Measuring & Monitoring Impacts of Visitation & Use in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area 2001/2002
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MEASURING & MONITORING IMPACTS OF VISITATION & USE IN THE WET TROPICS WORLD HERITAGE AREA 2001/2002 A Site Based Bioregional Perspective Joan M Bentrupperbäumer Joseph P Reser December 2002 MEASURING & MONITORING IMPACTS OF VISITATION & USE © Rainforest Cooperative Research Centre ISBN 0 86443 694 7 This publication should be cited as: Bentrupperbäumer, J.M. & Reser, J.P. (2002) Measuring & Monitoring Impacts of Visitation and Use in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area: A Site Based Bioregional Perspective Rainforest Cooperative Research Centre Cairns. This work is copyright. The Copyright Act 1968 permits fair dealing for study, research, news, reporting, criticism or review. Selected passages, tables or diagrams may be reproduced for such purposes provided acknowledgement of the source is included. Major extracts of the entire document may not be reproduced by any process without written permission of the Director of the CRC for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management. Published by the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management. Further copies may be obtained by contacting the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, QLD, 4870, AUSTRALIA. Phone: (07) 40 42 1246 Fax: (07) 40 42 1247 Email: [email protected] Authors’ Address: Dr Joan M. Bentrupperbäumer James Cook University PO Box 6811 • CAIRNS • 4870 Phone 40 42 1357 • Fax 40 42 1390 Email: [email protected] Dr Joseph P. Reser Northern Territory University Casuarina Campus • DARWIN • 0909 Phone 08 8946 6845 • Fax 08 8946 6977 Email: [email protected] For this research: James Cook University Ethics Approval No. H1272 Queensland National Parks & Wildlife Service Permit No. FNQ06 Wet Tropics Management Authority Contract No. 654 i i MEASURING & MONITORING IMPACTS OF VISITATION & USE Terms of reference WET TROPICS SURVEYS 2001/02 The following Terms of Reference are directly quoted from the WTMA Contract (No. 654). Visitor Use Survey Background Measurement of visitation to the WTWHA extends far beyond the estimation of visitor numbers. The collection of basic visitor numbers provides baseline information only. Further visitor specific information is required to provide managers with an understanding of patterns of visitor use, behaviour, perceptions, attitudes, expectations and satisfaction. A comprehensive understanding of these visitor aspects is critical to effective visitor management including minimisation of biophysical impacts and maximising benefits to the land manager, visitor and community. WTMA commissioned Manidis Roberts Consultants in 1993 to conduct an extensive visitor survey with the aim of providing baseline information for comparison with future visitor use surveys. The Manidis Roberts 1993/1994 visitor survey was conducted over 56 sites and although not comprehensive provided an important first step in visitor monitoring within the WTWHA. The MR survey approach include 3 key elements: traffic counts site observations visitor interviews A number of subsequent visitor use surveys have taken place throughout the WTWHA, and although they have not taken place in as many sites as the Manidis Roberts 1993/1994 survey, they have been far more comprehensive and complex in order to investigate the variety and complexity of issues identified by management agencies. Aims: To collect, compare and review site-based visitor information against previous survey exercises, including aspects of the MR survey To update WTMA's visitor survey system to achieve improved administrative efficiency and capture of key site-based visitor information which will aid land managers and the tourism industry in making informed management decisions To contribute to measuring psychosocial indicators for State of Wet Tropics reporting processes To provide an integral input or tool for the ‘Visitor Monitoring System (VMS) for the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area’, a project which is also being undertaken by Rainforest CRC during 2001 to 2002. Deliverables Survey report A report on findings of visitor survey including: Traffic findings: • an estimated current (2001/2002) visitation level (vehicles and visitors) to selected sites within the WTWHA • a comparison of current visitation numbers, patterns and type of use to that estimated by Manidis Roberts 1993/1994 and that provided in the report by Bentrupperbäumer & Reser (2000). • a determination of the accuracy of the traffic counters by cross validating with site level vehicle/visitor observation data. • a determination of the accuracy of using vehicle numbers collected over short periods to estimate annual visitation. • using current and previous traffic data to provide an estimation of the level of visitation across the whole of the WTWHA. iii MEASURING & MONITORING IMPACTS OF VISITATION & USE Site Level Visitor Questionnaires and Behavioural Observations • findings in relation to visitor demographics and visitor profiles, modes of travel, expectations, perceptions, activities, needs, awareness and satisfaction • findings on behavioural observations • a comparison of findings with previous survey work and a discussion regarding the level and cause/influence of any differences Survey Operation and Analysis Procedures report • a user guide to allow replication of this survey in future years, including how the survey elements were conducted and how the survey data was analysed and synthesised to come up with the findings • an explanation of linkages, relationships and compatibility of WT project survey with QPWS State- wide visitor survey approach. Survey Data Sets and Analysis Documentation Executive Summary • Key findings • Recommendations in relation to findings • Management Implications • Further research which could enhance future WTMA survey exercises (Ref: Contract No. 654) i v MEASURING & MONITORING IMPACTS OF VISITATION & USE About the authors The principal researcher for the project, Dr Joan M Bentrupperbäumer, was responsible for the administration and implementation of this research. During the past 18 months she has been working full time on this WTWHA site level research project as well as the WTWHA community survey. Dr Joan M Bentrupperbäumer is a Senior Research Fellow and Project Leader with the Rainforest CRC (Project 4.1) and Lecturer at the School of Psychology, James Cook University, Cairns. Her research interests include human-natural environment transactions using social, psychological and biophysical perspectives. Her research incorporates an interdisciplinary approach exploring reciprocal relationships indigenous and non indigenous people have with the natural/built/social/cultural environment in the WTWHA and the implications of such relationships for environmental management, tourism and local communities in the region. A particular emphasis in the research is placed on the ‘real world’ application of results in terms of planning for, managing, monitoring and reporting on the State of the Wet Tropics, and developing practical mechanisms and strategies to mitigate impacts on those features of the WTWHA inherent to its World Heritage status. Dr Joseph P Reser is a Principal Research Fellow at the Centre for North Australian and Asian Research, Northern Territory University, and Project Co – Leader with the Rainforest CRC Project 4.1, James Cook University, Cairns. He is also Emeritus Reader in Environmental and Social Psychology at the University of Durham, UK. His research interests include human-environment transactions from environmental, social, and cross-cultural psychological perspectives, and the application of social science insights with respect to human experience of natural environments the design of visitor settings, interpretive materials, and visitor experience in national parks, World Heritage Areas, and other natural and cultural heritage contexts. These interests include a long term commitment to the development of effective and appropriate models, methods, and measures for researching and monitoring the nature of individual transactions and encounters with particular environments and landscapes, and the reciprocal biophysical and psychosocial impacts of these environmental interactions. Current research emphases include the people side of natural resource management in World Heritage and other protected environments, natural and cultural heritage management in Kakadu and the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, and the nature and representation of environmental concern. v MEASURING & MONITORING IMPACTS OF VISITATION & USE Acknowledgments The success of this research project, which was undertaken across ten sites within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, has very much depended on the many people involved in various research related tasks. In particular we would like to acknowledge Sue-Ellen O’Farrell for her substantial assistance in all aspects of the research including field program administration, data entry and analyses, report writing, preparation and delivery. Without her it would have been very difficult to achieve what we have in a relatively short period of time available to us to undertake this project as well as the community survey. In addition there were a number of other people in our research who we would like to acknowledge. A. Data Processors Bronwyn Guy, Joshua Guy, Charmayne Paul, Sue-Ellen O’Farrell , Lucas Talbot, Sunny Pegoraro and Jenny Butler. B. Field Assistants across the region Kristie Ashden, Rosanna Brown, Shannon Bros,