Modelling attitudes to nature, tourism and sustainable development in national parks: A survey of visitors in China and the UK

Abstract

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.

Evolutionary and socio-cultural influences on feelings and attitudes towards nature: a cross-cultural study

“…Additionally and often overlooked, are the non-instrumental interactions with nature (Phillips & Mighall, 2000). These include for example, the emotional and aesthetic responses to nature that contribute to culture and the arts and these relationships between people and the natural environment are critical in resource management (Xu & Fox, 2014).…”

“…In contrast scenic aesthetics is more based on an anthropocentric attitude (Gobster, 1999) as is a preference for farm environments (Kaltenborn & Bjerke, 2002). Xu & Fox (2014) demonstrated a strong causal relationship between people's attitudes towards nature and tourism; specifically, that people's attitude to sustainable tourism development is significantly influenced by how they view nature.…”

“…The development of policy initiatives at a range of levels is dependent upon the views of peoples of different nationalities and cultures (Xu & Fox, 2014). Similarly the benefits of the natural world accrue to different populations in varying ways and in the case of tourism can be connected to whether a person is a tourist or a member of the host community.…”

“…A prevailing approach is to distinguish between anthropocentrism and ecocentrism. In the former, the natural world is perceived as a resource to be used to benefit mankind whereas ecocentrism values nature for its own sake (Campbell, 1983;Thompson & Barton, 1994;Kortenkamp & Moore, 2001;Page & Connell, 2009;Fennell & Nowaczek, 2010;Xu & Fox, 2014). The anthropocentric attitude dominated western thinking (Holden, 2008) having derived from the Judeo-Christian culture of dominion over nature (Pointing, 1992) and was first identified in the 1860s (Campbell, 1983).…”

“…Whereas, China is not only an Eastern society greatly influenced by Confucianism and Taoism, but also a developing country, experiencing rapid economic development with associated mass urbanization (Xu & Fox, 2014). Jiuzhaigou National Scenic Area in western China receives about 2.6 million visitors a year (Cheng, Xu & Zhang, 2009).…”