Original Scientific Article
Monitoring of Visitors as a Tool of Protected Areas Management
Stanislava Pachrová College of Polytechnics Jihlava, Czech Republic [email protected] Petr Chalupa College of Polytechnics Jihlava, Czech Republic [email protected] Eva Janoušková College of Polytechnics Jihlava, Czech Republic [email protected] Alice Šedivá Neckářová College of Polytechnics Jihlava, Czech Republic [email protected] Leoš Štefka pla Administration Moravský kras, Czech Republic [email protected]
This article reviews the possibilities of using visitor monitoring in the management of a protected area in the example of the Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Area (pla). The Moravian Karst is the largest and most significant karst area in the Czech Republic. Its location near a large city and its easy accessibility mean that some of the pla’s parts are faced with the negative impacts of overly intensive tourism on rare natural sites and protected species. While the presence of visitors in a protected area is desirable, it is necessary to regulate their activities in the area. The pla man- agement needs quality information for its decision making, such as on the current characteristics and behaviour of visitors. To obtain this information, primary mar- keting research was carried out at selected pla sites from May to September 2018. A questionnaire survey was used to obtain data from 2,100 visitors and to define the Moravian Karst visitor profile. We found that most visitors were attracted to caves open to the public and the Macocha gorge and that almost a quarter of respondents were planning to return to the pla within six months of questioning. A major chal- lenge for the sustainable development of tourism in the area will be the fact that vis- itors to the caves are not interested in visiting other localities in the pla. The data obtained about visitors will be used by the pla management to formulate measures to redirect visitors from the most-visited locations to the less-visited ones. Keywords: sustainable tourism, marketing research, visitor profile, destination management, protected landscape area, Moravian Karst https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.13.67-79
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Introduction behaviour, and to optimise the activities of not only According to the unwto, sustainable tourism can the protected area management but also all the rele- be simply defined as ‘tourism that takes full account vant stakeholders, including visitors to the area (Ze- of its current and future economic, social and en- lenka et al., 2013, p. 61). vironmental impacts, addressing the needs of visi- Finally, the local population should be managed tors, the industry, the environment and host com- so as to achieve sustainable development of protected munities’(unep&wto,2005,p.12).Whenfocus- areas, too. As mentioned by Sevšek and Slavič (2017) ing on rural areas, where most protected areas are lo- (among others), locals represent a long-term develop- cated, tourism has gained significance in recent years ment factor of protected areas, and they should ac- (Sánchez-Hernandéz et al., 2016). Sustainably manag- tively participate and cooperate with a protected area ing tourism is a fundamental objective for most des- administration. tinations. Tourism is often used as a tool for local de- This article discusses some possibilities of using velopment. Sustainable tourism brings advantages for visitor monitoring in the management of a protected all tourism stakeholders and society as a whole; for area in the example of the Moravian Karst Protected example, it helps to create jobs or to generate income. LandscapeArea(pla).Wefocusonthepossibilityof Staying in protected areas significantly improves the obtaining important, topical, and relevant data for the physical and mental state of visitors who relax there pla’s management decision-making from primary and learn interesting facts about the area (e.g., through marketing research; this data describes the current a guided tour in a cave). This interesting and pleasant characteristics of visitors and their behaviour. The au- experience creates positive attitudes in visitors towards thors would like to inspire the managers of other pro- the protected area and contributes to the preserva- tected areas to use marketing research as an effective tion acceptance of these areas by the general public tool for visitor management and to intensify the dis- (Pachrová et al., 2019). Tourists’ encounters with na- cussion among tourism experts on the increasing and ture also lead to their pro-environmental behaviour severe problem of overtourism in the most attractive and activities (Mensah, 2019, p. 54). To strengthen the nature areas. positive impacts of tourism on a rural destination, it The Moravian Karst is the largest and most sig- is necessary to conserve resources and appreciate the nificant karst area in the Czech Republic. Its location existing heritage. For this purpose, a proactive aware- near a large city and its easy accessibility mean that ness is promoted in the environmental area (Gallardo some parts of the pla face the negative impacts of too Vázquez et al., 2014). However, tourism also creates intensive tourism on rare natural sites and protected certain negative impacts, mainly when the carrying species. While the presence of visitors in a protected capacity of the destination is repeatedly exceeded (e.g., area is desirable, it is necessary to regulate their activ- by excessive numbers of visitors); these aspects include ities in the area. The pla management needs quality pollution, increased erosion, and reduced population information for its decision-making, such as on their or even the extinction of various species can result characteristics and behaviours. To obtain this infor- (Pásková,2008;Hübelováetal.,2016). mation, a questionnaire survey among 2,100 visitors Managing protected areas has to combine both na- was carried out in 2018, and the Moravian Karst visi- ture protection and the interests of visitors to ensure tor profile was defined based on it. the sustainable development of the areas. Achieving The present paper is structured as follows: the in- sustainable tourism is a continuous process, and it re- troduction is followed by the theoretical framework quires the constant monitoring of impacts (unep & and a brief description of the pla Moravian Karst. wto, 2005). Monitoring and research in protected ar- Next comes the methodology used, and the stated eas have the potential to describe these various im- null hypotheses are described. Selected results of the pacts of tourism, to decipher the causes and contexts, case study and their discussion are then presented. to use the acquired knowledge to stimulate desirable The conclusions underscore the principal results and
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contributions of the paper. Research limitations and rately undertakes the activities of destination manage- future research lines are also provided. ment in that area. Also important is the cooperation between nearby destinations (Ness et al., 2014), as well Visitor Management as an Integral Part as those with protected areas; networking can help to of Protected Areas’ Management solve many problems because it enables them, for ex- According to Eagles (2007) and confirmed by other ample, to share good cases of management measures. authors on tourism, such as Balmford et al. (2012), or Recently, the attention of professionals has often been Prouza (2019), the number of visitors to protected ar- focused on modern technologies and many changes eas is increasing. This is especially true for the most they bring to tourism, including new models of desti- attractive locations. Frequently, the number of visi- nation management (Donald et al., 2019; Ivars-Baidal tors exceeds the limits recorded in the previous years. et al., 2019). With growing numbers of visitors to protected ar- Destination management and, therefore, the man- eas, the burden that tourism puts on treasured sites is agement of the tourism of protected areas should al- sharply increasing; therefore, the importance of man- ways include visitor management in their activities. aging protected areas is also increasing, and along with Sustainable visitor management is, according to New- it the task to ensure not only the protection of nature some and Moore (2017, p. 261), achieved as a com- and the landscape for future generations, but also to bination of different approaches (e.g., controlling the ensure the sustainable use of the area by the general size, type and spatial extent of visitor activities in com- public and thus the adequacy of tourism itself. Visitor bination with various educational programmes) and management is an integral part of protected area man- the application of modern technologies. Basic visitor agement and, after the creation of a protected area, management attempts to guide the flow of visitors in management specifying human use of the area is de- the time and space of the destination in such a way veloped (Newsome & Moore, 2017, p. 264). In pro- as to minimise the negative impacts of tourism on tected areas, there is not only unique nature but also the area. Visitor management simultaneously attempts places with sites of cultural heritage (e.g., caves with to positively motivate visitors on how to behave with archaeological points of interest). Visitor management concern for the environment in the given area. of protected areas should, therefore, not forget that Visitor management of the protected area can use some visitors have culturally oriented tourist motives many tools, for example, the marking and mainte- (Belij, 2017). nance of hiking trails, the building of visitor centres, Currently, destination management is considered offering guided tours, introducing/regulating admis- the most effective way of planning and managing the sion to the protected area, introducing limits on visitor sustainable development of tourism in any area. The numbers to the most vulnerable parts of protected ar- basic principle of destination management is coopera- eas, providing clear and up-to-date information avail- tion (Wang, 2008). General cooperation should ensure able on the website of the protected area, among oth- cooperation between all stakeholders in the tourism ers. of the destination through the destination manage- A significant current challenge is using modern ment organisation, which maintains mutually effec- technologies for visitor management in protected ar- tive communication and facilitates the coordination eas, such as mobile learning in environmental inter- of the activities in planning, organising, and decision- pretation and visitor education (Tan & Law, 2016). A making that take place in the destination (Holešinská, tool that has not been mentioned yet, but is signif- 2012,p.47).Themanagementoftheprotectedarea icant for decision-making processes in the manage- should cooperate in various ways with the local des- ment of protected areas, is primary research. Research tination management organisation in the destination should be done on various topics, such as natural and management area, while not excluding that the organ- landscape conditions and their development, includ- isation engaged in protected area management sepa- ing changes caused by tourism activities in an area.
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Uncontrolled and unmanaged visitors can easily purely European approach is, for example, data taken and adversely affect the core values of a protected area. fromsummitbooks(Muharetal.,2002,p.3).Inthe As revealed by Foin et al. (1977), visitors can cause case in which entry to some locations in the protected changes in density and species composition of vegeta- area is not free, the data on the number of tickets sold is tion and animal populations. Protected area manage- used to record the number of visitors (e.g., caves open ment sometimes has to control the resource damage to the public). Integrated visitor monitoring, moni- from tourism being restrictive even if it can lead to toring using a combination of several methods for backlash responses from visitors (Bixler et al., 1992). obtaining data (long-term video monitoring, counts Typical measures of visitor management in karst areas by human observers, specific visitor interviews and are restrictive. Tour guide services are provided as the route analysis by the gis tools, etc.) seems to be the only legitimate way to visit caves (Tomic et al., 2019) most effective approach (Arnberger & Hinterberger, and the determination of a maximum visitor capacity 2004). This is very interesting, because a cost-effective per one cave tour (Calaforra et al., 2003). approach to visitor monitoring can be using crowd- sourced data (Rice et al., 2019). Visitor Monitoring in Protected Areas Other types of visitor monitoring, especially mon- For visitor management to be done effectively and effi- itoring the characteristics of visitors and segmenting ciently, the management of the protected area needs a them, are much more difficult to implement system- great deal of information about visitors. For this pur- atically for protected area management. The data can pose, visitor monitoring within the protected area is be obtained, for example, from primary marketing re- carried out. Summary reviews of the locations where search, while the disadvantage in obtaining data is the visitor monitoring studies were conducted over the need for more time, personnel availability, expertise, past ten years, were given by Pickering et al. (2018). and financial resources. Another innovative source of The monitoring of visitors in protected areas is a information about visitors is an analysis of big data specific and multidisciplinary field of research. Ze- from social media (Pickering et al., 2018). Supporting lenka et al. (2013, p. 232) state that the monitoring information is also usually provided by tourist infor- of visitors to the natural and treasured landscapes of mation centres in the area, by the visitor centres of pro- the area can vary according to the measurements con- tected areas, or by the wardens and staff of protected ducted: areas. As mentioned by Ballantyne et al. (2011), a visitor’s • monitoring the flow of visitors, experience can impact their future behaviour. Visitor • monitoring the activities of visitors, satisfaction is the best tool for their attachment to the monitoring the behaviour of visitors and conflicts • place (Trakolis & Harding, 1981). The quality of the between them, experience and visitors’ satisfaction with the services • monitoring the characteristics of visitors and provided in protected areas should form the basis of their segmentation. visitor management. These two factors should system- The first mentioned type of visitor monitoring (i.e., atically be surveyed as part of visitor monitoring (Ea- monitoring the flow of visitors) is the one most widely gles, 2007; Tonge & Moore, 2007; Huang et al., 2008; used in the protected areas of the Czech Republic, Samuel et al., 2008; Musa et al., 2017; Oviedo-Garcia which is usually narrowed down to monitoring the et al., 2019). absolute numbers of visitors at selected locations. At present, mainly data from mobile operators or differ- Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Area ent visitor counters placed in the ground and oper- The Moravian Karst pla is located in the south-east- ated by specialised firms are used for this purpose. In ern part of the Czech Republic, close to Brno. The pla many national parks of America, moreover, the self- was declared there in 1956, covering an area of almost registration of visitors to the area is also common. A 100 km2; it is the largest and most extensive karst area
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in the Czech Republic, and more than 1,100 caves are stone decoration is strictly protected, and visitors are located in Devonian limestone. Five cave systems are not allowed to touch it. The needs of visitors and needs open to the public and are visited every year by ap- of nature protection had to be harmonised regarding proximately 400,000 people (see http://moravskykras the use of lights in the caves. The extremely negative .ochranaprirody.cz). impact of excessively intensive lighting in the caves Karst areas are not typical tourist attractions; most was described by Štefka (2016): the lights used for of them have extraordinary scientific and social im- enabling visitors to see in the caves caused the ap- portance, not only because they represent remark- pearance of green plants in large parts of the visited able geological and geomorphological phenomena, underground. This factor, absolutely foreign for the buttheyalsopreservevaluableevidenceabouttheori- cave environment, had to be cleaned away. Unfortu- gin and evolution of life or the origin and development nately, cleaning caves was done by furbishing or by us- of human culture. The Moravian Karst area is a good ing chemicals that harmed the sensitive environment. exampleofthis.Fromthescientificperspective,itis As a result, rules for lighting in the caves, including valuable, but for visitors to the area, the surface and the timing of light periods and the intensity of light, subsurface of the karst landscape offer highly attrac- are carefully managed now. tive features (extensive cave systems, abyss, sinkholes, The importance of setting strict limits for num- sinking and gaining streams of water, deep canyon bers of visitors per day to the caves was proved Lang gorges, etc.). In addition, the pla is interesting in et al. (2017), who discovered that when visitors were that there are 21 species of bats and many invertebrate present the anthropogenic co2 flux in Výpustek Cave species unique in the world (endemic) have been de- exceeded all other co2 fluxes and that intervals be- scribed here. In 2004, the Punkva cave system was tweenvisitorgroupswouldhavetobeuptosixhours included by the Ramsar Convention among interna- longifthecaveenvironmentweretoreturntonatu- tionally significant wetlands. From the cultural and ral conditions. Karst places decorated with ice during historical points of view, the importance of the Mora- winter (small caves near the surface) are also very at- vian Karst pla is that it offers various evidence on the tractive for visitors. As stated by Ždímal (2015), some development of human society from the Palaeolithic visitors to the Moravian Karst crawl through small Age to the present (Hübelová et al., 2017; Chalupa & tunnels and destroy valuable local plant and animal Veselovský, 2018). communities. Moreover, new tourism activities poten- In the surveyed area of the Moravian Karst, the tially dangerous for the environment are being devel- trend of increasing numbers of visitors can be seen: oped in the Moravian Karst now, such as single trails visitors to the caves increased between 2010 to 2018 by for mountain bikers (Fialová et al., 2019). The need for more than 22 (Štefka, personal communication, July visitor management in the researched area is obvious. 12, 2019). As stated by Pachrová et al. (2019), one of Nevertheless, according to Leslie (2015, p. 56), people, the main problems of tourism in the Moravian Karst in general, express their support for all environmental is its pronounced seasonality: most visitors come to initiatives, including conservation measures. Loren- the pla in the summer to visit the accessible caves cová et al. (2014) conducted a questionnaire survey and the Macocha gorge. In these locations, the inten- among visitors of Moravian Karst and stated that most sity of tourism is already too strong, and damage is tourists do not feel limited by conservation measures, occurring to this unique environment. The pla man- which is a very positive finding for the pla’s Admin- agement, therefore, needs to take corrective measures istration and sustainable development of tourism in within the visitor management of the area. the area. Mass tourism and insufficient protection of the unique underground of the Moravian Karst has de- Methodology stroyed more than half of the dripstone decoration in This paper aims to review the possibilities of using some parts of the caves (Štefka, 2013). Now, all drip- visitor monitoring in the management of a protected
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areainthecasestudyoftheMoravianKarstProtected (Czech,English,German,andPolish).Datawereob- LandscapeAreaintheCzechRepublic.Theauthors tained using the face-to-face survey with visitors at ten would like to inspire other protected area manage- designated pla locations throughout the protected ments to use marketing research more often, because area. The data collected by trained interviewers were it gives unique and valuable data on visitor manage- anonymous, with the choice of respondents consis- ment. The results of the research will be used by the tently random. In order to prevent any distortion of pla Administration to create measures that will lead the surveyed results, for example due to bad weather, to a greater spread of visitors throughout the pla the data was collected on different days of the week at to relieve congestion at the most attractive locations different times of the day. A total of 2,100 question- and will also lead to shifting more visitation to the naires, properly completed, were obtained. spring and autumn months. The profile of the visi- To verify the stated null hypotheses, attention will tor to the Moravian Karst will serve as background be given to the geographic, psychographic, and be- material for creating the management strategy for the havioural characteristics of the respondents. The ini- protected area in question. The pla Administration tial data obtained were processed, analysed, and in- asked for information about the characteristics of vis- terpreted with mathematical and statistical methods. itors and information about their values, attitudes, Concerning the methods, analysis and synthesis were and behaviour. For effective visitor management, they used. Microsoft Excel and Statistica 13 software were need to know, for example, if there is a difference in the used to process the data. main reason for visiting the pla between visitors who The existence of a conclusive dependence between come for the first time and those who are returning to the selected characteristics of the respondents was the area. For mostly marketing communication of the proved using the Pearson’s chi-square test of indepen- pla, it is crucial to know where the visitors come from dence (χ2), provided that a maximum of 20 of the and if people from closer areas return to the Moravian expected frequencies was less than 5. For the Pear- Karst more often. Based on the mentioned needs of son statistic χ2, the number of degrees of freedom the pla Administration, we stated and tested two null (df) is also given for completeness. On the basis of hypotheses (h0): the probability of the distribution of chi-square, the p- value was observed for the null hypothesis (assuming h01 There is no significant difference in the main the independence of the two selected signs), which is reason for visiting the Moravian Karst pla be- thelowestlevelofsignificanceforwhichthenullhy- tween first-time visitors and those who are re- pothesis can be rejected (p <0.05).Theobservedχ2 turning to the area repeatedly. was then interpreted using the method of correspon- h02 For visitors to the Moravian Karst, there is no dence analysis. Correspondence analysis is a multi- dependence between repeat visits to the pro- variate statistical method that allows the display and tected area and the distance of the home of the summary of a set of data in a two-dimensional graphic respondent. form. It is traditionally applied to contingency tables; This article presents selected results of extensive correspondence analysis decomposes the chi-squared primary research among visitors to the Moravian Karst. statistic associated with this table into orthogonal fac- The research was carried out by the Department of tors.Thedistancebetweensinglepointsisdefinedasa Travel & Tourism at the College of Polytechnics Jihlava chi-squared distance. This analysis aims to reduce the (všpj) in cooperation with the pla management of multidimensional space of row and column profiles the Moravian Karst. The research was carried out andtosaveasmuchoftheoriginaldataaspossible using a quantitative survey method of standardised (Hebák et al., 2007). The total variance of the data questionnaires from May to September 2018. The ques- matrix is measured by the inertia (Greenacre, 1984), tionnaire had a total of 19 questions (closed, semi- which resembles a chi-square statistic but is calculated closed, scaled) and was distributed in four languages based on relative observed and expected frequencies.
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Table 1 Sociodemographic Structure of Respondents The structure of visitors to the pla according to Respondents characteristics N the highest level of education reached shows that al- most 80 of visitors had at least a high school degree, Gender Women , and one fifth of the total number of respondents had Men , a university education (Table 1). The remaining fifth, Total , (i.e., 452 respondents) had a basic education or ap- Age Up to years prenticeship. This number, however, included 195 sec- – years ondary school students (9 of the total respondents), – years who can be expected to continue with their education. – years The results of our research show that visitors to the + surveyed pla are mostly well educated, which con- firms the trend of tourism in protected areas as pub- Total , lished by Eagles (2007) and confirmed by Zelenka et al. Education Without high school (2013, p. 70), as well as Newsome and Moore (2017, p. High school , 261). These authors suggest that protected areas are ex- University ploited mainly by educated people expecting an expe- Total , rience full of interesting information and things to do, but who also expect sophisticated services and man- agement of the area. Visitor management of the Mora- All tables and figures in this article are the joint vian Karst should take this into account, because the work of the authors. right choice of marketing tools and provision of qual- ity services could quite easily motivate this group of Results and Discussion visitors to make repeat visits, even outside the main During the primary research carried out, 2,100 ques- summer season; it is also possible, given these visitors’ tionnaires properly completed by visitors to the Mora- interest in new information and experiences, to redi- vian Karst were obtained (N = 2,100). The socio- rect them to less exposed tourist parts of the pla. demographic characteristics of the respondents are Due to the age structure of the respondents (Ta- shown in Table 1, which indicates that, in a represen- ble 1), it is not surprising that the Internet is the main tative sample of visitors to the pla, the share of men medium from which visitors to the pla get informa- is 51 and women 49. It can be concluded from this tion for their visit (31 of respondents). The second result that men and women visit the Moravian Karst mostimportantsourceofdata(27ofrespondents) in equal proportion. is information from friends and relatives, transmitted All age categories were represented in the research. not only by word-of-mouth but also through various People aged 35–49 were the predominant group in the social media, which underscores the need of visitor structure of visitors, accounting for 40 of the total management of the protected area to have a clear, up- number of respondents (Table 1). Nearly a quarter of dated, and interesting presentation of visitor services visitors (24) are in the age segment of 25–34 years on the internet, as well as the need to provide quality old. The age categories of 24 years old and less, and services to receive positive reviews and recommenda- 50–59hadanequalshareof14ofthetotalnumber tions. For visitor management of the researched area, of respondents. The least numerically represented age it is crucial to recognise that the combination of these category of visitors were seniors (i.e., 60 and older). two sources of information makes it possible to reach The age structure of visitors is very similar to the one the majority of visitors, and some of them can certainly observed by Lorencová et al. (2014) in 2013, so we can be motivated to visit (e.g., a selected cave in winter), conclude that in a long-term view a majority of the when they will have the unique experience of the karst pla’svisitorsisbetween25to49yearsofage. in wintertime with a minimum number of other vis-
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itors, and the cave will probably be pleasantly warm Table 2 Reason for Visiting the Moravian Karst pla (compared to outdoor temperatures). in Dependence on the Frequency In the context of the geographic structure of re- of the Destination Visit spondents, whether they came from the Czech Re- Reason for visit () () () () () public or abroad was determined. The questionnaire Exploring natural a showed that the Moravian Karst is a destination mainly attractions (caves) s . . . for domestic tourism. Of the total respondents, only Sightseeing a 4 were foreign visitors. In the structure of foreign visitors, most respondents were from Slovakia; the s . . . second most frequently cited country of origin was Relaxation a Poland; the third was Russia. The largest representa- s . . . tion of Slovaks among visitors from abroad also prove Hiking, cycling, etc. a Lorencová et al. (2014). It can have various reasons, s . . . for example, not too great a distance of the Mora- House of Nature of the a vian Karst from Slovakia, or that many Slovaks live Moravian Karst s . . . in the Czech Republic. In the ratio of Czech and for- eign visitors, the results of our research contradict the Sport a information of the Moravian Karst Cave Adminis- s . . . tration, which indicates that visitors from abroad ac- Work a count for approximately one-third of the total number s . . . of visitors to the area (Enviweb.cz, 2017). It needs to Entertainment a be taken into account, however, that the information s . . . from the cave administration is based on the tickets Visittorelatives/friendsa sold to publicly-accessible caves, while our data were obtained at various locations throughout the protected s . . . area. Both sources of information nevertheless agree Transit a on the most common countries of origin of foreign vis- s . . . itorsaswellasonthefactthatthenumberofvisitors Total a , to the pla, for whom the main reason for their visit r to the protected area is a tour of the caves, accounted s – forlessthanhalfofthetotalnumberofvisitorstothe Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) frequency: a – area (Table 2). This agreement confirms, among other absolute,s–columnrelative(),r–relative(),(2)1st things, the relevance of the results of our research. The visit, (3) 2nd–4th visits, (4) 5th and further visits, (5) total. authors of the paper are, therefore, inclined to see the χ2 = 167.2909, df = 18, p = 0.0000. results of their research as corresponding better to the realsituationinrelationtotheentirepla,andsothe share of foreign visitors to the Moravian Karst is sig- (N = 2,100), 650 were visiting the area for the first time, nificantly lower than the overall number of visitors (i.e., 31). given by Enviweb.cz (2017). The statistical processing of the null hypothesis For visitor management and maintaining the sus- h01 with Person’s chi-square test showed a significant tainable tourism of the pla, the research implies the dependence between the main reason for visiting the positive fact that almost 70 of visitors return to this Moravian Karst and the frequency of visiting this pro- protected area, 30 even repeatedly (i.e., they had tected area. When testing the independence of the two been there at least five times at the time of data col- variables, the values of the test statistic χ2 =167.2909 lection) (Table 2). Of the total number of respondents and p = 0.0000 were calculated; the h01 null hypoth-
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Figure 1 The Correspondence Analysis: The Dependence Figure 2 The Correspondence Analysis: The Dependence of the Reason for Visiting the Moravian Karst of the Distance from Visitor’s Residence to the pla to the Frequency of the Destination Visit Frequency of the Moravian Karst pla Visits (2d (2dplot of row and column coordinates, plot of row and column coordinates, dimension: dimension: 1 × 2; input table (rows × columns): 1 × 2; input table (rows × columns): 3 × 4; 3 × 10; standardization: row and column profiles; standardization: row and column profiles; dark – dark – visit frequency, light – reason for visit) visit frequency, light – residence distance) esis was rejected at the level of significance of 5 (Ta- back too, but not so soon. A major challenge for the ble 2). The corresponding analysis of examining both sustainable development of tourism in the area will be variables suggests that there is a significant difference thefactthatvisitorstothecavesarenotinterestedin between the main reason for visiting the destination visiting other localities in the pla during their visit. among first-time visitors and among visitors repeat- For visitor management of the pla, these research re- edly coming back (i.e., those who have been to the sults are significant in that they demonstrate that re- area at least five times) (Figure 1). peat visitors are greatly interested in other locations The first visit to the pla is most often logically fo- of the protected area than the accessible tourist caves cused on becoming acquainted with the most famous and the Macocha gorge, and they need much more attractions in the area (i.e., the caves), while for repeat attention in the visitor management in future. visitors the predominant reason is the desire for active We can also see thatMoravian Karst has some spe- leisure in the beautiful natural environment, whether cific characteristics in terms of the main reasons for for relaxing walks, hiking, or biking. While the major- visiting this area. Visitors come here mainly to explore ity of first-time visitors (55.4) said their main reason the natural attractions, then to relax and to do sports. for visiting the pla was to ‘explore natural attractions Entertainment was the main reason for less than 3 of – caves,’ it was the reason for only 27.9 of repeat vis- respondents. In contradistinction, Navrátil et al. (2015) itors. revealed that most important for tourists in the pro- In contrast, only 26 of first-time visitors indicated tected areas in the southern part of the Czech Republic active leisure in the pla natural environment, but it are relaxation, entertainment, and recreational sports was the reason for 52.3 of repeat visitors to the area activities. (Table 2). Moreover, one quarter of respondents were Furthermore, the stated h02 null hypothesis was planning to return to the pla within six months of tested, for which the assumption was made that among questioning, and 52 of respondents want to come visitors to the Moravian Karst pla, repeat visits to the
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Table 3 Distance from Visitor’s Residence in Dependence Conclusion on the Frequency of the Moravian Karst pla Protected areas around the world are seeing a growing Visits public interest in visiting them, and in many places Residence distance () () () () () valuable natural and landscape features are under Up to km a threat from overly heavy a tourist burden. This is s the current problem of the Moravian Karst pla, the largest and most popular karst area in the Czech Re- – km a public. s This article shows the possibilities of using visitor – km a monitoring in the visitor management of the protected s area in the example of the Moravian Karst Protected Above km a , Landscape Area and serves as a case study that could s inspire other protected area managements to use pri- Total a , mary marketing research more often as an effective tool for obtaining data needed for sustainable tourism r management of the given area. The data obtained di- s – rectly from visitors enables not only the creation of Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) frequency: a – their exact profiles and segmentation of them, but also absolute,s–columnrelative(),r–relative(),(2)1st provides valuable data on the motivation to visit the visit, (3) 2nd–4th visits, (4) 5th and further visits, (5) total. area, data on the planned and real behaviour of visi- χ2 = 548.398, df = 6, p = 0.0000. tors, their satisfaction with their stay in the destina- tion, and similar. area are not dependent on the distance of the respon- The results of the research into the Moravian Karst dent’s home. Pearson’s chi-square test showed a signif- Protected Landscape Area showed that this protected icant statistical dependence of both variables, because area is visited by men and women in balanced propor- χ2 = 548.398 and p = 0.0000 (Table 3); we, therefore, tion and that the structure of visitors is significantly reject the h02 null hypothesis at the significance level predominated by persons aged 35–49. Furthermore, of 5. Figure 2, a biplot created using the correspon- almost 80 of visitors to the surveyed pla have at dence analysis method, shows that respondents resid- least completed secondary education. This fact should ing within 20 km of the surveyed site are clearly the be exploited by the visitor management of the Mora- most frequent visitors to the Moravian Karst. Two- vianKarstpla,asthisgroupofvisitorscanbeeasily thirds of repeat visitors to the area reside within 50 km motivated for repeated visits and can be redirected to of the pla. Interestingly, more than a fifth of repeat less exposed parts of the pla. The results of the re- visitors to the surveyed area come from a distance of search also show that the surveyed area is primarily over 100 km. Almost 70 of first-time visitors come a destination for domestic tourism and that the main from a distance of over 100 km from the pla (Table motive for visiting the destination is, for almost half 3). For visitor management of the protected area, it is of the total number of visitors, to become acquainted recognised that people not only from the surround- with tourist–accessible caves. The vast majority of vis- ing area are repeatedly returning to the pla, again im- itors (almost 70) return to the Moravian Karst pla portant information. This fact confirms the high at- and 30 of the total number even repeatedly. tractiveness of the area for tourism, and management The stated h01 null hypothesis, which assumed could use it in their marketing activities, especially in there is no significant difference in the main reason for an effort to disperse visitors across the pla, ideally in visiting the Moravian Karst pla between first-time combination with the previous finding regarding the visitors and those who repeatedly return to the area, main reasons for repeat visits by the respondents. was not confirmed. The statistical processing of the
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data by Pearson’s chi-square test showed a significant References dependence between both variables analysed. It has Arnberger, A., & Hinterberger, B. (2004). Visitor monitor- been proven that the first visit to the pla is most of- ing methods for managing public use pressures in the ten focused on becoming acquainted with the most Danube Floodplains National Park, Austria. Journal for famous attractions of the area (the caves) while repeat Nature Conservation, 11(4), 260–267. visitors are mostly motivated by the desire for active Ballantyne,R.,Packer,J.,&Sutherland,L.A.(2011).Visitor’s memories of wildlife tourism: Implications for the de- leisure (relaxing on walks, hiking or biking). This re- sign of powerful interpretive experiences. Tourism Man- sult for visitor management of the pla is significant in agement 32(4), 770–779. that repeat visitors have shown great interest in other Balmford, A., Beresford, J., Green, J., Naidoo, R., Walpole, areas of the protected area than the tourist-accessible M.,&Manica,A.(2012).Trendsinnature-basedtourism. caves and the Macocha gorge. In J. A. Seba (Ed.), Ecotourism and sustainable tourism: The stated h02 null hypothesis, which assumed New perspectives and studies (pp. 30–37). Apple Aca- thatrepeatvisitstotheMoravianKarst pla donotde- demic Press. pend on the distance of the respondent’sresidence, was Belij, M. (2017). Cultural tourist motives in national parks also not confirmed. Pearson’s chi-square test showed inSerbia.InD.Filipović,A.Gosar,M.Koderman,&S. a significant statistical dependence of both variables. Ðurđić (Eds.), Tourism in protected areas of nature in Ser- bia and Slovenia (pp. 113–128). University of Belgrade. Respondents residing within 20 km of the place of in- Bixler,R.D.,Noe,F.P.,&Hammitt,W.E.(1992).Restrictive quiry are clearly the most frequent visitors returning and non-restrictive management of park visitors. Journal to the pla. With the combination of the knowledge of Environmental Systems, 21(4), 335–348. that returning visitors to the pla are more interested Calaforra, J. M., Fernandez-Cortes, A., Sanchez-Martos, F., in getting to know new sites of the protected area, vis- Gisbert,J.,&Pulido-Bosch,A.(2003).Environmental itor management of the Moravian Karst pla should control for determining human impact and permanent also work on trying to relieve the most burdened sites. visitor capacity in a potential show cave before tourist Our article has provided much new information use. Environmental Conservation, 30(2), 160–167. about the profile of visitors to the Moravian Karst pla, Chalupa, P., & Veselovský, J. (2018). Link of the natural and which is practical in the management of visitors to human components of the geosphere in historical devel- this area. The primary limitation of the research con- opment as a motivation for the visit of Moravian karst. Geografické informácie, 22(pt1), 163–179. ducted is that the data collected in the field was not Donald,R.,Seo,Y.,&Kemper,J.(2019).Complainingprac- year-round and did not cover at least one whole tourist tices on social media in tourism: A value co-creation season. However, due to the chosen methodology of and co-destruction perspective. Tourism Management, data collection and well-trained interviewers, our re- 73, 35–45. search results are sufficiently representative. The con- Eagles, P. (2007). Global trends affecting tourism in pro- tinuous collection and subsequent evaluation of data tected areas. In R. Bushell, & P. Eagles (Eds.), Tourism on visiting a destination are essential for the sustain- and protected areas: Benefits beyond boundaries (pp. 27– able management of tourism in any area. Our research 43). cabi. should, therefore, be followed up by further research, Enviweb.cz.(2017,21January).Návštěvnost jeskyní Moravské- which would be conducted throughout the year and ho krasu byla loni nejvyšší od 2007. http://www.enviweb provide, for example, information on the prevailing .cz/107610 motivation to visit the pla outside the main tourism Fialová, J., Březina, D., Žižlavská, N., Michal, J., & Machar, I. (2019). Assessment of visitor preferences and atten- season and during the winter. dance to singletrails in the Moravian karst for the sus- tainable development proposals. Sustainability, 11(13). Acknowledgments https://doi.org/10.3390/su11133560 The paper was created with the financial support of Foin,T.C.,Garton,E.O.,Bowen,C.W.,Everingham,J.M.,& project No. 1170/026/013 of the College of Polytechnics Schultz, R. O. (1977). Quantitative studies of visitor im- Jihlava. pacts on environments of Yosemite National-park, Cali-
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