
Approx. 15 tables only
Hiver de personnel? (Staff winter?) 5
Été de personnel? (Staff summer?) Soemwhere between 35 and 40.
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Opérations/Services Du Visiteur Centre (Visitor Centre/Services Operations)
Visiteurs (Visitors):
1. Combien de visiteurs recevez-vous par an? (How many visitors do you receive per year?) Miguasha gets around 22 000 paying visitors. Between 10 000- and 12 000 come for the boutique and the restaurant and they do not have to pay. Remember that our operation season is 4½ months. June 1st till October 15th.
2. Quelles sont vos périodes maximales de visiteur ? (What are your peak visitor periods?) Svp nombres de visiteur de liste par saison. (Please list visitor numbers per season.) Hiver (Winter) Été (Summer) Automne (Autumn) Ressort (Spring)
3. Où faites vos visiteurs viennent principalement de? (Where do your visitors mainly come from?) Veuillez énumérer % ou nombres. (Please list % or numbers.) Région locale (Local region) 12% from Gaspe area Votre état (Your state) 66% from Québec Province National (National) 14% Canada International (International) 8% Since September 11th, this clientele dropped from 20% to 8 and 10%. Also the arrival of the Euro has changed tremendously the trend of European tourism... Much less are coming to North America
4. Quelles sont les raisons principales que les visiteurs viennent à votre région ou se garent? (What are the main reasons visitors come to your region or park?) 1: It is a world wide know paleontological site; A UNESCO World Heritage site 2: It is also a museum of natural history, the only one outside Montréal. 3: To enjoy a learning experience. Paleontology is a very intriguing science. 4 Since 1978, when we open the first little museum, our customer service has always been excellent (except Rémi!) and they come because of our reputation
5. Quelles sont les questions et l'information principales cherchées par des visiteurs à votre centre ou parc? (What are the main questions and information sought by visitors at your centre or park?) Since we are a very specific museum (Natural history) in a specific science (paleontology), we assume that our visitors want to know what is a fossil, how do they formed and how can we say that fossils and/or rock can be dated to billions to hundreds of millions of years. These are fundamental questions related to paleontology and we try to answer those simple questions which sometimes are so hard to answer.
6. Comment comptez-vous des visiteurs à votre centre ou parc? Par exemple: les compteurs de porte, le trafic de route pare manuellement ou l'autre méthode. (How do you count visitors to your centre or park? Eg: door counters, road traffic counters manually or other method.) As mentioned at question 1, we have an exact count of those who pay. The estimation for those who come to the restaurant and the boutique is based on the amount of individual sales at the boutique and at the restaurant. We also add a certain percentage for those who com for the hiking trail we have.
7. Hors de tous les visiteurs à votre région dans l'ensemble, quel pourcentage sentir employez-vous votre centre? (Out of all the visitors to your region as a whole, what percentage do you feel use your centre?) From 50 km West and 50 km East, there is a population of roughly 35 000 persons. This means that less than 10 % C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited are coming to our Museum. Since 1978, I could estimate that at least 60% of them came at least once. We have our regular customers that are coming and bringing their guests many times in one season.
8. Vous conduisez des enquêtes de visiteur et si ainsi quelle information sont vous essayant de recueillir? (Do you conduct visitor surveys and if so what information are you trying to gather?) They are made by the Parks Québec Head Office and they are very exhaustive. Origin, age group, family setup, salary, salary, which activities, their degree of satisfaction toward the activities and the personal. The ratio price/quality.
We used to have our own at the museum years ago to find out the degree of satisfaction and years after years, visitors were rating their experience as excellent at 85% and very few or motlsy none were dissatisfied.
9. Pourriez-vous fournir des copies ou des exemples de vos enquêtes de visiteur? (Would you be able to supply copies or examples of your visitor surveys?) We have one that could be sent to you but it will be in French. It was one made in 2002 for the whole park network.
10. Quelles statistiques recueillez-vous concernant vos visiteurs, par exemple point d'origine, les codes de post/zip, l'âge, le maquillage de famille etc? (What statistics do you collect regarding your visitors, eg place of origin, post/zip codes, age, family makeup etc?) Already answered at point 8
11. Comment employez-vous l'information rassemblée sur vos visiteurs? (How do you use information collected on your visitors?) Parks Québec uses it to get money from the Government by proving that the image and notoriety carried by Parks Québec were big assets to the tourism industry. The ones we made were to improve our customer service.
Vente Et Promotion : Marketing & Promotion:
1. Quelles sont vos cibles principales? (What are your main target markets?) . At the head office they try to get the city residents to visit at least two Québec Parks per year. Some parks are open all year round so winter activities are very popular
Fro Miguasha, the locals and the travelling groups by bus. We also aim the school groups and we are not doing so good I am afraid. School budgets have been cut.
2. Comment est-ce que vous lancez et favorisez sur le marché à ces segments des marchés? (How do you market & promote to these markets segments?) We make several press communiqué, we advertise on local medias such as radio and TV. We have also joint publicity the 3 Gaspé regional parks. We also get joint publicity with three museums putting some accent on our cultural and natural heritage.
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3. Comment important vous sentez-vous le doit-vous lancer sur le marché et favoriser votre centre ou parc? (How important do you feel it is to market and promote your centre or park?) It is the key of the future. Before, when there was no entrance fee (started in 2000) , local were among our best clientele along with group tours (one year, we had 223 bus tours representing 35% of our overall visitors. Now, we are competing against Ontario, New England, the Maritimes Provinces so the only way to survive is through marketing and excellency in your customer service.
4. Quel pourcentage de vous budget annuel est mis de côté pour le marketing et la promotion? (What percentage of you annual budget is set aside for marketing and promotion?) 5% meaning close to 30,000 –this include our share with the other parks in national and international promotional campaigns, and it includes the making of bilingual pamphlets. In our local area, we spend close to 8,000 $
5. Avez-vous un plan de marketing/promotional et si tellement combien de fois est il a passé en revue? (Do you have a marketing/promotional plan and if so how often is it reviewed?) We try to have new approaches every years, changing where we place our publicity. As for Parks Québec, they have their own marketing division and they do not consult at parks’ level very much.
6. Pourriez-vous fournir un imprimé électronique ou de votre plan de marketing/promotional? (Would you be able to supply either an electronic or hard copy of your marketing/promotional plan?) I’ll try to send a CDROM of a major campaign made by Parks Québec, if we can find the CDRom
Services De Centre De Visiteur: (Visitor Centre Services:)
1. Veuillez énumérer les cinq services les plus importants principaux que vous sentez vos visiteurs prévoir de votre centre ou parc. (Please list the top five most important services you feel your visitors expect of your centre or park.) A clean place –especially the toilets Polite, smiling, informative staff. All of them including the director… For the guided tours, that our guides be well trained and informed so that they are capable of answering almost every questions. And if they do not know the answer to try to find answers in books or by asking the person in charge.
2. Veuillez énumérer les cinq services les plus importants principaux que vous sentez des entreprises locales compter de vous pour centrer ou se garer. (Please list the top five most important services you feel local businesses expect of you centre or park.) Quality in every aspect of our activities and services. This includes having a trained and polite staff. Clean ground and premises
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3. Quels sont les services principaux que vous offrez aux opérateurs de tourisme à votre centre ou vous garez? (What are the main services you offer to Tourism operators at your centre or park?) Restaurant and a gift shop
4. Chargez-vous des opérateurs pour des services comme pour les annonces et les listes de l'information etc? (Do you charge operators for services such as for advertisements and information listings etc?) NO
5. Quelle forme de systèmes d'interprétation employez-vous à votre centre ? Par exemple: affichages de Panel de l'information et visuels, chez la personne etc. (What form of interpretation systems do you use at your centre? Eg: information panels, video displays, in person etc.) We have bilingual guided tours (1½ hours); a video, and interpretation panels in our hiking trails relating the evolution of life on Earth,
6. Qu'est-ce que c'est vos heures de l'ouverture et des doe?s changent au cours de hors de l'année et si ainsi pourquoi ? What are your hours of opening and doe’s this vary through out the year and if so why? From 09:00 till 18:00 (June 1st till August 31st) From 09:00 till 17:00 (September 1st till October 15th)
7. Quels systèmes de visualisation utilisez-vous à votre centre ou parc de visiteur? (What display systems do you utilise in your visitor centre or park?) Not pertinent
8. Facturez-vous des entreprises, des attractions, le logement ou d'autres régions pour montrer des brochures à votre centre ou parc ? (Do you charge for businesses, attractions, accommodation or other regions to display brochures in your centre or park?) No we do not except that others do and I find this insulting for us.
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9. Si ainsi ce qui est vos taux de politique et de charge de remplissage? (If so what is your charging policy and charge rates?)
Placement De Centre De Visiteur: (Visitor Centre Funding:)
1. Comment votre centre de visiteur est-il placé et le placement est-il garanti? (How is your visitor centre funded and is the funding guaranteed?) We are 100% funded by a Québec governmental society. However, the restaurant and boutique must make profit. And we are doing so. The money is then reinjected in the park.
2. Que se produirait si vous deviez perdre ou votre placement a réduit? (What would happen if you were to lose or have your funding reduced?) We would have to make difficult choices like it happened in the past. But now, being a World Heritage Site, this is a damn good insurance against lousy decisions to reduce our service and our staff. Remember that Miguasha received 5 million dollars last year to enlarge our customers services and museum facilities, and our research division…
3. Est-ce que on s'attend à ce que votre centre fonctionne à partir du revenu augmenté par vos activités économiques? (Is your centre expected to operate from revenue raised through your business activities?) No. Only what is called the commercial activities represented by the restaurant and the shop.
Fournir De Centre: (Centre Staffing:)
1. Quels sont vos niveaux fournissants de personnel et comment ceci se composent? (What are your staffing levels and how is this made up?) Our seasonal staff is complete meaning that we have the right amount of personal to do the job. Where we have a problem is with the managing and the research. We should have at least a full time director and two full time secretarial jobs.
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2. Est-ce que vous employez des volontaires à votre centre ou vous garez et si ainsi ce qui sont les avantages ou les négatifs principaux associés? (Do you use volunteers at your centre or park and if so what are the main benefits or negatives associated?) No. What a pity.
3. Le personnel est sont-ils payés selon le niveau de l'expérience qu'ils ont est-ce qu'et ce lié aux niveaux de formation et aux normes nationaux? (Are staff paid according to the level of experience they have and is this linked to national training levels and standards?) Yes by all means. There is a working convention for the personal of all the society which runs more or less like the civil servants
4. Quelle est votre politique par rapport à la formation et au développement du personnel? (What is your policy in relation to staff training and development?) We have always training for our personal. Courses in management, in security, customers’ relation, etc.
Commande De Centre De Visiteur: (Visitor Centre Control:)
1. Est-ce que un comité, l'organisation ou toute autre entreprise commande votre centre ou se gare et si ainsi quel type de corps est lui? (Does a committee, organisation or other enterprise control your centre or park and if so what type of body is it?) There is a Harmonisation Table composed of 8 representatives of local organisations. Chamber of Commerce, Education Dept. Tourist Association, college and university, primary school, etc. etc. They are like advisers they do not manage the park. They could give orientations but the one responsible for the park management is the director.
2. Si ainsi comment vous vous sentez est-ce que ceci affecte ou complimente votre opération? (If so how do you feel this affects or compliments your operation?) It helps very much to have local support andit gives us the pulse or the perception of the park in the close area.
3. Votre centre ou parc a-t-il un plan d'affaires et si ainsi combien de fois est ce plan passé en revue et mis à jour? (Does your centre or park have a business plan and if so how often is this plan reviewed and updated?) We had made on in 2001 and it was for three years.
4. Votre parc de centre a-t-il des opérations manuelles et si tellement combien de fois est il a passé en revue et a mis à jour? (Does your centre park have an operations manual and if so how often is it reviewed and updated?) It id called a Director Plan and in it you find the mission, objectives, our role and the managing orientations.
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5. Serait-il possible que fournissiez-vous un imprimé électronique ou de votre plan et opérations d'affaires manuels? (Would it be possible for you to supply an electronic or hard copy of your business plan and operations manual?) Yes but again it is in French. Please ask me if you still want them
6. Votre centre de visiteur fonctionne-t-il dans un programme d'accréditation développé par un gouvernement de corps de tourisme? (Does your visitor centre work within an accreditation program developed by a government of tourism body?) Yes, we are part of the Government
7. Êtes-vous requis de maintenir l'accréditation pour opérer comme centre de visiteur et si fait ainsi les procédures, les politiques et les directives d'approvisionnement d'arrangement d'accréditation qui doivent être suivies? (Are you required to maintain accreditation to operate as a visitor centre and if so does the accreditation scheme supply procedures, policies and guidelines that must be followed?) Not pertinent,
8. Comment vous sentez-vous votre centre ou le parc complimente-t-il votre industrie locale ou régionale de tourisme? (How do you feel your centre or park compliments your local or regional tourism industry?) It is one of the main assets. One out of the four top…
9. . Quel appui recevez-vous de votre industrie locale ou régionale de tourisme? (What support do you receive from your local or regional tourism industry?) Yes we get full support from the national and international tourist organisations
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Activités des ventes au détail : (Retail Operations:)
1. Avez-vous une section au détail attachée à votre centre de visiteur et si ainsi comment important est il à vos affaires globales? (Do you have a Retail section attached to your visitor centre and if so how important is it to your overall business?) Yes. As mentioned it must make profit, no loss and we are trying to increase this profit by 7 to 10% per year and we succeed.
2. Que vous sentez-vous êtes-vous les aspects les plus importants pour assurer une activité des ventes au détail réussie? (What do you feel are the most important aspects to ensure a successful retail operation?) Quality versus retail price and a full trained personal
3. Est-ce que vous avez-vous une politique concernant quels articles vous stockez dans votre section au détail, par exemple devez seulement stocker des articles concernant votre parc ou région? (Do you have a policy relating to what items you stock in your retail section, eg must only stock items relevant to your park or region?) Yes. For instance we do not sell fossils from Miguasha. We do not sell any thing that comes from living animals (ie. Corals, butterflies, scorpions,) we do not sell any fossil if the country protects them (Australia, Brazil, etc._
4. Si ainsi comment vous vous assurez pour maintenir vos actions le long de ces lignes? (If so how do you ensure to maintain your stock along these lines?) As we are in fossils and minerals it is very hard to have always the same items. We go by the offer. Although T shirt, sweaters, are also a big % of our sales. Jewellery is also important and we try and succeed to have exclusive lines that are not sold in any other boutique in the Gaspe area.
5. Votre section au détail prévue pour aider la couverture est-elle d'autres coûts de fonctionnement de votre centre de visiteur, si ainsi comment? (Is your retail section expected to help cover other running costs of your visitor centre, if so how?)
6. Estimez-vous que votre section de détail joue un rôle important dans la présentation globale de votre centre et si ainsi pourquoi? (Do you feel that your retail section plays an important role in the overall presentation of your centre and if so why?) It is a service that we offer and we try to have an honest image, not to screw visitors by making too much profit. This is part of our customer service and satisfaction
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7. Veuillez énumérer les cinq aspects les plus importants principaux que vous employez pour assurer à votre section au détail est réussi. (Please list the top five most important aspects that you use to ensure your retail section is successful.) When visitors are happy and pleased to bring a souvenir or a gift from our park. When we get a new line of product and we make repeats on it. When we get local handicraft that reflects our culture and visitors buys it. When we ear that visitors are referring other to our shop
8. Quelle est votre marge bénéficiaire prévue et idéale en ventes au détail? (What is your expected and ideal profit margin on retail sales?) 53% on normal regular items; 30% on consignment. And on some mineral or stones we can go as high as 80% because we have exclusivity or the jewels were made from our stone collection
9. Y a-t-il une autre information que vous pouvez fournir qui nous donnerait une perspicacité de la meilleure pratique dans des opérations de centre de visiteur? (Is there any other information you can supply which would give us an insight of best practice in visitor centre operations?) No
Opérations De Parc National : (National Park Operations:)
Interprétation : (Interpretation:)
1. Combien importante est l'interprétation dans des messages de l'information et de clef de la livraison dans votre parc? (How important is interpretation in delivery information and key messages within your park?) Being mostly a Museum with guided tours, interpretation is the key activity in the park. It consist of a tour of the museum and the cliffs with a dig demonstration. Usually a dig project is help on the beach behind the museum and visitors ca observe what is going on without touching.
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2. Quels sont les domaines principaux que vous employez l'interprétation pour fournir l'information? (What are the main areas you use interpretation to deliver information?) Paleontology, evolution, fossil and fossilisation, geological times, etc.
3. Quels méthodes et systèmes d'interprétation employez-vous dans votre parc? (What interpretation methods and systems do you use within your park?) Visit of the museum can be done without a guided tour although it is recommended to take the guided tour. There are no extra charge for this. The tour lasts 1½ hour and it should include the cliff tour. Most of the time, it is a 2 hours’ tour.
We also have self interpretation panels in a short hiking trail (1,9 km) explaining the Evolution of life.
4. Comment vos méthodes d'interprétation équipent-elles dedans d'autres stratégies de communication utilisées et est-ce que c'est considérée importante pour vos opérations globales? (How do your interpretation methods fit in with other communication strategies used and is this considered important to your overall operations?) It is the keystone of our operation.
5. Quand interprétation se développante pour des emplacements dans votre parc, incluez-vous les groupes spécifiques tels que le peuple autochtone pour assurer l'exactitude, la pertinence et la sensibilité culturelle? (When developing interpretation for sites within your park, do you include specific groups such as indigenous people to ensure accuracy, relevance and cultural sensitivity?) Except for school groups, groups are a mix of tourists and the level of language that we ask our guide to use should be understood by a teen of 14 years old. Above that we loss some visitors not familiar with paleontology. Of course for school, it depends of the age.
6. Employez-vous différentes méthodes d'interprétation selon si vous traitez culturel, d'issues d'héritage, de flore, de faune, environnementales ou indigènes? (Do you use different
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methods of interpretation depending on if you are dealing with Cultural, Heritage, flora, fauna, environmental or Indigenous issues?) Not pertinent in our park
7. Combien important est-il pour assurer le peuple autochtone et d'autres groupes d'intérêt ont- ils une parole dans l'interprétation de leurs emplacements? (How important is it to ensure indigenous people and other interest groups have a say in interpretation of their sites?) We have no aboriginal site in our park...
8. Votre parc a-t-il des politiques et des directives d'interprétation, et si ainsi vous pourriez fournir un imprimé électronique ou? (Does your park have interpretation policies and guidelines, and if so would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy?) No
Signage : (Signage:)
1. Pour quelles raisons est employez-vous le signage dans votre parc est-ce qu'et ce directement connexe à vos politiques d'interprétation? (For what reasons do you use signage within your park and is this directly related to your interpretation policies?) Only as interpretation panels and as the fossil site is located on a beach with tides we cannot place signage on the beach except of one telling that digging is illegal
2. que vous parc maintient-elles l'ordre avoir le signage et les directives, et si ainsi vous pourriez fournir un imprimé électronique ou? (Does you park have signage polices and guidelines, and if so would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy?) At the entrance, in the Museum, we have a rules and regulation panel and this is a must by the Park Law
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3. Combien importante est l'utilisation de connecte-elle votre parc? (How important is the use of signs in your park?) Not very much
4. De quels facteurs affectez la construction connecte votre parc ou mener dans votre parc, tel que d'autres agences etc.. de body?s de gouvernement? (What factors affect the erection of signs in your park or leading into your park, such as other government body’s agencies etc?) We must follow the Transport Department’ rules and regulation and they are responsible to place it on the highway 132 and around Miguasha Point accompanying visitors to our doors.
5. Dans le respect aux signes concernant le parc employez les honoraires, comment sont ces handled/controlled? (In regards to signs relating to park use fees, how are these handled/controlled?) Only in our welcoming centre, where the UNNESCO Plaque is.
6. À quelle distance de votre entrée de parc montrez-vous des signes concernant des honoraires d'utilisation de parc et combien d'endroits couvrent-ils? (At what distance from your park entrance do you display signs relating to park use fees and how many locations do they cover?) Some 20 km west and east of the museum.
7. Les signes utilisés conçus pour équiper dedans de l'environnement qu'ils sont situés sont- ils dedans? Et si veuillez ainsi l'élasticité quelques exemples. (Are signs used designed to fit in with the environment they are situated in? And if so please give some examples.) No the size of the signs is function of the car speed.
Accès De Parc : (Park Access:) C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
1. Quelles sont les issues principales faites face en votre parc par rapport à l'accès de visiteur? (What are the main issues faced in your park in relation to visitor access?) None. We have no remark related to a problem with our road signs. We are not lost in the bush!!!!
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2. Comment l'accès de visiteur est-il régi en votre parc? (How is visitor access governed in your park?) Not pertinent
3. Limitez-vous l'accès de visiteur à votre parc? Et si veuillez ainsi les secteurs et les raisons d'état. Par exemple ceux-ci peuvent inclure les environnements fragiles, les secteurs qui mon soyez dangereux à la sûreté de visiteur ou exigez la protection spéciale. (Do you restrict visitor access to your park? And if so please state areas and reasons. For example these may include fragile environments, areas that my be hazardous to visitor safety or require special protection.) Yes, for instance the face of the cliffs should not be touched by visitors, they should not pick any rock on the beach or plants in the park. As far as safety we recommend visitors to to get closer than 10 meters from the cliffs because of falling rocks.
4. Vous mettez de côté des secteurs spécifiques pour différents utilisateurs récréationnels tels que les véhicules 4X4, cavaliers de cheval, randonneurs etc.., et si ainsi comment est contrôlé? (Do you set aside specific areas for different recreational users such as 4X4 vehicles, horse riders, hikers etc, and if so how is the managed?) No in all Québec’s Park, this is forbidden. And like in Burrinjuck Reserve, no pets are allowed.
5. Avez-vous un plan de gestion concernant l'accès de parc et si ainsi vous pourriez fournir un imprimé électronique ou? (Do you have a plan of management relating to park access and if so would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy?) It is made according to our yearly budget and it is mostly an operation plan but it is not necessarily written in an official plan type. We have a employment plan telling us how many persons will fill the jobs in various services and activities and this is regulated by the budget.
6. Que les défis de force sont-ils vos visages de parc dans le respect à l'accès de visiteur? (What are the main challenges your park faces in regards to visitor access?) The day that Miguasha will get more than 60 000 visitors. The museum was made for 55 000 for the season. As for conservation and protection we have no problem except for one or two local individuals whoa re making illegal digs. But we are have regular patrols and good collaboration
C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited with Québec Wildlife Rangers.
C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
7. Limitez-vous le parc accédez-vous par moments de l'année et si ainsi comment est ce commandée? (Do you limit park access at certain times of the year and if so how is this controlled?) No. After October, there are no more tourist and soon winter and snow will place a white blanket over the park, preserving it until spring.
8. Avez-vous une politique d'exemption d'honoraires d'utilisation de parc pour les groupes spéciaux tels que les pensionnés, le personnel et d'autres utilisateurs de parc? (Do you have a park use fee exemption policy for special groups such as pensioners, staff and other park users?) No.
9. Pourriez-vous fournir un imprimé électronique ou de votre politique d'exemption d'honoraires d'utilisation de parc? (Would you be able to supply an electronic or hard copy of your park use fee exemption policy?)
10. Votre parc a-t-il des portes d'entrée de parc et si ainsi comment vous contrôlez ces portes comprenant la publication du parc passe comme le jour et l'annuaire? (Does your park have park entry gates and if so how do you manage these gates including the issuing of park passes such as day and annual?) Not pertinent
L'Autre Information: Other Information:
1. Pourriez-vous assurer une gamme des brochures que vous employez pour fournir l'information sur votre parc et services? (Would you be able to supply a range of the brochures you use to deliver information on your park and services?) You already have some and I’lll have the main office to send you more.
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C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
2. Comment vous traitez les médias, par exemple: bonnes histoires de nouvelles, issues controversables et vente? (How do you deal with the media, eg: good news stories, contentious issues and marketing?) Through press communiqué and personal invitation to radio and TV personal.
3. Quels sont les domaines principaux d'emploi de votre parc, par exemple gardes, officiers de services de visiteur, administration, ouvriers de champ etc..? (What are the main employment areas of your park, for example Rangers, Visitor Services Officers, Administration, Field Workers etc?) Students university level in biology or geology (9) High school or college (before university) to welcome visitors, work in resto, boutique, dig projects (10); Rangers (1) all these are seasonal As for regular seasonal (coming back every years + protected by union) 14
4. Employez-vous le personnel supplémentaire pendant des périodes de pointe et si ainsi comment vous déterminez les niveaux fournissants pour convenir à ces périodes? ( Do you employ extra staff during peak periods and if so how do you determine staffing levels to suit these periods?) Most of our personal is in place on June 1st except a few from high school that we come in around June 20th for the peak of the season (Resto, boutique, dig project). They will leave around August 20th. T
5. Quelle est la formation et les degrés d'instruction exigés par votre divers personnel? (What are the training and educational levels required by your various staff?) Our naturalists doing guided tours had while I was director 3 weeks of training before starting their tous. This training is part of our success as it gives good background and we have time to educate them to customer service. Others usually have a couple of days but we have a good supervision team that evaluate the job as it is done.
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6. Y a-t-il une autre information que vous pourriez nous fournir sur les meilleures opérations de pratique dans votre parc? (Is there any other information you could supply us on best practice operations within your park?) Not that I think of.
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Merci de votre temps et effort en fournissant les réponses à ces questions. Sur l'accomplissement de cette recherche un rapport sera développé contenant la comparaison d'information avec d'autres parcs recherchés, exemples de la meilleure pratique en fonctionnement comprenant, le marketing, interprétations, détail, services de visiteur et fournira la recommandation à l'industrie sur de futures directions. (Thank you for your time and effort in supplying the answers to these questions. On the completion of this research a report will be developed containing comparison of information with other parks researched, examples of best practice in operations including, marketing, interpretations, retail, visitor services and will supply recommendation to the industry on future directions.)
C:\Documents and Settings\Deskfront\My Documents\BRUCE\FRONTDESK\INFO\PDF CURRENT\The Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Report and Question.doc Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
Resource Material Collected
While away I was able to gather a wide range of information resources to bring back home to Australia. This information includes reports, policies, guidelines, business plans and surveys as well as a range of brochures, regional guides, locality maps and more. When meeting staff from the sites visited a questionnaire was supplied seeking information and answers, some were completed at the meeting, some were completed and forwarded to me and some are yet to be received.
The table below shows material available:
Country Comp/Name Author Item Name Date tem 1 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. Business Plan. July 2003 2 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. Resources & Issues. 2001 3 USA Yellowstone NP. Eric D. Gyllenhaal, Ph. D. Old Faithful Visitor Centre Front- Oct 2002 Selinda Research Associates. End Final Evaluation Report. 4 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. Long Range Interp Plan. May 2000 5 USA Yellowstone NP/Rocky Visitor Experience and media N/A Mountains. Robert Eisenberger University of Effectiveness. Delware and Ross Loomis Colorado State University. 6 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. Yellowstone Today – Newspaper. Autumn 2003 7 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. Park Trip Planner. 2003 8 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. 7 various printed trail guides. July 2000 9 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. Fort Yellowstone Tour Guide. Nov 2000 10 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. Yellowstone NP Map/Guide. 2002 11 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. A5 Buffalo Warning Poster. N/A 12 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. A4 plain printed maps 3 various. 2003 13 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. Yellowstone NP Division of Interps Aug 2002 – Organisational Chart. USA Comp/Name Author Item Name Date tem 14 USA Yellowstone NP. National Parks Service. Service Wide Interpretative Report. Nov 2002 15 USA National Parks Foundation. Fodor’s Yellowstone Guide to The Park, A5 2003, 21st size gloss/colour. edition. 16 USA Grand Teton N/P. National Parks Service. Orientation Map. Mar 2003 17 USA Grand Teton N/P. National Parks Service. Grand Teton colour map and guide. 2002 18 USA Grand Teton N/P & National Parks Service. Park lodging name and descriptions. N/A nsw npws Page 85 Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
Yellowstone NP. 19 USA Grand Teton N/P National Parks Service. A4 Black & White Map. N/A 20 USA Snowy Mountain lodge -Grand National Parks Service. DL Size brochure. N/A Teton N/P. 21 USA Grand Teton N/P RV Resort. National Parks Service. DL Size brochure N/A 22 USA National Wildlife Refuge System. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Visitor guide, key and map. N/A 23 USA National Wildlife Refuge System. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Celebrating A Century of July 2002 Conservation A4 Brochure. 24 USA National Elf Refuge. Photographs and text by Jackie Wildlife Legacy – The National Elk 1993 Gilmore. Refuge. 25 USA Jackson Hole Chamber of Same. Jackson Hole and Wyoming Area 2003 edition Commerce. Map. 26 USA Wyoming Department of Same. Official 2003 State Highway Map of 2003 Transportation. Wyoming. 27 USA Gardiner Chamber of Commerce. Same. Gardiner Montana Visitor Guide 2003 and Information. 28 USA Alamo Car Hire. Same. Jackson Hole area and town maps. N/A 29 USA Salt Lake Convention and Same. Salt Lake Visitors Guide, A4 colour. Spring/Sum Visitors Bureau. mer 2003 Country Comp/Name Author Item Name Date tem 30 Canada – Quebec Parks. Same. Quebec Parks – Policy Document Mar 1984 Quebec. Mar 1984. 31 Canada – Quebec Parks. Same. Parc De Miguasha Le Plan 1998 Quebec. Directeur. 32 Canada – Government of Quebec. Dr. Richard Cloutier and Dr. Herve Comparative Study of Devonian 1998 Quebec. Lelievre. Fossiliferous Sites. 33 Canada – Tourism Office Du Rocher-Perce. Same. La Route Du Rocher-Perce. Region 2003 Quebec. Guide gloss full colour. 34 Canada – Parks Canada. Same. 2003 Visitors Guide Forillon 2003 Quebec. National Park. 35 Canada – Parks Canada. Same. Gaspe area and town maps. N/A Quebec. 36 Canada – Quebec Parks. Same. Parc national de la Gaspesie DL N/A Quebec. Brochure. 37 Canada – Quebec Parks. Same. Parc national de la Gaspesie map 2003 Quebec. and guide. nsw npws Page 86 Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
38 Canada – Quebec Parks. Same. Parc national de la Gaspesie 2003-2004 Quebec. Newsletter. English and French versions. 39 Canada – Quebec Parks. Same Parc national de la Gaspesie 2002-2003 Quebec. Tarification and rates notice for Gite du Mont Albert (Hotel). 40 Canada – Tourism Gaspesie. Same Gaspesie Official Tourist Guide. 2003-2004 Quebec. 41 Canada – Quebec Parks. Same Sepaq winter Activities Guides. 2003-2004 Quebec. 42 Canada – Quebec Parks. Same Sepaq DL Brochure Deep Breath of N/A Quebec. Nature. DL Brochure. Country Comp/Name Author Item Name Date tem 43 Canada – Quebec Parks. Same Sepaq Opening Night DL brochure. N/A Quebec. 44 Canada – Quebec Parks. Same Sepaq Miguasha Museum and Park N/A Quebec. DL brochure. 45 Canada – Quebec Parks. Same Sepaq Quebec Parks Guide N/A Quebec. brochure. 46 Canada – Quebec City and Area Guide. Same Quebec City and Area Official 2003-2004 Quebec. Tourist Guide. 47 Canada – Quebec City and Area Guide. Same Quebec City and Area Official 2003-2004 Quebec. Accommodation Guide. 48 Canada – Tourism Jacques-Cartier. Same. La Jacques-Cartier Region Guide 2003-2004 Quebec. and maps. 49 Scotland. Loch Lomond & the Trossachs Same. Loch Lomond & the Trossachs NP 2003 National Park. Information and Promotions folder. 50 Scotland. Loch Lomond & the Trossachs Same. Loch Lomond & the Trossachs NP 2003 National Park. Range DL brochures. 51 Scotland. Argyll the Isles Loch Lomond Same. Great Days Out Attractions Guide. 2003 Stirling & Trossachs Tourist Board. 52 Scotland. Argyll the Isles Loch Lomond Same. The Trossachs Trail Guide and 2003 Stirling & Trossachs Tourist Map. Board. 53 Scotland. Argyll the Isles Loch Lomond Same. Welcome to Scotland Places to visit 2003 Stirling & Trossachs Tourist – things to see & do. A5 brochure. nsw npws Page 87 Information and Questionnaire on Parkes and Visitor Centres Visited
Board. 54 Scotland. Argyll the Isles Loch Lomond Same. Discover Scotland A5 brochure. 2003 Stirling & Trossachs-Ptarmigan Treks. Country Comp/Name Author Item Name Date tem 55 Scotland. Argyll the Isles Loch Lomond Same. In and Around Loch Lomond & the 2003 Stirling & Trossachs Tourist Trossachs NP – Your official Board. visitors guide, half A4 size. 56 Scotland. Argyll the Isles Loch Lomond Same. Mid Argyll the spirit of Scotland’s N/A Stirling & Trossachs Tourist DL Brochure. Board. 57 Scotland. Argyll the Isles Loch Lomond Same. Argyll’s Atlantic Islands Region N/A Stirling & Trossachs Tourist Guide – Spanish copy. Board. 58 Scotland. Argyll the Isles Loch Lomond Same. Clackmannanshire – Scotland’s Mill N/A Stirling & Trossachs Tourist Trail Country. Brochure A5. Board. 59 Scotland. Argyll the Isles Loch Lomond Same. Scotland’s Mill trail Visitor Centre N/A Stirling & Trossachs Tourist DL brochure. Board. 60 Scotland. Argyll the Isles Loch Lomond Same. Official Guide to Stirling, Falkirk, 2003 Stirling & Trossachs Tourist Clackmannanshire & The Campsies. Board. 61 Scotland. Argyll the Isles Loch Lomond Same. The Clyde Sea Lochs trail, map and N/A Stirling & Trossachs Tourist guide. Board. 62 Scotland. Various Tourism Boards and Same. Northern Highlands Visitor Guide. 2003 Private Brochures. 63 Scotland. Various Tourism Boards and Same. Historic Scotland Events 2003-2004 Private Brochures. 64 Scotland. Various Tourism Boards and Same. Scotland your Essential Guide A4 2003 Private Brochures. gloss. 65 Scotland. Various Tourism Boards and Same. Free Map Simply the best in N/A Private Brochures. Scotland.
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Country Comp/Name Author Item Name Date tem 66 Scotland. Various Tourism Boards and Same. Fish Scotland A4 gloss. N/A Private Brochures. 67 France Du Parc National De L Vanoise. Same. 10 various DL & A5 tourist N/A. brochures. 68 France Du Parc National De L Vanoise. Same. La Vanoise Parc National – Le June 2003 Guide comprehensive half A4 guide full colour gloss. 69 France Du Parc National De L Vanoise. Same. La Vanoise Parc National – Half A4 2004 2004 Agenda. Pictures, information and dates. 70 France Du Parc National De L Vanoise. Same. La Vanoise Parc National – Le Pin June 1999 Cembro, Anatomie d’un Geant. In French. 71 France Du Parc National De L Vanoise. Same. Passport Vaniose A4 Folder full of N/A information, facts, things to do, aimed at children. In French. 72 France Du Parc National De L Vanoise. Same. La Vanoise Parc National – L’estive 2003-2004 Newsletter x 3. In French. 73 France Du Parc National De L Vanoise. Same. La Vanoise Parc National – 21 x various 73A various DL size brochures on topics from park rules and reg’s, flora & Fauna etc.73A is a selection of Park Vanoise information printed on A4 paper. 74 France Du Parc National De L Vanoise. Same. La Vanoise Parc National – Park N/A Map and Guide.
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Country Comp/Name Author Item Name Date tem 75 France Du Parc National De L Vanoise. Same. La Vanoise Parc National – Portrait June 1999 of a Giant The Arolla Pine. 76 France Du Parc National De L Vanoise. Same. La Vanoise Parc National – Sentier N/A nature de l’orgere – trial and advice guide. 77 France Du Parc National De L Vanoise. Same. Gybaete Barbu – promotion card. N/A 78 France Alps Magazine Same. Alpes Magazine No 82 July 2003 79 France Rhone-Alpes Tourism Same. Villes Patrimoine en Rhone-Alps 1994 Tourist Guide. 80 France Termignon La Vanoise Haute Maurienne Vanoise. Termignon La Vanoise Tourist 2003-2004 Guide. 81 France Poncet St Alban-Leysse Same. Range of tourist information cards N/A including accommodations and attractions. 82 France Various. Same. Chambery town maps x 3 2003 83 France Consul General Savoie Not positive. Musee d’archeologie Sollieres – N/A Sardieres, DL size brochure, 6 postcards depicting exhibits and A4 information sheet. 84 France Various Same. Range 5 other French maps and Various brochures. 85 Italy APT P/SA Pisa Tourist Board. Same. Pisa Accommodation Guide. A4 2003 gloss. 86 Italy Not positive. Same Welcome to Rome Guide, Small N/A book format containing over 300 pages x 2.
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Country Comp/Name Author Item Name Date tem 87 Italy Touring Club of Italy. Not positive. Rome City Map. N/A 88 Italy Sightseeing Centre. Same. Rome Tour Guide – English. 2003 89 Italy Cartina Panaramic Dello Studio. Same. Rome City Map – Cartoon style. N/A 90 France Tourism France. Same. Tourist Map Savoie Haute Savoie 2003-2004. Carte Tourist.
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