Annual and Quarterly Patterns of Reef and Rainforest Tourism in
North Queensland from Exit Surveys Conducted at Cairns Domestic
Airport
Research Report
Karen McNamara and Bruce Prideaux
School of Business, James Cook University
ISBN 9781921359163
Published September 2008
Introduction
This Annual Report is a culmination of research conducted in
2007 through tourist exit surveys at Cairns Domestic Airport. This
research was funded through the Australian Government’s
Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility (MTSRF). The exit
surveys help in exploring both reef and rainforest tourism in North
Queensland. As such, this research has the potential to add another
dimension and context to the following MTSRF Projects:
The aim of the survey was to develop a comprehensive data set,
on a monthly basis, that would allow the research team to
investigate a range of issues including tourists’ demographic
profiles, motivations, activities, segmentation and seasonality on
an annual basis. The data contained in this report will provide a
baseline against which future trends can be measured. To date, data
has been released on a quarterly basis. This will continue into the
future. Importantly future barometers and annual reports will track
changes in a number of reporting categories providing readers with
up-to-date analyses of trends that are occurring in arrival
patterns, motivations and experiences.
The Cairns Domestic Airport was selected as the survey site
because it is the major exit point from the region.
Throughout this Annual Report, data is provided for each quarter
as well as on an annual basis. The quarters of data collection were
as follows: January-March; April-June; July-September and;
October-December. A total of 1,451 surveys were completed by
tourists at the Cairns Domestic Airport during this period.
The results in the Annual Report are broadly grouped into the
following three thematic areas:
-
Socio-demographic characteristics of surveyed visitors;
-
Surveyed visitors’ travel behaviour throughout the region
and motivations for travel; and
-
The experiences, satisfaction and recommendations of surveyed
visitors.
The individual quarterly data that has already been
released can be accessed at the MTSRF
website. Given that fieldwork for this project
began in November 2006, the first four quarterly barometers have
been as follows: November to January (Q1); February to April (Q2);
May to July (Q3); and August to October (Q4). For 2008 onwards, the
quarters will be shifted so that they align with the calendar year,
and as such this Annual Report for 2007 will analyse data from
January to December.
