I was wondering what the feeling is among aerial operators in Aus and NZ about the opportunities / barriers / to geotourism by air in the region?
I'll throw the following into the ring myself:
1. When I asked operators I was flying with when here last about 10 years, there appeared to be a cautious optimism that the field could be exploited a bit more, especially considering the distances and accessibility issues for people wanting to visit some of the more spectacular sights.
2. From what I can see, there are a number of operations in place, although has there been any noticeable growth in the past decade? Of course, the expense of getting to some of these bases by commercial in the first place (especially in WA) can be a real blocker
3. The operators I spoke to in more detail seemed to suggest what they were lacking was actually the natural history expertise in form of guides or becoming better tellers of the stories themselves. In fact, what they really wanted was geoscientists / natural scientists who also happened to be CPL's
4. I was at a big Earth Science conference recently that had a dedicated session on Geotourism, which is seen as a burgeoning field. One of the headline messages from the session was that an aerial component was going to play a big part in certain regions, e.g. Aus, where there is high-net worth tourists, the aspect of access as well as flightseeing and abundant VFR.
5. There is presumably some contact already between the aviation and science communities through certain existing activities, but I wonder how often the idea of aerial geotourism gets mentioned over a pint as a "wouldn't that be cool" but dismissed (too complicated, don't know right people, too risky?).....
Would be great to hear your thoughts and please feel free to PM me.
To be clear - I have a foot in both camps, so happy to translate
Cheers
BFA