| 24.08.07 |
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KAMCHATKA VISITOR SURVEY PROJECT DOCUMENTS ATTITUDES, DEMOGRAPHICS, AND EXPERIENCES OF THE PENINSULA’S VISITORS
 A unique, year-long visitor survey is currently being undertaken by a team of Kamchatka University and high school students along with experts from Kamchatka, Russia, and the USA. Project experts agree that this is the first comprehensive study of this kind in Russia. The Kamchatka Visitor Survey project, sponsored by the UNDP/GEF project “Demonstrating Sustainable Conservation of Biological Diversity in 4 Protected Areas, Kamchatka Region,” the Kamchatka Regional Foreign Economic Relations and Tourism Division, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport, and international partners including US Forest Service, Universities of Alaska, and Northern Arizona, began surveying visitors to Kamchatka July 15, 2007. Within the project framework the main aim is to portray a social and demographic picture of people visiting Kamchatka and to interpret this information for stakeholders to effectively plan economic development, protected area management, and social issues related to tourism and recreation.
Òhe Kamchatka Visitor Survey project documents the visitor behavior, recreational choices, and experiences of a statistical sample of non-residents of Kamchatka who visit the Peninsula between July 15, 2007 and July 14, 2008. This information will be analyzed by specialists from Russia and the United States, to give Kamchatka tourism professionals, economic development planners, protected area managers and other stakeholders a comprehensive summary of:
- who visits Kamchatka;
- demographics of these visitors;
- favorite places among those visited;
- how much money average visitors spent to get here and how much they spent on their vacation;
- how visitors value protected areas as a part of their visitor experience;
- what amenities Kamchatka lacks from the visitors’ point of view and what amenities they valued;
- length of stays on Kamchatka.
An important component of the survey is visitors’ assessment of protected area management and operation from the visitor’s experience.
The survey is based on a needs assessment completed by the UNDP in May 2007. The assessment asked for letters of support from stakeholders and their suggestions for what questions should be asked. Participants in the needs assessment included: Tour operators, Kamchatka protected areas (Kronotsky Biosphere Preserve and Yuzhno-Kamchatsky Reserve, Nalychevo, Bystrinsky, Yuzhno-Kamchatsky, and Klyuchevskoy Nature Parks, and the Commander Islands Preserve), Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport, Kamchatka Regional Foreign  Economic Relations and Tourism Division, Kamchatka Ecotourism Society, Association of Tour Industry of Kamchatka, Kamchatka Department of Natural Resources and Ecology, and Kamchatka Department of Economics and Business, Federal Department of Environmental Protection, University of Service Moscow Branch, Institute of Geography, Kamchatka Department of Statistics, Aboriginal peoples association “Lach”.
Data gathering will continue through July 14, 2008 at the Airport. The data is transferred to a statistical analysis program “Quality Program Language” at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where summaries will be compiled based on participants’ response to the survey questions. The team of Russian and US experts, which includes economists, sociologists, visitor survey specialists with expertise in tourism and protected areas management will work together to provide a detailed report interpreting the results of the visitor survey. This report will be available to all stakeholders in Russia and on the UNDP/GEF www.unkam.ru web site. For periodic information and updates on this project, consult this web site and the  “Kamchatka Visitor Survey” or contact project coordinator Martha Madsen at explorekam@gmail.com.
Martha Madsen, coordinator of the project in Kamchatka comments, “We note the assistance of the Kamchatka Regional Foreign Economic Relations and Tourism Division in recognizing the value of this survey and for assisting us to receive permits for working in the airport’s security zone. We also thank the administration of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport for cooperation in this unique project realized on their territory.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: MARTHA MADSEN, PROJECT COORDINATOR 8 962 280 7840 OR TATYANA OBORSKAYA, UNDP/GEF PROJECT 41522 5 32 91
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