Two new wildlife tourism papers
(two of the authors – Isabelle Wolf and David Croft) are also Wildlife Tourism Australia members)
Wolf, I. D., Hagenloh, G., & Croft, D. B. (2012). Visitor monitoring along roads and hiking trails: How to determine usage levels in tourist sites. Tourism Management, 33, 16-28.
From the abstract: “We assessed visitor use at 80 sites in the Flinders Ranges gorges and compared 11 visitor variables for their potential to differentiate usage levels between sites either exposed to vehicle or hiker traffic. …. We recommend GPS tracking because of the reliability and detail of data and the many sites per day that can be sampled. … Survey data gathered in relation to specific site-use were tempered by the memory of visitors and their ability to describe or reference the visited sites on a map. ”
Wolf, I. D., Stricker, H. K., & Hagenloh, G. (2013). Interpretive media that attract park visitors and enhance their experiences: a comparison of modern and traditional tools using GPS tracking and GIS technology. Tourism Management Perspectives, 7, 59-72.
I’m not sure how wildlife can be affected by GPS – could you please elaborate? Or do you mean if a radio device is attached to the animal? I think in this case it was attached to visitors’ cars
Ronda,
GPS make the easy to find places and explore the unknown destinations. Installing GPS service at Wildlife may distrube wildlife and animal too.
It is so handy tool can carryy any where; easy to handle and accurate path direction. But I still prefer not to use in wildlife sanctuary due to adverse affect of GPS signals.
Thanks,
Kaziranha