Nature-based tourism and recreation is a growing phenomenon around the world. In
Australia, nature-based tourism represents an important part of the tourism sector and is to
a large extent dependent on protected areas such as World Heritage areas, marine parks
and national parks. While tourism and recreation can benefit protected areas, some are
under pressure from visitation and marketing should play a role in managing visitor
demand. To this end, a number of authors have suggested demarketing as a management
tool to address situations of excess visitor demand, however, research on demarketing in
protected areas is limited. To address this research gap, this thesis examines the use of
demarketing in Australian national parks that face excess visitor demand using a case study
on the Blue Mountains National Park. The thesis investigates factors that contribute to high
visitor demand for the park, the use of demarketing to manage demand and factors that
influence when and how demarketing is applied. Demarketing is that aspect of marketing
that deals with discouraging customers in general or a certain class of customers in
particular on either a temporary or permanent basis. In protected areas specifically,
demarketing is concerned with reducing visitor numbers in total or selectively and
redistributing demand spatially or temporarily.
Six factors that contribute to high visitor demand for the national park were identified
including the attractiveness of the park, its proximity to Sydney and the fact that the park is
a renowned destination with icon sites. It was established that no holistic demarketing
strategy is currently employed in the park and that the demarketing measures that are
applied are not consciously used as demarketing. The measures used in the Blue Mountains
National Park were discussed according to their association with the marketing mix
components (4 Ps). Demarketing measures related to �product� include limiting
recreational activities by defining specific areas where they can be conducted, limiting the
duration of activities and closures of sites or features in the park. The measures related to
�place� are the use of a booking system, limiting visitor numbers and group sizes,
commercial licensing and limiting signage. Measures related to �price� are not extensively
used in the park. The promotional demarketing measures applied include stressing
restrictions and appropriate environmental behaviour in promotional material and nonpromotion
of certain areas or experiences in the park. Importantly, these demarketing
measures are not employed across the whole park or for all user groups, but are used for
certain experiences in specific contexts and circumstances.
Three types of factors influence the use of demarketing in the Blue Mountains National
Park: pragmatic considerations, resource considerations and stakeholder interests.
Pragmatic considerations include the feasibility and effectiveness of certain demarketing
measures, which are influenced by the specific context of the national park. Resource
considerations relate to financial, human and temporal resources and the findings suggest
that a lack of resources influences and at times inhibits the use of demarketing measures. It
was also found that various stakeholders have a profound influence on the use of
demarketing measures. The stakeholder groups have diverse interests and therefore
influence the use of demarketing in different ways by supporting or impeding certain
measures.
Based on the findings and limitations of this study, recommendations for government and
future research are made. These emphasise among others the need for more consistent and
comprehensive collection of visitor information to tailor management actions more
effectively. It is also suggested that a more conscious and holistic application of
demarketing measures may help to manage visitor demand to parks proactively to ensure
that the resource remains for future generations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219535 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Kern, Christine Luise, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Languages, International Studies & Tourism |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Christine Luise Kern |
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