00000 2007ReportCover_NoText 3/23/07 10:31 AM Page 1 AN ANALYSIS OF THE DOMESTIC WILDLIFE TOURISM MARKET IN AUSTRALIA Liz Fredline AN ANALYSIS OF THE DOMESTIC WILDLIFE TOURISM MARKET IN AUSTRALIA Technical Reports The technical report series present data and its analysis, meta-studies and conceptual studies, and are considered to be of value to industry, government and researchers. Unlike the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre’s Monograph series, these reports have not been subjected to an external peer review process. As such, the scientific accuracy and merit of the research reported here is the responsibility of the authors, who should be contacted for clarification of any content. Author contact details are at the back of this report. Editors Prof Chris Cooper University of Queensland Editor-in-Chief Prof Terry De Lacy Sustainable Tourism CRC Chief Executive Prof Leo Jago Sustainable Tourism CRC Director of Research National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Fredline, Liz, (Elizabeth). An analysis of the domestic wildlife tourism market in Australia. Bibliography. ISBN 9781920965273 1. Ecotourism – Australia. 2. Wildlife-related recreation – Australia. 3. Wildlife watching industry – Australia. I. Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism. II. Title. 338.47910994 Copyright © CRC for Sustainable Tourism Pty Ltd 2007 All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the publisher. Any enquiries should be directed to General Manager Communications & Industry Extension [[email protected]] or Publishing Manager [[email protected]]. ii AN ANALYSIS OF THE DOMESTIC WILDLIFE TOURISM MARKET IN AUSTRALIA CONTENTS ABSTRACT_____________________________________________________________________________ V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ________________________________________________________________ V SUMMARY ____________________________________________________________________________ VI CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ____________________________________________________________ 1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION______________________________________________________________ 1 CHAPTER 2 METHOD___________________________________________________________________ 2 SAMPLING ____________________________________________________________________________ 2 INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT ______________________________________________________________ 2 ADMINISTRATION_______________________________________________________________________ 2 SAMPLE REPRESENTATIVENESS ____________________________________________________________ 2 CHAPTER 3 RESULTS___________________________________________________________________ 5 DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF WILDLIFE TOURISTS_______________________________________ 5 TRAVEL CHARACTERISTICS _______________________________________________________________ 6 PLACES VISITED________________________________________________________________________ 8 COMPARISON WITH NATIONAL VISITOR SURVEY DATA__________________________________________ 9 WILDLIFE TOURISM BEHAVIOUR __________________________________________________________ 11 OTHER TRIP ACTIVITIES_________________________________________________________________ 16 COMPARISON WITH INTERNATIONAL VISITORS _______________________________________________ 19 ATTITUDES TOWARD ANIMALS ___________________________________________________________ 19 SATISFACTION ________________________________________________________________________ 23 CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ____________________________________________ 24 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INDUSTRY _______________________________________________________ 24 LIMITATIONS _________________________________________________________________________ 24 APPENDIX A: SURVEY INSTRUMENT ___________________________________________________ 25 APPENDIX B: STATE MAPS_____________________________________________________________ 30 REFERENCES _________________________________________________________________________ 37 AUTHOR______________________________________________________________________________ 38 iii AN ANALYSIS OF THE DOMESTIC WILDLIFE TOURISM MARKET IN AUSTRALIA List of Figures Figure 1: Where the wildlife encounter took place _______________________________________________ 14 List of Tables Table 1: Respondent characteristics ___________________________________________________________ 3 Table 2: Characteristics of wildlife and non-wildlife tourists ________________________________________ 5 Table 3: Trip characteristics _________________________________________________________________ 6 Table 4: The relationship between state of residence and inter / intrastate travel_________________________ 8 Table 5: Most frequent places visited __________________________________________________________ 9 Table 6: Activities used to defines groups of tourists who may have seen wildlife on their trip _____________ 9 Table 7: Comparison of current sample with NVS _______________________________________________ 10 Table 8: Animals most commonly seen and most enjoyed _________________________________________ 11 Table 9: Type of animal most enjoyed ________________________________________________________ 12 Table 10: Demographic differences in animals most enjoyed ______________________________________ 13 Table 11: Travel party_____________________________________________________________________ 13 Table 12: Type of encounter ________________________________________________________________ 14 Table 13: Relationship between type and place of encounter _______________________________________ 14 Table 14: Profile of free and captive wildlife tourists_____________________________________________ 15 Table 15: Activity patterns of wildlife tourists compared to general tourists ___________________________ 16 Table 16: Comparison of activity patterns of free and captive wildlife tourists _________________________ 18 Table 17: Comparison between domestic and international wildlife tourists ___________________________ 19 Table 18: Orientations to animals and the items used to measure them _______________________________ 20 Table 19: Correlations between animal orientations______________________________________________ 21 Table 20: Comparison of animal orientations in wildlife tourists and non-wildlife tourists________________ 22 Table 21: Comparison of animal orientations in free and captive wildlife tourists_______________________ 23 Table 22: Satisfaction with wildlife encounter and overall trip _____________________________________ 23 List of Maps Map 1: Postcode regions visited ______________________________________________________________ 8 iv AN ANALYSIS OF THE DOMESTIC WILDLIFE TOURISM MARKET IN AUSTRALIA ABSTRACT This study investigated the domestic wildlife tourism market in terms of its scope, the characteristics of the consumers, and the extent to which they are satisfied with the products being offered. A telephone interview was used to administer a questionnaire to 1356 respondents from all over Australia. The study found that just under one-third of the sample had taken a trip which involved an encounter with wildlife in the previous 12 months. These tourists were not substantially different from non-wildlife tourists in terms of their demographic characteristics and only slightly different in terms of their orientations to animals and the environment. Additionally, there were few differences between people who took trips which involved encounters with free animals versus trips which involved encounters with animals in captivity. It can therefore be concluded that the market is fairly homogeneous in terms of these variables, and that the factors which determine the propensity to take a wildlife trip are largely beyond those considered in this study. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre, an Australian Government initiative, funded this research. The author would also like to acknowledge the assistance of Chelsea Northrope and Amanda Ayling in the conduct of the research. v AN ANALYSIS OF THE DOMESTIC WILDLIFE TOURISM MARKET IN AUSTRALIA SUMMARY This report considers the role of wildlife tourism in the Australian domestic market through a study based on a survey of Australian residents. The aims of this study were to: 1. Assess the role and significance of wildlife experiences within the Australian domestic tourism market; 2. Establish a typology of domestic wildlife tourists through market segmentation and develop market profiles; and 3. Examine motivations for and satisfaction levels with wildlife encounters amongst domestic wildlife tourists. The survey therefore asked respondents about their recent travel activities and whether they had had a trip that involved an encounter with wildlife in the past 12 months. Of the 1356 people interviewed, 440 (32.4%) had taken a trip in the past 12 months which had brought them into contact with wildlife. This is a substantial proportion, however it is not nearly as high as the proportion of international visitors who encounter wildlife during their travels in Australia (71.1%). It was found that Queensland was the most common destination for these wildlife trips (32.4%) and that most people were travelling for a holiday or to visit friends and relatives. Slightly more than half (56%) of these tourists travelled interstate, and just less than half stayed within their own state (44%). The average length of