Environmental Interpretation in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park: An Assessment of Programme Effectiveness

This study sought to determine how visitor environmental interpretation programmes in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park could be assessed to determine their effectiveness in educating visitors about the reef environment and conservation issues. A self-administered visitor questionnaire was designed to identify changes in visitor knowledge and understanding of the reef's basic ecology, human impacts, health and tourism. The study used an independent sample design in which visitors aboard a large reef-trip vessel were surveyed over one week before exposure to the operation's interpretive programme. A second set of visitors was then surveyed following completion of the interpretive programme. The survey identified significant changes in visitors' self-reported knowledge of the reef environment as a result of the trip. Additionally, visitors' self-reported knowledge and understanding of basic reef ecology and human impacts on the reef environment differed significantly in relation to the number of interpretive activities in which they participated. These findings suggest that (1) reef-based visitor interpretation programmes can effectively change visitor understanding of key reef topics and issues, and (2) methods of evaluating reef-based interpretive programmes can be undertaken through self-administered questionnaires.     

Managing the Cedars of Lebanon: Botanical Gardens or Living Forests?

Lebanon receives about 750,000 visitors a year, attracted by a diverse tourism portfolio with an increasing emphasis on cultural and ecotourism. It was once covered in cedar forest, with the great trees still acting both as metaphor and brand for the country. Today, there are several areas where cedars may still be seen, the most important being the Chouf Reserve, in the Jabal el Barouk mountains near the Bekaa valley, and the famous cedars of the Quadisha valley in north Lebanon (a World Heritage Site since 1998), near the town of Becharre, the centre of Lebanon's ski industry. This paper examines the management of the isolated grove of giant cedar trees at Becharre which has become a sterile botanical garden, and compares it with the living forests of the Chouf Cedar Reserve. The fundamental question being asked here is whether or not World Heritage designation of this natural resource has had conservation benefits, and if such benefits outweigh diminished experience quality for visitors.     

Changes in Host Community Reactions to a Special Sporting Event

Special events are a popular component of tourism and economic development strategies for communities and regions in many parts of the world. Researchers continue to develop an understanding of the positive and negative aspects of the events, and to assess residents' support for these events and their views about impacts. The main objective of this paper is to assess residents' reactions over a one-year period to hosting a special sporting event. The analysis is based on three community surveys, one undertaken before the event, the next immediately following the event, and the final one six months later. The research found that support remained high over this period, though a decline in overall support was evident. Over time, views about changes to facilities and services in the community shifted and there were distinct differences in residents' opinions on the impacts of hosting the event. The paper concludes that longitudinal studies must include a time-frame that extends beyond the immediate post-event period and, further, that a comprehensive event hosting impact scale would be useful for research in this field.     

Complexity of Socio-spatial Transformations Through Tourism: A Mediterranean Village,Kaleköy

This article reflects on the complex consequences of tourism development in the isolated Mediterranean village of Kaleko¨y. Built on the antique city of Simena of the 4th century BC and having remnants also from Hellenistic, Byzantine and Ottoman periods, Kaleköy's main source of livelihood since the 1980s has been tourism. Multiple changes that take place simultaneously at the local level, in relation to or as a consequence of tourism, are conceptualised as interrelated transformations that may fall under the four major headings of economy, demography, spatial organisation and cognition. Defining culture as 'everything learned', these transformations amount to a radical change in the local culture, which now includes a culture of tourism. Based on ethnographic research, the article aims to demonstrate the complexity of changes in physical, as well as economic and social structures as they pertain to tourism.     

Profiling Taiwanese Ecotourists Using a Self-definition Approach

Numerous studies have profiled ecotourists but these have been done mainly in the context of North American ecotourists. This study provides one of the few examinations of the rapidly developing Asian ecotourism market in the context of domestic visitation to Taiwan's Taroko National Park. The study uses an innovative self-defined approach to defining an ecotourist. Findings include demographic results, benefits sought, travel motivation, and activities. Comparisons between Taiwanese and North American ecotourists are also made.     

Attitudes to a Non-viable Community-owned Heritage Tourist Attraction

This paper reports on a study of community attitudes to a publicly owned heritage tourism attraction in a regional Australian centre. The attraction, an authentic reproduction of a 19th-century riverboat, was built as an Australian bicentennial project in 1988, with the aim of her becoming the region's primary tourism attraction. However, over the years it has proved to be a non-viable attraction, requiring an ongoing council subsidy of up to $A200,000 per year to keep it operational. The council is under strong pressure to divest itself of the vessel, which will mean its closure and likely removal from the community. The study found strong support for council retention and continued subsidisation of its operations. However, the study also raises questions about the efficacy of community involvement in the decision-making process. In this instance, emotional attachment to the attraction, rather than a rational assessment of its future, drives community attitudes.