Around the world, there is mounting evidence that parks and protected areas contribute to a healthy civil society, thus increasing the economic importance of cultural and nature-based tourism. Operating at the intersection of business and the environment, tourism can improve human health and wellbeing as well as serve as a catalyst for increasing appreciation and stewardship of the natural world. While the revenues from nature-based activities help to make the case for investing in park and protected area management; the impacts they have need to be carefully managed, so that visitors do not destroy the natural wonders that attracted them to a destination in the first place. This book features contributions from tourism and recreation researchers and practitioners exploring the relationship between tourism, hospitality, protected areas, livelihoods and both physical and emotional human wellbeing. The book includes sections focused on theory, policy and practice, and case studies, to inform and guide industry decisions to address real-world problems and proactively plan for a sustainable and healthy future.

This book focuses on the experiences of tourists visiting nature-based destinations, exploring current knowledge and providing insights into conceptual issues through the use of empirical evidence from five continents. Presented as three topics, the contents discuss tourism and naturebased experiences by looking at the role and relevance of nature and the uniqueness of such experiences. The book identifies visitor management challenges and provides explanations for the solutions reached. The final section takes a more overarching destination management perspective that transcends the tourism product or business level and focuses on destination and generic issues like indicators or marketing implications. The book also includes research-based case studies which contribute to an overall understanding of the core issues involved in managing visitor experiences in nature-based tourism.

All around the world, as growing numbers of tourists and recreational visitors flock to protected and other natural areas stimulated by a renewed search for physical, mental, and even spiritual health and wellbeing, different practices and behaviours emerge. This book brings together experiences and perspectives from many countries around the world. On the demand side, the experiences are united by the desire of tourists to find a real and regenerating connection in nature. On the supply side, designing and managing tourist systems that preserve natural capital in good condition requires great professionalism to dynamically maintain a fragile and delicate balance between tourists, local communities, and nature. By understanding the attitudes and emerging norms of behaviour within the context of nature-based tourism, we can begin to sketch a roadmap to enable more holistic, enjoyable, healthy and responsible visitor experiences; facilitate ecosystem conservation; contribute to the mental and physical wellbeing of tourists and outdoor recreationists; and build sustainable economies and resilient destinations and livelihoods. This book is of great relevance for academic researchers, advanced tourism and conservation students, and practitioners working in nature-based tourism and conservation, especially those with a focus on natural destinations, as well as those interested in consumer behaviour, business and management, recreation, and sustainable tourism development.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the face of international and domestic tourism and sharply focused attention on the importance of tourist health, safety and wellbeing like never before. This book offers a unique perspective on the challenges facing the world’s largest service industry to protect and care for customers in a rapidly evolving environment where borders have closed, social distancing rules apply and personal hygiene has become a key focus in everyday life. Yet tourism is a very resilient industry and history shows there is always an immediate surge toward recovery after a crisis has passed. Humans want to travel and see the world. While we appreciate that the pandemic is far from over, already there are reports of pent-up demand for travel as restrictions ease at some destinations and borders begin to open. As we move hopefully toward the recovery phase and people begin to move around for business and pleasure, this book presents the reader with key information and insights in both traditional and emerging areas of tourist health, safety and wellbeing, recognising that the world is now shaped by this pandemic, bringing change, potentially enduring benefits and lasting legacies.

In recent decades, the fast rise of emerging economies, like the BRICS nations, has propelled the growth of tourism worldwide. Meanwhile, a plethora of nature destinations has been developed to meet the diverse needs of the new wave of demand from emerging economies and to entice existing tourists from advanced and rich economies. Nature Tourism augments the current literature on the benefits and pitfalls in recent developments of nature tourism, tracing the history in development, highlighting the ecological impacts and showcasing the current practices in nature tourism, along with discussions on specific tourist markets from holistic viewpoints embracing lessons learned from various destination nations and continents across the globe. A host of topics with global significance will be explored such as the effect of climate change on nature tourism, technological innovation in managing nature tourism, visitor management in nature tourism and market positioning in a highly competitive environment. These are reviewed in a wide range of countries from USA/Canada, South America, Scandinavian countries, the Swiss Alps, Middle-East countries, Africa, China and Australia/New Zealand. This book will offer significant insight into nature-based tourism and its future development. It will be of interest to upper-level students, researchers and academics in tourism, environmental studies, development and sustainability.

Tourism based on natural environments is a huge international industry, requiring access to land with scenery, native plants, and wildlife. In turn, land managers need money to maintain the land and all its resources. Looking at the economic, social and environmental consequences of nature-based tourism, this book discusses the importance of links and partnerships, as well as the conflicts between commercial tourism interests and land management agencies.

"Visitors to protected areas and other areas of natural beauty are growing in number year on year. This causes a rise in conflicts between the needs of the hosts, managers, government, industry, and the tourists. This multidisciplinary book examines these issues in detail using case studies"--