Parks Victoria - the Place to Be?

Parks Victoria

The Place To Be?

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Executive Summary

This Report was commissioned to examine the needs, wants and satisfaction levels associated with international visitors who visit national parks in throughout Victoria. The research draws attention to ways in which Parks Victoria's can increase nature based tourism. Our aim was to develop and test a questionnaire for collecting the data, which provides a suitable consistent approach to international visitors, surveying for park visitation which allows for comparisons across parks and aggregation of data from selected variables.

Further investigations reveal that park management requires better understanding towards international visitors, the facilities and park services. Park management require data from individual visitors, this data would include socioeconomic and cultural characteristics, experience, norms, attitudes and preferences. The questionnaire will provide detailed information regarding overall visitor satisfaction, who are the international visitors and are they getting value for money, across-park comparisons of key variables and the core data is predominantly of interest at a park level. The method of data collection has been consistently applied across all Parks and Tourism Victoria's sites by using a set of core variables.

It is recommended that

• As a questionnaire is an inexpensive research program, it would make an excellent starting point based on the required data.

• This research insists that there is a need for a greater understanding of the facilitators for participation of international visitors and nature based tourism

• It’s important to identify where international visitors obtain information, what destinations and activities they’re most likely to suggest to others

• There is a large amount of recreational diversity between the national parks and regions of Victoria. In order to enhance the international visitor experience, promotion and development of each park would allow international visitors to actually experience something different in each park making them each a unique attraction and increasing park visits

• Parks Victoria could raise the profile of the numerous events they host in their parks, thereby attracting more international visitors.

Contents

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