Pam Dyer

Locals' Attitudes toward Mass and Alternative Tourism: The Case of Sunshine Coast, Australia

This study examines local residents’ attitudes toward two different types of tourism development, mass tourism and alternative tourism, using data collected from residents of Sunshine Coast, Australia. The study findings reveal that host community support is affected directly and/or indirectly by the level of community concern, community attachment, ecocentric values, use of the tourism resource base, state of the local economy, and the perceived impacts of tourism development. Findings suggested that even though some of the factors influence attitudes toward both mass and alternative tourism, attitudes toward each form of development is likely to be formed based on the perceptions of different factors.

Tourism impacts on an Australian indigenous community: a Djabugay case study

Abstract The Djabugay people live near Cairns, a tourist destination in North Queensland, Australia, on land to which they “belong” and which traditionally “belongs” to them. Their community is an equity partner in the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park that features Djabugay culture. Some community members work as employees in the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park. The benefits of tourism identified by this study included revival of Djabugay culture; employment opportunities; working together with other Djabugay community members; increased cross-cultural understanding; and improved material welfare. However, disadvantages such as degradation of Djabugay culture; exploitation of the Djabugay community; minimal tourist/Djabugay interaction; and limited material improvement for the Djabugay were also revealed. Although the Djabugay people experienced various outcomes from participation in the tourist industry, the community did not appear to experience substantial economic or socio-cultural benefits. As such, the legacy of disadvantage from colonialism is not necessarily reversed by this engagement with tourism. Recommendations arising from this study include stricter adherence to terms and conditions of formal agreements by all parties; increased and more effective communication between managers and indigenous personnel and communities; development of detailed strategies for empowerment of indigenous; and consideration of cross-cultural interaction.

Dis-placed voices: sense of place and place-identity on the Sunshine Coast

The geographical literature on place interrogates, amongst other notions, sense of place, place identity, and their connections or disruptions. Although notions of place are multiple and very fluid, place transformation in rural and regional areas may be more rapid than the changing understandings of place held by residents. This research examines notions of place held by residents on the Sunshine Coast of Australia, one of the fastest growing ‘sea change’ regions in the nation. It presents a reading of empirical material that suggests sense of place and place-identity cannot be easily equated in the region. Sense of place was more important to rural and long-term residents than was the place-identity. Landscape change in the region is narrated, and images of place-identity interpreted, to suggest that place-identity has been created and imposed by the globalising forces of development, rather than emanating from many residents perspectives. Those local voices have been, and continue to be, successively displaced and disrupted. Thus discursive power in various ways shapes and is shaped by dominant place-identity in the region, and some voices are blocked by the discourses of urbanisation. The unequal geographies of power shaping the regional landscape need to be acknowledged within place transformation processes. These geographies of power suggest that sense of place can be thought of as a ‘view from the bottom’, while place-identity primarily functions as a ‘view from the top’.

Ecotourism and conservation: factors influencing effective conservation messages

Environmental education and interpretation have largely focused on individual mechanisms (e.g. cognitive processes) leading to intention and behavioural change. Less has been said about the role of the situation and communication processes between tour guides and tourists in ecotourism experiences. This paper examines the role of interpreters and individuals as jointly influencing the effectiveness of communicating conservation messages. A survey of over 1500 visitors was undertaken to ascertain the factors crucial to whether visitors received a conservation message in an ecotourism setting. The results indicate a three-tier effect: individual characteristics, specifically respondents age, were initially important. The second tier represents the impact of conservation-related information from the tour guide/interpreter. This information acts as a stimulus to the third and most crucial tier of influence – visitor empowerment. The tertiary stage comprises a two-way communication process that influences a positive conservation message. The process involves the interpreter suggesting positive conservation action that translates into what we term “a locus of responsibility” for the visitor and subsequent higher levels of satisfaction. All of these drive effective communication of conservation message comprehension.

Dolphin-human Interaction: Pro-environmental Attitudes, Beliefs and Intended Behaviours and Actions of Participants in Interpretation Programs: A Pilot Study

Abstract This paper reports on a comparison of the management and interpretation practices of two differing dolphin-human interaction sites in Queensland. The major objectives of the pilot study were to compare the management and dolphin-human interaction practices and to measure the post-experience effectiveness of the interpretation programs upon self-reported pro-environmental attitudes, beliefs, intended behaviours and intended actions of participants at the two sites. A further objective was to identify which interpretation practices were most effective in enhancing the intended proenvironmental behaviours and specific actions of the participants. A questionnaire based on the pro-environmental ‘attitudes, beliefs, behaviours and actions’ (ABBA) process, as presented in the paper, was administered to participants immediately after their dolphin-human interaction experience. Overall, visitors to both sites were very satisfied with their experience, but differences occurred between sites in individual satisfaction factors, visitor motivations and the degree to which participants perceived that their intended pro-environmental behaviours and actions were affected and/or enhanced. The effects upon pro-environmental attitudes and intentions were perceived to be directly related to the quality of the interpretation program offered.

Sensitivity to cultural difference in tourism research: contingency in research design

This paper evaluates the process of devising a research design to investigate tourism and an Australian indigenous group, the Djabugay. It demonstrates the mutual benefits that can arise in a context of cultural difference when research is predicated on an ethic of responsibility to those who are being researched. In particular, it argues that sensitivity and responsiveness to contingency are vital ingredients in the research design in order to accommodate the concerns of the researched.

Breeding numbers and population trends of Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Puffinus pacificus) and Black Noddy (Anous minutus) in the Capricornia Cays, southern Great Barrier Reef

Abstract Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Black Noddies are the two numerically dominant seabird species found in the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. This research provides baseline breeding population estimates for nine of 16 islands in the Capricornia Group over five years for Shearwaters (1996–2000) and four years for Noddies (1997–2000). With estimates of ∼302000 active breeding pairs of Black Noddies and ∼560000 breeding pairs of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters in the area, the research results have confirmed the importance of the Capricornia Group as a recognised breeding area for these birds.