Nature-based tourism in protected areas is an easily experienced ecosystem service that humans enjoy, but it acts as tourism pressures on ecosystem. Some park managers, however, lack an understanding ...of the spatial distribution and ecological impact of these pressures. We analyzed the size and spatial distribution of these pressures in Korean national parks, using visitor statistics and social big data. In addition, by overlay it with endangered species distribution data, we analyzed areas where tourism pressures and ecologically significant areas could be conflicted. The tourism pressure differed according to the individual protected areas’ characteristics. Due to the unevenness of the magnitude and spatial distribution of pressures, the ecological impacts could be spatially differentiated. This study suggests that tourism pressure may be a decisive factor affecting protected areas' ecosystems with increased visitors. Using social big data, managers can establish spatially explicit management policies that consider tourism pressures on individual protected areas.
•Globally, multiplication of visitors has resulted tourism pressures on protected areas.•Social big data can identify the magnitude and spatial distribution of tourism pressures.•Tourism pressures and its ecological impact differentiated spatially in protected areas.•We suggest spatially explicit management options to reduce the impact of these pressures.
In this study, we assess the relations between nature-based tourism (NBT) products and natural resources. Based on interviews with providers of relatively new and emerging NBT products in Norway, we ...analyze the requirements set by the NBT products, the relevant resource characteristics, and the in-between connections. Findings are categorized along six dimensions, which are discussed within the context of the NBT experiencescape. Conclusions indicate that key dimensions of the NBT experiencescape are multi-faceted and partly in conflict with each other. The study proposes a framework that may serve as a tool for identifying and managing natural resources important to the NBT sector.
•We propose ICTP to coordinate between tourism development and ecological protection.•Areas with higher ICTP are more prone to nature-based tourism vs. ecological protection conflicts.•Considerable ...proportion of studied areas (ca. 13.79%) have very high ICTP.•These areas are characterized with both high landscape attractiveness and high ecological sensitivity.
Developing spatial regulation strategies is important for nature-based tourism, and this procedure could be more rational and scientific with the understanding of the spatial distribution of conflicts tendency between tourism development and ecological protection. In this study, we developed an Indicator of Conflict tendency between nature-based Tourism development and ecological Protection (ICTP), based on the combination of landscape attractiveness and ecological sensitivity. By integrating land cover, topography, climate and other datasets, this paper presents the spatial distribution of the ICTP in the study area in China. The results show that most areas of China have a low or medium ICTP. Areas with very high ICTP account for 13.79% of the studied areas, including the central part of the Inner Mongolia Plateau, northern part of the Loess Plateau, southwestern part of the Northeast Plain, north and south sides of Tianshan Mountains, coast of Bohai Bay and coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province. These areas are mainly confronted with problems of desertification, salinization and soil erosion. 11.09% of studied areas have very low ICTP, mainly located in the Tarim Basin and western part of Inner Mongolia Plateau, characterized by low landscape attractiveness and low ecological sensitivity. Our results can inform decision makers with regard to where are most likely to suffer from ecological problems caused by nature-based tourism activities, and to which types of problems that are likely to arise. Such information can help decision makers forecast the developmental trend of the relationship between nature-based tourism development and ecological protection, further determine the degree of control on nature-based tourism. The study developed the basic framework for measuring the conflict tendency of nature-based tourism development and ecological protection, which can inspire researchers to think about factors that should be considered when measuring such tendency.
The study employs a comprehensive experimental methodology, utilizing a diverse collection of photographs organized into 18 distinct groups. There are three main objectives. First, it explores the ...cultural and psychological factors that make Icelandic landscapes so therapeutic for the Chinese. Second, it aims to prove how photographs of natural landscapes (two-dimensional images) can have a healing effect on individuals. Third, it strives to create a model for sorting healing photographs and making them useful for selecting images for healing albums.
A Likert-scale questionnaire was distributed to 1,000 participants from China, 500 individuals who have visited Iceland, and 500 who have not. This diverse pool consists of 500 males and 500 females, spanning ages from 10 to 80.
The results reveal the top-ranked landscapes and significant improvements in participants’ psychological well-being after viewing the pictures. The findings support the therapeutic nature of the curated collection of forty photographs, providing inspiration and promoting well-being through the beauty and transformative power of nature. This experimental investigation contributes to an understanding of healing landscapes and their potential in assisting psychological therapy and landscape design.
Nature-based tourism is arguably the most significant subsector within the South African tourism industry. However, the nature-based tourism sector in South Africa has remained largely divided, ...dependent on white South Africans and international tourists despite the fall of the segregationist apartheid government nearly 30 years ago. Recently however and particularly post the COVID-19 pandemic and the strict lockdown conditions, there has been a noticeable increase in the uptake of nature-based tourism among Black domestic tourists. Much research has noted that in the post-pandemic context domestic tourism is emerging as more significant since international tourism has not recovered to its pre-pandemic levels. Thus, this study researched domestic tourists, visiting nature-based destinations in Mpumalanga, South Africa during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Both in-person interviews and an online survey were conducted. Accessibility, affordability and the availability of self-catering accommodation emerge as significant pull factors for domestic tourists. The data analysis for this study was segmented, with adventure tourist activities emerging as significant for the Black South African tourists and Kruger National Park forming the highlight for the white respondents. The results provide important insights into the dynamics of South African nature tourists, their travel patterns, motivations and experiences, which can assist in tourism planning and development.
"Sustainability" has endured as an important concept for tourism scholars, and volumes have been written about how to achieve this holy grail of the tourism industry. Sustainable tourism destinations ...are often promoted as the ethical choice for discerning travellers, with some marketers taking full advantage of the widely acknowledged ambiguities implicit in the term. More recently "resilience" has generated appeal in the academic tourism literature as a term that might capture core aspects of sustainability, while acknowledging the considerable influences that multiple contexts have on the capacity of communities to adapt and ultimately sustain their tourism enterprises. The resilience concept encompasses an inclusive and integrative "social ecological systems" approach which gives it a firm interdisciplinary underpinning in its application in tourism. While in a tourism context sustainability and resilience are kindred terms, relatively little scholarly effort has been committed to a critical treatment of these concepts. Addressing this deficiency, we present a conceptual model to discuss the relationship between sustainability and resilience in tourism. Drawing on examples from New Zealand's nature-based tourism sector, this conceptual paper explores the insights that a critical treatment of the sustainability-resilience nexus might offer both academics and practitioners in the field of tourism studies.
This article investigates domestic and international tourists’ “gaze” using tourism imagery. Domestic and international tourists’ preferences are critically examined using the concept of the “tourist ...gaze” and “local gaze.” Through qualitative, in-depth photo-elicitation interviews (PEIs) guided by 16 photographs covering various tourist attractions in Botswana, results indicate dissimilar tourist gazes between international and domestic tourists. Culture, livelihoods, and crowded spaces, with a variety of activities, influence domestic tourists’ gaze, whereas privacy, tranquility, and quietness influence the international tourists’ gaze. The tourist gaze thus can be seen as a culturally contingent concept that is not universal. Despite the differences, results indicate the continued promotion of an international tourist’s gaze. Results help explain low visitation by domestic tourists to protected areas in Botswana and Africa. In view of the study’s results, theoretical and policy implications are also discussed.
Nature-based tourism (NBT) has become a popular tool for developing countries to achieve economic growth by the non-destructive use of their natural resources. COVID-19 has caused severe financial ...impacts on tourism-dependent areas. Revitalizing NBT is needed for economic recovery in those regions and can also help deal with mental health issues worldwide. Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (ZNFP), the first national park created in China, was selected to examine the important factors that influence visitor satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic and the relationship between satisfaction and visitors' environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) intention. The authors collected 788 onsite and online questionnaires from visitors to ZNFP during June–September 2020. This paper reveals previously underestimated factors and offers practical applications for park development at ZNFP and other NBT destinations. Visitors had a high level of satisfaction with the natural scenery of the park but were relatively dissatisfied with price reasonableness, park services, activities and events, and artificial attractions. Younger visitors, especially students, and well-educated visitors looking for environmental education opportunities tended to have lower satisfaction rates. Visitor satisfaction may have a positive but limited influence on promoting visitors' ERB intentions. We propose group-specific strategies for national park managers to attract more visitors and increase their length of stay.
This paper echoes the call for multisensory tourism research from the perspective of auditory sensory experience. Based on an extended stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model, the natural soundscape ...is linked with tourists' emotion and behaviour, and the possible structural relationships between them are verified with structural equation modelling. The results indicate that auditory factors such as natural soundscape significantly affect tourists' emotion and behaviour in nature-based tourism. Emotion induced by natural soundscape can significantly improve tourists' actual approach behaviour and behavioural intention in nature-based tourism. Different emotional dimension can elicit different behavioural type. Emotional arousal tends to trigger tourists' actual approach behaviour, whereas emotional pleasure tends to encourage tourists' behavioural intention. Actual approach behaviour in natural soundscape can significantly promote tourists' behavioural intention. Based on these findings, valuable information for tourism managers on generating desirable tourist emotion and behaviour is offered.
This Special Issue addresses the intersections of outdoor recreation, nature-based tourism, and sustainability. Outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism provide essential benefits to individuals, ...communities, and society and thereby contribute to sustainability. Equitable provision of opportunities, cultural variations in desired experiences, barriers to outdoor recreation, and diverse perceptions of both nature and recreation add to the complexity in outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism service delivery. Outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism occur within a socioecological system with feedback loops to changing social, economic, technological, and ecological conditions. On a global scale, climate change and other disturbance factors are impacting ecosystems and opportunities, increasing the importance of adaptation strategies for longer-term planning. Population growth and regional shifts in demographics and distribution (e.g., urbanization), as well as socioeconomic trends, affect who engages in outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, opportunities sought, nature access, and governance of outdoor services. Overall the complexity of sustainable outdoor recreation and tourism may suggest a need for different approaches to service delivery, culture change among service providers and managers of natural spaces, and novel approaches to inclusive governance and shared stewardship. Given the clear importance of outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism to society, we invite you to consider this initial introduction to our assembled collection, which is meant to advance our understanding of the intersections of outdoor recreation, nature-based tourism, and sustainability.
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