The motivations and environmental attitudes of nature-based visitors to protected areas in Hong Kong

Ting On Lewis CHEUNG, Lincoln FOK

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

50 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Understanding nature-based visitors’ motivations and environmental attitudes is important for the development of appropriate visitor management strategies for protected areas. This study categorised Hong Kong nature-based visitors of protected areas into different subgroups according to their visiting motivations and environmental attitudes. The association between their motivations and environmental attitudes was also assessed. A total of 585 completed responses were collected from on-site questionnaire surveys, and three subgroups of protected area visitors, according to their visiting motivations, i.e. travel for novelty, travel for recreation and travel to escape, have been identified. Similarly, three subgroups, namely conservation and development, conservation priority and leisure rights, were identified based on visitors’ environmental attitudes. Results showed that visitors’ environmental attitudes and their motivations were found to be closely related, indicating that visitors with higher environmental concerns tended to travel for novelty and those exhibiting a lower environmental concerns travel to escape. Copyright © 2014 Parthenon Pub. Group.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)28-38
JournalInternational Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology
Volume21
Issue number1
Early online dateSept 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Citation

Cheung, L. T. O., & Fok, L. (2014). The motivations and environmental attitudes of nature-based visitors to protected areas in Hong Kong. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 21(1), 28-38.

Keywords

  • Nature-based visitors
  • Motivations
  • Environmental attitudes
  • Protected areas
  • Hong Kong

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