Abstract:
Protected area agencies are charged with the preservation, conservation and
management of areas including wilderness, national parks and forests. These agencies
are faced with increasing visitor numbers and decreasing budgets at a time where
activities like tourism have to be managed alongside their traditional roles as natural
resource managers. This paper reports on the outcomes of the first stage of a research
project that seeks to guide a nationally consistent approach to visitor use data
collection for protected area agencies. First, the paper provides a background literature
review of approaches to visitor use data collection for protected area agencies.
Second, the paper outlines the participatory action research approach used in the study
where thirteen protected area agencies are collaborators in the research process. This
approach ensures that the protected areas agencies data needs are central to the
research outcomes and recognises the pragmatic organisational cultural issues
associated with visitor data collection, management and use. The research process
incorporates organisational networking at all levels from head office, regions,
branches and individual parks involving management information systems, interviews,
focus groups, presentations, briefings and follow-up contact. Third, the paper then
presents the emergent themes that examine the issues and gaps in current visitor data
collection, management and use systems. The paper concludes with discussion of the
challenges to developing a national system of visitor data collection and use.
