Analysis of Visitor Information/Interpretation Needs at Mount Cook Village

Tourism and Leisure Consulting Group-Ernst and Young, New Zealand

Department of Conservation

1996

Department of Conservation

enquiries@doc.govt.nz

recreation@doc.govt.nz

Visitors are broadly classified into three main groups Predominantly short stop trips. Self-reliant recreationists. Free and independent travellers. Approximately 70% of both day and overnight visitors to the village are international visitors and two thirds of all visitors are day visitors. A total of 202 face-to-face interviews of both open-ended and precoded questions were conducted among visitors to Mount Cook Village from 6th March to 10th April, 1996. Interviews were conducted in both English and Japanese. Some of the key findings include: There is an acute need for better signposting around the village.

Visitors are obviously very confused about where they were and how to get to where they wanted. There is a need for more information about the walking tracks around the village and those that beginning of the village. Visitors require information about where the tracks beginning, and the points of interest along the track. Visitors do not want their experience of walking the track spoilt by the intrusion of large signs of information boards. However, the provision of pamphlets that could be used to explain certain features on the track, with information boards at the beginning of the tracks would greatly assist in meeting visitors’ needs information and interpretation. Approximately one third of visitors interviewed had not visited the visitor centre during their visit to the Mount Cook Village.

Given the under representation of short stay to all groups in the sample, we believe that the proportion of visitors to Mount Cook Village that do not visit the visitor centre may be considerably higher than this. The major reasons were not visiting the visitor centre were principally a function of lack of time, awareness, and availability (how long the centre is open). The key elements visitors felt were extremely or very important for a visitor centre and Mount Cook Village were helpful staff, weather information, pamphlets and books, information and outdoor activities, information points around the park and visual displays. The length of time spent in the Mount Cook Village and more generally, the Mount Cook area can range from a 45 minute refreshment break to several weeks of tramping and climbing in the area, and this is the greatest determinant of visitors’ information and interpretation needs. Information and interpretation needs can be classified into three groups: a functional information requirement, interest information and interpretation requirements and entertainment information-interpretation requirements.

Keywords:

Activities, attractions, Marketing, Niche Markets, Market Segments, Consumer Behaviour, Aoraki, Mount Cook, Department of Conservation, Tourism, Tourist,  

Held at the Department of Conservation Library, Wellington

Survey

Canterbury

Outdoor Recreation

Tourists

Outdoors

Accomodation and facilities, Commercial, Mountains, National Parks, Non-organised, Organised, Travel and Transport

Barriers, Benefits, Delivery, Impacts - economic, Impacts- social, Participation, Performance, Tourism

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June 21, 2012

June 21, 2012