Wildlife viewing: The impact of money-back guarantees

Wildlife sightings are not always guaranteed. To address this risk, tour operators often offer a money-back guarantee as a refund mechanism. However, studies have overlooked the influences of such refund mechanisms on tourists' tour participation decisions and tourism revenue. We conducted choice experiments to examine the impact of such mechanisms using a case of Amami rabbit tourism in Japan. We found that the guarantee significantly influences the tourists’ decision-making and tour revenue. In particular, we found that the expected tourist participation rate and tour guide revenue vary drastically depending on the probability of the rabbit encounter. The maximum expected revenue from the tour with a 90% chance was about 20 times larger than that with a 10% chance. This indicates that conserving wildlife to maintain the sighting probability raises tour benefits, creating a win-win situation by balancing conservation and tourism development.     

旅游能缓解保护地人与野生动物冲突吗?

人与野生动物冲突正成为我国自然保护地管理的显性问题,理解并寻找缓解人与野生动物冲突的方法成为重要研究问题。发展旅游被视为缓解此类冲突的重要手段,但已有研究尚未系统地评估旅游的缓解作用。本研究通过整合性综述的方法,探讨旅游能否以及如何缓解人与野生动物冲突这一问题。研究发现旅游对人与野生动物冲突的影响是多重的。对于辐射范围内的社区,旅游通过给社区带来经济利益,可以提高居民对野生动物的容忍度,从而缓解冲突。但旅游经济利益分配存在不充足、不平等和不匹配等问题,因而其缓解冲突的效应也不均衡。有些旅游活动还会产生负面生态影响,导致野生动物对人类习惯化和种群数量过度增长,进而加剧景区周边社区与野生动物冲突。本文最后建议加强对旅游的分配正义、生态影响和社会文化视角的研究。     

国外野生动物旅游研究综述

非资源消费型野生动物旅游活动已经吸引了越来越多的人们关注和参与其中,而且这种形式的旅游活动从长远来看,有利于解决经济发展和野生动物保护这一矛盾.国外关于野生动物旅游的研究比较系统而深入.文章通过对国外有关野生动物旅游的文献进行梳理,认为从野生动物旅游产品的角度,文献主要集中在非资源消费型、半资源消费型和费源消费型野生动物旅游的研究;基于利益相关者的角度来看,文献主要集中在动物旅游的影响研究、游客满意度的控制、社区居民的态度这三个方面.最后,文章还对国外该领域现有文献的研究局限作了简要分析,并展望其未来可能的发展走向,以期能为国内相关研究提供参考和启示.     

Integrating tea and tourism: a sustainable livelihoods approach

Abstract

As an agricultural product with strong social and cultural connotations, the production and consumption of tea have high potential to be integrated with tourism to enhance community livelihood sustainability. A sustainable livelihood approach is used in a tea tourism context in Hetu Town, Anhui Province, China, to examine critically the interactive relationships between tea and tourism. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with management officials, community leaders, tea industry representatives and village residents in four field investigations in 2015 and 2016. Improvement in community livelihood sustainability was identified through enhancement of livelihood diversity and choice. However, impacts on household livelihood sustainability varied as tourism participation is restricted by level of livelihood assets. The increase of the within-community income gap may generate social problems in the long run. The current level of tea and tourism integration is limited. The history, culture and traditions related with tea are not widely disseminated by local tea producers. Opportunities for in-depth and diversified tea tourism experiences are being recognized, which call for partnership with those involved in tourism. Practical implications are discussed to enhance tea and tourism integration, boost local participation, enhance local benefits, and particularly, to engage those with lower levels of livelihood assets.     

Heritage tourism and livelihood sustainability of a resettled rural community: Mount Sanqingshan World Heritage Site,China

Tourism and related development can lead to the displacement and resettlement of communities, disrupting local livelihood systems, socio-political processes and organizations. However, limited attention has been paid to community resettlement in the tourism context. Taking Yinhuwan village at Mount Sanqingshan World Heritage Site in China as an example, this study examines the results of tourism and resettlement on the livelihoods of this rural community and the extent to which tourism-related livelihood strategies contribute to community livelihood sustainability. A sustainable livelihood framework is adopted to guide the analysis. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with management officials, community leaders and village residents through three field investigations in 2013. It was found that traditional livelihood methods have been largely replaced by tourism, which has become the primary livelihood strategy for the resettled community. Despite current economic benefits, high dependency on tourism-related opportunities as the single livelihood option may diminish the sustainability of local livelihoods. The current resettlement plan highlights short-term economic impacts on the affected community, overlooking their socio-cultural concerns and long-term livelihood sustainability. Possible measures are discussed to diversify livelihood options and mitigate potential challenges for the affected community so as to ensure their long-term benefits and increase future options.     

Characterizing constraints of leisure: a Foucaultian analysis of leisure constraints

Leisure constraint literature has typically assumed that constraints prevent or modify participation in leisure. In this paper, I take up the work of Michel Foucault (1926–1984) to show that social constraints are not merely restricting of leisure practices. When constraints are characterized as enabling as well as restricting, it is possible to explore when and how constraints enable and to plan to intervene with enabling constraints to improve the opportunities for participation. In order to show both the enabling and restricting effects of social constraints, the focus of the paper is first on how structural constraints of a leisure activity may restrict or enable participants. Next, as another way to emphasize that social constraints are enabling of leisure experience, Michel Foucault's work is taken up to demonstrate how constraints enable skill within a structure. Finally, structural constraints of identity are shown to impact on participation prior to engagement with a leisure experience.     

Residents’ Participation,Perceived Impacts,and Support for Community-based Ecotourism in Cambodia: A Latent Profile Analysis

Throughout Cambodia, community-based ecotourism (CBET) has been initiated and established to generate additional income for local people and to conserve local natural resources since the early 1990s. However, few studies have addressed residents' attitude towards CBET. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the residents' attitude towards CBET. The study classified 209 residents of Yeak Laom CBET in north-eastern Cambodia with respect to their participation in non-remunerative and remunerative activities, perceived impacts on livelihood assets and livelihood outcomes, and support for CBET. Rather than the conventional cluster analysis used by most previous studies, Latent profile analysis was employed. The study suggests that residents of a CBET may consist of four attitude clusters, namely Absolute Supporter (69%), Beneficiary Supporter (14%), Concerned Supporter (11%), and Ambivalent (6%). In conclusion, most residents of a CBET are likely to support CBET development and believe that it has positive impacts on their livelihood assets and outcomes, albeit with little involvement. The residents of the study area can be considered as a tourism-hungry community.     

Protected areas,wildlife-based community tourism and community livelihoods dynamics: spiraling up and down of community capitals

Participation in wildlife-based community tourism within and around protected areas is seen as a tool to link biodiversity conservation and community livelihoods improvement. However, there is a deficiency of frameworks currently used to understand complex and dynamic relationships that exist among conservation, tourism and development. The community capitals framework is adopted to assess these linkages from a systems-thinking perspective in which community capitals’ stock and flow, explained by a community's participation in tourism determines the direction of change. Results of the Chobe Enclave Conservation Trust in Botswana indicate that all community capitals are interdependent and play a dynamic role in shaping the spiraling of community livelihoods. Participation in tourism led to both the spiraling up and down of community capitals. The spiraling up of community capitals is explained by increased livelihoods and diversification options facilitated by increased tourism income. The spiraling down is explained by the heightened human–wildlife conflicts and fragile wildlife–livestock co-existence, which led to livestock diseases, loss of beef market and the ecosystems’ fragmentation through the introduction of veterinary fences. Thus, the spiraling of community capitals is explained by the transformation of one stock of community capital to another in a systems-thinking dynamics fashion.     

A Structural Model of Leisure Constraints Negotiation in Outdoor Recreation

A conceptual model tested the leisure constraints negotiation process of outdoor recreation: motivation and the constraints to participate likely influenced by negotiation efforts. Higher motivation to participate encourages using negotiation strategies and resources to overcome constraints. Experiencing constraints was thought to trigger negotiation efforts. Drawing from social cognitive theory, negotiation-efficacy was proposed to encourage motivation, diminish the perception of constraints and promote negotiation efforts, which indirectly influenced positive participation. The model tested used data collected from a random sample of Arizona residents through hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results support the conceptual model and suggest the constraints negotiation process is a dynamic interaction of influences promoting outdoor recreation participation.     

Tourists' support for conservation messages and sustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences

A common justification for developing wildlife tourism attractions is that they help to secure long-term conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitats. Managers and guides often highlight their role in protecting wildlife and its habitat, yet little is known about the interests, needs and preferences of the tourists who participate in such activities – how aware are they of conservation issues; how concerned are they about the environmental impacts their visit may cause; do they expect and accept the conservation messages they receive? This research explores the perceptions, preferences and conservation awareness of tourists visiting the Mon Repos Conservation Park in Queensland, Australia. Comparison data from four other sites are also presented in order to provide a wider context for interpreting the data. The findings suggest that wildlife tourism management practices that enlist tourists as conservation partners, communicate the reasons behind any constraints imposed, and present a consistent message regarding interactions with wildlife, are likely to be most successful in meeting the needs of both tourists and wildlife.     

Testing a Structural Model of Psychological Well-Being and Constraints Negotiation in Recreational Sports Participation in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes

The relationships among psychological well-being, constraints, negotiation, and participation were examined using structural equation modeling in patients with type 2 diabetes using a cross-sectional survey approach (N = 283). Despite a direct negative effect of constraints and a positive effect of negotiation on participation in recreational sports, we found no significant effect of constraints on the negotiation efforts of respondents. Instead, psychological well-being played an important role in the process. A higher level of psychological well-being not only directly decreases participation, but also indirectly increases participation by reducing constraints and promoting negotiation efforts. In particular, environmental mastery and personal growth indirectly increase participation by mitigating constraints; personal growth and positive relationships stimulate participation by boosting negotiation efforts and diminishing the discouraging impact of constraints on negotiation. However, a stronger purpose in life decreases both negotiation and participation.     

Unethical use of wildlife in tourism: what's the problem,who is responsible,and what can be done?

Wildlife tourism is a huge global market, the revenue from which can promote local livelihoods and tourist education, enact conservation, and improve animal welfare. Such benefits arise if wildlife tourist attractions (WTAs) prioritise ethical deliverables above financial profit, but recent work has shown that the majority of WTAs have substantial negative animal welfare and conservation impacts. In the absence of global regulatory authorities, tourist revenue has become the ultimate arbiter of what constitutes acceptable use of animals in WTAs. Tourists, however, are not adequate assessors of WTAs’ animal welfare and conservation impacts: they lack the specialist knowledge required and are subject to a number of psychological biases that obscure the ethical dimensions of decisions to attend particular WTAs. This inadequacy is evidenced, and compounded, by overwhelmingly positive reviews on TripAdvisor (the industry-leading review site), even for WTAs with objectively poor ethical standards. Our suggested solution is to empower tourists by presenting unequivocal assessments of WTAs' animal welfare and conservation impacts, hosted in the fora that tourists already use to make their travel decisions. We would thereby promote a subjective norm that tourists should consider and limit their individual negative impacts when choosing which WTAs to visit.     

Role of positive emotions in the constraint process: the case of Taiwanese college students

This study adopts the partial least squares (PLS) method to analyse the relationships among positive emotions, leisure constraints, leisure negotiation strategy, and participation frequency in outdoor recreational activities using stratified proportional sampling of Taiwanese students (N = 569) and SmartPLS 2.0 statistical software to perform statistical analyses. This study determined that positive emotions not only directly affected the level of involvement in outdoor recreational activities but also indirectly increased involvement by improving negotiation ability. While leisure constraints have a direct, positive and significant impact on the leisure negotiation strategy, they do not significantly influence the level of participation in outdoor recreational activities. This article observed that the level of participation did not depend on constraints but instead depended on the process of ‘leisure negotiation’ based on the constraints. In the future, different samples can be used to test the stability and adaptability of this model; alternatively, other variables can be added to better understand college students’ participation in outdoor recreational activities.     

Determinants of livelihood diversification: The case wildlife tourism in four coastal communities in Oaxaca,Mexico

Diversification is a process by which households increase the number of economic activities in different sectors to improve their well-being and chance of survival. The aim of this research is to study the determinants of livelihood diversification with a specific emphasis on wildlife watching in the coastal communities of Oaxaca, Mexico. Based on household surveys, two econometric models were used to examine the differences regarding the asset determinants for those households increasing the number of economic activities and those involved in wildlife tourism. The results reveal four common variables distributed between capitals and specify that average household age, environmental consciousness, characteristics of the land, membership or participation in an organization (cooperative) and government transfers are determinants of a household's diversification into wildlife tourism. Policy recommendations include focusing on households with young people, providing support for social capital and policy coherence to guarantee basic needs and tourism planning design.     

Agroecological tourism: bridging conservation,food security and tourism goals to enhance smallholders’ livelihoods on South Pentecost,Vanuatu

Smallholder farmers continue to make up the largest proportion of the world's disadvantaged. Rural smallholders in the South Pacific are particularly vulnerable to climate change, underinvestment and growing competition for land and resources. Strengthening synergies between agriculture and tourism through avenues such as agritourism has been widely discussed; however, very little research has approached these concepts from a sustainability perspective. This case study of rural Ni-Vanuatu smallholders uses the Agroecology and Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Framework (ASRLF) to explore tourism's potential contribution to improved conservation and food security outcomes. Data collection combined participatory methods such as “storian sessions” with analysis of secondary data.

The findings highlight minimal current opportunities for rural Ni-Vanuatu smallholders to gain significantly from the tourism sector in Vanuatu. The shift from traditional gardening systems to cash cropping monocultures is also conflicting with tourism and conservation goals. This paper puts forward agroecological tourism as a strategy for integrating positive conservation, food security and livelihood outcomes for rural smallholders. It defines agroecological tourism as having a primary focus on the interpretation of sustainable traditional agroecosystems which exhibit cultural and heritage significance. Agroecological tourism has potential to support traditional practices, enhance the preservation of cultural knowledge and promote sustainable farming practices.     

基于层次分析法的乡村旅游地社区参与状况评价——以北京市平谷区黄松峪乡雕窝村为例

良好的乡村旅游社区参与能够发挥多重功能:延长乡村旅游地作为旅游目的地的生命周期,为其塑造良好的旅游地形象.同时,促使当地居民的经济、生活状况得到提升和改善.因此,良好的社区参与是乡村旅游可持续发展的重要保障.文章以北京市平谷区黄松峪乡雕窝村为例,运用AHP层次分析法将社区参与复杂的内涵进行逐层分析,发挥其定量分析与定性分析相结合的优点,对乡村旅游的社区参与情况进行比较客观的评价,从社区参与的角度为乡村旅游可持续发展提供参考.     

Community participation in World Heritage Site conservation and tourism development

This study investigates the factors contributing to community participation in a World Heritage Site (WHS) using Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability (MOA) model. We examined the effects of these factors on three levels of community participation. The findings showed that motivation had the greatest positive effect on the low level of community participation. Opportunity had the greatest effect on the high level of community participation. Among the dimensions of ability, namely awareness and knowledge, the findings showed that more aware residents were more interested in low level of community participation, whereas residents with more knowledge were more interested in high level of community participation. This study contributes to the tourism development and WHS conservation and management literature by examining the effects of MOA factors on three levels of community participation. Moreover, this study has a number of practical implications for local authorities in terms of community participation.     

公众参与公共性遗产资源保护的影响因素分析——中国香港保留皇后码头事件透视

公众参与公共性遗产资源保护的理论研究和实践应用目前在中国内地还处于起步阶段.本文以中国香港市民参与保留皇后码头事件为例,分析公众参与公共性遗产资源保护的影响因素.研究结果表明,公众参与公共性遗产资源保护受政府对公共性遗产资源保护的宣传、公众就公共性遗产资源保护申诉的权利保障、政府对公共性遗产资源保护的公众咨询、政府与公众就公共性遗产资源保护的沟通对话、政府采纳公众合理建议和意见、司法部门对公众诉讼的司法复核的公正性、政府对公众参与公共性遗产资源保护的政策等因素影响.据此,文章就中国内地公众参与公共性遗产资源保护提出了相关建议.     

Let your algorithm shine: The impact of algorithmic cues on consumer perceptions of price discrimination

How can hospitality and tourism firms reduce consumers’ perceptions of unfairness regarding their price discrimination practices? We propose that pricing algorithms, as advanced revenue management tools, can play a role. We demonstrated the effects of an algorithmic cue through a tweet analysis and four experiments. We found that informing consumers that the offered price is determined by algorithms mitigated their negative responses in the disadvantaged price discrimination context. Also, such algorithmic cue effects only occur when the algorithm is less anthropomorphic (vs. highly anthropomorphic or human). The positive impact of an algorithmic cue was identified not only when customers directly experienced disadvantaged price discrimination but also when they obtained the information from different channels. The results suggest hospitality and tourism firms that have implemented pricing algorithms in their revenue management can benefit from disclosing an algorithmic cue to customers.     

A Survey of Tourist Expectations and Economic Potential for a Proposed Wildlife Sanctuary in a Maasai Group Ranch near Amboseli,Kenya

This paper looks at the ethical, ecological, community, economic and management issues in extending wildlife tourism and conservation beyond national park boundaries in Kenya. It specifically examines the proposed Kuku Community Conservation Area (KCCA). Prerequisites, including the availability of diverse tourist attractions, local community support, the support of tourism investors and other stakeholders are considered. Research focused on interviews with tourists and tour operators visiting the Tsavo-Amboseli Ecosystem. Wildlife was the number one attraction for over 75% of tourists, though some were attracted by the Maasai culture. Most of the tourists (over 75%) were willing to visit a community wildlife sanctuary. This willingness was independent of their belief that the Maasai were actually benefiting from wildlife resources (p > 0.20) but was dependent (p < 0.001) on their desire to have the Maasai benefit. Most of them (over 70%) wanted the Maasai Community to benefit from wildlife and tourism, even though a majority (over 70%) did not know the role the community played in conservation, or (over 80% of them) the socio-economic burden that wildlife places on local communities. A majority (over 60%) of tourists had not visited a Maasai cultural centre, but most (over 70%) would have visited if they knew what was presented there. Based on a simple management model of 46 staff, KCCA could potentially generate a net Ksh10.35 million (US$147,867) annually, in addition to revenue from a proposed cultural centre and resource access benefits for the local community. With the existing tourist attractions in the area and with potential partnerships with tour companies, maximum benefit to the community from the successful tourism industry already operating in the area can be realised, hence legitimising wildlife conservation for the community.