Ecotourism Policy Research Trends in Indonesia, Japan, and Australia

Numerous definitions and concepts regarding ecotourism lead to different implementations in ecotourism policies and systems. Identifying trends between countries provide valuable information for the development of inadequate ecotourism sites. This study aimed to understand the trends in ecotourism policies in Japan, Indonesia, and Australia by examining the bibliographic records of existing ecotourism policy research. These records were retrieved from the Scopus database and processed by using the scientometrics analysis. The results show the significant research trends of ecotourism policy in each country based on the co-occurrence of keywords were "conservation" for Indonesia, "biodiversity" for Japan, and "management" for Australia. Whereas, based on the research field, it revealed a similar priority within ecotourism policy between Australia and Japan in Social Science, while Indonesia in Environmental Science. The pattern of the keyword network analysis results in an anomaly in Indonesia compared to Japan and Australia, which clarifies the overlapping problem in ecotourism policy in Indonesia. It also visualized the shifting trends of research in some timeline intervals and notifies their relation to the emerging of ecotourism policy. This research also included the usefulness of the research results for future study and the recommendation for the ecotourism policy, especially for Indonesia

Physiological and Psychological Effects of Walking in Campus Landscape on Young Adults

Green space has a vital role in the community’s health and well-being. Forest bathing is an effective method of enjoying the forest atmosphere through physical activity or relaxing in a forest landscape. However, until now, no one has declared the benefits of forest therapy in Indonesia. This study clarifies the physiological and psychological effects of walking in a campus landscape. This research was conducted using experimental methods through physical activity survey, self-report questionnaires, Visitor Employed Photography (VEP), and automatic classification based on the image annotation API. The experiment was conducted in a park and an arboretum, and thirty-two young university subjects were tested. The participants walked for fifteen minutes on walking routes and district roads. Their blood pressure was measured before and after walking, and their heart rate was measured continuously. During the walk, the subjects took photographs of striking scenes using the Visitor Employed Photography method. Profile of Mood States (POMS) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were used to evaluate the psychological responses. Walking in the campus landscape resulted in a lower heart rate, less negative moods, and less anxiety than walking on the district road. Out of 837 photographs, 45% were taken from the Academic Event Plaza, 41.5% from the Arboretum, and the remaining 13.5% from district road, Jalan Raya Dramaga. Two main groups of campus green spaces included man-made landscape consisting of road surface, buildings, plant organs, stairs, and terrestrial plants; and natural landscape consisting of sky, trees, flowers, clouds, and plant community. This study found that walking in campus green space induced physiological and psychological health benefits and prominent landscape elements supported the green campus

The Psychological Effects of Park Therapy Components on Campus Landscape Preferences

COVID-19 has doubled the prevalence of mental health problems among young adults. In Indonesia, it extends the vulnerability of families, increases economic uncertainty, interrupts food security, and affects psychological well-being. Accordingly, this research examined the correlation between psychological effects and preferred landscape elements. Experiments were conducted in a campus park, arboretum, and a road. Participants captured attractive views during the walk using the Visitor-Employed Photography method and evaluated psychological effects using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) pre-and post-walking. Google Cloud Vision API was used to get the image annotation keywords. The results indicated a correlation between psychological effects and preferred landscape elements. Park therapy components, including plant, flower, and sky, were negatively correlated with negative moods and anxiety levels. These findings presented scientific evidence for the psychological relaxation outcome of walking and prominent components of park therapy to support therapeutic campus greenspace planning

Physiological and Psychological Effects of Walking in Campus Landscape on Young Adults

Green space has a vital role in the community’s health and well-being. Forest bathing is an effective method of enjoying the forest atmosphere through physical activity or relaxing in a forest landscape. However, until now, no one has declared the benefits of forest therapy in Indonesia. This study clarifies the physiological and psychological effects of walking in a campus landscape. This research was conducted using experimental methods through physical activity survey, self-report questionnaires, Visitor Employed Photography (VEP), and automatic classification based on the image annotation API. The experiment was conducted in a park and an arboretum, and thirty-two young university subjects were tested. The participants walked for fifteen minutes on walking routes and district roads. Their blood pressure was measured before and after walking, and their heart rate was measured continuously. During the walk, the subjects took photographs of striking scenes using the Visitor Employed Photography method. Profile of Mood States (POMS) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were used to evaluate the psychological responses. Walking in the campus landscape resulted in a lower heart rate, less negative moods, and less anxiety than walking on the district road. Out of 837 photographs, 45% were taken from the Academic Event Plaza, 41.5% from the Arboretum, and the remaining 13.5% from district road, Jalan Raya Dramaga. Two main groups of campus green spaces included man-made landscape consisting of road surface, buildings, plant organs, stairs, and terrestrial plants; and natural landscape consisting of sky, trees, flowers, clouds, and plant community. This study found that walking in campus green space induced physiological and psychological health benefits and prominent landscape elements supported the green campus

Understanding the Spatial Distribution of Ecotourism in Indonesia and Its Relevance to the Protected Landscape

Ecotourism, a dynamic force in global tourism, holds promise for conserving the environment while ensuring benefits for local economies. In this study, we developed an ecotourism distribution map of Indonesia. We utilized location-based social networks (LSBNs) data derived from Google Maps API to map 172 ecotourism sites in Indonesia. Furthermore, we investigated the distribution patterns of ecotourism within Indonesia’s protected landscapes and ecoregions. The factors that influenced ecotourism distribution in the region were analyzed using the MaxEnt model (because of its application for presence-only data). The key findings revealed that ecotourism sites are predominantly distributed across national parks and protected forest areas, and generally consist of mountainous and hilly terrain according to the ecoregion types. The MaxEnt model results indicated that population density was the most influential factor in ecotourism distribution. The significance of our study lies in its methodologies and results, which offered novel approaches to nationwide mapping and addressed the lack of an ecotourism site map of Indonesia. Notably, the proposed model can be customized for other regions with limited ecotourism data; thus, our study can serve as a foundation for future interdisciplinary studies on ecotourism, sustainability, and landscape planning