Review article
https://doi.org/10.21861/HGG.2023.85.01.06
Contemporary development of nature-based tourism – characteristics and study aspects
Ivana Žafran
orcid.org/0009-0005-8255-7498
; Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Nature-based tourism is a type of tourism that is primarily concerned with the direct enjoyment of relatively undisturbed natural phenomena. Today, it is among the types of tourism which are characterised by significant growth rates at the global level. It has considerable growth potential and its development can concurrently ensure tourist satisfaction with the nature experience, profit for tourism providers, funds for environmental protection and an improvement in living standards in local communities. Nevertheless, it is also important to be aware of the potential negative implications of nature-based tourism development and to continuously manage all aspects of sustainability. This paper aims to determine the main study aspects of nature-based tourism, the most common methodological approaches and the most important characteristics of its contemporary development. For this purpose, an analysis of recent empirical research on nature-based tourism was conducted, and a total of 41 original scientific papers were included in the analysis. The four study aspects derived from this analysis contribute to determining the general characteristics of nature-based tourism's contemporary development, the prerequisite factors for this development, and the effects it has on a given area.
Keywords
nature-based tourism; key stakeholders; natural resources; sustainable development; environmental protection; analysis of empirical research
Hrčak ID:
306040
URI
Publication date:
13.7.2023.
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