Conceptualisation of Forest Tourism: The Kočevsko Case Study

The definition of tourism has undergone significant changes, and what was previously meant by tourism has been seen from a different perspective in recent decades. For example, new definitions of tourism have emerged, including the development of types of tourism associated with nature-motivated outdoor practices that constitute alternative escape strategies for everyday life. Indeed, the demand for such activities promotes healthier lifestyles and personal well-being and is a way of getting around stress and a sedentary lifestyle. Literature refers to the contact with the natural environment offers numerous benefits, including reducing and preventing hypertension, developing a more remarkable ability to concentrate, satisfying emotional needs, and reducing stress. For women, in particular. Therefore, all the present research is designed to identify the outdoor activities practised in the North of Portugal, the reasons for their practice, and the possible benefits of these outdoor activities to self-perceived health by gender. To this end, a questionnaire survey has been elaborated and applied to the resident population and those visiting the region to practice outdoor activities. The results reinforce previously published results and consolidate the existing theory regarding the type of activities practised and the inherent health benefits. The outdoor activity that respondents mostly practice is walking, and they believe it reduces stress and improves physical and psychological states. However, no statistical differences among gender were found, even if the sample descriptive statistics seemed to follow the direction of the literature results.KeywordsOutdoor tourismHealthWell-beingGenderNorth Portugal

The increasing tourist attraction of tourists must be adjusted to the availability of tourism facilities, such as attractions, Facilities, Infratructure, Transportation, and Hospitality (AFITH). Therefore, tourism stakeholders are important to know what the tourists are interested in and preferred or better known for their preference. This research aims to determine the preferences and perception of foreign tourists when visiting Nusa Penida, Klungkung. The analysis techniques that used are quantitative descriptive with the calculation of cross and chi-square tabulation analysis and also use of Likert scale gauge to measure the perception of foreign tourists that visiting Nusa Penida, Klungkung. Respondents determined by an Accidental samplingtechnique 90 peoples of foreign tourists that visiting Nusa Penida, Klungkung. The characteristic of foreign tourists on this research dominated by male tourist in 26-35 years old, dominated by Germany’s tourist, with the education level dominated by bachelor, as an employee, and the status is single, which aims to holiday with a source of information on Internet/social media, long stay 3-4 days, first time visit, and expressed willing to visit Nusa Penida, Klungkung again in another opportunity. The preference of foreign tourists when visiting Nusa Penida is divided into several preferences such as tourist attractions are natural attractions, on the preferences of accommodation facilities, foreign tourists choose a homestay, and then the tourist prefer to choose a warung or traditional stalls, and the transportation that choosen by the tourist is motorcycle. Perception of tourists to infrastructure that includes network communication and availability of clean water, the perception of tourists to the road conditions in Nusa Penida is not good, perception of tourists towards Hospitality in tourist attractions, Hospitality in the accommodation, and local community Hospitality expressed well.

The sustainable development of forests involves a combination of environmental protection and economics. Ecotourism is a new and growing sustainable economic model for forests, compared with the traditional utilization and protection of forests. The purpose of this study was to explore the applicability of the Prism model and SEM model in seeking to understand farmers’ perceptions and decision-making regarding tourism, so as to fully understand farmers’ thinking and behavior around forest tourism, and to truly make them in harmony with the sustainable development of forests. In this study, based on a field investigation of 392 farmers living in 11 national forest parks in Jiangxi Province, China, three hypotheses were constructed using the SEM model; and then six first-level indicators and 15 s-level indicators were constructed based on the Prism model, to verify the cognition and influencing factors for farmers, regarding sustainable forest tourism. The results showed that (1) the formation process of farmers’ willingness to adapt to forest tourism follows the path of “individual cognition → individual behavior”. (2) Economic influences, social culture, environmental cognition, and institutional cognition all have significant positive effects on their adaptive willingness. (3) Farmers’ cognition of economic life, environmental protection, and social culture lead to significant differences in their cognition and adaptability to forest tourism. These findings highlight the importance of the perceived value of tourism in assessing how tourism develops, as well as whether it is sustainable for the forest and its impacts. This study provides a better understanding of the factors that influence farmers’ attitudes towards tourism and highlights the importance of valuing local communities as important players in sustainable development, especially as this boosts the economy in forests.

With the potential to bring about considerable economic, social, and environmental advantages, forest tourism has emerged as a crucial industry for sustainable development in Southeast Asia. However, one of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to balance the consumption of natural resources with their conservation. As a result, this study uses bibliometric analysis to shed light on Southeast Asian forest tourism research. The Bibliometric R program was used in this study to assess a total of 174 articles that were chosen from the Scopus database using search criteria that included keywords such as forest, forestry, tourism, and touristry, limited to English-language journal articles from South Asian countries. The findings revealed that the key areas of focus in the analyzed studies centered on conservation and ecotourism. This bibliometric analysis also reveals periodic growth in forest tourism research, likely driven by increasing global and regional awareness of sustainable development goals, the economic potential of ecotourism, and the need to balance conservation with tourism activities. Additionally, the consistent pattern of author and institutional collaboration may be attributed to the interdisciplinary nature of forest tourism research, which often requires expertise from fields such as environmental science, sociology, and economics, fostering partnerships across institutions. These results offer insights into the development of future studies in forest tourism as well as empirical evidence to build strategies and policies for creating sustainable forest tourism.

This study investigated the perception of gaming tourists toward Macau and developed a typology of gaming tourists. The 1,497 responses from tourists in Macau were collected through convenience sampling method. The dimensions of multi-culture, convenience, economy, gaming, and unsafety, were subsequently extracted as the factors of perception of gaming tourists in Macau. Cluster analysis was performed using the delineated factors (perception of tourists on Macau). Four heterogonous groups were generated, namely, gaming lovers (n=467, 31.2%), exotic lovers (n=509, 34.0%), reasonable budget seekers (n=269, 18.0%), and convenience seekers (n=252, 16.8%). Further analysis was performed to investigate any difference in gaming behavior and tourist activities. The findings are expected to contribute to the efforts of destination marketing organizations (DMOs) in establishing effective business strategies, provide a profile of gaming tourists in certain market segments, and assist DMOs and casino managers in establishing more effective marketing strategies for target markets.

The Gita Persada Butterfly Park is one of the examples of a region that can be selected as an object of forest tourism which is located near city areas. This kind of tourism has own interest, so make enthusiasts of the travellers to visit this forest tourism. The travellers who visiting this park were assumed would create the negative impacts such as vandalism. The goals of this research are to identify the forms of the tree's vandalism and the group of ages from the travellers who did the vandalism, and than knowing the perceptions of the travellers against the vandalism. This research was done in January-February 2015 by using an observation method and interview. The plant’s percentage that suffered vandalism at the location that used as a tourism activity is 8,91%. The plant’s percentage that suffered vandalism at the location that not used as a tourism activity is 10,91%. Generally, the visitors have perceptions these vandalism activities damage trees and the beauty of the tourism object as well as they are needed the prevention acts by the orginizer of Gita Persada Butterfly Park about vandalism activities. Key words : forest tourism, vandalism, gita persada butterfly park

Since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, peoples attention to public health events and physical and mental health has increased, and the changes in tourism consumers perception have made consumers more favored for green, healthy and ecologically sound tourism destinations, and forest tourism has gradually entered the publics vision. Forest tourism is based on forest resources and takes the beautiful ecological environment as the standard, and the tourism activities carried out in the forest area fully reflect the richness of forest scenery and the diversity of forest tourism functions. Chinas forest tourism started in the early 80s of the 20th century. In the past 40 years, along with the pace of Chinas reform and opening up, forest tourism has grown from scratch and from small to large, becoming a major undertaking to promote economic and social development and improve peoples livelihood. In recent years, Nanchang Meiling National Forest Park has developed rapidly, this paper chooses to collect 200 samples from the perspective of tourism consumers, through the distribution of questionnaires, and use the statistical software SPSS 26.0 for data analysis, so as to further analyze the psychological factors affecting tourism consumers willingness to forest tourism, which is conducive to better insight into peoples demand for green ecotourism under the background of the epidemic, so as to better propose specific development strategies for the development of forest tourism in Jiangxi Province.

Although the tourism–poverty nexus has received increased attention, limited research considers the perspectives of people residing (with)in marine protected areas (MPAs). This article examines the views and experiences of local people in Cu Lao Cham MPA, Vietnam, with regard to tourism and poverty alleviation. Participant observation and semistructured interviews were conducted with 41 local people working in tourism. Results suggest that most respondents are involved in tourism and fishery simultaneously. Although tourism contributes significantly to respondents' living conditions and to the local economy overall (e.g., jobs creation for poor people and women), benefits are distributed unequally, which increases social conflicts. The challenges facing local people in participating in tourism include a lack of capital, lack of market access, and obstacles caused by local policies. This research suggests that locals' perceptions of tourism are important criteria for evaluating the tourism–poverty alleviation nexus. Additionally, in the context of MPAs, local attitudes may have an effect on conservation outcomes. Further research should consider the wider views of local people and other tourism stakeholders with regard to tourism, poverty, and conservation.

This article explores sustainable approaches of using forests for tourism. This article is developed base on an exploratory study reflected on using forest as recreational area in the Indonesian context particularly in Bali. This study was conducted by reviewing activity reports, articles on ecotourism, and regulations especially in Indonesia. It discusses the current practices and the existing regulations related to the issues and presents recommendations for a safer way of using forest for tourism. It is discovered that: in anticipation to the high demand of forest tourism currently, tourism activities in forests especially the protected forests need to be regulated, guidelines need to be developed, e.g. the basic structures required incorporate sustainable designed and use environmentally friendly materials. Promoting local communities to manage forest tourism is for community development and this could become a solution to the prolonged conflict between locals and forest authorities. It is expected that the result could foster sustainable practices within forest tourism and in a broader spectrum of ecotourism specifically in Bali and in Indonesia in general; promote the use of the natural environment to support the living of people around the area without damaging the ecosystem.

The tourism industry as a foreign exchange earner for the non-oil and gas sector in Indonesia has contributed US $ 16.426 billion in 2018 or around 200 trillion rupiahs. North Sumatra Province is one of the government's priorities in the tourism sector, measured from the construction of Sisingamangaraja XII International Airport in Silangit, the establishment of the Lake Toba Super Priority National Tourism Strategic Area (KSPN). The current Ministry of Tourism has made significant reforms, namely changing the focus from quantity tourism to quality tourism. The development of tourism quality that is currently underway in the Lake Toba area is then measured from the perceptions of tourists who respond to the quality values they have received while in the tourist area of Lake Toba. The theory used in this research is the theory of tourism by Nare, and the theory of foreign tourists by Ghanem. Furthermore, the method used is the quantitative data analysis method. Based on the results of the study it was found that the Cronbach's Alpha value was 0.931> 0.60, so as the basis for decision making in the reliability test, it can be concluded that the data tested was reliable or consistent and reliable. Tourism actors involved in the research were also mostly tourism actors in 2004, so based on their answers it was found that there was a significant change in perceptions of foreign tourists, namely 0.931%.

Purpose To explore adventure tourism, our study aims to understand the current status of adventure tourism in Kullu by reviewing the perception and participation of tourists in adventure-related activities. Methodology This study used descriptive and analytical research designs. Primary data were collected using a questionnaire survey of 115 respondents who visited Kullu Valley for adventure activities. Descriptive statistics, along with the chi-square test, were used for the analysis of data. Findings The findings reveals that age and occupation significantly influence tourists’ perceptions and participation in adventure activities highlighting a positive relationship between adventure tourism and the perception of tourists. The result shows that most of the tourists were from Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Although the maximum number of participants was for adventure activities, it was still observed that adventure tourists engaged in other tourism activities at the destination. The highest level of tourist participation in Kullu Valley is in nature walks, followed by visits to religious places and entertainment. Additionally, 103 tourists express their intention to revisit Kullu Valley in the Future. Practical implications The findings can help Himachal Pradesh in optimizing its resources and formulate regulations to encourage adventure activities. It will help overcome obstacles to the growth of adventure tourism and support the tourism sector in generating more revenue for the nation's economic growth. Contribution While many studies focus on adventure tourism, this study offers a comprehensive view of tourists' perception and activities, aiding its promotion as a recreational activity.

Importance Performance analysis (IPA) provides a useful facility to test the institutional synergy concept among tourism stakeholders. This research has a purpose to explore the perception of tourism stakeholders concerning the attributes in the value of importance and performance in tourism institutions to increase quid pro quo for the community. This study was conducted in sub-districts that have potential migrant or Indonesian Migrant Worker populations in Malang District. Samples of this research are tourism stakeholders who manage tourist attraction in productive migrant villages. They are tourism activist groups as tourism actors in the community, village government work units, and Perusahaan Daerah Jasa Yasa (Jasa Yasa Regional Company) as the manager of the tourism. The analytical tool used to measure the level of performance and importance in the synergy attributes is the Importance Performance analysis (IPA). The results of this study show the attributes of synergy between tourism stakeholder institutions have the following distribution: Environmental Changes attribute falls in Quadrant I; attributes of Continuous Coordination, Simultaneous Responsibility, Effective Communication, & Simultaneous Supervision fall in Quadrant II; Simultaneous Policy and Direct Relationship attributes fall in Quadrant III; and Obvious Purpose attributes falls in Quadrant IV.

The issues surrounding the understanding and practice of sustainability in tourism are becoming increasingly important to both academicians and tourism planners. For more than two decades the attainment of sustainable development and the protection of touristic assets have been at the forefront of central policy issues in global tourism development. Recently, it has been argued that collaborative and associative forms of governance among tourism stakeholders are growing in importance in the drive for sustainable tourism development. Despite the increasing number of debates on the role of stakeholders in tourism, they are not well supported by empirical studies and how such stakeholders can contribute to the sustainable development of tourism. This study investigates various sustainable tourism development dimensions among tourism stakeholders and whether these dimensions depend on the demographic characteristics of stakeholders. By employing factor analysis, the study reveals that there is a set of sustainable tourism development parameters that is most common. The results also indicate that there is a significant difference among the tourism stakeholders in terms of perceived sustainable tourism development dimensions in India.

Effective Tourism Stakeholder Collaboration and Member Satisfaction

The issues surrounding the understanding and practice of sustainability in tourism are becoming increasingly important to both academicians and tourism planners. For more than two decades the attainment of sustainable development and the protection of touristic assets have been at the forefront of central policy issues in global tourism development. Recently, it has been argued that collaborative and associative forms of governance among tourism stakeholders are growing in importance in the drive for sustainable tourism development. Despite the increasing number of debates on the role of stakeholders in tourism, they are not well supported by empirical studies and how such stakeholders can contribute to the sustainable development of tourism. This study investigates various sustainable tourism development dimensions among tourism stakeholders and whether these dimensions depend on the demographic characteristics of stakeholders. By employing factor analysis, the study reveals that there is a set of sustainable tourism development parameters that is most common. The results also indicate that there is a significant difference among the tourism stakeholders in terms of perceived sustainable tourism development dimensions in India.