Introduction
The Snowy Mountains Region is defined by Tourism NSW as being made up of the NSW Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Bombala, Cooma-Monaro and Snowy River. nformation prepared by the Bureau of Tourism Research for Tourism New South Wales, indicates that the majority of domestic visitors to the Snowy Mountains Region, NSW, travel from within the Sydney region. The Snowy Mountains Region Tourism Profile Year end June 2001, produced by the Bureau of Tourism Research, reports that slightly less than half of the Overnight Visitors to the region originated in Sydney (Snowy Mountains Region Tourism Profile Year end June 2001, Tourism NSW, March 2002, p. 2).



The profile also indicated that the majority of all overnight visitors to the region participated in outdoor activities during their visit, with snow based activities cited as the most popular (Snowy Mountains Region Tourism Profile Year end June 2001, Tourism NSW, March 2002, p. 8).

The Kosciuszko National Park (KNP) is the largest and most popular of the NSW National Parks located in the Snowy Mountains Region. It is also the area within which a range of outdoor activities may be undertaken in the region due to the park’s large size, the presence of unique geographical features, and the existence of tourism / recreational infrastructure.

The purposes of this survey were to:
- identify the proportion of Sydney residents that were considering visiting the KNP in the following twelve months;
- identify a demographic profile of KNP visitors;
- identify the seasonality of visitation of KNP visitors; and
- identify the type of outdoor activities planned to be undertaken.

Survey methodology
Data collection:
The survey questions were developed by the author. The questions were included in the June quarter Sydney Region Domestic Omnibus (Multi-user) survey program. This survey was administered on the Hunter Valley Research Foundation (HVRF) computer aided telephone interviewing (CATI) system between 18 June and 10 July 2002.

Survey area:
Sydney Statistical Division (excluding Gosford and Wyong Local Government Areas).

Sample selection:
One thousand households were randomly selected throughout the survey area. Households were obtained by random selection from HVRF's telephone-numbers- on-disc database, i.e. household telephone numbers were randomly selected by computer using postcodes for the Sydney Region.

Participants:
Individuals in household 18 years or older, with random selection and use of six call backs, i.e. households were contacted by telephone and an attempt was made to interview the person in that household who had the most recent birthday. In the event that the household did not answer or the required respondent was not at home, up to six return calls were made. Where this procedure did not result in a successful interview, a replacement telephone number was randomly selected.

It should be noted that the survey did not use quota sampling without call back. This particular technique of data collection, with quotas based on a limited number of variables, commonly age and sex, is not as reliable in obtaining a representative sample as random sampling. For example, a quota of 18-24 year old males, without "call back", may exclude a unique group of potential respondents who are only at home at unusual times. The "call back" technique maximises the chances of a truly random sample. As exercised by the HVRF in this case, the interviewer is making a determined effort to contact the randomly chosen household and randomly chosen person within that household.

Data Analysis:
Carried out by HVRF using SPSS/PC statistical analysis software. Actual responses were weighted by:
• The number of people living in the household and eligible for interview. This weighting procedure ensured that each individual had the same chance to be interviewed regardless of household size (i.e. whether he or she lived in a two person household or in a five person household).
• The age and sex of the population aged 18 and over living in the Sydney Region. This weighting procedure further ensured that the sample was representative of the survey population.

Statistical accuracy:
± 3.2% for a prevalence of 50% for a sample of 1,000.
± 6.3% for a prevalence of 50% for a sample of 250.
For a sample of 1,000 if 50% of respondents said ‘yes’ to a question that required a yes/no response, the true proportion of people aged 18 or over in Sydney who would give the same answer (if all were interviewed) would be between 46.8% and 53.2%, 95 times out of 100 (see right hand column of table 50%-50%). If 30% of respondents said ‘yes’, the true proportion of people aged 18 or over in Sydney who would give the same answer would be between 47.1% and 52.9%, 95 times out of 100.

Response rate:
The survey response rate is the number of completed interviews (1002) as a proportion of the number of eligible contacts (1710) = 58.6%. The number of eligible contacts is determined to be those people that completed interviews (1002) and those that refused to participate (708).

Survey results:
Kosciuszko National Park (KNP) as a destination Just over one quarter (25.5%) of the 1,000 people surveyed intended to visit the Kosciuszko National Park (KNP) in the following twelve months. This result indicated that the KNP is a major attraction for tourists from the Sydney area. It is also particularly noteworthy that the region is primarily accessed by domestic visitors using a car either private/company (40%) or rental (19%) and requires an approximate five-hour drive from the Sydney Region (Snowy Mountains Region Tourism Profile Year end June 2001, Tourism NSW, March 2002, p. 12).



Gender of visitors to KNP
Of the 255 respondents that indicated that they did plan to visit the Kosciuszko National Park in the next twelve months there was a greater proportion of male respondents than female respondents. In addition, the proportion of male respondents who did intend to visit KNP was much higher than that of the survey’s total population.

This result suggested a number of things:
Male respondents:
• may have been more prepared to travel the relatively long distance to visit the KNP;
• may have been more interested in the particular activities that are provided for in the KNP; and
• may have been more interested in outdoor activities in general so would usually make up a disproportionately large portion of participants.

Age of visitors to KNP
Respondents that indicated that they intended to visit the KNP tended to be younger than the overall population. This is indicated by the median age of KNP visitors (37) being five years lower than that of the overall survey population (42). It is also reflected in the proportion of respondents planning to visit the KNP in the 18-24 years, 25-34 years and 35-44 years age groups is higher than the proportion of respondents in those age groups in the total survey population.

This result suggests a number of things:
Younger respondents:
• may have had access to a higher level of disposable income to enable them to participate in some of the relatively high-cost activities and accommodation available in the area,
• may have been more prepared to travel the relatively long distance to visit the KNP,
• may have been more physically able to participate in the activities that are
provided for in the KNP, in particular snow based activities that are peculiar to the area,
• may have had more exposure or opportunity to experience snow based activities than older respondents (through NSW Dept. of Sport & Recreation facilities, youth organisations such as Scout and Guide Association, or Universities),
• may have been more interested in outdoor activities in general so would have made up a disproportionately large portion of visitors.





Seasonality of visitation
Efforts by some operators to encourage the idea of the KNP as a year round destination seem to have had some impact on visitation patterns. Although almost two thirds of those respondents who had indicated that they would be visiting the KNP in the next 12 months planned to do so during the winter months (June-July-August), the next most popular season was summer (34.5%). Summer was followed in popularity by spring (29.4%) and then autumn (14.2%). Almost three quarters of the respondents (71.1%) indicated that they would visit the area in only one season (winter-only 47.8%). Just over one-quarter (28.9%) indicated that they would return to the area during more than one season.

The uniqueness of the snowfields is most likely the reason for the high proportion of winter visitors but the result may also have been influenced by the fact that the survey was conducted in June / July. The respondents’ winter travel plans were most likely to be foremost in their thoughts, while plans for the other seasons may not have been decided upon at the time of the survey. The timing of NSW school holidays may have also influenced on the season of visitation.

Outdoor activities undertaken in KNP
Those respondents that indicated that they did intend to visit the KNP were asked to indicate which activities they planned to participate in from a list that was read to them. Respondents were able to nominate as many activities as they liked from the list. The order of the items on the list was randomly ordered for each interview to prevent any bias occurring due to an item’s position in the list. The list loosely consisted of both “passive” and “adventurous” activities. Passive activities were considered to be those activities that were not physically demanding nor requiring a high level of technical skill.

“Passive” activities
The four most popular activities nominated by more than 50 per cent of respondents to this question were relatively “passive” activities. They were scenic driving (69.3%), playing in the snow (69.1%), bushwalking (58.3%) and picnicking / BBQ (56.2%).

The high level of intended participation in these activities may indicate that they should be considered to be “incidental” activities. “Incidental” activities are those that the respondents would take part in by virtue of “being” in the area, rather than being specific activities in themselves.

One example is scenic driving, where it would be difficult to believe that more than two thirds of respondents would travel to the KNP specifically for a pleasant drive in the mountains. However, it is likely that those people who do visit the area to participate in another activity find that the driving is quite scenic and forms an enjoyable part of their visit to the area. In a similar vein playing in the snow while intended by the researcher to encompass activities such as tobogganing, snowball fights or snowman building, may have been interpreted by respondents as meaning any snow based activity that they considered to be“play”.

Another interesting result was the high proportion of respondents (58.3%) who intended to go bushwalking during their visit. The term bushwalking was intended by the researcher to mean that the participants would actually walk, for at least a number of hours duration, carrying provisions and equipment. However, due to the very strong correlation between those respondents that nominated bushwalking and the other “passive” activities (scenic driving - 84.5% of “bushwalkers”, picnicking/BBQ - 74.5%, playing in the snow - 59.5%) rather than “adventurous” activities (cross country skiing – 19.6% of “bushwalkers”, snow-shoeing – 18.8%) suggests that many of the respondents may have considered bushwalking to include “being” in the bush rather than an activity requiring navigation and a pack. Additionally, given the high proportion of survey respondents who indicated that they would only visit the KNP during winter
(47.8%) it is unlikely that a large proportion of these people would be venturing out on a day walk in the snow.

The high levels of response to “passive” activities should be taken in context and further consideration should be given to the more thorough explanation of terms such as scenic driving, playing in the snow and bushwalking in the questionnaire in order to more accurately determine the actual level of participation in these activities.

“Adventurous” activities
Downhill skiing was the most popular “adventurous” or physically demanding activity identified by the respondents, with slightly less than half of all respondents (48.8%) intending to participate in the next twelve months.

The other “adventurous” activities presented in the list were nominated by less than one third of the respondents. The most popular were snowboarding (31.2%), horse riding (25.8%), and mountain biking / tourist cycling (24.0%). The least popular “adventurous” activities were cross-country skiing (18.8% of respondents), rock / ice climbing (15.1%) and snow-shoeing (14.7%).

Activities by Median Age
When the median age of participants by each intended activity is compared, three groups seem to form. These activities/groups are:

• Activities with a median age greater than 33 years:
Picnicking / BBQ (38 years), Bushwalking (37 years), Scenic Driving (37 years), Fishing (34 years), and Playing in the snow (34 years).
• Activities with a median age between 29 and 33 years:
Cross-country skiing (32 years), Downhill skiing (32 years), Downhill skiing (32 years), Snow-shoeing (32 years), Horse riding (30 years), and Mountain biking/Tourist cycling (30 years).
• Activities with a median age younger than 29 years:
Camping (28 years), Rock / Ice Climbing (26 years) and Snowboarding (26 years).

Activities by Gender
Male respondents are more likely than female respondents to want to visit the KNP. When the comparison by gender was made of intended participation in the list of activities, it can be seen that male participants dominate the “adventurous” activities.

• Male respondents outnumber female respondents 2:1 for Mountain biking / Tourist cycling, Rock / Ice climbing, Camping, Cross-country skiing and Fishing.
• Male respondents are also more likely than their female counterparts to participate in Downhill skiing, Snowboarding, Bushwalking and Playing in the snow.
• Horse riding was the only activity where the male / female ratio was the same as all visitors to KNP.
• Picnicking / BBQ, Scenic driving and Snow-shoeing were the only activities where the male / female ratio was slightly in favour of female respondents when compared to the ratio for all visitors to the KNP.

Conclusion
The results of the survey show that:
• Approximately one quarter of Sydney residents intended to visit the Kosciuszko National Park (KNP) in the following twelve months,
• The majority of respondents intended to visit the KNP during one season only, and the most popular season was winter,
• The respondents most likely to visit the KNP were usually male and relatively young when compared to the total population,
• “Passive” activities were generally more popular than “adventurous” activities, however this may have been due to respondent confusion with terms used in the questionnaire and the perception that many of the“passive” activities would be conducted in conjunction with the“adventurous” activities rather than as specific Activities in their own right,
• Younger, male respondents were most likely to intend to participate in adventurous activities during their visit.

Areas identified for possible further study:
• Comparisons of the survey results against actual visitation to the area once the domestic tourism data for 2002-2003 become available,
• Testing the community’s understanding and perception of the term“bushwalking”,
• Investigation of a possible gender bias of participants in adventurous outdoor recreation,
• Evaluation of telephone based survey methodology when researching outdoor recreation issues.

References
Bureau of Tourism Research (2002) Snowy Mountains Region Tourism Profile Year End June 2001, Tourism NSW