The majority of previous studies on ecotourism have used a behavioral approach to the identification of ecotourists. While these studies provide a number of useful ecotourist profiles, they do not provide a general scale useful in identifying ecotourists across a wide array of contexts. Therefore, this exploratory study develops an Ecotourism Interest scale and tests the value of the scale in predicting travelers’ participation in selected tourist activities. Logistic regression models are used to test hypotheses regarding the influence of Ecotourism Interest on choice of vacation activity. Empirical results show that the Ecotourism Interest scale is useful in identifying if tourists will select eco-friendly activities (e.g., walking in the bush, tramping, and whale watching). Also, different additional factors such as age, travel party, and travel mode were found to influence tourists’ decisions to participate in any one particular activity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ashton, R. (1991). “Trends and Problems in Eco-Tourism.” In Proceedings of the 1991 World Congress on Adventure Travel and Eco-Tourism. Englewood, CO: Adventure Society, Inc., pp. 22-31.
2.
Ballantine, J. L. , and P.F.J. Eagles (1994). “Defining Canadian Ecotourists.”Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2 (4): 210-214.
3.
Blamey, R. K. (1997). “Ecotourism: The Search for an Operational Definition.”Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 5 (2): 109-130.
4.
Boo, E. (1990). Ecotourism: The Potential and Pitfalls. Vol. 1. Washington, DC: World Wildlife Fund.
5.
Boo, E. (1991). “Pitfalls and Liabilities of Eco-Tourism Development.” In Proceedings of the 1991 World Congress on Adventure Travel and Eco-Tourism. Englewood, CO: Adventure Society, Inc., pp. 145-149.
6.
Bottrill, C. G. , and D. G. Pearce (1995). “Ecotourism: Towards a Key Element Approach to Operationalizing the Concept.”Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 3 (1): 45-54.
7.
Buckley, R. (1994). “A Framework for Ecotourism.”Annals of Tourism Research, 21 (3): 661-669.
8.
Bush, A. J. , and A. Parasuraman (1985). “Mall Intercept Technique Versus Telephone Interviewing Environment.”Journal of Advertising Research, 25 (2): 36-43.
9.
Ceballos-Lascurain, H. (1987). “The Future of Ecotourism.”Mexico Journal, January: 13-14.
10.
Ceballos-Lascurain, H. (1990). “Tourism, Ecotourism, and Protected Areas.” In Ecotourism and Resource Conservation, selected papers from the 1st (April 17-19, 1989, Merida Mexico) and 2nd (Nov. 27-Dec. 2, 1990, Miami Beach, FL) International Symposia on Ecotourism and Resource Conservation, J. A. Kusler (compiler), pp. 24-30.
11.
Diamantis, D. (1998). “Consumer Behaviour and Ecotourism Product.”Annals of Tourism Research, 25 (2): 515-528.
12.
Eagles, P. F. (1992). “The Travel Motivations of Canadian Ecotourists.”Journal of Travel Research, 31 (2): 3-7.
13.
“Ecotourism: A Food Trip?” (1997). The Economist, August 30, pp. 52-53.
14.
Fennell, D. A. , and B. Smale (1992). “Ecotourism and Natural Resource Protection.”Tourism Recreation Research, 17 (1): 21-32.
15.
Figgis, P. (1993). “Ecotourism-Special Interest or Major Direction?”Habitat Australia, 21 (1): 8-11.
16.
Freeman, D. H. (1987). “Logistic Regression.” In Applied Categorical Data Analysis. New York: Marcel Dekker, pp. 237-274.
17.
Harvey, B. (1991). “Media Productions: The Challenge of Communicating Ecotourism Messages.” In Ecotourism and Resource Conservation, a collection of papers compiled by J. A. Kusler, Ecotourism and Resource Conservation Project, pp. 802-815.
18.
Higgins, B. R. (1996). “The Global Structure of the Nature Tourism Industry, Ecotourists, Tour Operators, and Local Business.”Journal of Travel Research, 35 (2): 11-18.
19.
Hvenegaard, G. T. , and P. Dearden (1998). “Ecotourism versus Tourism in a Thai National Park.”Annals of Tourism Research, 25 (3): 700-720.
20.
Ingram, C. D. , and P. B. Durst (1989). “Nature-Orientated Tour Operators: Travel to Developing Countries.”Journal of Travel Research, 28 (2): 11-15.
21.
Keenan, J. (1989). “Ecotourism: Where Capitalism and Conservation Meet.”Mexico Journal, 32: 16-24.
22.
Kretchman, J. A. , and P. F. Eagles (1990). “An Analysis of the Motives of Ecotourists in Comparison to the General Canadian Population.”Society and Leisure, 13 (2): 499-508.
23.
Kutay, K. (1989). “The New Ethic in Adventure Travel.”Buzzworm: The Environmental Journal, 1 (summer): 31-36.
24.
Lee, D.N.B. , and D. J. Snepenger (1992). “An Ecotourism Assessment of Tortuguero, Costa Rica.”Annals of Tourism Research, 19 (2): 367-370.
25.
Luzar, E. J. , A. Diagne, C. Gan, and B. R. Henning (1998). “Profiling the Nature-Based Tourist: A Multinomial Logit Approach.”Journal of Travel Research, 37 (1): 48-55.
26.
McKercher, B. (1993). “Some Fundamental Truths about Tourism: Understanding Tourism’s Social and Environmental Impacts.”Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1 (1): 6-16.
27.
McNeely, J. A. (1988). Economic and Biological Diversity: Developing and Using Incentives to Conserve Biological Reserves. Gland, Switzerland: International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
28.
Meric, H. J. , and J. Hunt (1998). “Ecotourists’ Motivational and Demographic Characteristics: A Case of North Carolina Travelers.”Journal of Travel Research, 36 (4): 57-61.
29.
New Zealand Official Yearbook on the Web 1999. Available at http://www.stats.govt.nz
30.
Ross, S. , and G. Wall (1999). “Ecotourism: Towards Congruence between Theory and Practice.”Tourism Management, 20 (1): 123-132.
31.
Saleh, F. , and J. Karwacki (1996). “Revisiting the Ecotourist: The Case of Grasslands National Park.”Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 4 (2): 61-80.
32.
Schouten, H. (1993). “Less is More—The Bangs’ Theory.”The Evening Post, July 6, p. 5.
33.
Silverberg, K. E. , S. J. Backman, and K. F. Backman (1996). “A Preliminary Investigation into the Psychographics of Nature-Based Travelers to the Southeastern United States.”Journal of Travel Research, 35 (2): 19-28.
34.
Sirakaya, E. , V. Sasidharan, and S. Sonmez (1999). “Redefining Ecotourism: The Need for a Supply-Side View.”Journal of Travel Research, 38 (2): 168-172.
35.
Social Change Media (1995). A National Ecotourism Education Strategy. Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth Department of Tourism.
36.
Spector, P. E. (1992). Summated Rating Scale Construction. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
37.
Stafford, A. (1992). “Investment and Ecotourism.” In Ecotourism Business in the Pacific: Promoting a Sustainable Experience, edited by John E. Hay. Auckland, New Zealand: Environmental Science, University of Auckland, pp. 161-165.
38.
Valentine, P. S. (1992). “Critical Issues in Developing Ecotourism in the Pacific.” In Proceedings of the Conference Ecotourism Business in the Pacific. Auckland, New Zealand, University of Auckland pp. 8-13.
39.
Wight, P. A. (1993). “Ecotourism: Ethics or Eco-Sell.”Journal of Travel Research, 31 (3): 3-9.
40.
Wight, P. A. (1996). “North American Ecotourism Markets: Motivations, Preferences, and Destinations.”Journal of Travel Research, 34 (4): 3-10.
41.
Williacy, S. , and P. F. Eagles (1990). An Analysis of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists’ Canadian Nature Tours Programme. Waterloo, Canada: Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo.
42.
Williams, P. (1991). “Ecotourism Management Challenges.”Travel Review Conference,Burnaby, British Columbia: Simon Fraser University, pp. 83-87.
43.
World Tourism Organization (1998). Tourism 2020 Vision—Executive Summary. Madrid, Spain: World Tourism Association.
44.
World Travel and Tourism Council and the APEC Tourism Working Group (1998). The Impact of Travel and Tourism Development in the APEC Region.
45.
Yamamoto, D. , and A. M. Gill (1999). “Emerging Trends in Japanese Package Tourism.”Journal of Travel Research, 38 (2): 134-143.
46.
Yuan, M. S. , and N. A. Christensen (1994). “Wildland-Influenced Economic Impacts of Non-Resident Travel on Portal Communities: The Case of Missoula, Montana.”Journal of Travel Research, 32 (4): 26-31.
47.
Ziffer, K. (1989). “Eurotourism: The Uneasy Alliance.” In Conservation International, Working Papers in Ecotourism, Washington, DC, pp. 1-36.
