Coast Region. Only nine tourist sites (13 percent of total
area) can be accessed on a sealed road (Table 3). Over
half (55 percent) of all resources can be accessed only via
a sand track and 38 sites (58 percent) require a fourwheel
drive vehicle. Some highly attractive places are
also inaccessible due to poor transport routes (Table 3).
Of the total resource base, only 12 sites had ‘good’
access where all vehicle types could go to on a sealed
road (Table 3).
4.1.2. Supporting infrastructure for nature-based tourism
In general, the Region has very low levels of tourism
infrastructure, further hindering potential development
of a nature-based tourism industry (Table 4). Sites with
infrastructure tended to be picnic and rest areas and not
potential nature-based attractions. These sites were also
in close proximity to sealed roads or settlements. Just
over 20 percent of all sites had some basic facilities and
27 percent had nothing at all (Table 4). The Region
experiences long hot summers and these are accompanied
by windy periods due to a strong sea breeze. With
the exception of two sites in a national park, no shelter
has been provided in the whole Region. Places with
structures to provide shade and shelter included some
picnic sites and some inland areas where shelter is
provided adequately by the natural vegetation.
4.1.3. Level of environmental degradation of natural
resources
The natural tourism resources of the Region are
linked to several small townsites and the entire Region’s
population consists of approximately 10,000 people
(Department of Planning and Urban Development,
1994). Despite this, the results of this survey suggest
that the area is already experiencing problems of over
use, especially in coastal areas. Results in Table 5
indicate that locals and/or the existing tourist population
exploit the resources and these current uses may not
be sustainable on a long-term basis. These areas were
dominantly coastal areas where squatter shacks were
present or places unofficially used for camping. Currently,
however, none of the sites fell into the category
of having ‘high’ levels of environmental problems
(Table 5).
Trampling of vegetation is particularly noticeable
near the coast and these were created by four-wheel
drive vehicles and/or campers. Proliferation of weeds
was a minor problem and problem areas include
squatter shacks and places adjacent to farming properties.
The plant disease with the greatest potential to
affect tourism resources of the Region is dieback
(various Phytophthora species, Department of Conservation
and Land Management, 1998). This problem is