Noah Nielsen

From lessees to partners: exploring tourism public-private partnerships within the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service

In a “new” protected-area management paradigm which requires close working relationships with a range of stakeholders, it is important that national parks managers recognise the individual interests of each group with whom they are expected to collaborate. A substantial body of research has investigated non-commercial collaborative activities among natural resource managers, tourism organisations and community groups. However, little academic attention has been paid to commercial tourism collaborations, particularly public–private partnerships (PPPs) with tourism operators. PPPs are often more contentious and require careful management to ensure sustainability and political acceptance. This paper reports on qualitative research, exploring the quality and nature of commercial lease arrangements between the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and a number of their private on-site tourism providers. In-depth interviews were conducted with fourteen key stakeholders involved in these partnerships. Based on an emergent approach to analysis, five main themes emerged which define the nature and quality of relationships between NPWS and tourism operators. Ultimately, it is argued that in commercial PPPs, protected-area managers need to move beyond viewing tourism operators as mere “lessees”, seeing them instead as valued and long-lasting “partners”.

To climb or not to climb? Balancing stakeholder priorities at an iconic national park

ABSTRACT In the management of protected areas, stakeholders range from supra-national organisations, through to national and local-level decision-makers. Although there has been substantive research on stakeholders, there is limited inquiry on involving them in the development of nature-based tourism experiences in heavily visited protected areas. Drawing on stakeholder theory, this paper explores stakeholders’ perspectives of developing alternative visitor experiences at an iconic mountain, namely the World Heritage listed Wollumbin-Mount Warning National Park in eastern Australia. Due to the popularity of climbing Wollumbin mountain, a number of issues have emerged related to sustainable visitor management, including overcrowding, environmental impacts and Indigenous sensitivities around the climb. Guided by an interpretive methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 key ‘Wollumbin’ stakeholders. Analysis of these interviews revealed that when developing alternative experiences in protected areas, it is important to balance natural and cultural priorities, develop appropriate summit alternatives and overcome tourism resource challenges.