Queensland Ecotourism Plan 2003-2008 - Tourism Queensland

The Masterplan for Queensland’s Parks System recognises the important role ecotourism
has in not only fostering a conservation ethic within the community but also making a
significant contribution to the economic well-being of Queensland. The Masterplan also
recognises the need to manage Queensland’s parks system in a manner that will enable a
range of styles of visitation in a variety of different settings. While settings will vary within
individual parks, each park will be classified as fitting into one of the following four broad
setting categories that reflect the level of use:
High profile parks – parks strongly promoted domestically, interstate and overseas, with
defined, highly developed sites receiving high levels of use especially by large groups.
Popular parks – parks with defined, developed sites receiving moderate to high levels of use
and with a range of facilities and opportunities.
Explorer parks – low-key developments, low to moderate levels of use.
Self-reliant parks – few or no developments, low and irregular levels of use.
The setting of a park will determine the style of activities allowed, visitor group sizes, the style
and amount of infrastructure and the extent and nature of commercial activities permitted
within the park.
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The settings approach to visitor management is equally relevant to privately owned natural
areas as it is to publicly managed protected areas. The settings approach provides for effective
management of the natural area in terms of environmental and cultural resource protection
and the provision of appropriate infrastructure, interpretation and human management
presence. In addition, the settings approach provides a clear direction for the marketing focus
of the tourism product in terms of the experiences offered and the associated tourism markets
that should be targeted.
The second part of the Queensland ecotourism experience equation is the ability of the
ecotourism industry to provide a variety of ecotourism activities within and across the range of
settings in a natural area without compromising the integrity of the individual settings. While
the ecotourism sector of the industry has a defined set of key principles (see definition of
ecotourism) which provide the basis for how operators should manage their businesses, the
translation of these principles on the ground can result in a diverse range of ecotourism
activities and enterprises across the ecotourism spectrum. The method of travel, group size,
style of information delivery and extent of physical skill required by participants all play a role in
shaping the style and scale of the ecotourism product and activity.
Ecotourism Stakeholders
The ecotourism industry has a wide variety of stakeholders. Each stakeholder group has a role
to play in developing and managing ecotourism in Queensland. Stakeholders and their general
areas of responsibility with respect to ecotourism are outlined below with specific
responsibilities for implementing the Queensland Ecotourism Plan 2003 – 2008 detailed in the
Action Plans in Chapter 2.
The tourism industry
Queensland’s broader tourism industry (including tourism operators, Regional and Local
Tourism Organisations and the travel trade) provides many complementary services to the
ecotourism industry, such as transport, accommodation, marketing, sales and booking services.
In many cases, the ecotourism component of a visitor’s holiday in Queensland is just one part
of a much broader itinerary.