Matching motivations and activities for 4WD club members and the implications for developing desert 4WD tourism

Abstract

Approximately 18% of Australia can be classed as desert and about 66% of the continent receives an annual rainfall of less than 500mm, classifying it as arid or semiarid land. Desert Australia is vast, has few residents and even fewer roads but has become a place of fascination for visitors who are willing to travel into this region. Tourism has been suggested as one industry that has some scope to add economic value to Australia's desert regions as well as providing employment and business opportunities. To date there has been little research into the profile of desert visitors, their motives and the activities they participate in. In this paper, we look at the place of desert tourism within the travel activities of 4 Wheel Drive (WD) club members. This paper reports on the characteristics of 4WD club members and their general 4WD holiday experiences in a desert environment. Results suggest a good match between activities and motivations, a promising sign for 4WD desert tourism which offers many opportunity sought by 4WDrivers on vacation.