Abstract:
Despite general agreement by academics and researchers on the importance of developing
greater knowledge of visitor profiles, satisfaction and other experiential variables, a similar
consensus among parks agencies has typically been less forthcoming. This paper reports
findings from a national review of current visitor monitoring practices among eight
Australian national parks agencies. A similar review conducted in the mid-1990s
(Victorian National Parks Service 1996) found that there were key deficiencies in a
number of aspects relating to visitor data collection and management, most notably the
frequency of visitor satisfaction data collection. While results from this updated review
point to recent progress in the development and implementation of systematic, integrated
visitor monitoring programs within parks agencies, examples of more selective approaches
to data collection still remain.
