Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the perspectives of tourism stakeholders regarding sustainable tourism outcomes in protected areas. We compared the responses of residents with residents, and tourists with tourists, in two protected areas of Nepal, namely, the Annapurna Conservation Area and Chitwan National Park. Tourism sustainability was evaluated with six tourism impact subscales measuring negative and positive ecological, economic, and social impacts. Data were collected using the survey method. Respondents included 230 residents and 205 tourists in Annapurna, and 220 residents and 210 tourists in Chitwan. Data analysis involved a series of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses with Annapurna and Chitwan as comparison groups and tourism impact subscales as latent constructs. Results revealed that residents and tourists perceive positive and negative impacts differently across protected areas. This suggests that the form of tourism development affects the sustainability outcomes in protected areas. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 465-480 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Journal of Travel Research |
Volume | 55 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2014 |
Keywords
- measurement invariance
- multigroup confirmatory factor analysis
- protected areas
- sustainable tourism
- tourism stakeholders
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Transportation
- Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management