School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses
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ItemA marketing approach to recreation management in national parks( 1995)Recreation managers have always attempted to ensure that resources are used effectively in planning and delivering outdoor recreation opportunities. However the lack of a sound theoretical understanding of management's' role and function in the provision of these opportunities limits the ability of managers to meaningfully evaluate the effectiveness of their actions. Many authors believe that the challenge facing recreation research is the development of a model to provide this much needed theoretical base (Allen 1988, Watkins 1990). Using data derived from a visitor survey conducted at Wilsons Promontory National Park, this study examines the potential of defining and evaluating the role of outdoor recreation management from a market-oriented perspective. The concept of voluntary exchange underpins this perspective. Fundamentally, approaching recreation management from this perspective suggests that effectively providing opportunities for outdoor recreation is not necessarily contingent on fully understanding participants recreation experience outcomes. Rather, what is important, is understanding the nature of the exchange between management and participants and how well management performs in this exchange. The visitor survey principally contained two research instruments, importance-performance analysis (Martilla and James 1977), and recreation experience preference scales (Driver 1977, Driver 1983). This not only enabled the nature of the exchange between management and participants to be investigated, but also provided a means to compare a market oriented approach to outdoor recreation management with the more traditional approaches based on the recreation demand hierarchy. The results identified 13 general dimensions to the recreation opportunity provided at Wilsons Promontory National Park. Three visitor segments were identified in the Park visitor population. Analysis of the components of the recreation opportunity important in producing satisfaction for each of these segments suggests that the role of visitor management at the Park is to deliver recreation opportunities which primarily differentiate along a facility based comfort/asceticism continuum. The study also shows that visitor perceptions of management's performance in the voluntary exchange process can be used to help management ensure resources are used effectively in the delivery of recreation opportunities. The study concludes that a market-oriented approach to visitor management in national parks and outdoor recreation areas has considerable potential. However, further research is required to refine the methodology and techniques explored in this study.