Brent Moyle

Disciplines that influence tourism doctoral research: the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

Betty Weiler et al. — Sun, 12 May 2013 19:08:58 PDT

This paper examines the disciplinary influence and the extent of multidisciplinary doctoral research in tourism in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Dissertation databases were mined to identify 1,888 tourism-focussed doctoral theses completed between 1951 and 2010. Abstracts were analysed to determine disciplinary influences, differences between countries, and changes over time. The growth in tourism-focussed doctoral research has been exponential. Overall, psychology, environmental studies and anthropology have informed the greatest number of doctoral dissertations. The influence of some disciplines has declined proportionately over time, most notably economics. The dominance of single disciplinary based research suggests the need for initiatives to foster multidisciplinary research.

Visitor's perceptions of tourism impacts: Bruny and Magnetic Islands, Australia

Brent D. Moyle et al. — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:16:26 PDT

Tourism on islands, as elsewhere, can have positive and negative economic, environmental, and sociocultural impacts. Previous research has focused on residents’ perceptions of these impacts with little emphasis on those of the visitor, resulting in a lack of theorizing and empirical investigation into how visitors perceive and evaluate their impacts. Based on the premise that a better understanding of the visitor perspective can underpin the proactive management of some tourism impacts, this study uses Social Exchange Theory to explore visitors’ perceptions of tourism impacts on two Australian islands. Overall, visitors recognized that tourism activity increases impacts and evaluated these as mostly positive for the island communities. While visitors were aware of a range of positive and negative impacts, they judged their own impact to be more positive than that of tourism collectively. The findings point to how research can be used to underpin visitor-focused management and mitigation strategies of island destinations.

Community perceptions of tourism: Bruny and Magnetic Islands, Australia

Brent D. Moyle et al. — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:16:25 PDT

Tourism is increasingly perceived as important for island sustainability, though it also has impacts. Impacts on host communities have negative consequences on desired interactions with visitors, an important visitor appeal of islands. This paper uses social exchange and social representation theories to investigate island community perceptions of tourism development and impacts. The investigations highlight a diversity of island community perspectives, the salient tourism consequences, and importantly the processes that lead to the perceived impacts. On Magnetic Island, the development of resorts, changes to the type of visitor and consequent changes to the social environment were uncovered reasons not to interact with visitors. On Bruny Island, visitors overcrowding island infrastructure was highlighted as a key reason not to interact with visitors. On both islands, the reason not to interact was more due to the process of tourism development decision-making, rather than the consequent impacts of these developments. Overall, the research highlights the need for community inclusion and consultation in sustainable island tourism policy and planning, both to facilitate the process of sustainable development and to educate communities of the likely consequences.

Tourism interaction on islands: the community and visitor social exchange

Brent D. Moyle et al. — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:16:23 PDT

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the cultural interaction between communities and visitors to islands using social exchange theory to enhance the understanding of the island experience. Design/methodology/approach - The method consisted of 30 in-depth interviews with community and tourism stakeholders, and formed part of a multi-phase study that used social exchange theory as the lens to illuminate a range of perspectives of island interaction. This paper presents a comparative case study of Bruny Island in Tasmania, and Magnetic Island in Queensland, Australia. Findings - Findings revealed that local community members have a wide range of motivations for entering into social exchanges with visitors, ranging from solely economic, to a genuine desire to provide quality experiences. Additionally, findings showed the nature of island cultural interaction could vary immensely, from welcoming and meaningful exchanges through to superficial and even hostile contact. Research limitations/implications - As this research is on two islands in Australia, within a particular timeframe, the results may not be representative of island communities generally. Nonetheless, the results are indicative of locals' perceptions of their interactions with visitors. Practical implications - The findings have a range of practical implications for the management of local and visitor interaction on islands. A key implication for island communities is the importance of developing programs that educate and inform locals about the potential benefits of interaction. Additionally, this research illustrates how islands can use cultural interaction to differentiate their tourism product and market island experiences. Originality/value - The paper's contribution is its use of social exchange theory at a micro-level to illuminate a range of local community members' perspectives of their tourism exchanges, in order to enhance understanding of the complex process of interaction between locals and visitors to islands.

Managing outdoor recreation: case studies in the national parks

Brent D. Moyle — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:16:06 PDT

Book review of:

Manning, RE & Anderson, LE 2012, Managing outdoor recreation: case studies in the national parks, CABI International. ISBN: 978178064187

Risk and return: amateur triathletes' reactions to the cancellation of Ironman New Zealand 2012

Matthew James Lamont et al. — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:06:01 PDT

ARC Linkage Project LP 100200014 program 1 stage 1 technical report: understanding the market position occupied by Australian parks agencies

Brent D. Moyle et al. — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:06:00 PDT

ARC Linkage Project LP 100200014 program 1: a selected annotated bibliography of research on the benefits of parks

Brent D. Moyle et al. — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:05:59 PDT

The changing role of parks in 21st century society

Brent D. Moyle — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:15:55 PDT

Testing and shifting the market position of Australian parks agencies: stage 1: technical report

Brent D. Moyle et al. — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:11:17 PDT

Testing and shifting the market position of Australian parks agencies: stage 1: highlights of findings

Brent D. Moyle et al. — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:11:16 PDT

Managers’ perceptions of the benefits of leisure and recreation in parks projected by NSW NPWS

Brent D. Moyle et al. — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:15:52 PDT

Visitors’ expectations of contact with staff at Cape Byron State Conservation Area, Australia

J Schielphack et al. — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:10:52 PDT

Assessing visitor expectations of contact with staff at Cape Byron State Conservation Area

J Schielphack et al. — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:10:51 PDT

The aim of this study is to examine visitor expectations regarding the level of staff contact at the Cape Byron Lighthouse Precinct, located 2 kilometers from Byron Bay, NSW. The Lighthouse Precinct is managed by the Cape Byron Trust and seeks to provide appropriate visitor access and facilities to engage visitors with the local environment and simultaneously regenerate and sustain its natural, cultural and recreational values. Over 600,000 people visit the Lighthouse Precinct each year, of whom 66% are Australians and 34% are from overseas. There has been minimal research published on visitor expectations of staff contact in protected areas. This study interviewed staff to determine how visitors currently interact with staff at the site, as well as surveyed 244 visitors regarding their expectations. The most frequently identified themes that visitors currently ask relate to whales, the lighthouse and access to facilities.

Preliminary analysis of the results from the visitor survey revealed that:

41% of the respondents expect staff to be present during peak season and weekends;

The main services visitors expect are ‘providing information and answering questions’ (83%) and ‘selling food/drinks/souvenirs’ (71%);

68% of visitors expect café staff to be present and 59% expect a national park ranger;

Peak season visitors are significantly more likely to want information from staff about European heritage and about the lighthouse; and

Visitors over 25 years of age are statistically more likely to want information from staff about wildlife, native plants and vegetation, marine environment, indigenous heritage, European heritage, recreation opportunities, whales and whale watching than younger visitors.

An annotated bibliography of the benefits of parks: stage 1: technical report

Brent D. Moyle et al. — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:50:46 PDT

Media in the pre-visit stage of a recreation experience: Port Campbell National Park

Brent D. Moyle et al. — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 20:13:04 PDT

In the past 50 years there has been an enormous expansion in the number and types of protected-area users. This has increased physical pressures on protected areas, and created perceptual impacts for visitors. Importantly, the role of the media in promoting and providing expectations can also be used as a tool to manage potential impacts. Within this context, research was undertaken at Port Campbell National Park (PCNP), Victoria, Australia. Implementing this study not only created awareness of the varied information sources visitor decisions were based on, but also provided valuable insights into the role of the media in the management of expectations. Results indicated that users obtain information from four sources, creating a complex user image and management scenario. An analysis of visitor expectations of the facilities and services at PCNP indicated that induced image sources created inflated expectations of functional attributes. Practical implications are provided for protected area management agencies on the importance of using the media as a tool in the previsit experience, to enhance overall satisfaction. Importantly, creating presite images of functional attributes of parks, in induced information sources, may have important positive implications for overall user satisfaction.

The impacts of protected area tourism on host communities: a tourist’s perspective

Brent D. Moyle — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:48:47 PDT

Visitor satisfaction in natural and protected areas: Port Campbell National Park

Brent Moyle — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:48:45 PDT

Counter-factual scenario planning for long-range sustainable local-level tourism transformation

Char-Lee McLennan et al. — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:48:43 PDT

Many traditionally agricultural dependent economies have transformed towards service industries, such as tourism. This transformation resulted in significant impacts upon economies, communities and the environment. However, existing indicators to measure the impacts of tourism on regions have not been examined across the transformation process, leaving a gap in the understanding of long-range planning for tourism. Therefore, this paper investigates the relationship between economic, social and environmental indicators across the three main phases of tourism transformation. The three broad phases of tourism transformation can be observed to commence (inception), grow (construction) and then enter a steady state (urbanisation). To investigate this, our research surveyed 303 residents across three local areas at different stages of economic development and tourism dependency, to develop tourism, economic, social and environmental indicators. Employing counter-factual data, generalised ordinal logistic regression models were used to predict and compare the impact of changes in tourism on the economy, society and the environment across the regions. The findings indicate that the relationships between tourism and the triple bottom line differ depending on the stage of development. This research provides insight into local-level long-range planning, which can enable more sustainable tourism transformation, and explores avenues for future research.

Visitor satisfaction in natural and protected areas

Brent D. Moyle — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:48:41 PDT