» Wet Tropics visitor survey 2002

ISBN 0 86443 694 7
Measuring and Monitoring Impacts of Visitation and Use in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area 2001/2002:
A Site-based Bioregional Perspective
Joan M Bentrupperbäumer and Joseph P Reser

This report provides an overview of ten individual Site-Level Data Reports generated for selected sites within the Wet Tropics known to attract high visitor numbers. Individual reports including comprehensive data sets have been produced for Mossman Gorge, Lake Barrine, the Crater, Barron Falls, Marrdja, Murray Falls, Henrietta Creek, Goldsborough Valley, and Big Crystal and Davies Creek.

Over and above these individual reports, the Site-based Regional Perspective report allows for an assessment and consideration of patterns, pressures and changes which transcend particular sites to provide a composite, more integrated picture of visitor impacts across the entire region.

The survey generated an enormous amount of data from 2780 questionnaires, 320 hours of vehicle and visitor monitoring,12 months of traffic counter data, detailed inventories of individual site layout, design, infrastructure, signage and incidental behavioural observations recorded during questionnaire administration. The questionnaire covered visitation patterns, visitor profiles, reasons for visiting, visitor perceptions of the natural, social and built environments, visitor satisfaction, experience and recreational opportunities, information and communication on site and prior information sources.

» Visitor monitoring system

ISBN 0 86443 741 2
Visitor Monitoring System for the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area - Volumes 1-3
Robin F Wilson, Steve M Turton, Joan M Bentrupperbäumer and Joseph P Reser

The Wet Tropics Visitor Monitoring System (VMS) collates existing expertise and data to develop a robust, practical and cost-effective monitoring system for visitor sites. It incorporates both site monitoring and regional visitor monitoring and will be trialled in the field with tour operators and land managers.

» Role of the World Heritage Area in the life of the community

ISBN 0 86443 775 7
The Role of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in the Life of the Community
A Survey of the North Queensland Community; Revised Edition
Joan M. Bentrupperbäumer and Joseph P. Reser

The Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA) experiences an estimated 4.4 million visits each year, and forty percent or 1.76 million of those visits are made by residents of the adjacent local communities. It is the residents of these communities that were the focus of both a community survey and visitor site-level survey that were undertaken by Rainforest CRC researchers for the Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) in late 2002 and early 2003.

The community survey examined the local community's awareness, perceptions, attitudes, and personal appraisals of the WTWHA, the WTMA and other management agencies, and also explored and documented the role of the WTWHA in the life of the community. An important aim of the site-level survey was to record local community residents' (as well as domestic and overseas visitors') perceptions and appraisals of the WTWHA, in situ, while residents were actually visiting or 'using' a World Heritage site. Data collection resulted in a thorough understanding of how individuals' behaviour translates into biophysical impacts and how specific environments or features impact on individuals' experiences, attitudes and judgments.

Both surveys were designed to complement previous and ongoing site-based and community survey undertakings involving longitudinal monitoring and indicator development, and the impacts of visitation and use in the WTWHA and catchment region.