Pascal Tremblay

Wildlife in the Landscape: A Top End Perspective on Destination-Level Wildlife and Tourism Management

This paper claims that for wildlife-rich destinations such as the Northern Territory, the analytical focus of wildlife tourism research ought to shift from that of the tourist–animal encounter (in terms of personal motivations, impact on the animal welfare, etc.) towards that of habitat sustainability, multiple uses and larger-scale impacts on those habitats. This paper overviews selected findings emanating from wildlife tourism research related to visitor behaviour, marketing and economic activity undertaken around the wetlands of Northern Australia. In its final part, the paper suggests that the concept of ‘landscape’ constitutes an appropriate and under-utilised analytical device connecting in a workable scale the most relevant management issues associated with wildlife in multiple uses context, and that this allows to address jointly wildlife tourism marketing and planning considerations.

Destination Planning and the Sustainability of Wildlife Tourism Resources: Ongoing Challenges for Knowledge Integration

Despite the fact that the interface between wildlife and tourism has attracted increasing academic scrutiny, it has also been recognized that destination-level strategic marketing and planning constitute the least developed aspect of wildlife tourism management. The paper argues that this is partly due to ongoing challenges linked with integrating the needs of a tourism industry management perspective with those of wildlife resources planning, in particular when the diversity and distinctiveness of wildlife tourism destination types is acknowledged. The paper uses the findings emanating from the recent wildlife tourism literature (in particular on the nature of motivations of tourists participating in wildlife viewing experiences) to examine the basis for destination competitiveness in that area, and to investigate ensuing planning challenges. Subsequently, the paper examines a simple case study (wildlife-viewing in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia) where knowledge integration issues for wildlife tourism planning have been explicitly tackled with a Geographic Information System (GIS) approach.

Protected areas and development in arid Australia - challenges to regional tourism

The principal contention of this paper is that the traditional approach to park management is inadequate to deal with the contemporary goals of protected areas, in particular, biodiversity conservation, cultural heritage management and the management of socio-economic development within parks. This is particularly true for parks in remote regions like Central Australia, where management on a broader scale is required. The benefits of park management embracing a regional approach to development and conservation are examined. This paper also identifies some serious restrictions to development. Parks rely heavily on abstract management plans, and do not have a transparent framework through which to set objectives and targets. These objectives would allow parks to evaluate their organisation’s performance. Iconic landscape assets dominate the tourism economy in Central Australia. The number of different institutions managing parks has hampered the establishment of a valuation framework. This framework would allow regional resource allocation decisions to be assessed and parks’ performances to be monitored. Proper assessment and monitoring would strengthen the case for additional park funding to pursue conservation and development responsibilities.

Book Review: Network Analysis and Tourism – From Theory to Practice by Noel Scott, Rodolfo Baggio and Chris Cooper

Network Analysis and Tourism – From Theory to Practice, by Noel Scott, Rodolfo Baggio and Chris Cooper. Clevedon, UK, Channel View Publications, 2008. ISBN-13: 978-1-84541-088-9 (hbk); ISBN-13: 978-1-84541-087-2 (pbk)