Boating at Lake Rotoiti - an introductory study : a dissertation presented as a requirement for the Diploma in Parks and Recreation (National Parks option)

Abstract

Combining practical work supplied through studying the Diploma in Parks and Recreation ( National Park option) course at Lincoln College and university and vacation work, I have spent four consecutive summers working with the Nelson Lakes National Parks Board. Much of this time was spent at Lake Rotoiti where a large proportion of the work is related to catering for the summer holiday maker. During this time I developed an interest in boating activities at the Lake which led to my selecting this basic sociological/ recreational study as a dissertation topic.

I had three primary aims while undertaking this study; they were: (1) To provide myself ·with a practical experience in survey methods; to develop my understanding of survey design and usefulness. (2) To gain a clearer· understanding of who the Rotoiti boat owning holiday makers are, and of their requirements. (3) To communicate boat owners' comments and requirements to the Parks Board who administer the Lake, and to give them better information on this important recreational participant in their Park.

It is important to always bear in mind that these results relate to boat owning visitors to Rotoiti only.

How these people or their needs differ from non boat owning visitors is not included in this study. I was unable to find other work in this field which I could compare my findings with, and the manual analysis I used forced me to use categories too general in nature to permit effective comparison with national statistics .An unfortunate consequence of this is that while the information gathered meets the essentially fact finding objectives of the above primary aims , the ultimate development of this sort of survey is beyond the scope of this dissertation.