Negotiating stakeholder solutions to complex visitor management problems: the case of traffic management in the Kruger National Park

Figures & data

Table 1. Locations, number of groups and number of focus group participants.

Stakeholder group	Abbreviat-ion	Locations and number of focus group discussions	No of participants
Day visitors (self-drive)	DV	Mbombela & Skukuza, KNP (2)	16
Overnight camping visitors	OCV	Pretoria (1)	11
Overnight non-camping visitors	ONV	Pretoria (1)	21
Open safari vehicle operators or guides	OSV	Skukuza (1)	14
Managers of tourist accommodation	MTA	Skukuza, (1)	4
SANParks management	SPM	Skukuza (1)	16
Honorary Rangers	HR	Mbombela (1)	13
Taxi operators		Phabeni gate (1)	26
Other tour operators (e.g., coach, bus)		Pretoria (1)	4
Total			125

Table 2. First and second round Delphi: number of survey respondents per stakeholder group.

Stakeholder group	Acronym	First round Delphi (n)	Second round Delphi (n)
Day visitors (self-drive)	DV	61	56
Overnight camping visitors	OCV	113	110
Overnight non-camping visitors	ONV	130	143
Open safari vehicle operators or guides	OSV	44	32
Managers of tourist accommodation establishments	MTA	18	23
SANParks management	SPM	9	8
Honorary Rangers	HR	15	11
Other tour operators (e.g., coach, bus)		4	7
Total		394	390

Table 3: Major traffic management problems - results across all stakeholder groups (top four problems in each group are highlighted)

	% of respondents who rated each item as a “top 2” problem
Group	DV	OCV	ONV	OSV	MTA	SPM	HR	W Mean^1	UW Mean^2
Congestion at wildlife sightings	49.2	43.4	53.8	52.3	38.9	44.4	46.7	46.96	48.2
Congestion at entry gates	41.0	20.3	17.0	63.6	61.1	44.4	26.7	39.16	30.5
Visitor behaviour at wildlife sightings	26.2	37.2	26.2	29.5	22.2	11.1	20.0	24.63	29.2
Vehicles speeding	16.4	46.9	44.6	6.8	16.7	11.1	26.7	24.17	33.8
Increase in service, military, and OSV vehicles in the Park	16.4	18.6	23.1	0	5.6	11.1	46.7	17.36	17.8
Driver behaviour	23.0	16.8	17.7	6.8	16.7	22.2	13.3	16.64	16.8
Lack of visitor education	11.5	6.2	11.5	20.5	11.1	11.1	20.0	13.13	11.7
Inefficient booking system	1.6	0.9	0	9.1	16.7	11.1	0	5.63	2.5
Congestion at picnic sites and camps	8.2	2.7	3.1	2.3	0	11.1	0	3.91	3.6

¹ The weighted mean (W Mean) gives equal weight to each group, thus individuals in the smaller groups have more influence on the mean than those in larger groups

² The unweighted mean (UW Mean) gives equal weight to each individual. The “other” group (n=4) is included in the unweighted means but not the weighted means.

Table 4. Preferred solutions towards addressing congestion at wildlife sightings across all groups (n = 390).

	% included as solution	% ranked 1	% ranked 1–5	Average rank^1
Enforce vehicle behaviour rules around wildlife sightings	75.4	25.4	60.5	4.98
Develop a complaints reporting system to quickly identify and deal with open safari vehicle and self-drive visitor bad behaviour in the Park	65.1	13.8	47.7	6.09
On entry, provide Park road map and guidelines for behaviour at sightings	49.0	7.7	30.3	7.46
More rigorous enforcement of existing road rules	42.6	8.5	29.0	7.71
Use Honorary Rangers to educate visitors about appropriate behaviour and guidelines	43.8	2.1	25.6	7.99
Reframe visitor expectations from just seeing the Big 5 to experiencing the whole Kruger environment	41.0	5.4	20.8	8.28

¹ Only items selected as a solution by at least 40% of respondents are listed, in order of popularity.

² In calculating the average rank, a rank of 10 was assigned to all items after rank 10, and all unselected items.

Table 5. Preferred solutions towards addressing congestion at entry gates across all groups (n = 390).

	% included as solution	% ranked 1	% ranked 1–5	Average rank^1
Create a new online booking system to speed-up vehicle entry into the Park	79.2	48.2	77.2	3.41
Provide three different queues for self-drive day visitors, open safari vehicle and overnight visitors at entry gates	75.4	25.9	72.6	4.14
Provide regular ongoing service quality training for gate reception staff	50.5	4.6	45.4	6.71
Prevent vehicles from using the Park for transit purposes	48.7	5.4	41.5	6.93

¹ Only items selected as a solution by at least 40% of respondents are listed, in order of popularity.

² In calculating the average rank, a rank of 10 was assigned to all items after rank 10, and all unselected items.

Table 6. Preferred solutions towards addressing speeding across all groups (n = 390).

	% included as solution	% ranked 1	% ranked 1–5	Average rank^1
More rigorous enforcement of existing road rules	67.9	32.3	62.3	4.85
Increase traffic and speeding surveillance	67.9	13.6	60.26	5.39
Vary the places and times of speed traps	59.7	6.2	50.0	6.24
Enforce speed limits and issue on the spot fines for all vehicles in the Park	55.1	11.3	43.3	6.54
Enforce traffic management rules and transgressions	51.0	4.6	38.5	7.02
Increase the visibility of traffic officers in the Park	49.5	6.2	33.1	7.26
Prevent vehicles from using the Park for transit purposes	47.4	6.4	39.5	7.60
SANParks vehicles and personnel to model good behaviour on the roads	44.6	4.6	27.2	7.74

¹ Only items selected as a solution by at least 40% of respondents are listed, in order of popularity.

² In calculating the average rank, a rank of 10 was assigned to all items after rank 10, and all unselected items.

Table 7. Preferred solutions towards addressing visitor behaviour at wildlife sightings across all groups (n = 390).

	% included as solution	% ranked 1	% ranked 1–5	Average rank^1
Enforce vehicle behaviour rules around wildlife sightings	70.5	39.5	66.7	4.42
Develop a complaints reporting system to quickly identify and deal with open safari vehicle and self-drive visitor bad behaviour in the Park	68.7	13.3	60.26	5.26
Use Honorary Rangers to educate visitors about appropriate behaviour and guidelines	53.6	4.4	44.4	6.70
On entry, provide Park road map and guidelines for behaviour at sightings	49.0	11.5	40.5	6.77

¹ Only items selected as a solution by at least 40% of respondents are listed, in order of popularity.

² In calculating the average rank, a rank of 10 was assigned to all items after rank 10, and all unselected items.

Table 8: Average ranking for the top 12 preferred solutions (items in each group’s top 5 are highlighted; the lower the rank, the more preferred the solution.)

	DV	OCV	ONV	OSV	MTA	SPM	HR	W Mean	UW Mean
Create a new online booking system to speed-up vehicle entry into the Park	5.21	5.84	6.98	4.17	5.95	2.38	6.2	5.25	5.94
Provide three different queues for self-drive day visitors, open safari vehicle and overnight visitors at entry gates	6.60	6.13	6.95	5.69	5.70	8.38	5.7	6.45	6.47
More rigorous enforcement of existing road rules	7.02	6.94	6.71	8.03	7.45	7.25	6.1	7.07	6.98
Enforce vehicle behaviour rules around wildlife sightings	6.06	6.86	6.61	7.17	7.60	10.0	6.1	7.20	6.76
Develop a complaints reporting system to quickly identify and deal with open safari vehicle and self-drive visitor bad behaviour in the Park	6.23	5.86	6.60	8.21	7.05	7.88	8.8	7.23	6.61
SANParks vehicles and personnel to model good behaviour on the roads	8.35	7.85	7.77	9.07	7.40	5.50	8.9	7.83	7.95
Increase the visibility of traffic officers in the Park	8.23	8.38	8.89	7.52	8.95	7.75	5.1	7.83	8.42
Open management roads for use by open safari vehicles	8.81	9.61	9.29	4.93	6.40	7.63	8.2	7.84	8.70
On entry, provide Park road map and guidelines for behaviour at sightings	7.81	8.14	7.99	7.62	7.35	8.25	8.9	8.01	7.98
Enforce traffic management rules and transgressions	8.29	7.79	8.03	8.45	7.9	9.00	7.3	8.11	8.03
Prevent vehicles from using the Park for transit purposes	7.96	7.12	7.02	8.76	8.70	9.38	8.6	8.22	7.60
Reframe visitor expectations from just seeing the Big 5 to experiencing the whole Kruger environment	8.31	8.80	8.96	8.41	8.95	6.63	7.7	8.25	8.80

¹ The weighted mean (W Mean) gives equal weight to each group, thus individuals in the smaller groups have more influence on the mean than those in larger groups

² The unweighted mean gives equal weight to each individual. The “other” group (n=7) is included in the unweighted means but not the weighted means.