Research Article: Mariyam, D., Vijayakrishnan, S., & Karanth, K. K. (2022). Influence of charismatic species and conservation engagement on the nature-viewing preferences of wildlife tourists. Tourism Recreation Research, 1-10.

Blog Author: Simran Prasad

Key Takeaways:

  • Wildlife tourism has steadily gained interest and popularity globally. Nature-based tourism has multiple benefits, however, there are also challenges with protected area (PA) management that can arise. 
  • This study aims to identify factors that influence tourists’ preferences for nature-viewing across three PAs in India.
  • Through the use of semi-structured surveys, the authors sought to identify attributes that influence tourist viewing preferences. 
  • Surveys were conducted with 516 tourists to understand their nature-viewing preferences. Seven biodiversity categories that influence nature-viewing preferences were identified: They were: (1) birds, (2) herpetofauna, (3) landscape, (4) tiger, (5) other large mammals, (6) plants and trees, and (7) small and medium-sized mammals. 
  • The authors focus on the need to understand tourists’ motivations and to evaluate preferences in the context of meeting larger conservation goals. 

 

Wildlife tourism has recently gained rapid popularity across the world. Nature-based tourism has multiple benefits, which can enhance community-livelihoods through economic opportunities and sustain biodiversity conservation endeavors. However, nature-based tourism can also lead to challenges, especially for protected area (PA) managers, who often have to revise actionable strategies, so that a balance between biodiversity preservation and financial sustainability can be maintained. 

The study aimed to identify factors that influence tourists’ preferences for nature-viewing in three PAs across India. Semi-structured surveys were conducted across Bandipur, Kanha and Sundarbans National Parks. Bandipur is located in the Western Ghats region, whilc Kanha is the largest National Park in Central India. The Sundarbans spans over 10,000 km² across India and Bangladesh, with 40% of total area located in India. With the goal of identifying nature-viewing preferences, the survey consisted of specific questions about tourists’ (1) demographics, (2) nature-viewing preferences and PA visit experience, (3) involvement in wildlife conservation, (4) expenditure economics and (5) desire to support locally run business through the option of alternative lodging. Various socioeconomic, demographic and conservation-focused factors on nature-viewing preferences were assessed through the use of decision trees that are created and split based on several contrasting independent variables (data analysis technique called recursive partitioning).

Surveys were conducted with 516 tourists to understand their nature-viewing preferences. Through recursive partitioning, seven biodiversity categories to determine viewing preference were identified. They were: (1) birds, (2) herpetofauna, (3) landscape, (4) tiger, (5) other large mammals, (6) plants and trees, and (7) small and medium-sized mammals. The authors also highlight that tourists differ in motivations to visit PAs, specifically regarding the occurrence of charismatic megafauna (i.e. tigers, elephants, etc.). Viewer preferences and motivations are especially important in the context of understanding the rise in popularity for nature-based tourism. The paper discusses the need to evaluate tourist preferences in the context of implementing tourism policies and practices in the long-term, which can enable conservation efforts to efficiently manage opportunities and challenges that are linked to broader biodiversity objectives. It is important to be cognizant of tourists’ motivations and interests to help align conservation opportunities. By factoring these attributes, and more, conservation work can aim to support wildlife and wild spaces across the world. 

 

You can access the original article here.

Keywords: Nature-based tourism; protected area; visitor; Biodiversity; India