Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis - ECU Access Only

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Bachelor of Tourism Management Honours

School

School of Business

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

First Supervisor

Dr Greg Willson

Second Supervisor

Dr Dale Sanders

Abstract

Indigenous Tourism is an important social and economic contributor throughout Australia and worldwide. The majority of research on Indigenous Tourism has focussed on the role of Indigenous peoples and their cultures in tourism, impacts of Indigenous tourism, benefits and challenges of Indigenous Tourism businesses, and the marketing and representation of Indigenous peoples. While demand for Indigenous Tourism has previously been examined, there is a paucity of research on Generation Y’s (Gen Y) Indigenous Tourism interests and their environmental values. This study explores the relationships between the Indigenous Tourism interests and environmental values of Gen Y. Semi-structured interviews with fourteen Gen Y members was conducted in Perth, Western Australia as well as a one page survey that collected each participant’s demographic details. The findings were extrapolated from the data using QSR Nvivo 10 computer software to code the main themes present in participants’ interview response transcripts. The findings of this research indicate that while Gen Y expresses concerns for a range of environmental issues, they primarily possess egocentric environmental values which connect with all participants’ affirmative interests in undertaking Indigenous Tourism experiences. This study found that overall Gen Y is somewhat self-interested given their primarily egocentric environmental values and the relationships with their Indigenous Tourism interests reflecting strong preferences for international and social Indigenous Tourism experiences. The findings suggest that Gen Y is a suitable market for Indigenous Tourism operators to target, and that members would be particularly receptive to experiences which emphasize traditional and contemporary Indigenous cultures, particularly international experiences. Further, Gen Y are much less interested in nature-based Indigenous Tourism experiences and in those which take measures to be environmentally-conscious. The findings propose that Gen Y is an experienced travel market with high expectations in terms of quality and value for money and they intend to benefit both personally and developmentally from their tourism experiences.

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