Protected Area Visitor Willingness to Participate in Site Enhancement Activities

Abstract

Cluster analysis of survey responses from 804 visitors to national parks in Australia’s Gold Coast hinterland indicated variable proclivity to participate in diverse site enhancement activities. The “enthused” (8%) are willing to engage in focused activism such as planting trees, and incidental activism such as opportunistic litter removal. Willingness to donate and pay an entry fee is also evident. Conversely, the “disengaged” (17%) are mostly unsupportive. Intermediate “incidentally enthused” (12%), “amenable” (25%), “casual” (12%), and “incidental” (26%) clusters display decreasing enthusiasm for focused activism but sustained support for incidental activism. Enthusiasm associates with altruistic values, environmental concern, self-empowerment, moral obligation, hard ecotourism tendencies, site loyalty, local residence, and age. The results suggest a small core of potential engagement with conventional volunteer tourism activity, but widespread support for unconventional and convenient activities that may serve as a platform for higher engagement with site enhancement.