Using public participation GIS (PPGIS) on the Geoweb to monitor tourism development preferences

This paper presents a method for identifying and monitoring regional tourism development preferences using an Internet public participation geographic information system (PPGIS). In 2004, a large baseline study of landscape values and development preferences was completed on Kangaroo Island (KI), South Australia, using low technology, paper-map PPGIS. In 2010, we implemented an Internet-based PPGIS monitoring study with the same participants to (1) determine the efficacy of smaller scale monitoring efforts using an Internet-based PPGIS, (2) examine whether residents' tourism development preferences had changed over the last six years and (3) assess the strengths and weaknesses of the PPGIS methodology for identifying changes in tourism development preferences. Since KI is the first international tourism destination to adopt the Tourism Optimization Management Model (TOMM) for monitoring tourism outcomes, we contrast the PPGIS monitoring method with information from the TOMM process. Our results indicate that tourism development preferences remained relatively stable over the past six years with some small changes on the western reach of the island. We argue that an Internet-based PPGIS method can be an effective tool for tourism development planning and monitoring because the method is place-based, cost-effective and provides tighter coupling with land use planning controls such as zoning.