Visitor monitoring to strengthen protected area management (2015)
Transcript of Visitor monitoring to strengthen protected area management (2015)
Visitor monitoring to strengthen protected area management
Professor Susan Moore
International Conference on Ecotourism in Protected Areas: Strengthening Conservation, Development and Adaptation
19 – 21 May 2015
Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
What information? Information focus Includes…
Visit / visitor numbers Visit numbers at site, park, region &/or country level
Visitor characteristics Demographic information, reasons for visiting, attitudes & motivations
Visit characteristics Sites visited, group size, length of stay, activities undertaken, expenditure
Visitor outcomes Satisfaction, experiences, disappointments, future intentions
Monitoring visitor numbers – national level
! Survey international departures at airports (e.g. IVS Australia, Parks Victoria)
! Survey country’s/state’s residents by phone to determine park visitation (e.g. Parks Victoria)
Monitoring visitor numbers – park system & individual
park level ! Automated vehicle classifiers & counters
! Entrance ticket sales
! Visitor books
! Guestimates
Monitoring visitor patterns of use
! Aerial surveys (esp for marine parks)
Example. Ningaloo Reef Marine Park • 300 km fringing reef • 200,000 visitors p.a. • 2-4 flights/month for 1 year • Counts of boats, camps & people • GPS data loggers & synchronised
digital cameras
Monitoring visitor patterns of use (cont.)
! Tour records & log books
Example. Whale shark tourism Ningaloo • 15 licensed tourism operators • Required to provide log book details
on visitor numbers.
Tracking patterns of use Tracker type Focus of tracking
1. 'Passive’ sensing using track counters, video cameras
Visitors on tracks & trails, at information centres
2. Detection of specific signals:
a) Location restricted e.g. mobile phone tracking
Visitors (esp in hard-to-access areas)
b) Location independent – GPS based Vehicles & boats (e.g. tour boats)
a b
Visitor & visit characteristics: questionnaires
! Park survey with onsite questionnaire
! Web-based survey
Example. Yanchep National Park • Visitor questionnaire
administered onsite • Overall satisfaction
with visit • Satisfaction metric
reported to State Parliament annually
Visitor characteristics: future intentions
! Intentions include ! Re-visiting ! Recommending to others
! Paying fees ! Advocating for/supporting
protected areas
! Volunteering time
Collecting, storing & accessing visitor information REQUIRED
1. Visitor management system (with protocols) for collecting, storing & accessing information
2. Easy-to-access & manage database
3. Reliable, long-term storage system
Using visitor information
Park management plans
National development strategies
Community development plans
Reserve designation & resource allocations
Enhancing visitors’ experiences
Economic evaluations
Marketing
Cost-effective visitor monitoring
! Best practice visitor monitoring system (copy, & be copied)
! Cost-effective spatial & temporal sampling decisions (not all parks, not every year)
! Multiple sources of information (ecotours, park entry numbers, national exit surveys)