NERP TE Project 12.3 - Relative social and economic values of residents and tourists in th

Survey data from 2012-2014 assessing the relative social and economic values of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area for residents and tourists. The project, associated with James Cook University and the Australian Ocean Data Network, used questionnaires to measure the importance of non-market assets like cassowaries and waterfalls against development values. Analysis employed multivariate methods to gauge satisfaction and identify conservation priorities across different stakeholder groups.

Use Cases

• Compare resident versus tourist valuation of specific environmental features like cassowaries or waterfalls based on the described survey.
• Model trade-offs between conservation of core WTWHA attributes and other values like road development or employment mentioned in the project goals.
• Analyze seasonal variation in tourist perceptions using data collected at Cairns airport at different times of the year.
• Identify stakeholder priorities for conservation and marketing strategies based on the multivariate analysis of satisfaction and relative value.

Strengths

• Data collection designed to control for seasonality by surveying tourists at Cairns airport at different times of the year.
• Analysis employs multivariate methods to measure satisfaction and relative value across stakeholder groups.
• Project aims to provide a practical, illustrated means of assessment for environmental managers worldwide.

Limitations

• Row count and dataset scale are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Questionnaire surveys distributed to residents (householders) in the WTWHA and to tourists via exit surveys at Cairns airport.

Time Range

2012-2014

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 20:57:49.144681; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA), Queensland, Australia, with tourist data collected at Cairns airport.