Airlie Beach tourism impacts study: visit jcusurvey.com

Airlie Beach tourism impacts study: visit jcusurvey.com

First published February 3, 2014

A study into community well-being and tourism in Airlie Beach is underway, and local residents are being invited to share their thoughts.

The James Cook University study, which involves an online survey, will investigate links between community well-being and tourism development in Airlie Beach.

The study is being conducted by Elena Konovalov, a PhD student at JCU’s School of Business, as part of her PhD research under the supervision of Associate Professor Laurie Murphy and Professor Gianna Moscardo.

Ms Konovalov said the study would assess the social aspects of community well-being in Airlie Beach and how and in what ways tourism affects it.

“Secondary data analysis has show that on average at any given day, every second person in Airlie Beach is a visitor, therefore tourism significantly affects community well-being in this community,” Ms Konovalov said.

“Tourism is frequently promoted as a developmental tool for regional communities; however tourism can contribute as well as detract from the community well-being of small tropical communities.”

Ms Konovalov said previous research into tourism impacts had shown that different styles and scales of tourism development impact community well-being differently.

“Managing tourism impacts on community well-being can be a difficult task for local government and community groups as consequences of tourism are multilayered and far reaching.”

Ms Konovalov said further research was needed to understand the mechanisms of how tourism impacts community well-being.

The online survey for Airlie Beach residents with questions about social aspects of community well-being and how those are affected by tourism can be accessed by visiting the www.jcusurvey.com website.

Ms Konovalov said all Airlie Beach residents were invited to participate in the survey and contribute to better understanding of this topic.

All the survey participants can enter into a prize draw with chance to win one of ten $20 vouchers from various local shops.

The survey will take around 15 minutes to complete and the survey findings will be presented to the community in the middle of the year.

For those who are not familiar with, or have access to the internet there will still be an opportunity to participate in the survey as well.

Ms Konovalov will be visiting Airlie Beach in the end of March 2014 and will set up research stations in public places.

Passers-by will be invited to answer the survey on the spot by providing their responses via iPads.

Ms Konovalov urged Airlie Beach residents to participate in the survey.

“Your answers will help to understand what are the preferences and opinions of Airlie Beach residents about different styles of tourism in the community.”

The survey is open now and will run until April 2014.

Ms Konovalov said the same survey is currently being conducted in Bowen and also on the Atherton Tablelands in the next few months, so it will be possible to see what the differences and similarities are in the opinions of the three communities’ residents.

For more information, contact principal investigator Elena Konovalov, on (07) 4781 3130 or via email: Elena.Konovalov@my.jcu.edu.au

JCU Media contact: Caroline Kaurila (07) 4781 4586 or 0437 028 175