Stuart Cottrell

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING: A GIS-SUPPORTED APPROACH

ABSTRACT This paper presents a conceptual geographical information systems (GIS)-supported sustainable tourism infrastructure planning (STIP) framework including attraction, service and transportation facilities. This framework focuses on tourism planning as an integrated approach based on sustainability criteria. STIP aims to integrate a set of sustainability criteria (i.e. development objectives, visitor experience preferences, carrying capacity standards and resource impacts) into infrastructure planning via GIS. Based on these criteria, STIP provides protected area management insights in the most sustainable locations and layout of future infrastructure. STIP involves three phases: a visitor segmentation (not GIS supported) phase, a zoning phase (GIS supported) and a transportation network planning phase (GIS supported). To demonstrate the integration of these phases, STIP was applied as a trail planning demonstration on data (i.e. social and physical) from the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a tropical rainforest in Sri Lankas southwestern wet zone. The area experiences increasing visitor use and requires additional trail development to mitigate resource stress. Nature and cultural tourist opportunity trail networks were mapped based on the sustainability criteria which provide directives for sustainable trail development within the reserve.

Local discourses and international initiatives: sociocultural sustainability of tourism in Oulanka National Park, Finland.

National parks have become important tourist attractions and tools for regional development. New international initiatives, such as PAN (Protected Area Network) Parks in Europe, now promote sustainable tourism in protected areas. This paper examines the sociocultural sustainability of tourism perceived by local stakeholders of Oulanka National Park in northeastern Finland. The central question concerns the role of PAN Parks certification in community and tourism development. Four discourses were identified, based on 40 semi-structured interviews exploring different views on sociocultural development pertaining to tourism in the national park: (1) integrating nature-based tourism and conservation, (2) defending the rights of local people, (3) stressing the economic utilization of nature and (4) accepting tourism development and the national park. Although local stakeholders mostly have a positive perception of tourism in the park, it cannot be concluded whether the park facilitates development in a sustainable manner or not. Key problems identified are lack of participation opportunities and contradictions with traditional subsistence economies. The various positions of stakeholders in these discourses tend to influence their views on sustainability. Findings imply the necessity to monitor the distribution of benefits and burdens of park development holistically to multiple stakeholders.

Understanding Recreational Experience Preferences: Application at Fulufjället National Park, Sweden

Abstract This paper investigates the recreational experience preferences (REP) of visitors to Fulufjället National Park, Sweden. Data were derived from a pilot study conducted in the summer of 2005 by Colorado State University on behalf of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the European Tourism Research Institute. A total of 107 Swedish and international visitors were surveyed on‐site. Analysis included reliability and exploratory factor analyses to investigate the motivational aspects of visitors to Fulufjället National Park. Aims were to examine motivations of visitors in a Northern European national park using REP items from a North American context and to examine REP’s potential for cross‐cultural use. Four primary REP dimensions were identified including self‐discovery, experience of places, seeking solitude and challenging self. Implications for management and the Scandinavian context are given along with the cultural context of allemansrätten and friluftsliv.

Resident perceptions of sustainable tourism in Chongdugou, China.

This article examines resident perceptions of sustainable agritourism among four subvillages in Chongdugou, China. The prism of sustainability, with institutional, economic, ecological, and sociocultural dimensions, served as the theoretical lens. We hypothesized both main effects (distance of subvillage from village entrance and employment in the tourism industry) and interaction effects for the four dimensions of sustainability and overall satisfaction with tourism. Resident surveys (n = 383) were distributed among the four subvillages. The main effect for village location was statistically significant in all five two-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs), while the main effect for tourism employment was only significant for the economic model. The interaction term was significant for the sociocultural dimension, approached significance for the institutional and the economic, and was not statistically significant for the ecological dimension or tourism satisfaction. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings for understanding tourism sustainability are discussed.

Wildlife Value Orientations: An Estonian Case Study

This article examines the thoughts and cognitions of Estonians as it relates to wildlife value orientations on the islands of Saare County, Estonia. Sixteen semi-structured interviews of islanders living on Saaremaa and Vilsandi were done in summer 2006 as part of the Wildlife Values Globally project facilitated by Colorado State University. Wildlife value orientations as expressed in response to four basic emotion questions were sought in the context of experiences with wildlife in Estonia. The greatest number of passages coded was “mutualism,” “respect,” “attraction-interest” and “hunting/fishing,” and “environmentalism” and “scientific-knowledge.” Wildlife contacts were for the majority considered as “happy moments” such as pleasurable everyday events and a source of enjoyment. Contacts with wildlife were not evaluated as “fearful.” Humans were considered overall as part of nature with wildlife thought of as part of the everyday environment and valued as such.

Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy in WWF Pan Parks: Case of a Swedish and Romanian National Park

This study examined regional and local tourism stakeholder perceptions of a sustainable tourism development strategy (STDS) in Protected Area Network (PAN) Park locations. An STDS overview from a cross‐cultural comparative analysis of a verified park (Sweden) versus a candidate site (Romania) is given. In‐depth interviews addressed stakeholder cooperation in sustainable tourism planning, perception of tourism in the region, development proposals, and their involvement in sustainable tourism planning. Findings were organized under three interlinkages of a sustainability framework: institutional referring to contribution to sustainable development; care involving management and product innovations; and democracy‐justice involving community rejuvenation via opportunities for small‐scale businesses having a voice in decision making. Regional authorities (in both countries) have other obligations than sustainable tourism development to fulfill while lack of infrastructure and access to parks is a barrier to overcome. Support from local and regional authorities is limited with no STDS apparent. Locally, stakeholders are skeptical with little belief in the benefits of a small‐scale tourism business. Unemployment, old mentality, and lack of experienced professionals are problems in Romania compared to Sweden implying differences in democracy and care. STDS enhances images of sustainability while its role is to develop strategies for sustainable tourism in PAN Park regions.

Sustainability perspectives on Oulanka National Park, Finland: mixed methods in tourism research.

This paper positions mixed methods as a complement to traditional qualitative and quantitative research. It provides an example of conducting mixed methods research by analysing the sociocultural sustainability of tourism as perceived by local stakeholders nearby Oulanka National Park in north-eastern Finland. Semi-structured interviews were linked concurrently to survey data from the same respondents. First, four discourses were identified based on 40 interviews with respondents about tourism development pertinent to the Protected Area Network (PAN) Parks international certification. Second, the differences between the representatives of the discourses were examined using non-parametric statistics. Results of the qualitative and quantitative analysis supplemented each other. The survey results supported the identification of four discourses and provided information about the representatives using the discourses. The discourse groups differed according to length of residence in the area, distance from the park, gender, employment in tourism, familiarity with PAN Parks, benefit from PAN Parks status, belief in the benefits of PAN Parks, satisfaction with tourism and park development, importance of the environmental dimension and satisfaction with various dimensions of sustainability. The study demonstrates that a better understanding of a problem may be acquired by using a mix of survey methods and interviews.

A sustainable tourism framework for monitoring residents' satisfaction with agritourism in Chongdugou Village, China.

This paper examines predictors of resident satisfaction with agritourism among four communities of an agritourism village in China (n = 383). Four sustainability dimensions (economic, social, ecological and institutional) were based on 3 to 5 survey items with reliability coefficients ranging from 0.55 to 0.75. Perceived satisfaction was a four-item measure of resident satisfaction. Structural equation modelling partially supported hypotheses that all four latent dimensions were significant predictors of satisfaction. Institutional was the strongest predictor followed by the economic and socio-cultural explaining 80% of the variance in resident satisfaction. Findings highlight need to include all four dimensions when monitoring sustainable agritourism development.

Biodiversity Hotspots and Visitor Flows in Oulanka National Park, Finland

Oulanka National Park, Finland aims to ensure nature conservation while providing high quality visitor experiences. The growth of outdoor recreation and nature tourism, however, has fueled concern about consequent pressures on the natural resources of the park. This analysis assessed the spatial relationship between biodiversity hotspots and visitor distributions within Oulanka National Park. Known occurrences of rare or threatened species (lichen, moss, fungi, and vascular plants) within the park were used as indicators of biodiversity. Areas with a high density of threatened and endangered species (i.e. biodiversity hotspots) were identified through kernel density analysis and compared to the spatial distribution of visitor use within the park. Results indicate important habitats for endangered species are often located nearby or on the edge of high visitor use zones leaving them vulnerable to human impacts. Further research will investigate the relationships between visitor experiences at specific spots and acceptance of nature management measures.

Importance‐Performance and Segmentation: An Application at a Biosphere Reserve in Vietnam

This paper examines how importance‐performance analysis (IPA) used with segmentation can be an effective natural resource management tool. Data were obtained from visitors (n = 368, response rate = 66%) to the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam. Two distinct user segments were identified according to their preference for facility development within the reserve. The two segments differed in their importance‐performance ratings for (a) attractions, (b) beach facilities and services, (c) facilities in the area, and (d) beauty of the area. Those favoring development rated each of these reserve attributes as more important (p < .001) than those less disposed to additional development. Those favoring development rated the performance of three of four attributes positively, while all four attributes received negative performance scores for those less disposed to additional development. Implications show that segmentation can allow for more accurate planning and decision making.