The chosen article talks about the Ayers Rock and its relationship with the visitor’s motivation, perception, time, and enjoyment. Its authors, Kerri-Anne Fielding, Karen Hughes, and Philip L Pearce conducted the study with the aim of establishing whether the Ayers Rock retains its ideal attraction. The study involved 117 climbers who recorded their experience before and after the climb and whether it was an achievement to them or not.
The Ayers Rock is famous for its challenging slopes, magnificent geological features, awesome summit, and beautiful sunsets (Fielding, Pearce, & Hughes, 1992, p 49). The area receives more than 200,000 people from all lifestyles and ages. The distance to the top is one and a half kilometers; a conducive climb especially for the beginners. Located in Central Australia, the Ayers Rock seemed to attract people from other countries begging the question, what fascinated them to it?
There are different twists towards whether individual motivation might be the reason people climb Ayers Rock or a group perception. With the study, the authors determined that most of the visitors recorded higher levels of enjoyment than motivation on an individual basis (Fielding, Pearce, & Hughes, 1992, p 52). In regards to groups, motivation was their key feature in their quest to climb Ayers Rock. However, there is no relation between task enjoyment and achievement motivation. Likewise, the time taken and motivation was a mere hypothesis, as the authors did not establish any relation (Jenkins & John, 2003). Achievement oriented tourists found the time to pass to slow, unlike motivation-oriented tourists.
In conclusion, the findings made by the authors might affect conservation of the Ayers Rock positively. They noted the need by visitors to come to the site and enjoy rock climbing plus its additional features. The management will see the need to conserve the area as it has the potential to bring in revenue to the area and country (Robinson, 2009).
Reference
Fielding, K.-A., Pearce, P. L., & Hughes, K. (1992). Climbing Ayers Rock: Relating Visitor Motivation, Time Perception, and Enjoyment. Journal of Tourism Studies, 49-57.
Jenkins, J., & John, P. (2003). Encyclopedia of Leisure and Outdoor Creation. New York: Routledge.
Robinson, J. (2009, March 6). Motivations for Outdoor Recreations. Retrieved from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9YLCFxCW8U
