TRENDS IN PROTECTED AREAS - Sustainable Tourism CRC

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TRENDS IN PROTECTED AREAS
Visitor monitoring in the high mountains and alpine areas are crucial to assess the negative impacts created
by human use. A study in the Kosciuszko alpine area has revealed that most visitation to the region was
unevenly distributed throughout the non-winter period, with public and school holidays being the peak periods
(Johnston & Growcock 2005). However, the emerging trend of climate change internationally could threaten
future mountain tourism, particularly during peak winter periods (Pickering 2007). The use of national parks in
the mountains and resorts has traditionally been closely tied to the ski industry with many businesses relying
heavily on visitation by skiers (Thomas et al. 2005).
Best practice benchmarks and sustainable marketing of tourism
Environmentally sustainable development principles and practices generally guide remote area sustainable
tourism facilities (Beyer et al. 2005). A sustainable marketing strategy is required to attract both domestic and
international visitors to reverse the declining trend particularly prevalent in international visitors. The guiding
principles for the sustainable marketing of visitation in protected areas are developed based on the ‘Five Rs’
model (Wearing et al. 2007, p. 14) are:
Responsible Sustainable marketing of protected areas should be designed and undertaken in a responsible
and ethical manner.
Realistic To be sustainable, marketing of protected areas should be done in a manner that disseminates
realistic images and information to existing and potential visitors.
Regional Sustainable marketing of protected areas should be designed and used in a regional context.
Research Research is a fundamental building block of sustainable marketing and should be carried out
and integrated into marketing planning and strategies.
Relationships Cooperative relationships between relevant land management, industry and community
stakeholders can benefit all.
Interpretation and education
Effective interpretation, education and communications tools and strategies are essential for visitor management
in protected areas. Ham and Weiler (2005) designed a toolkit to evaluate site interpretation which could also be
used to evaluate specific interpretative programmes. In Australian protected areas, messages delivered via on-site
signage, brochures, websites and other non-personal interpretive media have developed to managing visitors’
behaviours and activities that may damage the natural environment (Beeton et al. 2005).