This research undertook a visitor survey in two protected areas in different cultural contexts, namely China and the UK, to explore whether the value a person attaches to the environment influences their attitude towards sustainable tourism development in national parks. Structural equation models were developed with data from 597 and 368 questionnaires collected in Jiuzhaigou National Scenic Area, China and the New Forest National Park, UK respectively. The results suggested that anthropocentric or ecocentric values significantly influence people's attitudes to tourism and sustainable development. The same structured causal relationship was found in both samples, between people's attitudes towards the natural environment, conservation and tourism in a national park context.
Mounting environmental issues have prompted reconsideration of the human-nature relationship. Accordingly, attitudes to nature, as an important dimension of human-nature interactions, have become a research focus. In particular, how feelings and attitudes towards nature are influenced by evolutionary and social-cultural constructions, and whether there is variation between different cultural groups, demands more attention. Using a survey of visitors to two very different National Parks, the New Forest National Park, England and Jiuzhaigou National Scenic Area, China, this paper shows that of nationality and past and present living environment,differences between the two nationalities were significant in respect of both attitudes and feelings. Specifically, it demonstrates that the biophilia thesis, which purports that people have an innate, and hence a genetically inherited, need for affiliation with nature is influenced by their socio-cultural environment, in particular their national culture, but also by their current living place. The study contributes to a better understanding of sustainable tourism in natural areas.
Ethical issues related to animal rights have gained significant exposure in the past few decades. As a result, animal welfare concerns have continuously been at the forefront of public debate. This has had a major impact on Western culture, expressed in the growing popularity of lifestyle changes towards reducing and abandonment of animal use across different industries. However, animal use in planned events remains insufficiently studied and absent from most event management literature. Therefore, this research aims to explore the opinions of Millennials on the use of live animals in events. The literature discusses anthropocentrism, anthropomorphism and cognitive dissonance, as reoccurring themes. A combination of a focus group and semi-structured interviews was undertaken and the analysis identified entertainment, financial benefit and tradition as the main reasons for using live animals at events. Awareness and transparency on animal welfare issues within the events industry were stated by interviewees as points for improvement together with the lack of a clear definition of animal welfare, especially when it comes to captive and performing animals, as well as the uncertainty regarding animals' stakeholder status in events.
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