How many domestic visits in 2008?
| Total | 38 million visits |
|---|
| Adults | 31 million visits |
|---|
| Children | 7 million visits |
|---|
What parks do they visit?
The top five parks for domestic visits are:
- Blue Mountains National Park
- Royal National Park
- Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
- Lane Cove National Park
- Kosciusko National Park
Central Branch received the greatest number of domestic visits.
Who visits?
Region of Origin | % of Visits |
|---|
Sydney | 58.44 |
Remainder NSW | 32.32 |
Victoria | 3.11 |
Queensland | 3.05 |
ACT | 1.73 |
SA | 0.75 |
WA | 0.32 |
TAS | 0.23 |
NT | 0.04 |
Males were more likely to visit than females.
25-34 year olds were a higher proportion of visitors than they represent in the population.
35-49 year olds were a higher proportion of visitors and contributed to visits in greater proportions than they represent in the population.
What do the visitors do?
54% of visitors undertook walking. Water-based recreation, picnicking and dining were also commonly undertaken.
Visitors over 50 were more likely to undertake walking and touring and sightseeing than other age groups.
18-24 year old and 35-49 year old visitors were more likely to undertake water-based recreation.
Visitors under 35 were more likely to undertake picnicking and dining.
How satisfied are the visitors?
90% of visitors were satisfied.
Source of data
NPWS used a telephone survey to collect this data. More than 1,200 people were interviewed every four weeks from February 2008 to February 2009, giving a total of 15,715 interviews. Respondents from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT were asked about NSW parks they had visited within the last four weeks.
Read the full report (NationalParkVisitsNSW.pdf - 1.89MB).
This survey will be repeated in 2010 to track changes to our domestic visitation.
The study was based on a survey method developed by Parks Victoria. DECC wishes to acknowledge the generosity of Parks Victoria in sharing their experiences and the method.
What's next on NPWS's Visitor Research Agenda?
Next up, we will be releasing findings from focus groups exploring people's preferences, motivations and barriers to participation in outdoor recreation in natural areas.
This will be followed soon after by findings from a telephone survey investigating people's demand for different types of outdoor recreation in natural areas across NSW.
