Service management in a World Heritage area - tourists, cultures and the environment.

Abstract

Abstract This chapter focuses on the critical issues and interrelationships inherent in the management of tourism and hospitality services within a World Heritage environment, with special reference to backpackers visiting Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia. In order to provide data for this study, local tourism operator and visitor surveys from the period 1998-2001 were reanalysed in order to gain a reliable indication of the issues associated with service quality relating to attractions visited on the island, the attitudes towards that environment as expressed by backpackers and other tourists, and the attitudes towards the tourist as expressed by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service personnel. The discussion identifies that there is a lack of enforcement of minimal impact practices for backpackers travelling to Fraser Island. Travellers appear to be perceived as short-term visitors on a recreational day pass, and inherent in this perception (of revenue) is an ambivalence that remains tolerant to independent and often uncontrolled access to fragile areas. It is argued that what is needed is a strategic approach to service quality that targets the needs of visitors and encourages them to adopt minimal impact practices. To achieve this level of service quality requires reinventing ecotourism on Fraser Island so that it incorporates environmental rehabilitation.