Program 2: Operations

PROJECT 2.2: TOURIST DESTINATION IMAGE AND INTERPRETATION

(Prof P Pearce, JCU)

The inclusion of questions about reef visitation in the major generic surveys of visitors to Queensland and Australia is allowing Centre researchers to evaluate the importance of the Great Barrier Reef as a tourist destination in a national and international context. The surveys demonstrate that visitors to Queensland cluster into six major groups, two of which regard the Great Barrier Reef as the dominant inducement for their visit to Queensland.

With the support of tourism operators, the Centre is conducting a further series of surveys to provide a full market segmentation profile of visitors to all regions of the GBR by the end of 1998. Analysis of data from over 1600 visitors to the region between Mission Beach and Bowen, have identified new patterns of use. Up to 20% of visitors go to the Reef twice during the same holiday. The dominant pattern is for the visitor to travel first on a large boat but to use a smaller operation for their second trip. In liaison with Reef Tourism 2005 and with support from large, medium and small operators, further data for this project has been collected from 1700 visitors to the Cairns-Port Douglas region. The Queensland Tourist and Travel Corporation has agreed to fund a research fellow to assist with further project development and analysis.

At the request of the GBRMPA, pictorial symbols have been evaluated as part of a project which aims to improve the effectiveness of reef interpretative activities. Over 700 surveys were conducted with English, German, Japanese and Cantonese visitors in an effort to improve the symbols to make their messages accessible to any language group. As the symbols are designed to educate visitors about inappropriate behaviours, their refinement based on this research should increase the sustainability of reef tourism.

Assessment of GBRMPA's marine biology and management regional training courses is also underway as part of the interpretive project.

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