Can Visitor Satisfaction and Knowledge About Tropical Rainforests be Enhanced Through Biodiversity Interpretation, and Does this Promote a Positive Attitude Towards Ecosystem Conservation?

This research note examines whether educating visitors about biological diversity during a visit to tropical rainforest can raise their levels of satisfaction and knowledge above those achieved from the experiential encounter alone. It thereby interrogates both the affective domain (subjective emotions and feelings) and the cognitive domain (objective knowledge acquisition) of visitors to rainforest. Selected aspects of biological diversity were interpreted in order to elucidate which were most conducive to enhanced satisfaction and knowledge. Visitor attitudes post-visit were ascertained to test whether increasing satisfaction and/or knowledge can encourage a more positive attitude towards ecosystem conservation and sustainable tourism. There is evidence that rainforest interpretation contributes substantially to tourist satisfaction at the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway in Queensland, Australia (Moscardo & Woods, 1998; Pearce & Moscardo, 1998). Skyrail visitors who used interpretive facilities were significantly more satisfied with their visit than those who did not. Additionally, comparison of visitors with different levels of exposure to the interpretation demonstrated that the more interpretation experienced by visitors, the more they learnt. Similarly, an examination of the impact of interpretive signs on visitor knowledge at the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk in Western Australia found significant increases in visitor knowledge and satisfaction as a result of their reading trail-side signs (Hughes & Morrison-Saunders, 2002). There has been much rhetoric that interpretation is an important element in the promotion of environmental conservation and sustainable tourism, largely by increasing visitor knowledge and environmental awareness, and by