Demand for Indigenous tourism in Australia: understanding consumer behaviour

Tourism is often suggested as a development strategy for Indigenous people in achieving economic independence, and improving the life and conditions of the community while protecting the culture and natural resources. However, without actual visitor participation, the good intentions of tourism policy cannot be achieved. In Australia, visitor participation in Indigenous tourism is very low. By using an innovative photo-based method, semi-structured interviews, a survey, and the Q methodology in three case studies (Katherine, Northern Territory; Cairns, Queensland; and the Grampians, Victoria), this study aimed to investigate the visitor consumer behaviour process in relation to choosing Indigenous tourism activities for leisure while they are travelling in Australia. In particular, it investigated the Indigenous visitor profile, preferences and intention to participate, motivations, constraints and opinions (attitudes) of visitors in regard to Indigenous tourism activities while they are at a particular destination. Participants of this study consisted of travelling visitors at specific destinations. Overall, 664 visitors undertook the first stage of the data collection (ranking-sorting photo-based procedure, semi-structured interview and survey) and 77 visitors undertook the second stage (the Q methodology)