Humans are inherently drawn to places of scenic beauty found in many of Australia’s national parks. Demand on these locations is increasing due partly to increased population, but also due to increasing regional domestic travel. With this increase come the associated dangers of over-crowding and environmental degradation, subsequently diminishing the visitor experience. In addition, these visitors are interacting with the natural environment in ways and at sites that were not previously considered, raising concerns for risks from the environment on the visitors themselves. Park managers are now required to understand the needs, demands, preferences and motivation for visitors to their parks.

This paper presents a study into which visitors to Loch Ard Gorge in Port Campbell National Park, Victoria, were surveying and monitored using GPS. Attitudes and reasons for travel were coupled to GPS movements in order to derive statistical classifications of visitors, based on spatial behaviour. It is anticipated that the findings from this research can assist park managers to plan for the variety of visitors and tourists through a fuller understanding of their spatial requirements.

Key Word: Spatial Behaviour, tourist needs, preferences, Human Risk ,Cluster analysis, Discriminant Function Analysis.