Ecotourism Practices in Potatso National Park from the Perspective of Tourists: Assessment and Developing Contradictions

Rumin Zheng, Shuo Zhen, Lin Mei and Hongqiang Jiang
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Rumin Zheng: Key Laboratory of Geographical Processes and Ecological Security in Changbai Mountains, Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Shuo Zhen: Key Laboratory of Geographical Processes and Ecological Security in Changbai Mountains, Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Lin Mei: Key Laboratory of Geographical Processes and Ecological Security in Changbai Mountains, Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Hongqiang Jiang: Key Laboratory of Geographical Processes and Ecological Security in Changbai Mountains, Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-14

Abstract: Ecotourism in Potatso National Park has been developing for more than 15 years, which has had important guiding significance for the development of China’s national parks. This paper analyzes ecotourism practices in Potatso by extracting related travel notes and adopting the ground theory and content analysis method. The results show that the current ecotourism practices in Potatso include 5 dimensions and 15 elements. The five dimensions are the natural environment, environmental education, community participation, ecotourism experience and socioeconomic background. The five most important elements are the ecosystem elements, sensory and behavioral ecotourism experience, ecological facilities and interpretation systems. There are also three contradictions: between tourists’ environmental awareness and lack of environmental behaviors, between community participation and residents’ reception capacity, and between environmental education and tourists’ experiences. Regarding the future development of Potatso, conservation will always come first. A breakthrough is needed to strengthen the conversion of environmental education to the environmental behavior of tourists, adjust the participation model of communities dynamically, and continue innovating in the form of environmental education.

Keywords: national park; ecotourism practice; developing contradictions; Potatso (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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