Tourism research “on the Rocks” : a qualitative and quantitative study on Rangitoto Island (Auckland, New Zealand) and its interpretive media

Abstract

Rangitoto Island, an island of volcanic origin, is a unique (eco) tourism attraction and landmark of the one million strong city of Auckland (New Zealand) that has experienced national and international tourist attention since 1890. The present study aimed to fill a gap in the academic literature dealing with Rangitoto tourism and related issues, particularly in the field of environmental education. This involved the recording of demographic data of Rangitoto’s visitors and a thorough investigation of four different interpretive on-site media such as information signs or guided tours. A methodological implementation of the relevant research questions required a questionnaire, face to face interviews and tourist observations. A subsequent quantitative analysis of the data obtained revealed a clear gain in knowledge for the group of visitors which made use of the on-site media. Thereby, particularly the information signs proved to be an effective medium for environmental education. The qualitative analysis of the interviews, however, brought further interesting results for each medium. In addition, about one hundred recorded visitor comments with regards to improvements of the site provide a good base to discuss issues of infrastructure, transport, and the interpretive media. These comments express valuable visitor impressions and can thus be seen as a first response to the decadelong work of the Department of Conservation. Whether Rangitoto can finally be classified as an ecotourism destination will remain a question for future research. This is partially due to incomplete data, but mainly because of the complexity of the phenomenon of ecotourism.