Surya Poudel

The Role of Interpretative Tour Guiding in Sustainable Destination Management A Comparison between Guided and Nonguided Tourists

Sustainable tourism is lauded for simultaneously benefitting local residents, tourists, and the environment. Environmental interpretation is considered a vehicle for sustainable tourism as it minimizes the adverse environmental and social impacts of tourism by creating pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of interpretative tour guiding by comparing guided and nonguided tourists’ attitudes and behaviors. Data were collected from 230 visitors at the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal, using self-administered questionnaires. Results showed that the effectiveness of interpretation varies in relation to a number of ecological and sociocultural attitudes and behaviors. The positive change in attitude and behavior indicated that interpretation can be an effective and desirable tool in sustainable tourism. The conditions when interpretation cannot produce desirable outcomes and the theoretical and managerial implications of study findings are also discussed.

Stakeholders’ Perspectives of Sustainable Tourism Development A New Approach to Measuring Outcomes

The purpose of this study is to examine the perspectives of tourism stakeholders regarding sustainable tourism outcomes in protected areas. We compared the responses of residents with residents, and tourists with tourists, in two protected areas of Nepal, namely, the Annapurna Conservation Area and Chitwan National Park. Tourism sustainability was evaluated with six tourism impact subscales measuring negative and positive ecological, economic, and social impacts. Data were collected using the survey method. Respondents included 230 residents and 205 tourists in Annapurna, and 220 residents and 210 tourists in Chitwan. Data analysis involved a series of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses with Annapurna and Chitwan as comparison groups and tourism impact subscales as latent constructs. Results revealed that residents and tourists perceive positive and negative impacts differently across protected areas. This suggests that the form of tourism development affects the sustainability outcomes in protected areas. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed.

Understanding Environmentally Responsible Behaviour of Ecotourists: The Reasoned Action Approach

ABSTRACT Ecotourism has been increasingly promoted as an environmentally appropriate form of tourism across the globe. The impact of ecotourism on the destination environment, however, depends on on-site tourist behaviour. It is crucial for ecotourism planners and managers to understand the factors affecting on-site behaviours of ecotourists so that environmentally responsible behaviour can be encouraged. This paper explores the factors influencing tourist environmental behaviour (TEB) using the reasoned action approach. Data were collected through a survey of 230 tourists visiting the Annapurna Conservation Area in Nepal. Results indicated that the variation in TEB is explained by three psychological variables (i.e. environmental attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control) as well as one sociodemographic characteristic (i.e. age), and two trip attributes (i.e. trip duration and group size). Theoretical and managerial implications of research findings with respect to ecotourism development are discussed.