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Capturing Tourists’ Preferences for the Management of Community-Based Ecotourism in a Forest Park

Author

Listed:
  • Cheng Zong

    (College of Wildlife Resources, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
    Tibet Agriculture and Animal Husbandry College, Linzhi 860000, China)

  • Kun Cheng

    (College of Wildlife Resources, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China)

  • Chun-Hung Lee

    (The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien 97401, Taiwan)

  • Nai-Lun Hsu

    (The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien 97401, Taiwan)

Abstract

The development of community ecotourism will require the integration of experience, culture, and information for management decision-making. We use a choice experiment to build a community ecotourism preference model incorporating aspects of profound experience and economics in a forest park, test the tourists’ heterogeneity by using a random parameter logit model, and estimate the values of various community ecotourism programs. The empirical results reveal that: (1) Tourists’ preferences for community ecotourism will increase with the inclusion of a mini tour, experiential activities, and the opportunities to taste local dishes and stay at a distinctive bed & breakfast (B&B); (2) The variety of tourists’ social backgrounds and recreational experiences resulted in the heterogeneity of the attributes; (3) The best combinations regarding community ecotourism were a small group size, profound or in-depth experiences, and experiential activities in a forest park. This pilot study generates useful information by demonstrating possible community ecotourism programs in the forest park, along with suggestions for a quality improvement program.

Suggested Citation

  • Cheng Zong & Kun Cheng & Chun-Hung Lee & Nai-Lun Hsu, 2017. "Capturing Tourists’ Preferences for the Management of Community-Based Ecotourism in a Forest Park," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-16, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:9:p:1673-:d:112609
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