Satisfaction with DOC’s ‘Great Walks’

Background

This measure relates to indicator 3.2.2 - Opportunities, facilities and services provided meet customer expectations and preferences.

DOC’s Great Walks traverse New Zealand’s most compelling landscapes and are marketed both at home and abroad as truly iconic visitor experiences. Therefore, it is important that these experiences exceed visitors’ expectations. By assessing which factors affect walkers’ satisfaction, DOC is able to identify key opportunities for making improvements that matter to visitors.

90% of respondents were ‘very satisfied’ or ‘extremely satisfied’ with their overall Great Walk experience.

What did we measure?

The Great Walk Guest Survey for 2020/2021 comprised web-based questionnaires that ran for the duration of each Great Walk booking season. These questionnaires included both quantitative and qualitative questions. Only the post-visit questionnaire, filled in after the completion of the Great Walk, was used for this factsheet. Questions were configured as unipolar rating scales or for Importance/Performance Analysis. In the year ending 30 June 2021, surveys were completed by 3779 visitors who completed Great Walks. In 2020/2021, respondents were predominantly from New Zealand, with 81% reporting their nationality as New Zealander/Kiwi, and 97% reporting they normally reside in New Zealand. This reflects the lack of international visitors due to border restrictions arising from the Covid-19 global pandemic.

What did we find?

  • 90% of respondents were ‘very satisfied’ or ‘extremely satisfied’ with their overall Great Walk experience (Table 1), confirming that the current management settings for the Great Walks continue to deliver the benefits walkers are seeking.
  • Two factors were strongly associated with walkers being ‘extremely satisfied’ overall:
    • The condition of the huts/shelters/campsites - 77% of those who responded that they were extremely satisfied with the condition of the huts/shelters/campsites expressed extreme satisfaction with their overall experience, compared with only 0.4% of those who were less satisfied with the condition of these facilities.
    • The presence of highly natural soundscapes - 70% of those who totally agreed with the statement ‘I experienced natural soundscapes/tranquility’ expressed extreme satisfaction with their overall experience, compared with only 39% of those who expressed less agreement.
  • When walkers were asked to describe their Great Walk experience in three words, ‘scenery’ and ‘views’ were most often referred to as highlights (20% and 17% respectively), while ‘weather’ or ‘rain’ were considered lowlights (5% and 4% respectively). Overall, respondents reported highlights much more frequently than lowlights. It is also notable that 8% of the lowlights responses were ‘none’, compared with zero such entries for highlights (Figure 1).
  • 10% of walkers across all nationalities felt ‘very’ or ‘extremely challenged’ on their Great Walk experience this year (Table 2). The same proportion of New Zealanders reported feeling ‘very’ or ‘extremely challenged, which is unsurprising given the majority of respondents were from New Zealand. In previous years, higher percentages of respondents of some other nationalities reported feeling ’very’ or ‘extremely challenged’, resulting in higher percentages of respondents challenged overall.
  • The Kepler Track was considered the most challenging Great Walk this year (Table 3).

Figure 1: Word cloud for respondents’ descriptions of their Great Walk experience (highlights green, lowlights red).

Table 1: Satisfaction of respondents with their Great Walks experience.
Satisfaction level Percentage
Extremely 52
Very 38
Moderately 8
Slightly 1
Not at all 1

 

Table 2: Percentage of walkers who reported they felt ‘very’ or ‘extremely challenged’ by nationality.
Nationality Percentage challenged
New Zealander/Kiwi 10
(all) 10
United Kingdom 6

 

Table 3: Percentage of walkers who reported they felt ‘very’ or ‘extremely challenged’ by Great Walk.
Great Walk Percentage challenged
Kepler Track 17
Lake Waikaremoana Track 13
Tongariro Northern Circuit 13
Heaphy Track 12
Milford Track 10
(all) 10
Paparoa Track 8
Rakiura Track 8
Whanganui Journey 7
Abel Tasman Coast Track 6
Routeburn Track 6

Data quality

This measure is classified as a partial measure and complies with the data quality criteria used in New Zealand’s Environmental Reporting Series.

All respondents for the post-visit survey were recruited from the population of walkers who provided an email address with their Great Walk on-line booking. They were invited to take the survey immediately after completion of the Great Walk. This report includes post-visit survey responses recorded up until 30 June 2021. Pre-visit survey respondents were incentivised to also complete the post-visit survey. It should be noted that survey respondents did not constitute a random sample of the Great Walk walking population because not all members of the population had an equal opportunity to be selected. All respondents were self-selected. No statistical adjustment was made for these biases.

Additional resources

McGlone, M.; Dalley, J. 2015: A framework for Department of Conservation inventory and monitoring: intermediate outcomes 1-5. Landcare Research Contract Report LC2427 for the Department of Conservation, Wellington (unpublished). 75 p.