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 9781921359347
Published September 2009
Introduction
This annual report is a culmination of research conducted in
2008 through visitor exit surveys at the domestic and international
terminals of Cairns Airport. This research was funded through the
Australian Government's Marine and Tropical Sciences Research
Facility (MTSRF). The exit survey explores both reef and rainforest
tourism in North Queensland and 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 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 analysis of trends
that are occurring in arrival patterns, motivations and
experiences.
The Cairns Airport was selected as the survey site because it is
the major exit point from the region.
Throughout the annual report, data is provided on a quarterly
and annual basis. Moreover, an annual comparison is provided with
the 2007 data1. The quarters of data collection were January to
March; April to June; July to September and October to December. A
total of 1,510 surveys were completed by tourists at the Cairns
Airport during 2008.
The results in the annual report are broadly grouped into the
following three thematic areas:
-
The socio-demographic characteristics of respondents;
-
The motivations and behaviours of respondents; and
-
The experiences and satisfaction of respondents.
The individual quarterly data that has already been released can
be accessed at the MTSRF website.
This annual report analyses data from January to December
2008.
