Community engagement in regional development: a case study of a systems approach to tourism in central Australia
Margaret Friedel A and Vanessa Chewings A BA CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, PO Box 2111, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: margaret.friedel@csiro.au
The Rangeland Journal 33(1) 9-22 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ09031
Submitted: 2 June 2009 Accepted: 25 November 2010 Published: 23 March 2011
Abstract
We report a case study of community involvement in industry and regional development which took a whole-system approach to growing the tourist industry in central Australia. All stages of the study are presented beginning with the initial creation of a systems model of the industry in collaboration with the tourism industry, government agencies and the wider community in Stage 1. The process of engaging support for Stage 2 is described and attempts to refine the components of the model and develop an information system in the second stage are outlined.
Neither a refinement of the tourism simulator model nor a functional information system were achieved, although extensive information was gathered and interpreted as part of the process. The outcomes were constrained by institutional difficulties despite clear goodwill among the participants. Contrary to expectations, data that would help build the sub-models were not found. An events and attractions investment sub-model was developed as fully as possible to explore data constraints. Information provided by interviewees was synthesised as far as possible to develop relationships describing economic impacts, but different ways of estimating outcomes were not compatible, even within a single sub-model. A review of recent literature showed that effective modelling required much more sophisticated data gathering than was possible within this study to indicate sustainable yield from different investment strategies.
The study provided a practical demonstration of the challenges involved in genuinely engaging a regional rangeland community in industry and regional development, and the limited benefits of systems dynamics modelling, especially where resources and data are constrained. A useful outcome was the identification of the particular activities which elicited the greatest response from participants – the systems workshops, trialling the demonstration tourism simulator and one-on-one sharing of information. These should form the basis of future community involvement in regional development rather than any attempt to refine modelling tools.
Additional keywords: information system, investment modelling, systems thinking.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2004). Australian Bureau of Statistics. 8635.7.55.001 Latest Issue, Past and Future Releases, March 2004, Explanatory Notes. Available at: www.abs.gov.au (accessed 18 February 2009).Australian Government (2008a). Regional Development Australia. Available at: www.acc.gov.au/index.aspx (accessed 18 February 2009).
Australian Government (2008b). What is a Natural Resource Management region? Available at: www.nrm.gov.au/nrm/region.html (accessed 18 February 2009).
Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (2008). Regional. Available at: www.infrastructure.gov.au/regional/index.aspx (accessed 18 February 2009).
Australian Government Tourism White Paper (2003). ‘A Medium to Long-term Strategy for Tourism.’ (Commonwealth of Australia: Canberra.)
Beesley, L. (2004). Multi-level complexity in the management of collaborative tourism research settings: a prescriptive model. Chapter 3. In: ‘Creating Tourism Knowledge: A Selection of Papers from CAUTHE 2004’. (Eds C. Cooper, C. Arcodia, D. Solnet and M. Whitford.) pp. 19–36. (Common Ground Publishing: Altona, in association with Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre: Southport.)
Beeton, S. (2006). ‘Community Development through Tourism.’ (Landlinks Press: Melbourne.)
Blackstock, K. L., Kelly, G. J., and Horsey, B. L. (2007). Developing and applying a framework to evaluate participatory research for sustainability. Ecological Economics 60, 726–742.
| Developing and applying a framework to evaluate participatory research for sustainability.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Brown, D., Taylor, J., and Bell, M. (2008). The demography of desert Australia. The Rangeland Journal 30, 29–43.
| The demography of desert Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:CAS:528:DC%2BD1MXmt1Shurg%3D&md5=cb6b34ad5cc4aac76454eef2e1d260deCAS |
Desert Knowledge Australia (2010). Available at: www.desertknowledge.com.au/dka/index.cfm (accessed 2 June 2010).
EC3 Global (2007). IPAT. Available at: www.ec3global.com/products-programs/ipat/Default.aspx (accessed 17 February 2009).
Eckersley, R. (1997). ‘Perspectives on progress: is life getting better?’ Working Paper Series 97/27. (CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology, Resource Futures Program: Lyneham.)
Haydon, J. (2007). ‘Indigenous Community Festivals – Top End: an evaluation using Encore Events Evaluation Kit.’ Technical Report Series. (Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre: Southport.)
Holling, C. S. (1978). ‘Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management.’ (John Wiley and Sons: Chichester.)
Jago, L., and Dwyer, L. (2006). ‘Economic Evaluation of Special Events: a Practitioner’s Guide.’ (Common Ground Publishing: Altona, in association with Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre: Southport.)
Jones, N. A., Perez, P., Measham, T. G., Kelly, G. J., D’Aquino, P., Daniell, K. A., Dray, A., and Ferrand, N. (2009). Evaluating participatory modeling: developing a framework for cross-case analysis. Environmental Management 44, 1180–1195.
| Evaluating participatory modeling: developing a framework for cross-case analysis.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 19847478PubMed |
National Centre for Studies in Travel and Tourism (2005). ‘Our Outback – Partnerships and Pathways to Success in Tourism.’ (Desert Knowledge Australia: Alice Springs.)
Norgaard, R. B. (2004). Learning and knowing collectively. Ecological Economics 49, 231–241.
| Learning and knowing collectively.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Northern Territory Tourist Commission (2004). ‘Territory Tourism Selected Statistics 2002–03.’ (Northern Territory Tourist Commission: Darwin.)
Rea, N., and Messner, J. (2008). Constructing Aboriginal NRM livelihoods: Anmatyerr employment in water management. The Rangeland Journal 30, 85–93.
| Constructing Aboriginal NRM livelihoods: Anmatyerr employment in water management.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Senge, P. M. (1992). ‘The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.’ (Random House: Milsons Point.)
Stafford Smith, M., and Huigen, J. (2009). From desert syndrome to desert system: developing a science of desert living. Dialogue 28, 8–18.
Sterman, J. D. (2000). ‘Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modelling for a Complex World.’ (McGraw-Hill Higher Education: Boston.)
Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (2007). IPAT. Available at: www.crctourism.com.au/bookshop (accessed 17 February 2009).
Taylor, J., Ffowcs-Williams, I., and Crowe, M. (2008). Linking desert businesses: the impetus, the practicalities, the emerging pay-offs, and building on the experiences. The Rangeland Journal 30, 187–195.
| Linking desert businesses: the impetus, the practicalities, the emerging pay-offs, and building on the experiences.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Tourism NT (2006a). Research News, June 2006. Issued November 2006. (Strategic Research, Tourism NT: Darwin.)
Tourism NT (2006b). Annual Report 2005–2006. Available at: www.tourismnt.com.au/nt/nttc/about/annual_report.html (accessed 3 October 2007).
Tourism NT (2006c). Reliability of the National Visitor Survey and International Visitor Survey Data. Available at: www.tourismnt.com.au/nt/system/galleries/download/NTTC_Research/NVS_x_IVS_Data_Reliability.pdf (accessed 17 February 2009).
Tourism NT (2008). NT Tourism Industry. Available at: www.tourismnt.com.au/nt/nttc/about/nt_tourism.html (accessed 17 February 2009).
Tourism Australia (2007). Sharing culture: indigenous experiences and the international visitor. Available at: www.tra.australia.com/content/documents/Niche%20reports/Sharing%20Culture-%20Indigenous%20Experiences.pdf (accessed 18 February 2009).
Tourism Central Australia (2009). Tourism Central Australia. Available at: www.centralaustraliantourism.com/ (accessed 17 February 2009).
Tremblay, P. (2006). The demand for indigenous tourism: are there really ‘disagreements’ on how little we know? In: ‘To the City and Beyond. Proceedings of the 16th Council for Australian University Tourism and University Education Conference’. 6–9 February 2006. (CD-ROM) (Eds G. B. O’Mahony and P. A. Whitelaw.) pp. 1642–1652. (Victoria University: Melbourne.)
Tremblay, P., Boyle, A., Rigby, H., and Haydon, J. (2006). ‘Assessing the Value and Contribution of the Darwin Festival 2004: a Trial of the National Events Evaluation Kit.’ Technical Report Series. (Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre: Southport.)
Ventana Systems Inc. (1998). ‘Vensim Users and Reference Manuals.’ (Ventana Systems Inc.: Waverley.)
Walker, P. A., Greiner, R., McDonald, D., and Lyne, V. (1998). The Tourism Futures Simulator: a systems thinking approach. Environmental Modelling & Software 14, 59–67.
| The Tourism Futures Simulator: a systems thinking approach.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Walker, P., Lee, D., Goddard, R., Kelly, G., and Pedersen, J. (2005). ‘Regional Tourism Modelling: the South-West Tapestry.’ (Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism: Southport.)
White, N. (2004). Smaller regional centres can benefit from tourism. Advance Tourism, Mount Waverley, Victoria. Available at: http://advancetourism.com.au.s32.dnsdotnetpark.info/tourism-references.aspx (accessed 17 February 2009).
