Ecotourism and the conservation ethic: recruiting the uninitiated or preaching to the converted?

Ecotourism is being promoted as a sustainable alternative to mass tourism, although critics suggest that it may be just as damaging because it encourages increased use of natural areas. One of ecotourism’s claimed benefits is the promotion of pro-environment attitudes and behaviours. However, this may not occur if ecotourists are already ‘converted’ to the pro-environment cause. To test this claim, a study was undertaken of ecotourists visiting Lamington National Park in southeast Queensland. A pre-/ post-visit questionnaire survey was conducted on-site, as well as a follow-up mail-out survey four months later. This paper presents results of that study in terms of four ecotourist groups. Results indicate that ecotourism can increase environmental knowledge and influence conservation views and behaviours. Of the four groups, coach day tour visitors were the least pro-environment initially but had relatively strong ecotourist motivations. They achieved the highest gains in knowledge and in the short term were influenced the most by the visit. In the long term, respondents who were the most pro-environment and who had learnt most during their visit were influenced the most. Therefore, for immediate effects of the experience on the uninitiated to endure, motivations need to be stimulated to encourage further involvement in and learning about nature. The question remains as to whether encouraging such involvement will have net benefits for the environment

Identifying the ecotourist market using the core criteria of ecotourism: is there a true ecotourist that seeks nature, learning and sustainability?

Ecotourism can be defined by three core criteria: nature-based, learning and sustainability. Research aimed at identifying the ecotourist market has concentrated on motivations and activity related to the first two criteria. Although some research has considered ecological values, there is little evidence whether sustainability also has a role in ecotourist decision-making. This research aims to identify ecotourists based on the motivational and activity elements and then assess the pro-environment attitudes of those so identified as a measure of their support for sustainability, thus identifying the market by the three core criteria of ecotourism. A survey was undertaken of 243 visitors to Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia, prior to commencement of their visit. Results indicated that even on motivational and activity grounds the number of ecotourists was low but was even lower when their environmental attitudes were considered. Omitting the sustainability criterion from earlier studies may have resulted in an over-estimation of the size of the ecotourism market. This may account for a recent focus away from a distinct ecotourism segment and diversification of many ecotourism products. Other motivations may be just as important and tourists may not be concerned whether the ecotourism experience conforms to the three criteria of ecotourism

Carbon mitigation by Queensland tourism enterprises

This paper reports on carbon mitigation by environmentally certified Queensland tourism enterprises (n=83). The survey results profile attitudes to climate change, emissions auditing, carbon mitigation actions, and motives for emissions reduction. The main reasons for carbon actions were marketing climate friendly tourism, attracting green tourists, and cost savings

Climate change governance in Australian tourism: collaboration for low-carbon tourism

The Australian tourism industry is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change on natural areas and the destination choices of long-haul travellers concerned about carbon emissions. Human impacts on biodiversity, natural resources and the atmosphere are also increasing, along with research interest in environmental, climate, and sustainability governance. Governance involves the development of new relationships between the state (i.e. politicians, bureaucracy), civil society and corporate interests, where citizens and diverse interest groups actively engage with government and business on key policy and planning issues (Marsh, 2002). Governance structures and processes are expressed in policy networks based on ‘strategic development of partnerships and alliances between public and private spheres’ (Dredge & Jenkins, 2007, pp. 54-55). Beaumont and Dredge (2010) examined the structure and operation of three different local tourism governance networks for their effectiveness and impact on sustainable tourism management. Collaborative governance for planning and policy-making ‘refers to cooperation, support and mutual assistance between actors and agencies in the pursuit of common interests’ (Dredge & Jenkins, 2007, p. 461). For example, collaboration between tourism organisations and land trusts in the USA is based on mutual conservation goals and preservation of scenic natural areas (Chancellor, Norman, Farmer & Coe, 2010). This paper assesses the collaborative governance of climate change in Australian tourism, focusing on the carbon reduction initiatives promoted by government tourism agencies

The new green age: carbon mitigation by Queensland tourism enterprises

Climate change and carbon mitigation are growing issues for the tourism industry. Green tourism enterprises are implementing eco-efficiency measures in energy, water and waste management to reduce operating costs and carbon emissions. This paper reports on carbon mitigation actions adopted by environmentally certified Queensland tourism operators (n=83). It first reviews carbon mitigation responses in Australian tourism, including research on carbon emissions by tourism sectors and carbon reduction programs supported by Tourism Queensland. It then describes the development of a carbon survey for Queensland tourism enterprises including accommodation, tour operators, attractions, and convention centres. The paper presents survey results profiling operator attitudes to climate change, green business training, emissions auditing and carbon mitigation actions, motives for emissions reduction, and carbon offsetting. It compares findings for key tourism sectors and discusses operator motives for adopting carbon mitigation actions or offsetting. Key challenges and opportunities for carbon reduction by tourism enterprises are noted

Carbon mitigation by environmentally certified tourism operators

This paper reports on carbon mitigation by environmentally certified Queensland tourism enterprises (n=83). The survey results profile attitudes to climate change, emissions auditing, carbon mitigation actions, and motives for emissions reduction. The main reasons for carbon actions were marketing climate friendly tourism, attracting green tourists, and cost savings

Green tourism futures: climate change responses by Australian government tourism agencies

The National Climate Change Adaptation Framework identified tourism as one key sector vulnerable to the impacts of climate change in Australia. This paper evaluates how nine government tourism agencies are responding to the issue of climate change in Australia. Information on climate change, sustainability and going green is drawn from the corporate websites, annual reports, tourism plans, fact sheets, and case studies produced by these government tourism agencies from 2007 to 2010. The paper critically evaluates how government tourism agencies are addressing climate change issues, by promoting carbon reduction initiatives and carbon offsetting schemes for tourism operators. Climate change tourism responses are more developed in Australian states with climate change policies and in destinations vulnerable to the impacts of climate change or dependent on long haul travellers

Factors influencing repositioning of a tourism destination

[Abstract]: This paper investigates what factors influence the repositioning of a tourist destination. Through the development of a conceptual framework this research has identified that repositioning is influenced by two main areas; firstly the current marketing strategy of the destination including market segmentation and positioning; and secondly the tourist in terms of their perceptions and expectations together with the experience obtained (positive and negative) which influences their level of satisfaction and loyalty. Analysing these two key decision areas allows a decision on repositioning to be made. This framework is the first step in a research project that will be conducted to explore the process of successfully repositioning a tourism destination

Tourism community views on destination positioning: a case study

Research efforts, relating to the positioning of tourism destination, have centred upon understanding the attributes related to the destination under study. This has assisted us to understand how a destination may be preferred to competing destinations on the basis of one or more preferred attributes. To date research efforts have been tourist centric. A single case study method was employed to investigate how the tourism community views the positioning of their destination. Results indicated that tourism community buys-in to the destination positioning enabling a cohesive message to be communicated to targeted tourists. Using an alternate research method this paper extends our understanding identifying an alternate method that can be used to identify the criteria that are important to tourists

Insights into how regional tourism operators view their markets

[Abstract]: Many researchers have considered segmentation in the tourism context and these efforts have enabled us to understand the bases that tourism destinations can use to segment markets and the bases that are more accurate predictors of future tourist behaviour. To date, all studies have used tourist data to profile the tourists travelling to a destination and most studies have used quantitative data. Addressing a key gap in the literature, this research sought to understand how tourist operators actually segment their market. Twelve tourism operators (activity operators, accommodation providers, destination marketing organisations and other stakeholders) were interviewed in one regional Australian tourism destination. Results indicated that different segmentation bases were used by different tourism operators. Activities sought, location, age, and trip purpose were the variables most frequently used by tourism operators to describe tourists. A tourist operator view is important because tourist operators can describe the tourists that are currently using their services. Given that different tourist operators attract different tourists, insights from these tourism operators can be compared with tourist data, thus enabling researchers to determine if they are adequately describing the tourists travelling to a destination