Tourism and its impact on livelihood in Manaslu conservation area,Nepal

Tourism is an activity of a person which includes traveling and staying in places that are outside of their location for business, vacation and other purpose. Large-scale tourism in developed and developing countries has positive and negative effects on the regional and national economies, local culture, physical infrastructure and environment. There are considerable gaps in research regarding tourism and livelihood in developing countries like Nepal. This research work aims at fulfilling such gap by assessing the impact of tourism on livelihood in Manaslu conservation area (MCA) of Nepal. We interviewed 76 household followed by three focus group discussions and five key informant interviews. The first-hand information collected at the site is complimented by socioeconomic and tourism-related secondary information. Socioeconomic variables such as marital status, size of household, education and landholding status had positive effect on tourism participation while livestock-holding status and occupation of the household had negative effect on tourism participation. Number of visitors is increasing in MCA in recent years, and tourism participation is helping local people to earn more money and improve their living standard. So, awareness and education related to tourism, gender empowerment of women, advertisement and publicity on tourism promotion, adequate subsidy and training on ecotourism and skill development trainings on handicraft are recommended.     

Perceived Impacts of Ecotourism on Environmental Learning and Conservation: Turtle Watching as a Case Study

Using a case study, involving turtle-based ecotourism, we explore the role of ecotourism in promoting environmental learning and in sustaining conservation of nature. Mon Repos Conservation Park (an important marine turtle rookery involved in ecotourism) in Queensland, Australia, was selected for this study and visitors were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The reported on-site experiences of respondents are analysed to identify important factors that alter their stated conservation attitudes and behaviours. The impact of these factors (such as the amount of environmental education that respondents claimed they obtained, sighting of sea turtles, nationality) is quantified using regression analyses. There has been little previous quantification of such influences. The study reveals that a considerable amount of environmental knowledge is gained by visitors to Mon Repos. The ecotourism experience, involving environmental education and seeing of turtles, was found to have positive and statistically significant impacts on the visitors' stated desire and intended behaviour to protect sea turtles. The study reveals the importance of learning and the interaction of tourists with wildlife as a contributor to their pro-conservation sentiments and actions. It shows how ecotourism can support nature conservation. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

A modeling analysis of the sustainability of ecotourism in Belize

Over the past two decades, ecotourism has emerged as an important conservation strategy, especially in the Tropics where a diversity of species and habitats are threatened by traditional forms of development. However, questions remain about the sustainability of ecotourism in terms of distributions of income to local people and degradation of ecosystems visited by the ecotourists. In this study, a computer simulation model was used to study the possible long-term patterns of ecotourism at the country scale for Belize, Central America. The model includes state variables for natural ecosystems and tourism infrastructure with a submodel for global oil supply. It was simulated over a 100-year period as an EXCEL spreadsheet with a time step of 1?year. In all of the simulations, a decline over time in income from ecotourists was found due to increases in the price of oil and due to environmental impacts by tourism. Conservation efforts can slow the declines, but ultimately, the system is shown to be unsustainable. The results are discussed in the context of long-term conservation potential in Belize.     

目的地居民对旅游影响的认知态度实证研究

旅游地居民对旅游影响的认知态度研究是旅游影响研究的主要内容之一。以浙江乌镇为例．在实地调研的基础上．利用问卷调查方法，分析了乌镇居民对旅游的社会文化影响、环境影响和经济影响的感知程度．以及居民对旅游业发展的态度．归纳总结了乌镇居民对旅游影响的一般认知态度状况．对制定合理的旅游发展政策、改善居民对旅游者的态度和提高居民对旅游业的支持、促进旅游地可持续发展具有重要的现实意义。本文的调查结果进一步证实了以往居民对旅游影响认知态度研究的研究成果。乌镇居民对旅游给当地社区带来的社会、文化和环境效益感知强烈令人鼓舞。这与Liu和Var等诸多学者通过研究发现目的地居民对旅游发展产生的各方效益感知明显是一致的。此外，乌镇居民对旅游经济影响的正面感知一致较强与现有研究成果也是相符的。所有这些证实了旅游地生命周期早期阶段居民更易倾向于正面感知。     

Impacts of ecotourism in Rajiv Gandhi National Park (Nagarhole), Karnataka

Ecotourism potentially provides a sustainable approach to tourism development in national parks. The paper focuses on ecotourism impacts and the status of wildlife within the Rajiv Gandhi National Park (Nagarhole) situated in Karnataka. It explores a multitude of interactions that exist among wildlife, conservation efforts, socio-economic, and relocation attempts of the tribal people in the park. Field exploration was undertaken to identify the impacts of ecotourism. The results revealed the ongoing effort by the government to relocate the tribal people within the park and the difficulty faced by park officials to cope with the numerous impacts and conservation strategies in the park. The tourists were engaged in different ecotourism activities and made an observation on the lack of educational awareness and biophysical impacts such as littering and vegetation damage. This paper will contribute a greater understanding of the impacts of ecotourism management for sustainability of the national park.     

Visitor perspectives on sustainable tourism development in the Pitons Management Area World Heritage Site, St. Lucia

The Pitons Management Area (PMA) World Heritage Site is one of the most visited tourist attractions in St. Lucia. Given the magnitude of the tourism industry in St. Lucia in general, coupled with the expanding growth of tourism in the PMA, the need to adopt a sustainable approach to tourism development is imperative. Identifying visitors as a key stakeholder group in sustainable tourism development, this study examined their perspectives and support for sustainable tourism development in the PMA. More specifically, it examined visitors’ environmental, economic, and social attitudes based on a sustainable tourism development framework and explored the effect and best predictive validity of attitudes on support for sustainable tourism development. Results indicated that attitudes were generally positive, and as each of the respective attitudes increased, visitors’ level of support for sustainable tourism development at the PMA also increased. The Economic Attitudinal Index had the highest predictive power, followed by the Social Attitudinal Index. The Environmental Attitudinal Index was not significant although it was strongly correlated in the bivariate analysis. Implications of the findings for the sustainable development of tourism in the PMA are discussed.     

生态旅游的可持续性评价模型研究——以九寨沟景区为例

在生态环境脆弱区域开展旅游活动，其发展目标必须是可持续的。而生态旅游可持续性的标准因不同旅游区（点）或处在不同的时间段会产生差异，使用评价指标体系的方法可以反映出并弥补这种差异给可持续性评价带来的影响。以位于岷江上游的世界自然遗产地九寨沟景区为例，使用主观方法分析资源、社区和旅游三大利益相关者在生态旅游可持续性中的关系，建立生态旅游地可持续性评价模型的框架。使用德尔菲法确定相应的评价指标；通过对当地居民和旅游管理部门的访谈和旅游者问卷调查来探察利益相关者间的关系；根据访谈和调查结果对模型评价结果进行验证。研究以九寨沟景区为案例，评价模型的构建为生态旅游地的可持续性管理提供了一种主观与客观相结合的评价工具，并可以推广到其他景区。     

Reflections on the Connotations of Ecotourism

As the most desirable option for sustainable development of tourism industry, ecotourism still suffers from lack of a clear-cut and widely accepted definition, posing many risks and threats in its practices. Based on collection and collation of various concepts and explanations of ecotourism both at home and abroad, this paper reflects on the current connotations of ecotourism in terms of four aspects, namely, objects of ecotourism, ecotourists, nature of ecotourism as well as the relationship between ecotourism and communities. In-depth analysis was performed in an effort to revise the misinterpretation of ecotourism and provide implications for ecotourism initiatives. The main conclusions and fruits of this article include： 1） The objects of eeotourism should go beyond natural, pristine, or even only primitive natural areas to including cultural resources together with their natural context which also deserve preservation. 2） Tourism operators, compared to tourists, have more leverage and hence should shoulder more responsibilities for conservation. 3） Ecotourism should serve as a principle to guide tourism initiatives towards sustainability, rather than merely a special tour package. 4） The theoretic foundation was laid for community participation in ecotourism.     

Does ecotourism in a Mangrove area at Klong Kone,Thailand, conform to sustainable tourism? A case study using SWOT and DPSIR

Environment, Development and Sustainability - This study aimed to assess ecotourism in a mangrove area and whether it conformed with sustainable tourism. We were interested in exploring the demand...     

Evaluation of ecotourism development in rural regions of China

The current status of ecotourism in rural China was analyzed in this paper.Empirical surveys covering the whole country indicate that ecotourism in rural China has attracted a large number of tourists who,however,didn’t generate revenues that can match the number.Although the environmental quality of those rural ecotourism destinations is high with little negative impacts,several problems have already appeared,suggesting a need to monitor those areas.The current practice of interpretation in most rural ecotourism destinations did not provide environmental education opportunities to the tourists.And local communities need more effective ways to decide on the prospects of local ecotourism development by themselves.Finally,a few recommendations for improving the sustainability of ecotourism destinations were provided.     

我国生态旅游利益相关者分析

发展生态旅游需要在不同利益主体之间建立一个合理的利益协调和分配机制，而利益相关者角色的错位、缺位，其间关系的交叉、矛盾是制约我国生态旅游发展的关键。为了确保生态旅游的可持续发展，需要对现有的利益相关者角色和关系进行调整。真正使政府、当地牡区，旅游企业、保护地、旅游者、非政府组织、学术界及相关机构、媒体分别扮演好调控者、参与和受益者、执行者、执行监督者、实践者。协助者、研究指导者、宣传监督者的角色。     

Sustainable tourism development in remote regions? Questions arising from research in the North Kimberley,Australia

This paper is concerned with the sustainable development of a self-drive tourist destination in the remote region in Northern Australia. It first compares officially used data on visitor profiles to the information collected in the survey. Differences between data collected and available secondary data imply that tourism planning should include collection of region-specific tourism information to guide and mitigate potential environmental changes. Natural landscape features are the key attraction for visitors to the region. Visitor satisfaction levels with the current state of the destination are high. However, local residents reported perceived negative impacts of tourism, in particular on amenities and the ecology of the landscape. Visitors also reported behavior that might contribute to environmental impacts. Implications of the findings, in the context of future destination planning, are discussed.     

A study on the dilemmas of resource utilization and tourism in Africa

This paper explores, explains and discusses issues around the dilemma between local conservation of natural resources (often, endangered species and habitats) and tourism needs in Africa. Often and in constitutional terms, local people have a right to exploit and use resources endowed in their local area. However, tourists often are interested in viewing the vegetation and animal resources undisturbed. Inevitably, there is an undeclared animosity of values and interests between local communities and tourists and state agencies. As a result, the dilemma is thus of governance. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the governance dilemma of resource utilization and tourism in Africa in a bid to create an informed stewardship framework for sustainability. This is achieved by way of case studies and narratives from Africa. As such, this paper will be a review literature on how different communities perceive tourism and derive livelihoods from their immediate environment. It also explains how the external factors influence local needs and interests. A more sustainable and operational framework that reduces friction among stakeholders is suggested.     

上海市旅游生态足迹分析

运用生态足迹的理论与方法,结合旅游者的生态消费及结构特征,借助现代地理信息技术,对上海市旅游生态足迹进行了分析。通过测算,2009年上海市旅游生态足迹为66 333 483.428hm2,人均旅游生态足迹为466.547×10-4 hm2;旅游生态承载力为1 900 029.08hm2,人均旅游生态承载力为146.908×10-4 hm2,人均生态赤字为319.692×10-4 hm2。从上海市旅游生态足迹结构来看,旅游交通和旅游购物足迹的比例最大,分别占71.79%和23.76%,旅游餐饮和休闲娱乐其次,分别为3.44%和0.14%,比例最小的是旅游观光和旅游住宿。这表明旅游活动正在过度消耗上海城市资源环境,旅游业目前处于生态赤字状态,因此应采取相关的改进措施,以实现资源保护与旅游发展的平衡,并着手调整旅游产业内部结构,发展环保节能的交通工具,大力推动低碳旅游发展,开发有特色的旅游商品,提高旅游购物消费,在保证生态资源可持续利用的同时保持旅游经济快速发展。     

A study on the dilemmas of resource utilization and tourism in Africa

This paper explores,explains and discusses issues around the dilemma between local conservation of natural resources(often,endangered species and habitats)and tourism needs in Africa.Often and in constitutional terms,local people have a right to exploit and use resources endowed in their local area.However,tourists often are interested in viewing the vegetation and animal resources undisturbed.Inevitably,there is an undeclared animosity of values and interests between local communities and tourists and state agencies.As a result,the dilemma is thus of governance.The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the governance dilemma of resource utilization and tourism in Africa in a bid to create an informed stewardship framework for sustainability.This is achieved by way of case studies and narratives from Africa.As such,this paper will be a review literature on how different communities perceive tourism and derive livelihoods from their immediate environment.It also explains how the external factors influence local needs and interests.A more sustainable and operational framework that reduces friction among stakeholders is suggested.     

Residents’ Attitudes Towards Tourism in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems Pilot Site: a Case Study in China

Abstract

Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) is a wide program to promote the conservation and adaptive management of such systems and their associated landscapes, biodiversity, knowledge systems and cultures. Rice-Fish Systems (RFS) in Longxian village of China, as a traditional agricultural system, was selected as one of the five pilot sites of GIAHS in 2005. Researchers have paid more attention to the dynamic conservation and adaptive management of RFS because it is under severe threats from global development challenges. Tourism is suggested to be brought into the RFS conservation program as an alternative industry. This paper presents a comparative study of residents in three types of farm household in Longxian, seeking attitudes to the RFS conservation and tourism development and ways in which such information may guide future strategies. Results show residents, belonging to the household type in which most family members are abroad, have the most positive attitudes to RFS conservation and tourism development; while residents, as other household type in which less than 50% of family members are abroad, are the least sensitive group in these three household types, due to the motivation of moving abroad weakening their enthusiasm to participate in the local activities. Implications are discussed in the context of how resident attitudes will affect the future management of GIAHS conservation and tourism development, and then measures are put forward to foster tourism cooperation and multistakeholders process establishment.     

生态文明视角下的江苏沿海生态旅游竞合研究

生态旅游是生态文明的重要载体，生态文明理念为生态旅游的健康发展提供了科学的行动指南。江苏沿海包括连云港、盐城和南通三市，生态旅游资源丰富，但三市在生态旅游发展中，竞争有余，合作不足, 致使三市生态旅游资源的整体优势未能得到充分发挥。在分析江苏沿海加强生态旅游竞合的必要性与可行性的基础上，提出了三市应以生态文明为指导，积极开展区域生态旅游竞合，具体措施包括：做好统一规划，打造沿海生态旅游区；创新生态旅游产品，联合开发精品生态旅游线路；加强生态旅游合作营销；改善旅游交通和服务；完善合作的制度化机制，构建“市场主导、政府推动、企业主体、社区参与”多主体共同参与的格局；联合加强生态教育，共同治理和改善生态环境等     

基于选择实验法的三峡屏障区居民生态补偿支付意愿研究

三峡屏障区环保整治中利益相关者对生态补偿政策的反应情形,是有效构筑长江中上游生态屏障的内生动力。基于该区域重点移民县中608名居民的调查数据,运用选择实验法,分析了该区域特有主体(原住民和水库移民)对植被覆盖率、水土流失、水体质量、生物多样性、旅游景观等环保属性及其组合方案的接受与支付意愿。研究表明:经济条件不同的原住民与移民均具有较强的生态意识,但迫于发展的压力未能有效地转化为环保行为;两类群体在库区生态修复中更重视植被改善与水源涵养(104.93元),而对可持续发展所需的物种保护和旅游景观(30.88元)关注较少;移民与原住民愿意支付的最佳方案为优先恢复植被并进行水土保持(方案5),但前者(392.97元)的支付水平是后者(128.02元)的3倍;后靠安置的移民从屏障区中未能获得足够的生态资源支持,再次进行生态移民可能比单一的生态补偿更有效率。     

Linking Conservation and Development: An Analysis of Local People’s Attitude Towards Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal

Factors influencing local people’s attitudes towards conservation of the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR) are analyzed using an ordered logit model. The results indicate that households living closer to the KTWR are more likely to reveal negative attitude towards conservation. Similarly, respondents from larger households tend to show negative conservation attitude. Educated respondents and farmers are likely to demonstrate a positive conservation attitude. The results consistently show that households with poor socioeconomic status and greater dependence on the KTWR for firewood, fodder, and raw materials are likely to possess a more negative attitude towards conservation. Poor households may not necessarily be less concerned about conservation, although institutional settings and abject poverty near protected areas appear to affect their attitudes. Sustainable management of protected areas and local support for natural resource conservation would require socioeconomic development.