Search Results (8)

Balancing ecological conservation and economic development is a significant global challenge, particularly in developing countries where rich natural resources often coincide with impoverished areas. This study used the Yunhe Terrace as a case, integrating remote sensing data and statistical analysis to quantify the ecosystem asset value and its changes before and after ecological conservation efforts. Additionally, we assessed the nonmaterial service value and conducted a questionnaire survey to explore the impact of nonmaterial service value on the socio-economic development of local residents. The key findings are as follows: (1) The ecosystem assets of the Yunhe Terrace include four main types: forests, grasslands, wetlands, and cultivated land. In 2020, the Yunhe Terrace ecosystem was primarily composed of forest (56.79%) and cultivated land (36.61%), showing a balance between natural and modified landscapes. (2) The monetary value of ecosystem assets was calculated based on the economic net benefits of ecosystem assets over their expected useful lifespan (20 years in this study). The value of the Yunhe Terrace ecosystem before and after it became a scenic spot was assessed. Results showed that the total value of ecosystem assets increased from 265 million CNY to 523 million CNY over a 20-year period, representing an increase of 257 million CNY. (3) The value of nonmaterial services, represented here by net revenues from eco-tourism, was calculated from 2018 to 2022, covering the period before and after ecological conservation efforts began in 2019. Results showed the value of nonmaterial services rose from 3.07 million CNY in 2018 to 8.90 million CNY in 2022, a growth of 189.77% after ecological conservation. (4) Field surveys and questionnaire analysis of stakeholders’ income sources suggest that ecological conservation and recreational development in the Yunhe Terrace ecosystem have increased household income in terms of both the number of income sources and monetary value. This study demonstrates that ecological conservation and tourism can enhance household welfare, contributing to a better understanding of the dynamics between conservation and economic development. Full article

The pro-environmental behavior of tourists is an important guarantee for the sustainable development of ecotourism scenic spots. This article is based on 806 tourist survey data from two ecotourism scenic spots, making use of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the structural equation model (SEM) to explore the impact of tourist experience quality on tourists’ pro-environmental behavior. The research findings indicate that (1) the quality of the tourist experience is an important factor affecting the formation of place attachment; (2) the quality of tourism experience directly and positively affects place dependence, and indirectly affects place identity through the mediating factor of place dependence; and (3) the direct impact of tourist experience quality on tourists’ pro-environmental behavior is significant, with place attachment playing a mediating role. This article provides inspiration for scenic spots to encourage tourists to engage in pro-environmental behavior. In the process of stimulating tourists to engage in pro-environmental behaviors, ecotourism scenic spots should pay more attention to the tourist experiences and emotional experiences. Scenic spots should make more efforts to improve the quality of the tourist experience, so that tourists can develop a sense of dependence on ecotourism scenic spots, gradually form self-identification with the scenic spots, and engage in environmentally friendly behavior, helping to achieve the sustainable development of ecotourism scenic spots. Full article

The protection and utilization of ecological environment are very important for urban and rural development. At present, a large number of relevant theoretical and practical explorations have been carried out, which confirms the important conclusion that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. The sustainable development of ecological environments is based on coordination with human production and life. In this paper, by constructing an accounting system for the gross ecosystem product (GEP) applicable to Hanwang town, using the market value method, the alternative cost method, the travel cost method, the willingness to pay method and other technical methods, the GEP of Hanwang town is calculated from three aspects: product supply, regulation service and cultural tourism. Finally, the spatial distribution characteristics of value are used to guide the development and layout of ecological industry in Hanwang town. The results showed that the total ecosystem product value of Hanwang town in Xuzhou was relatively high, reaching 1.165 billion CNY, with per capita reaching 30 million CNY, which was 49.16% of the town’s GDP in 2020. The value of cultural tourism is 820 million CNY, the value of regulatory services is 239 million CNY, and the value of product provision is 106 million CNY. The ecological value of Hanwang town varies greatly in spatial distribution. On the whole, the price is low in the southwest, but high in the northeast. The high-value areas are mainly concentrated in three areas: Yudai River Riverside, Xuzhou Paradise in the north, Hanwang Scenic Spot in the middle and the Panaxi Valley tourist spot in the south. Based on the principle of ecological value transformation, combining with the spatial distribution characteristics of ecological value in Hanwang town, four modes of promoting ecological value transformation were proposed: ecological industrialization management, ecological governance and value promotion, ecological resource index trading and ecotourism. This paper preliminarily explores a method to calculate and transform the value of ecological space, which provides feasible concrete strategies for the protection of ecological space and the development of ecological industry in towns. Full article

Eco-tourists are the practitioners of promoting the harmonious development of humans and nature, and have a very important significance for the scenic spots and sustainable development of scenic areas. However, external factors often interfere with the eco-tourists’ original intention, which not only affect the tourist experience, but also bring a negative influence to the scenic spots, and even the destinations where they are located. Identifying the triggering factors and processes that influence eco-tourists’ participation in scenic value co-creation will lay a solid foundation for the effective governance of scenic areas. This paper systematically explores whether, how and when psychological contract violations significantly affect the eco-tourists’ participation in scenic value co-creation from the perspective of psychological contract violations. The data are collected from 556 eco-tourists’ questionnaires from the Yellow River Estuary Ecotourism Zone of Dongying City, Shandong Province, China. Through a hierarchical regression analysis and further validated by the Bootstrap method, the study finds the following: First, eco-tourists’ psychological contract violation has a significant negative effect on their participation in value co-creation. Second, moral disengagement plays a mediating role in the relationship between psychological contract violation and value co-creation behavior. Third, moral disengagement acts on value co-creation. The process of moral disengagement on value co-creation behavior is influenced by the level of expertise. The negative effect of moral disengagement on value co-creation decreases as the level of expertise increases. The findings of this paper not only expand the antecedents of tourists’ participation and the path of psychological contract violation in value co-creation, but also have important practical implications for promoting eco-tourists’ participation in value co-creation as well as reducing, preventing and identifying psychological contract violation in ecotourism scenic spots. Full article

Drawn to the unique natural and geographical advantages of ecotourism scenic areas, tourists can roam the natural environment and, at the same time, promote the sustainable development of the scenic area’s ecology. As a result, ecotourism has gradually become a popular type of tourism. Tourists’ perceived authenticity, perceived values, revisit intentions, and environmentally responsible behaviors, which are important variables in understanding their cognition and behaviors, have received extensive attention from scholars. However, few studies have combined tourists’ perceived authenticity, perceived values, revisit intentions, and environmentally responsible behaviors in the context of ecotourism. Taking Huangshan World Natural and Cultural Heritage Site in Anhui, China, as a case study, this study explored the relationship between the perceived authenticity and perceived values of ecotourists, and the respective relationships of perceived authenticity and perceived values with revisit intentions and environmentally responsible behaviors. A survey research method was employed, and the structural equation modeling technique was used to determine the relationships among variables. The results indicated that the perceived authenticity of ecotourists had a significant positive impact on their perceived values. Tourists’ perceived authenticity and perceived values significantly and positively affected their revisit intentions and environmentally responsible behaviors, respectively, while their perceived values played a mediating role in the impact of perceived authenticity on revisit intentions and environmentally responsible behaviors. Theoretically, this study introduces the concept of perceived authenticity into ecotourism, expands the research scope of perceived values, and fills the gaps in the research regarding the impact of perceived authenticity on environmentally responsible behaviors. Practically, it will assist tourism managers in developing a strategic plan for protecting the unique natural resources and cultural customs of scenic spots, producing a valuable interactive experience, and enhancing the collaborative decision-making process, which will lead to the sustainable development of ecotourism destinations. Full article

The primary purpose of the Man and the Biosphere Program is the sustainable development of both the economy and nature conservation activities. Although the effectiveness of eco-tourism to reach this goal has been proposed, due to the lack of long-term monitoring data and a model species, there has been no obvious mechanism to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy. This study explored the effectiveness of the sustainable development policy of HMBR based on 30 years data of monitoring the Tibetan macaque, local human population, visitors, and annual ecotourism income in Huangshan by estimating species habitat suitability and the impact of ecotourism. The results showed increases in the income for the local human population, the number of visitors, and annual eco-tourism. Simultaneously, the reserve’s Tibetan macaque population size and suitable habitat areas increased. The macaques expanded their habitat to the low-altitude buffer zone (400–800 m), an area with lower eco-tourism disturbance. Scenic spots had a significant negative impact on habitat suitability (the substantially increased contributions of scenic spots from 0.71% to 32.88%). Our results and methods provide a suitable evaluation framework for monitoring the sustainable development and effectiveness of eco-tourism and wildlife conservation in Man and the Biosphere reserves. Full article

Aiming to address the problems of the current research on water ecotourism routes, a water ecotourism route recommendation model based on an improved cockroach optimization algorithm is proposed. The aim is to recommend the tour routes with the lowest exhaust emissions. Firstly, depending on tourists’ once-visited water scenic spots, a scenic spot recommendation model based on the improved item-based collaborative filtering algorithm is set up. Then, by combining the recommended scenic spots and integrating the random transportation modes selected by tourists, a tour route recommendation model based on an improved cockroach optimization algorithm is constructed, which can output the tour route that produces the lowest exhaust emissions. Finally, The sample experiment shows that, on the basis of combining with the multivariate random transportation modes, the proposed algorithm has greater advantages than the tour routes planned by the traditional electronic maps, as it can output the tour routes with the lowest exhaust emissions, reduce the damage exhaust emissions cause in the urban water environments and to water resources, and effectively protect the urban water ecological environments. Full article

Tourism flow is an important monitoring indicator for the industrial operation of ecotourism destinations, crucial in its planning, development, and marketing. Based on the travel journal data of popular tourism websites, this paper analyzed the spatial and temporal distribution, network structure, and the coupling characteristics between ecotourism flow and traffic accessibility in Zhangjiajie using standard deviation ellipse, social network analysis, kernel density estimation, and a spatial coupling model. The main results are as follows: (1) In terms of time distribution, the ecotourism flow in Zhangjiajie is mainly short-term tourism, with significant seasonal differences. (2) In terms of spatial structure, the ecotourism flow in Zhangjiajie presents a polygonal distribution of “core-edge”, forming a dense distribution area of Wulingyuan–Tianmen Mountain–Huanglongdong ecotourism flow. (3) In terms of spatial and temporal distribution, the connection intensity between the core area of ecotourism flow in Zhangjiajie and other scenic spots increases as the tourism length of stay increases. However, the radiation scope is mainly in the surrounding ecotourism scenic spots. (4) The coupling degree of ecotourism flow and traffic accessibility in Zhangjiajie is high, but the coupling coordination degree remains low on the whole. In addition, there is a serious mismatch between ecotourism flow and traffic accessibility in Zhangjiajie. Full article