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)

TAPAS Group

Knowledge development Communities

Capacity building Networking Chair, Dr Anna Spenceley

Photo credits: Susan Moore, Anna Spenceley, Lynnath Beckley, internet - various