Jim Macbeth

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Parks Congress in 2014 reported that the quality of management of protected areas is crucial in halting the loss of the world’s biodiversity and meeting global environmental challenges. However, increasingly high-impact activities, including motorized recreation are occurring in protected areas such as national parks, creating an ongoing clash of values and further compromising protected area management. This paper discusses the values of protected areas in the context of increasingly high-impact motorized usage, the impact of divergent values placed on green spaces such as national parks, and perceptions about these spaces. Given the changing global context of this millennium, and increasing populations requiring space for high-impact activities including motorized recreation, rethinking recreation in protected areas is needed. A protected area classification to accommodate high-impact activities away from vulnerable natural areas may assist in maintaining protected area quality.

A four-tiered approach to understanding motorised recreation in natural and protected areas is introduced, using examples of motor events from Australia to demonstrate each conceptual level. The aim is to increase understanding of motorsport and motorised recreation phenomena that impact natural and, in particular, protected areas and other users of the natural environment. An illustrative study approach shows the interrelatedness of multi-level motorised recreation and its governance, from local community motor clubs and amateur motor racing competition through to international hallmark motor racing events and how their sociocultural significance influences protected area management. The illustrative examples show user groups engaged in governance and policy issues of motorised recreation in natural and protected areas. These groups include both motor clubs involved with environmental management of natural and protected areas, as well as professional and community groups opposed to motorised recreation in protected areas. An agenda for further research is identified, including policy and governance of motorsport, large-scale events and protected area management and impacts of motorised recreation and events on the environment and the community including those who access the natural environment for more contemplative and quiet leisure pursuits.

Camping in natural areas such as national parks is an important social activity and provides a way of reconnecting with nature to achieve personal, social, and health benefits. Experience and meanings are not well understood regarding camping in natural areas, and recent research is limited. The aim of this qualitative study was to examine the motivations, experiences, and higher-order meanings of camping in two national parks in Western Australia, with a particular focus on the last of these. Important associated motivations included the “push” factor of addressing feelings of disconnection from nature, others, and self; and the “pull” factor of experiencing nature. Re-creation, reconnection and reaffirmation were key higher-order meanings. A deeper understanding of the camping experience highlights the importance of the people-natural environment relationship and shows how camping can benefit individuals and society.

The purpose of this Research Probe is to address a simple or, on reflection, perhaps simplistic question. As the editor of this journal originally asked when inviting contributions and rejoinders, is tourism a ‘sinner’ or is it unjustly ‘sinned against’? In other words, since the late nineteenth century, modem tourism has attracted criticism in one form or another, initially in the form of social comment, subsequently in both academic and journalistic circles. Indeed, significant attention has been paid by tourism scholars and others to the negative consequences of tourism (and, of course, means of mitigating such consequences), to the extent that it might be assumed that tourism inevitably ‘sins’ against the places and peoples where it occurs. So, the question is posed—it is appropriate to view tourism as such, as the harbinger of social, cultural and environmental problems, or is this unjust criticism? That is, is tourism' sinned against' by those who focus, on occasion in apocalyptic terms, on the problems that are to a lesser or greater extent the inevitable outcome of the development of tourism, and is it timely to rebalance the debate, to consider whether an assessment of tourism deserves a more supportive or positive foundation? Given the complexity of tourism, the enormously variable forms it takes and contexts within which it occurs and, of course, the multiplicity of perspectives from which it can be considered, there are no simple answers or ways of answering the question. Thus, the lead piece is purposefully written to stimulate debate, to be deliberately provocative. And as the three rejoinders by Noel Scott, Jim Macbeth and Peter Smith demonstrate, it is a question that is worth pursuing.

Hallmark events are deemed to be exceptional and to have dramatic impacts for the communities involved with them. Whereas studies abound that examine their more immediate effects, there are few that re-visit a community to evaluate the long-term or enduring effects. This paper presents a discussion of the impact of the America's Cup defence that hit Fremantle in Western Australia like a tsunami when Alan Bond's Australia II wrested the Cup from the New York Yacht Club in 1983, some twenty-nine years ago. This discussion takes the form of two distinct perspectives. One views the America's Cup as the catalyst of mythological proportions that changed the city's direction from a sleepy, rundown heritage port into a major tourist destination. The other views the Cup as just another wave, surfing along on the underlying global swells of changing technology and gentrification. This ethnographic paper looks back to before the Cup win in 1983 (and its loss again in 1987) and at Fremantle post-Cup to explore these two versions of Fremantle's genesis as a tourist city.

Ethics underlie all our decisions and actions. The aim of this paper is to, first, highlight the sorts of ethical positions that inform wildlife management and, second, to propose a different set of ecocentric ethical principles that not only provide for a more authentic visitor experience of nature, but also enhance the long-term survival of wildlife. An ecocentric approach involves locating people in, rather than separate from, nature, and so is not possible in locations such as zoos where barriers are physically constructed and maintained between people and wildlife, but should be more compatible with wildlife tourism that is based in rather than on nature. Focusing on wildlife tourism based in nature, seven principles derived from the literature are applied to a case study of dingo management on Fraser Island in Queensland, Australia. The case study demonstrates that recognising the intrinsic value of wildlife and developing a sense of moral obligation and moral reasoning toward the wildlife tourism experience can have positive outcomes for both people and wildlife. If management strategies work within a precautionary principle, acknowledge the interconnectedness between people and nature, and accept that wildlife belongs in nature, then a more ecocentric ethic is possible. This requires managers to engage in a reflexive process with regard to their own ethical position to facilitate the practical application of an ecocentric approach.

Our paper positions four-wheel drive (4WD) travel into the Australian desert by veteran or dedicated travellers as a spiritual experience in three ways: by considering the desert itself as a sacred space; the experience of such a journey as a form of 'nature religion'; and by viewing the actual journey itself as pilgrimage. Our argument is informed by interviews with expert 4WDers to the desert. Our study might be useful in designing sustainable strategies for 4WD desert tourism, as well as for scholars from a variety of disciplines such as sustainability and environment studies, religious studies and tourism studies, to name a few.

Critical Masses is a multidisciplinary pilot project that aims to graphically represent and mediate the histories, spaces and narratives concerning former nuclear installations within central Australia. These include the abandoned British atomic test sites at Emu Field and Maralinga, the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)/Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) rocket launchers at Woomera, and the decommissioned US National Security Agency early warning satellite base at Nurrungar. Significantly, each of these Cold War sites are situated in either hazardous, remote, secure and/or culturally sensitive areas and require sophisticated analysis and negotiation in order to best render their complexity for both online access and on-site tourism. In association with the Maralinga-Pilling Trust and traditional indigenous landowners a multi-tiered approach (re)creating these locations is being modelled across platforms for diverse audiences. Digital materials are being authored and designed for stand-alone DVD, online interactive sites and archives, an immersive/simulated space for interpretation centres, and augmented/enhanced reality interfaces via GPS and mobile/handheld devices used in situ at key sites.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine a model for conceptualizing the impacts of environmental management strategies on travel and recreation choice making behavior that considers tolerance thresholds in visitor responses to destination change. Design/methodology/approach – A survey involving a sample of 347 regular campers and fishers in the Ningaloo Marine Park, Australia, is analyzed to discern the effect of tolerance thresholds. Findings – Despite widespread dissatisfaction with enlarged sanctuary zones and negative impacts on recreational activities, visitors indicated a high level of satisfaction with their stay. This apparent contradiction is, it is argued, best explained by the threshold of tolerability concept. Research limitations/implications – It is argued that recreational users, planning authorities and other stakeholders have a threshold of tolerability in terms of decision-making concerning management changes. These thresholds mean that changes in management policies, modes of activity and destination travel choices are rarely predictable in their effect, but are bounded by minimal and ideal expectations of destination appeal. Originality/value – The paper introduces an important concept for tourism research that will aid tourism planning and management authorities in the face of growing environmental pressures caused by overpopulation and climate change.