Home > The Relation Between Place Attachment and Management Preferences of Visitors at Remote Coastal Campsites in Western Australia

The Relation Between Place Attachment and Management Preferences of Visitors at Remote Coastal Campsites in Western Australia


Posted on 22 April 2013

TitleThe Relation Between Place Attachment and Management Preferences of Visitors at Remote Coastal Campsites in Western Australia
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsTonge, J, Valesini FJ, Moore SA, Beckley LE, Ryan MM
JournalVisitor Studies
Volume16
Issue1
Pagination39 - 58
Date Published01/2013
ISSN1934-7715
Keywordsmanagement, Ningaloo region, place attachment, tourism
AbstractVisitors who exhibit place attachment often demonstrate greater concern regarding how a place is managed. However, the extent to which the dimensions of attachment are related to management preferences has not been sufficiently investigated. Place attachment of visitors to coastal campsites along the southern Ningaloo coastline of northwestern Australia and its relation with management preferences were examined via an onsite survey. The relation was investigated using a suite of routines in the non-parametric multivariate statistics package PRIMER v6, providing the first example of the use of these types of statistical approaches in place research. Place attachment was measured using the dimensions of Place Identity, Place Dependence, and Everybody's Happy (a new, affective-based dimension). Within each dimension, significantly different groups of visitors were identified based on differences in their responses to the place attachment survey items. This was achieved using hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis in conjunction with a Similarity Profile (SIMPROF) test. Subsequent analysis using the BVSTEP procedure showed that the pattern of differences among visitors in their responses to place attachment items produced significant though weak correlations with their level of support for various management actions. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of the results for future research on place and associated preferences for management actions.
URLhttp://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10645578.2013.768070
DOI10.1080/10645578.2013.768070
Short TitleVisitor Studies
Refereed DesignationRefereed