Heritage as a motivation for four-wheel-drive tourism in desert Australia

Abstract

Desert Australia is a vast, largely unpopulated area serviced by few roads. In recent years, tourism has been identified as an industry that has some potential to generate employment and investment opportunities in the region. Because of the distances involved and the largely unsealed road network that radiates off the main north-south highway much of the region is inaccessible to conventional vehicles. As a consequence, interest in fourwheel-drive (4WD) tourism has grown and a number of desert regions have identified this group as a potential market that could be further developed. One of the experiences that is associated with parts of desert Australia is its heritage values, both natural and built. This paper explores the role of heritage as a motivation to travel to desert Australia by four-wheel-drivers and the subsequent proportion of visitor expenditure that can be attributed to heritage tourism consumption. It concludes that while heritage is just one of many components of a 4WD trip, there may be substantial potential for increasing its economic contribution.