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Growing vehicle numbers in Australian national parks are creating problems that visitors and park managers are more accustomed to seeing in urban areas. Noise and air pollution, traffic congestion, visual intrusions, poor road and pedestrian safety, erosion of the landscape and demands for more road and parking infrastructure are posing difficult challenges for park managers, as they try to balance the objective of environmental protection with that of visitor access. In response, park authorities at Cradle Mountain in Tasmania and the Grampians in Victoria have introduced voluntary shuttle bus services in an attempt to relieve the pressures created by these growing numbers.
Forcing visitors to use shuttle bus services through restrictive and coercive measures raises problems in relation to political acceptability, community support, social injustice, costly enforcement and mitigation procedures, and impacts on the visitor experience. Park authorities are therefore interested in developing strategic communication strategies aimed at persuading visitors to voluntarily use these services. To achieve this, park authorities need a clear understanding of the factors that influence visitors' travel mode choices so they can develop effective communication interventions to influence behaviour. This study applies theoretical frameworks grounded in social psychology to design, deliver and evaluate persuasive communication strategies aimed at increasing patronage on the shuttle bus services.
This study is being conducted with the support of Tourism Tasmania, the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, and Parks Victoria. This research is being funded through a Sustainable Tourism CRC Postgraduate Research Scholarship.
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