{"title":"Tourist Awareness of Environmental and Recreational Behaviors at the Guandu Wetland, North Taiwan","authors":"Yung-Tan Lee, Ren-Yi Huang, Chih-Cheng Chen, You-Ting Liao","volume":48,"journal":"International Journal of Economics and Management Engineering","pagesStart":2247,"pagesEnd":2252,"ISSN":"1307-6892","URL":"https:\/\/publications.waset.org\/pdf\/10483","abstract":"
The aim of this study is to discuss the relationship between tourist awareness of environmental issues and their own recreational behaviors in the Taipei Guandu Wetland. A total of 392 questionnaires were gathered for data analysis using descriptive statistics, t-testing, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and least significant difference (LSD) post hoc comparisons. The results showed that most of the visitors there enjoying the beautiful scenery are 21 to 30 years old with a college education. The means and standard deviations indicate that tourists express a positive degree of cognition of environmental issues and recreational behaviors. They suggest that polluting the environment is harmful to the natural ecosystem and that the natural resources of ecotourism are fragile, as well as expressing a high degree of recognition of the need to protect wetlands. Most of respondents are cognizant of the regulations proposed by the Guandu Wetland administration which asks that users exercise self-control and follow recommended guidelines when traveling the wetland. There were significant differences in the degree of cognition related to the variables of age, number of visits and reasons for visiting. We found that most respondents with relatively high levels of education would like to learn more about the wetland and are supportive of its conservation.<\/p>\r\n","references":"[1] W. Steiner and R. Parz-Gollner, \"Actual numbers and effects of\r\nrecreational disturbance on the distribution and behaviour of Greylag\r\nGeese (Anser Anser) in the Neusiedler See-Seewinkel National Park\r\nArea.\" Journal for Nature Conservation, 11, pp.324-330, 2003.\r\n[2] V. Shiva (Ed.), \"Monocultures of the Mind: Biodiversity, Biotechnology\r\nand Agriculture.\" Third Word Network, Penang and Zed Press, UK,\r\n1993.\r\n[3] P. M. Vitousek, H. A. Mooney, J. Lubchenco and J. M. Melillo, \"Human\r\ndomination of earth ecosystems.\" Science, 277, pp. 494-499, 1997.\r\n[4] M. Scheffer, W. Brock and F. Westley, \"Socioeconomic mechanism\r\npreventing optimum use of ecosystem services: an interdisciplinary\r\ntheoretical analysis.\" Ecosystems 3, pp.451-471, 2000.\r\n[5] E. Boo, \"Ecotourism: a tool for conservation and development.\" In\r\nKusler, J. A. (comp.) Ecotourism and Resource Conservation, A\r\nCollection of Papers, 1, pp. 54-60, 1991.\r\n[6] K. Lindberg and B. McKercher, \"Ecotourism: a critical overview.\"\r\nPacific Tourism Review, 1(1), pp. 65-79, 1997.\r\n[7] T. Forestry, \"Guided Nature-Based Tourism in Tasmania-s Forests:\r\nTrends, Constraints and Implications.\" Hobart, Australia: Forestry\r\nTasmania, 1994.\r\n[8] J. L., Ballantine and P. F., Eagles, \"Defining Canadian ecotourismts.\"\r\nJournal of sustainable Tourism, 2(4), pp210-214, 1994.\r\n[9] M. Pratt, \"Imperial eyes: Travel writing and transculturation.\"London,\r\nUK: Routledge, 1992.\r\n[10] S. Squire, \"Accounting for cultureal meanings: The interface between\r\ngeography and tourism studies re-examined.\" Progress in Human\r\nGeography, 18(1), pp. 1-16, 1994.\r\n[11] D. Zurick, \"Errant journeys: Adventure travel in a modern age.\" Austin,\r\nTX: University of Texas Press, 1995.\r\n[12] K. Q. Yin and J. R. Ni, \"Review of wetland studies.\" Acta Ecologica\r\nSinica, 18(5), pp. 539-546, 1998.\r\n[13] W. Y. Chiau, \"Coastal management: theory and practice.\" Taipei:\r\nWunan Books, 2000. (in Chinese)\r\n[14] W. Y. Chiau, \"Wetlands conservation and its vision for Taiwan.\"\r\nProceedings of the International Workshop on Wetland Conservation\r\nand Need for International Cooperation in Northeast Asia, Pusan,\r\nKorea, pp29-44, 2002.\r\n[15] H. M. Tsai, C. F. Chiang, \"Policy sustainability of coastal\r\nmanagement.\" Proceedings of Conference on Sustainability Indices and\r\nPolicy Evaluation, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC,\r\npp.55-82, 2002. (in Chinese)\r\n[16] D. L. Kerstetter, J. S. Hou and C. H. Lin, \"Profilling Taiwanese\r\necotourists using a behaveioural approach.\" Tourism Management, 25,\r\npp. 491-498, 2004.","publisher":"World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology","index":"Open Science Index 48, 2010"}