Does a National Park Enhance the Environment-Friendliness of Tourists as an Ecotourism Destination?

Eunseong Jeong, Taesoo Lee, Alan Dixon Brown, Sara Choi and Minyoung Son
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Eunseong Jeong: Department of Tourism Management, Honam University, Gwangju 62399, Korea
Taesoo Lee: Department of Geography, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Korea
Alan Dixon Brown: Department of Economics, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Korea
Sara Choi: Graduate Program of Tourism Studies, Honam University, Gwangju 62399, Korea
Minyoung Son: Department of Hotel and Airline Service, Cheongam University, Suncheon 57997, Korea

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-16

Abstract: Governments have designated national parks to protect the natural environment against ecosystem destruction and improve individuals’ emotional and recreational life. National parks enhance environment-friendly awareness by conducting ecotourism activities and individuals with environment-friendly awareness are inclined to continue to visit national parks as ecotourism destinations. The New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) is a widely used measure of environmental concern, suitable for measuring the environment-friendly attitude and revisit intention of visitors of national parks. Therefore, the study carried out structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate the relationship between the NEP, national park conservation consciousness and environment-friendly behavioral intention. Based on the results, an implication is presented to induce national parks to cultivate individual environment-friendly awareness and for visitors to pursue sustainable, environment-friendly tourism behavior. The findings indicate that national parks are to expand educational programs and facilities for eco-tourists visiting national parks to maintain a balanced relationship between themselves and nature and have a strong environmental awareness to preserve the natural environment.

Keywords: ecotourism; new ecological paradigm; environmental-friendly behavior; conservation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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