Diane Lee

Extract:
Introduction:Tourism is well accepted as an important contributor to the economy and sustainable development of regional areas in Australia. Tourism is often advocated as a means to diversify economic conditions in rural and regional areas by providing alternative sources of employment and income generation arising from fluctuations and downturns in traditional industries such as agriculture and forestry, depressed commodity prices, and drought conditions. Furthermore, tourism can contribute to the enhancement of regional areas through public and private sector investment in new infrastructure and facilities. As at December 2008, 52 percent of expenditure by domestic overnight visitors, 58 percent of domestic day visitors and 20 percent of international visitor expenditure was spent in regional areas of Australia ($23.2 billion, $8.2 billion respectively and $26.4 billion).

Over the next decade, however, the domestic and international tourism environment globally and within Australia is predicted to be dynamic, aggressively competitive and increasingly volatile attributable to the current global financial crisis that has led to falls in consumer and investor confidence. Given the significance of tourism to the Australia’s regional economies and the volatility of domestic tourism in Australia, it is imperative that tourism is maintained and enhanced as an economic driver for the local economy, but planned and managed in a sustainable way to enhance and conserve the natural environment, protect the well-being of the residents and attract visitors with shared values.

Partnerships are increasingly being regarded as essential for sustainable protected area tourism. They are a pivotal part of increasing efforts by protected area agencies to encourage more involvement by the private sector and local communities in protected areas and associated tourism opportunities. In Australia, the need for such efforts, particularly with regards to partnerships, has been identified in a number of recent reports. These reports have examined the potential contributions of partnerships to sustainable tourism (including protected areas and beyond) (De Lacy, Battig, Moore & Noakes 2002) as well as more tightly focusing on partnerships centering on tourism and protected areas. In 2003, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources published a report exploring common goals between tourism and conservation. This was followed by two Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) Australia reports, in 2004 and 2007 (TTF Australia 2004; 2007), both advancing the critical need for partnerships between national parks and tourism. At the same time, the Commonwealth Government of Australia released its Tourism White Paper, on 20 November 2003, which advocated partnerships to grow tourism in protected areas (DITR 2003). As part of an industry and research response to the concerns and opportunities raised in these reports and policy initiatives, the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre commissioned the two-year research project which underpins this report. Most recently, the report by the NSW Taskforce on Tourism and National Parks (DECC 2008) has again emphasised the centrality of partnerships between nature based tourism and protected areas in assuring the future of both. Numerous benefits of partnerships centered on natural resource management, where tourism is included in this broad grouping, have been identified in recent research. Partnerships can be a vehicle for mobilising resources and expertise, leading to efficiency and productivity gains (De Lacy et al. 2002). They can support change management (Rosenau 2000), stimulate innovation (Tremblay 2000), moderate power inequalities (Leach & Pelkey 2001), boost conservation initiatives (Stubbs & Specht 2005), foster collaborative decisionmaking and conflict resolution (De Lacy et al. 2002), and help coordination and improve understanding (Davidson & Lockwood 2008). However, partnerships can also be exclusionary, favour established interests (Rhodes 1997), compromise public accountability, and threaten public values and the capacity of governments to govern (Davidson & Lockwood 2008). Given the extent of interest in partnerships and the benefits for both protected areas and tourism, it is vitally important to understand the factors that promote successful partnerships for tourism associated with protected areas. Successful partnerships would result in the benefits given above, and avoid the possible threats. They would also contribute to sustainable tourism, a much defined and contested term. Here, the agenda for sustainable tourism developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organisation (UNEP & WTO 2005) is adopted as definitional. The twelve aims in this agenda, according to Macbeth’s (1994) four categories, are: (1) economic sustainability (economic viability, local prosperity, employment quality); (2) social sustainability (social equity, visitor fulfilment, local control, community wellbeing); (3) cultural sustainability (cultural richness); and (4) ecological sustainability (physical integrity, biological diversity, resource efficiency and environmental purity). Macbeth (1994, 42) also notes its long-term nature:‘Put simply, our task is to facilitate a tourism that will carry on, that will endure but that will also contribute, nourish and tolerate’. While previous studies have sought to understand these factors, they have generally examined only one or two cases, so that the wider applicability of the findings is uncertain. Other studies, such as Buckley and Sommer (2001), have drawn together findings from previous studies, but with no unified analytical frame, and many are not theoretically informed, thereby limiting the understandings that can be generated. There has also been little analysis of ineffective or failed partnerships. The study reported on here was designed and conducted to addressed these limitations by: (1) identifying an appropriate theoretical framework for studying tourism partnerships; (2) undertaking mixed-method surveys of 21 protected area-focused tourism partnerships; and (3) integrating the results from the surveys with theoretical understandings to offer general insights into successful partnerships and the conditions required to achieve these.

This technical report was based on sustainable tourism principles; more specifically, the need for an ‘evaluation’ phase in tourism policy and planning, and an understanding of the multifaceted nature of the tourism industry. This report focuses on an evaluation of the three-year Tapestry Tourism Futures Project (TTFP), which addressed the issue of tourism resource management in the South-West Tapestry Region of Western Australia. The research phase of the TTFP was carried out between 2000 and 2003, and in April 2003 the project was handed over to the Tapestry community for application to tourism issues within the region. The project included the design of the Tapestry Tourism Futures Simulator, a scenario modelling software program which took regional data and produced possible future outcomes for tourism in the region, based on assumptions from past trends. The key aims of the overall TTFP were to: 1. Explore and educate the tourism community about the notion of a ‘systems’ approach to sustainable tourism; 2. Develop a timely, reliable and useful data set unique to regional requirements; and 3. Make available a locally specific computer simulation model that could provide trend information for planners and policy makers in response to ‘what-if’ scenarios. This report is an evaluation of the implementation phase of the TTFP. During this phase, the TTFP was handed over to stakeholders within the tourism community for practical use within their specific context. The aim of this report is to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the implementation of the project and suggest recommendations for the future success of the project.

As demand grows for tourism opportunities within Australian protected areas, partnerships are increasingly seen as the way forward in dealing with the variety of interests involved and ensuring that sustainability goals are pursued. Previous tourism partnership research has not made the most of opportunities to consult related literature from a broad range of disciplines and use associated theoretical developments as a basis for analysis. This technical report addresses this gap through a multi-disciplinary review of partnerships research to reconcile the often multifarious definitions of partnership and allied concepts, such as collaboration and cooperation, and the various meanings given to success, as well as to identify factors which might impact upon partnership success or failure. Eight theoretical perspectives are explored, covering social exchange theory, adoption and diffusion of innovation, environmental dispute resolution (EDR), social representation theory, network theory, stakeholder theory, social capital theory and the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework. Theoretical constructs offering the greatest potential for framing future research into successful tourismprotected area partnerships were social capital theory and EDR, with application of the IAD framework to cover any remaining gaps. This review suggests that it is important to consider as broad a range of factors as possible, not only those that are easy to measure. As such, factors such as administrative setting and the availability of resources, which are under-represented in the partnerships research, but intuitively seem to play a part in partnership success, should be considered. These findings provide a robust platform for further research that will be progressed as part of the broader study of which this review formed a foundational part.

This study investigated the issues surrounding iconic wildlife in terms of both visitor perceptions and experiences and also in terms of the economic contribution of visitors to the destination. The methods employed consisted of a literature review and development and distribution of questionnaires to visitors and tour operators and an interview of managers at Monkey Mia, Western Australia and Hervey Bay, Queensland. It was found that the absence of dolphins from Monkey Mia would greatly detract from visitor satisfaction, with the opportunity to experience dolphins close up being the best part of the overall experience. Managers were of the view that there would be an economic impact on local businesses and on the tourism industry and staffing levels would have to be reduced both at CALM and at the resort. Operators indicated that they would change their itinerary and would consider no longer coming to Monkey Mia. Management felt that Monkey Mia would lose its identity if the dolphins were no longer present and there would be a reduction in visitor numbers. Similar findings were indicated at Hervey Bay in that an absence of whales would greatly detract from the visitor experience, while seeing whales close up, including along side of the boat, was the best part of the their experience. Managers and tour operators generally thought that if it was not possible to take a whale watching tour then tourists would still come to Hervey Bay but there would be a reduction in the number of visitors. Some operators indicated that a long-term absence of whales from Hervey Bay would result in them having to close their business and that there would be a large impact on local businesses and accommodation providers. Economic analysis shows that the residents of the Gascoyne are more dependent on wildlife icons for their livelihood than the residents of Hervey Bay, although the total visitor expenditure that is attributable to wildlife icons is approximately equal in both regions. This study highlights the importance of maintaining the icon and a high quality experience through interpretation and management of potential impacts. More importantly there is a need to diversify the tourism product that is currently available at both icon sites in order to alleviate problems that may arise as a result of dependence on wildlife icons.

Tourism and the natural environment are two concepts that appear to have become closely associated due to the increasing desire for tourists to visit natural areas, and ‘tourism, like the natural environment, needs to be managed to be sustainable’ (WATC & CALM 1997, p2). Unfortunately the natural environment often comes into conflict with an economy driven tourism industry that seeks to utilise natural resources for economic benefit, ultimately exploiting them in the process. However, stakeholders within the tourism industry are starting to take more conservation-based approaches to managing the increase in tourists seeking nature-based settings. The emergence of nature-based tourism, and particularly ecotourism, are products of this (Dowling 1996). The focus of this study is based on a specific component of nature- based tourism, which is tourism involving interaction with wildlife. The wildlife in question is marine mammal species Tursiops, or the animal commonly known as the bottlenose dolphin. One way of managing wildlife/tourist interaction is the establishment of Best Practice guidelines. In order for a nature-based tourist operation to be managed effectively, social, environmental and economic goals must be set and methods of best practice implemented to ensure that these goals are met. In addition, according to Orams (1996) and Moscardo (1998) management of tourist-wildlife operations requires indirect techniques such as education and interpretation, which attempt to appeal to the tourists’ ‘caring’ side, therefore encouraging them to take an active role in protecting the environment. This study explored the issue of ‘best practice’ within the wild dolphin swim tour program at the Dolphin Discovery Centre (DDC) in Bunbury, Western Australia. In 1999 a Code of Practice was developed by the tour licensee to reduce the potential for negative impacts of swimmer activity upon the local dolphin population. Surveys (pre and post tour) were developed to examine tourist satisfaction of certain guidelines within the Code of Practice. This examination included assessing tourist expectation, satisfaction and effectiveness of the education and interpretation methods used to manage the tour. The practical outcome will be to provide an Industry Manual and video of Best Practice guidelines for use by Dolphin Swim Tour operations.

This Best Practice Industry Manual was produced for the purpose of providing specific guidelines for tour operators during the operation of dolphin swim tours. This Manual was also produced in conjunction with a Technical Report entitled ‘Best Practice and Interpretation in Tourist/Wildlife Encounters: A Dolphin Swim Tour Example’ which consists of literature and survey-based studies
relating to ecotourism, best practice, education and interpretation, marine mammal tourism and dolphin swim tours.

The Technical Report that accompanies this Best Practice Manual focuses on a particular site where dolphin swim tours occur, that place being the Dolphin Discovery Centre (DDC) in Bunbury, Western Australia. The examples used in this manual are specific to the site. Some of the initial Code of Practice procedures have undergone changes since the inception of the project (2000), both as a result of management expertise and research processes. These swim tour guidelines are encouraged to be applied to other sites where dolphin swim tours operate and critiqued for usefulness in managing wildlife tourism impacts.