Understanding Ethnic Tourists - the Tjapukai experienceWhat is
ethnic tourism?
Ethnic tourism is when travellerschoose to experience first hand
thepractices of another culture, and mayinvolve performances,
presentationsand attractions portraying or presentedby small, often
isolated Indigenouscommunities. Examples of communitiesthat attract
tourists for this reasoninclude the Amish communities of theUnited
States, the First Nation societiesof Canada and North America,
theMaori of New Zealand, AustraliasAboriginal communities, the
Bushmenof South Africa and the Ibo tribes ofIndonesia.
Why is it important to understandethnic tourism?
Australian tourism - particularly in the1990s - has promoted
images of Aborigi-nal people and culture to most of itsoverseas
markets, including Germany,Japan, the United Kingdom and theUnited
States. However, this promotionhas been built upon a very limited
baseof successful long-standing Aboriginaltourism products.
Aboriginal ethnic tourism develop-ments in Australia (mostly
confined to
Queensland and the Northern Territory)are usually small scale
and marginal intheir profitability. As such, it is impor-tant to
understand why people visitethnic attractions and the sorts of
thingsthat contribute to a satisfying visit. Thisunderstanding will
help ethnic tourismoperators to make their venture moreprofitable
and successful.
Currently most visitors to ethnictourism attractions do so as a
secondaryactivity to other attractions in a region,such as visiting
natural areas like theGreat Barrier Reef or the Wet
TropicsRainforest.
Dr Gianna Moscardo and ProfessorPhilip Pearce looked at the
sorts ofpeople who visited a large Aboriginal
tourism attraction near Cairns in northQueensland - the Tjapukai
AboriginalCultural Park. This was an academicstudy not commissioned
by the Park.This is the first study of its kind in theworld; other
studies have looked at theexperience from the perspective of
theethnic tourism operators - this studylooks at it from the
perspective of thetourists visiting the ethnic operation.
Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park
The Tjapukai operation opened in 1996after the success of a
Dance Theatre inthe nearby rainforest village ofKuranda. It covers
ten acres andincludes several performances andactivities for
visitors. The three mainattractions are:
The Creation theatre which com-bines live performers and
lasertechnology to present the Aborigi-nal perspective on the
creation ofhumans
The History theatre which runs afilm on Aboriginal history in
thearea since European settlement
The Dance theatre which presents amixture of traditional
Aboriginaldancing with information onculture and music.
Above: Aboriginal staff conducting a BushFood session which
provides a popularattraction at the park.
Left: Tourists participating in Didgeridoosessions with
Aboriginal musicians. Spearand boomerang throwing sessions also
givevisitors the opportunity for personalinteraction.
Right: The shop at Tjapukai provides anoutlet for authentic
Aboriginal productsand art (photographs courtesy of Tjapukai)
May 1999
Other performances include Bush Foodand Didgeridoo shows.
Visitors can alsotry their hand at spear and boomerangthrowing.
Virtually all park staff visibleto the public are Aboriginal and
visitorscan interact with Aboriginal peopleduring and after Dance
theatre perfor-mances, at the boomerang and spearthrowing areas and
at various placesthroughout the park.
Surveying visitors to Tjapukai
A survey of visitors to Tjapukai wasconducted over a two month
period toinclude peak and off-peak touristseasons. Researchers were
seeking thefollowing information from the survey: socio-demographic
information
plus general information abouttheir visit type of transport,
placeof ticket purchase, sources ofinformation, reasons for
visit,previous experience with Aborigi-nal tourism products
measures of general travel benefits,previous experience with
ethnictourism products in other coun-tries, importance of various
aspectsof ethnic tourism
overall satisfaction with Tjapukaiexperience and the various
featuresof the park
The sample of visitors surveyed (1483people) was spread evenly
across allage groups with couples and organisedtour groups
dominating. Seventypercent of the sample were internationalvisitors
mostly from North Americaand Europe.
One quarter of the sample had previ-ously seen an Aboriginal
dance perfor-mance and nearly half had visited anAboriginal art
centre. Many (43%) hadexperienced ethnic tourism products inother
countries.
The survey results were used to grouptourists into four main
groups asfollows:Ethnic tourism connection group (36%)Passive
cultural learning (24%)Ethnic products and activities (18%)Low
ethnic interest (16%)
Factors which were used to determinedifferent levels of interest
or reasons forvisiting the park and participating inethnic tourism
attractions were:- Interest in contact with ethnic people- Interest
in learning about ethnic cultures- Average age- Reason for travel-
Reasons for visiting Tjapukai- Participation in activities-
Interest in visiting Aboriginal communities in region- Overall
satisfaction with the Tjapukai experience
Implications for ethnic tourism
The largest group, the Ethnic TourismGroup, is most interested
in havingpersonal contact with ethnic people andare likely
participants in tourismproducts which offer such opportuni-ties.
The Passive Cultural LearningGroup is interested in ethnic
tourismbut prefers experiences that focus oncultural learning
rather than personalcontact. The Ethnic Products andActivities
group are more interested inparticipating in traditional
activities(such as spear throwing, bush cooking,etc.) than in
learning about ethniccultures or having a personal contactwith
them. The Low Ethnic Tourismgroup are most likely to visit an
Abo-riginal tourism attraction as part of atour or because someone
else in theirparty wanted to visit.
However, all four groups showed ahigh to very high level of
satisfaction intheir visit to Tjapukai and were also
interested in further ethnic tourismexperiences. Even those with
littleinterest in ethnic tourism products andpersonal contact with
Aboriginal peoplereported having a positive and enjoy-able
experience.
One reason for most visitors reporting ahigh level of
satisfaction may be due tothe very nature of Tjapukai. The
parkallows visitors to travel at their ownpace, to select their own
level of contactwith Aboriginal people and to followtheir own
interests. This variety andchoice of experience seems to
beimportant in making ethnic tourismproducts successful.
Two important points can be made fromthis study. The first is
that tourists dodiffer in terms of the experience theyseek in
ethnic tourism situations.Secondly, some visitors may seepersonal
ethnic contact as difficult oruncomfortable. This is largely due
topeople being concerned that they wontunderstand Aboriginal
people, that theymay say the wrong thing, or that theydont wish to
appear ignorant.
If ethnic groups seek to use tourism totheir advantage, it is
important thatthey understand how tourists are likelyto respond to
the products they de-velop. The information provided by thisstudy
is useful for ethnic tourismgroups looking to package their
tourismproducts more appropriately. Inparticular, ethnic tourism
attractionsshould seek to provide a number ofalternative
experiences in the one venuewhere visitors can choose what they
doand see and what degree of personalcontact they have with their
hosts.
For further information:Dr Gianna Moscardo, James
CookUniversity, phone: (07) 4781 4254;fax: (07) 4781 4019;email:
[email protected]
