Tourist Management Strategies Assessment - Australia Zoo

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Most of the other problems are caused due to the improper behavior of the visitors. For example, even after the continuous warning and signage, the visitors seem to feed the animals with the inappropriate foods. And even after that, they tend to throw out the leftovers in public areas, instead of in the dustbins. These actions can affect the hygiene and the cleanliness of zoo.

Another problem due to the tourist behavior is that, visitors tends to pet the animals to the extent that it can irritate and disturb them. For example, the visitors tend to pet the sleeping koalas which can irritate them.

Another issue which is found in the zoo is that, even though there are lot of toilet facilities throughout the premises, a very few of them are not disabled friendly. But most of them has the facilities to serve disabled peoples.

Another issue that is found in the zoo is that, pavements laid in the Africa and Bindi’s Island have a mixture of powdered gravel and dust which can fly in the air. This will not be good for the visitors who are allergic to the dust.

Another issue which can see in the food court situated in the Taj Mahal building is that space between the dining area and the food counters is actually less. Even if they have provided multiple counters for variety of foods which actually saves a lot of time. It can get congested on busy days.

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Current management practices at the Australia Zoo

Management of tourist space is really important. In order to reduce the social and natural impact, the space management is really important. It is very necessary to define the areas which are allowed for the tourists and which can support the tourist behavior. There are mainly four issues happens associated with the site management. They are congestion and crowding, queuing, visitor orientation and cross cultural interaction. Proper management of the site is required to provide solutions and strategies to reduce these negative effects. In Australia zoo, all the crew members play crucial role in the proper management of the Zoo. In other words, starting from the top to the refreshments and retail sellers are the key players in the zoo management.

Proper management practices have been followed in the zoo. If we look from the start, i.e. from the parking facilities, we can see that the zoo management have made more than an acre of land for just the parking of the visitor vehicles, keeping in mind that the zoo faces excess crowding during the weekends and holidays. Apart from that they have separate spacing for the staff parking.

Even if there are public bus services, which happens to be not quite often, the zoo management is providing shuttle services to Beerwah rail station to transport visitors to the rail stations.

They have made proper and different ways for the exit and entry to the zoo in order to control the crowd and to improve the visitor’s behavior in the zoo. proper signage is used to help the visitors. The Zoo has more than 6 ticketing counters which are open counter, unlike the traditional form of counter which is used to be barricaded with some sort of grills. Even this simple design can create a warm welcome in the mind of the visitors.

Use of different type of passes and permits are another type of management measure used in the management of visitors to a site and helps in the structure behavior in zones and designated areas. In areas where a well-defined and controlled space is involved, visitors may be given permits to participate in supervises or restricted activities. (Altman, 1993). In Australia zoo, we can see similar type of management, where the zoo is providing different type of passes like two day passes, monthly, annual passes etc. Apart from that zoo is also providing premium passes, VVIP passes etc. where the visitors can have close encounters with the animals. The visitors can also get to know about the behind the scenes happening in the wildlife hospital. These types of passes are a form of control mechanism in the tourist behavior of a site.

Social norms, effectively the reaction of others to public behavior can also shape sustainable on-site behavior. (Pearce, 2005). Smoking is one of such activity which can affect the activities and settings of the zoo. These kind of activities should be managed properly by the management, if the opearions needs to be effective. The zoo has provided a number of smoking zones within various locations of the zoo. Apart from smoking zones, the zoo management also provide refreshment and toilet facilities etc. so that it will not create a negative behavior in the mind of visitors.

A further mechanism shaping sustainable to behavior is better infrastructure design. The more environmentally deterministic approach in infrastructure design is to build and organize the setting so that the negative behavior is difficult to perform. (Pearce, 2005) This may include the construction of railings, barriers, walkway systems etc. Improved infrastructure can work well in areas where the congestion and queuing are inevitable (Pearce, 2005). The zoo has a lot of resting points, disabled friendly ramps and toilets within the premises so that it helps in meeting the physiological needs of the visitors. Psychological needs of the visitors can be met by providing information on the attractions and other features of the site. Another technique is to create a themed atmosphere matching the attraction. For example, the zoo is divided into various areas like Africa, south east Asia etc. upon the animals exhibited over these places, and even they have recreated an ecosystem matching to these animal’s native hood. Combination of these techniques has enhanced the experience of the site. Safety and health promoting infrastructure is also a vital part in reducing the negative visitor behavior. The zoo has taken very serious safety measures double fencing in the areas where animals kept, under continuous supervision of trained staffs. The zoo is fully covered under the surveillance of the security cameras.