Mount Ngongotaha walks are the one of the best tracks situated near Rotorua. It is located near the city just at the distance of 6.5 km. It is at the height of 757 m and is accessible by the Jubilee track (DOC, Mt Ngongotaha Jubilee Track, 2018). It is a walking track, starts from the Paradise valley Rd. Lower of the jubilee park is shared by the nature loop, which is a 3.7 km long loop. There is a space for the car parking at the start of the track. Bikes are not allowed on the tracks. Nature loop is walked in the clockwise direction whereas Jubilee track is walked in both the directions (DOC, Mt Ngongotaha Nature Loop Track, 2018).
Source: (Rotoura-Travel-Secrets, 2018)
The loop track shows the beautiful flora and fauna of Mount Ngongotaha to the families or school groups.
Due to the increasing number of visitors in Rotorua who wants to perform and engagement in outdoor activities that includes walking, jogging, horse riding, and mountain biking, make the authorities to expand the existing Mt Ngongataha science reserve to meet the demands of the increased visitors. Due to the increased number of visitors, there will be several negative impacts on the environment. It requires developing strategies for monitoring the visitors in the protected areas (motowalknz, 2016). In order to minimise the effects of visitors on the environment, there are four main strategies.
Increased visitors numbers in the protected areas leads to several adverse impacts on the environment. More and more number of people is interested in nature and cultural studies. These increased numbers of visitors are demanding services that support them and high quality recreational opportunities (Belsoy, Korir , & Yego, 2012). Some negative impacts on the environment due to the increased number of visitors in the protected areas include more demand for fresh water, disposal of litter and sewage, more vehicles in and near the area cause air pollution, crowding, tracks and recreation vehicles, trampling, taking souvenirs, and many more (EuropeanCommision, 2005). To construct the infrastructures like creating more space for the car parking and development of large number of toilets require vegetation removal on larger areas. Managing waste produced by humans will also be a big challenge for the protected area mangers (Managing Visitor Impacts, 2018).
As increased number of visitors in the protected areas causes several negative impacts on the environment, therefore it requires proper strategies and plan for protecting and preserving these areas from the negative environmental effects. The main purpose of these strategies is to control, mitigate ad influence visitor impacts on the areas. Some of the main strategies are described below (Managing Visitor Impacts, 2018):
This report will elaborate visitor management strategy to protect areas. This will be further categorised as hard and soft approaches (BalticProtectedareasandTourism, 2015).
Visitor Management: Visitor management is one of the best strategies to reduce the impact of increased visitors. It has become a major tool at large scale to control visitor flows. There are three ways of managing visitors (Mason, 2005), these are as follows:
To limit the visitor numbers, the first step is determining the carrying capacity of the area. According to the carrying capacity of the place, some threshold limits at which the character and the ambience of the place are damaged are determined (Belsoy, Korir , & Yego, 2012). These limits are described below:
Second practise is modification in the resources as a part of the visitor management. Main aim of this approach is to minimise the damage through resource adaption (Mason, 2005). This method suggests the following approaches:
These two approaches ‘controlling visitor numbers’ and ‘resource adaption have evolved largely in recent years due to the mass tourism. Third approach is modifying the behaviour of visitors through some form of regulation. This method includes number of suggestion to minimise the negative impact of increased visitors (UNEP). Behaviour of visitors can be modified by following ways:
Other strategies and tactics for managing number of visitors are as (UNEP):
Modifying behaviour of visitors is all about educating visitors. There are two major categories related to the visitor management, these are termed as ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches. ‘Hard’ approaches involve economic management, physical management, and regulatory management. On the other hand ‘soft’ approaches use interpretation and education. ‘Hard’ approaches are successful to some extend only while ‘soft’ approaches plays important role in visitor management. Two approaches under ‘soft’ approaches are code of conduct and interpretation (Mason, 2005).
Interpretation is defined as a way of making people aware through communication about the significance of a place in order to make them enjoy it more, know its importance and develop a sense of responsibility for its conservation. Interpretation aims to stimulate people’s empathy towards conservation of areas by enhancing their understanding about the place. Also interpretation aims to develop interest and understanding in visitors (Tourism in Protected Areas). Interpretation benefits in reducing impact of visitors and support of public for the park. Three fundamental importance of interpretation are promotion of management goals, better understanding of the reserved area, and promotion of understanding of the agency. Interpretation techniques that help in developing the plan for visitor management are as follows:
Visitors need basic information about the park before they arrive such as they want to know about the natural and cultural resources of the area, how to get into the area, what will be the cost to get into area, and its programmes and facilities. And after getting into the park their needs change (Jones, Shone, & Memon, 2003). They want to know the details of resources and the available facilities, types of activities that can be performed and what kind of activities are forbidden, and also want information regarding safety and security of visitors. This development of interest about area makes visitors more curious to get knowledge about natural environment and history of the protected area and also about the role of the visitors (Managing Visitor Impacts, 2018).
Initially interpretation services are provided to the customers at little additional cost or without any fees. But with the increase in interest of visitors to gather more knowledge and information, it becomes expensive for the agencies to provide the detailed information and interpretation services at free of costs. Advancement in technology and multi-media techniques has made interpretation services available with ease to the visitors (MMV, 2012).
Monitoring is essential part of project planning and management. This strategy of visitor management focuses on limiting the number of visitors in the protected areas. It requires certain kind of information to perform the monitoring of the strategy (B?lt?re?u, 2011). Following are the considerations that are needed for monitoring the strategy:
Cost: It is simple to collect baseline data and the subsequent data that does not require large investments or time to the administration. Data for the number of visitors in the protected area is easily available and this monitoring cost can be easily collected from the visitors’ fees (LatvianCountryTourismAssociation, 2012).
Personnel: Data needed for the monitoring process can be collected by the park staff. But third parties can also be used for the data collection such as naturalist guides, community members, university biologists.
Recordkeeping: Some data is needed on the daily basis and it requires being managed properly and very good recordkeeping system. This include number of visitors and the characteristics of the visitors, amount collected from fees, and complaints and observation of the visitors.
Visitor questionnaires and surveys: Evaluation of characteristics of visitors and different levels of satisfaction with different aspects of the area is important for the sustainable tourism management. This evaluation can be done by asking question and conducting surveys on the visitors. A survey that describes the objectives of the management should be presented to a sample of visitors on regular basis. To know about the opinions of visitors, there should be a visitor register.
Conclusion
As due to the increase number of visitors in the Mt Ngongotaha walks near Rotorua, there are several numbers of negative environmental impacts that are causing problems for both the environment and the management. This requires developing more infrastructure like building more toilets and space for parking leads to vegetation removal. Also increase in human numbers in the area cause sewage and waste management problems. There are four main strategies to reduce the negative impact of the increased visitors. This report discussed about one of those four strategies that is visitor management. Visitor management talks about managing the number of visitors in the protected areas. This includes three ways such as controlling the number of visitors, resource modification, and the modification in the behaviour of the visitors. Further visitor behaviour modification is achieved by two approaches that are ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches. ‘Soft’ approach further describes two approaches that are code of conduct and the interpretation. Discussion about ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches tells that ‘soft’ approach is better than as compared to the ‘hard’ approach. In the last report also discussed about the process for monitoring the strategy. From the entire discussion it is found that it requires proper management strategy to control the number of visitors in the protected area. And also there is need of proper planning for development in the area to support the increased number of visitors. Main aim of the strategy is to reduce the negative impact of the increased visitors on the environment.
Reference
Managing Visitor Impacts. (2018). Retrieved from nmssanctuaries: https://nmssanctuaries.blob.core.windows.net/sanctuaries-prod/media/archive/management/international/pdfs/day3_impacts_manual.pdf
B?lt?re?u, A. (2011). Methods of monitoring the visitors inside the natural protected areas. Cactus Tourism Journal , 2(2), 39-43. Retrieved from https://cactus-journal-of-tourism.ase.ro/Pdf/vol4/5%20Baltaretu%20Andreea.pdf
BalticProtectedareasandTourism. (2015). Guide to sustainable tourism in protected areas. Retrieved from Europarc: https://www.europarc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2012_Parks_and_Benefits_Guide_to_sustainable_tourism_in_Protected_Areas.pdf
Belsoy, J., Korir , J., & Yego, J. (2012). Environmental Impacts of Tourism in Protected Areas. Journal of Environment and Earth Science, 2(10), 64-73.
DOC. (2018). Mt Ngongotaha Jubilee Track. Retrieved from Department of condervation: https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/bay-of-plenty/places/mount-ngongotaha-scenic-reserve/things-to-do/mt-ngongotaha-jubilee-track/
DOC. (2018). Mt Ngongotaha Nature Loop Track. Retrieved from Department of conservation: https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/bay-of-plenty/places/mount-ngongotaha-scenic-reserve/things-to-do/mt-ngongotaha-nature-loop-track/
EuropeanCommision. (2005). Assessing Environmental Impacts. Retrieved from Europa: https://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/pdf/archive/other_reports_studies_and_documents/envti0413167enn_002.pdf
Jones, T., Shone, M. C., & Memon, A. (2003). Emerging Tourism Planning Processes and Practices in New Zealand: A local and regional perspective. Retrieved from Lincoln: https://www.lincoln.ac.nz/pagefiles/6862/1270_1270_report56f_s_s9802.pdf
LatvianCountryTourismAssociation. (2012). Visitor Monitoring Guidelines in Protected Nature Areas. Retrieved from celotajs: https://www.celotajs.lv/cont/prof/proj/PolProp/Dokumenti/Monitoring_methodology_en.pdf
Mason, P. (2005). Visitor Management in Protected Areas: From ‘Hard’ to ‘Soft’ Approaches? Current Issues in Tourism, 8(2-3), 181-194.
(2012). The 6th International Conference on Monitoring and Management of Visitors in Recreational and Protected Areas. Retrieved from Miun.diva: https://miun.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:580065/FULLTEXT01.pdf
motowalknz. (2016). Mt Ngongotaha – Nature Loop and Jubilee Track. Retrieved from https://motowalknz.com/2016/06/08/mt-ngongotaha-nature-loop-and-jubilee-track/
Rotoura-Travel-Secrets. (2018). Mystical Mount Ngongotaha Walks. Retrieved from Rotoura Travel Secrets: https://www.rotorua-travel-secrets.com/mount-ngongotaha-walks.html
Styles, D., Schönberger, H., & Martos, J. G. (2013). Best Environmental Management Practice in THE TOURISM SECTOR. JRC Scientific and Policy Report on. European Union. Viitattu, 16.
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