Frogs or Cassowaries: Cooperative Marketing with the Tourism Industry

Abstract

The Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) and the tourism industry embarked on a cooperative marketing Action Plan for the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The Action Plan was developed to ensure that marketing materials reflected WTMA's management objectives, ensuring accuracy of presentation to visitors, and setting visitor expectations in relation to the range of tourism opportunities available within the area. The project involved market research that looked at current awareness and recognition of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and its values. Results of the study indicated that whilst the existence of the rainforest and its World Heritage status had high recognition, the existing logo for the World Heritage Area had very low visitor penetration, and had not been used by the tourism industry. The study showed that new branding was required for the World Heritage Area that needed to reflect World Heritage Values more accurately, and this branding needed to be reinforced by the supply of appropriate images and text for use in promotional materials. The new branding incorporating new words and logo will be used in the future by both the commercial tourism industry and protected area managers.