Determinants of visitor pro-environmental intentions on two small greek islands: Is ecotourism possible at coastal protected areas?
Ημερομηνία
2012Λέξη-κλειδί
Επιτομή
A relatively under-researched question is whether there is a possibility of influencing environmentally aware tourists regarding ecotourism at destinations that continue to develop under a pattern of mass 'seaside' tourism. Our objective was to assess the pro-environmental intentions of visitors at two small Greek islands, which are within a Natura 2000 site, specifically Paxoi and Antipaxoi. Intentions involved willingness to receive information about the protected area, willingness to accept pro-environmental limitations on recreational experience, and willingness-to-pay a conditional environmental conservation value added tax. In addition, we aimed to identify determinants of visitor pro-environmental intentions among visitor and visit characteristics, visitor satisfaction, and self-reported environmental knowledge, as well as anticipated outcomes of tourism development and suggestions for protected area management. We randomly collected 324 usable questionnaires during the summer season; 242 (74.69 %) by Greek visitors and 82 (25.31 %) by foreign visitors. Visitor satisfaction was quite high; however, visitors reported low levels of environmental knowledge. Our findings showed that the unique characteristics of the destination were not salient among visitors and that there is a lack of effective outreach campaigns, interpretation, and on-site environmental education programs. However, our study revealed high levels of visitor pro-environmental intentions that might support the promotion of ecotourism on the two islands. We provide recommendations based on determinants of visitor pro-environmental intentions, which might assist towards advancing visitor participation in environmental education projects, environmentally responsible behavior among visitors, and financial contribution to environmental conservation by visitors. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Environmental noise as an important legal factor in the rehabilitation of the acoustic urban environment
Chaikali, S.; Vogiatzis, K.; Eliou, N. (2009)Noise is an important environmental factor affecting all problems related to the degradation of the urban environment and the quality of life. In Greece, quality of life has been established as a legal conception protected ... -
Towards a better pesticide policy for the European Union
Storck V., Karpouzas D.G., Martin-Laurent F. (2017)This opinion article aims to foster the debate about pesticide legislation in the European Union (EU). Numerous formerly authorized and widely used pesticides are now banned in the EU because unexpected and unacceptable ... -
Mapping the optimal forest road network based on the multicriteria evaluation technique: the case study of Mediterranean Island of Thassos in Greece
Tampekis S., Sakellariou S., Samara F., Sfougaris A., Jaeger D., Christopoulou O. (2015)The sustainable management of forest resources can only be achieved through a well-organized road network designed with the optimal spatial planning and the minimum environmental impacts. This paper describes the spatial ...