Has the establishment of national parks improved nature-based tourism experiences? Evidence from social media data.

This article draws upon the findings of an exploratory qualitative study of regional South Australian tourists' nature-based tourism experiences during COVID-19. Through the implementation of focus group interview sessions with participants across three age group categories, it was evident that many participants had visited nature-based settings in pursuit of health benefits. From the perspective of physical health, national parks and conservation areas were identified as “risk averse” backdrops that allowed exercise to be undertaken. From the perspective of mental health, nature-based tourism spaces acted as “mental sanctuaries” that supported wellbeing and enabled visitors to temporarily escape the stresses of COVID-19. Respondents aged under 30 reported a greater connectedness with nature and had positively re-evaluated the benefits of nature-based tourism. This article offers valuable insights into the role of nature-based tourism settings in supporting regional populations during the continuation of COVID-19 or other crises that present challenging times or hardship.

The increasing frequency and prominence of global public health threats put urban healthcare workers at risk of physical and mental illness. Forest therapy holds crucial importance in promoting human health as a non-material benefit obtained from ecosystems. Cultural ecosystem services (CES) profoundly influence human welfare. National parks, due to their rich biodiversity and other favorable conditions, can support forest therapy and provide CES. This study organized 32 urban healthcare workers to participate in a two-day, two-night forest therapy in the Giant Panda National Park (GPNP), which provides CES, and examined immediate changes in their physical and mental health before and after the intervention. Among these, physiological indicators encompass respiratory and circulatory system, immune system, neurotransmitter system, physical fitness development, and sleep quality. Psychological indicators include self-restore and preferences, sensory perception, transcendent experiences, and personal subjective wellbeing. The results indicate that both forest bathing and sensory therapy activities within the GPNP may yield varying degrees of relaxation and concentration benefits. Forest therapy in medium hydrodynamic landscapes may offer significant physiological relaxation benefits for high-stress groups such as urban healthcare workers, while sensory therapy in forest environment may positively enhance concentration levels. Activities such as observation and experiential learning within national parks characterized by pristine ecological environments may be more effective in evoking positive or even exhilarating emotions. This exploratory finding could potentially contribute to the rehabilitation treatment of individuals with depression. Research findings on respiratory and circulatory systems, immune systems, neurotransmitter systems remind us that culture and nature are not in conflict. Infusing cultural elements into sufficiently good ecological environments may bring greater benefits to humanity. This exploratory discovery could aid future selections of therapeutic microenvironments for sub-health populations and individuals with respiratory diseases. This study also found that the most contributing activities to the mental health of urban healthcare workers in different environments were not exactly the same, with Baduanjin, plant nameplates and mandalas, and meditation on positive thoughts being highly contributing to both types of environments, while the landscape of smell was more contributing in the waterside environment of a national park, and the activity of embracing trees was more contributing in the forested environment of a national park. Additionally, the mental health benefits derived from natural environments with cultural ambiance surpass those of forest bathing in purely natural settings, which aligns with our findings regarding physiological benefits. The exploratory findings of this study may provide scientific evidence for the comprehensive impact of national parks on human health, and to offer feasible nature-based solutions for the health and wellbeing of urban healthcare workers and the broader population.

Building China's National Park System: A Gap Analysis for Giant Panda Conservation

Understanding the activities and preferences of visitors is crucial for managing protected areas and planning conservation strategies. Conservation culturomics promotes the use of user-generated online content in conservation science. Geotagged social media content is a unique source of in situ information on human presence and activities in nature. Photographs posted on social media platforms are a promising source of information, but analyzing large volumes of photographs manually remains laborious. We examined the application of state-of-the-art computer-vision methods to studying human-nature interactions. We used semantic clustering, scene classification, and object detection to automatically analyze photographs taken in Finnish national parks by domestic and international visitors. Our results showed that human-nature interactions can be extracted from user-generated photographs with computer vision. The different methods complemented each other by revealing broad visual themes related to level of the data set, landscape photogeneity, and human activities. Geotagged photographs revealed distinct regional profiles for national parks (e.g., preferences in landscapes and activities), which are potentially useful in park management. Photographic content differed between domestic and international visitors, which indicates differences in activities and preferences. Information extracted automatically from photographs can help identify preferences among diverse visitor groups, which can be used to create profiles of national parks for conservation marketing and to support conservation strategies that rely on public acceptance. The application of computer-vision methods to automatic content analysis of photographs should be explored further in conservation culturomics, particularly in combination with rich metadata available on social media platforms.

European experience of the organization of ecological tourism in national parks on the example of Germany is investigated in the article. Approaches to the interpretation of the concepts "ecological tourism" and "national park" are considered. The general features of the organization of ecological tourism in European countries are defined. The European model of ecological tourism is based on the development of forms of ecotourism in the cultural landscape and focuses on the principles of sustainable tourism development and conservation of natural resources. This model pays attention to such functions of ecological tourism as concern for the social, cultural and economic well-being of the local population.The modern network of national parks of Germany is described. The network of national parks of Germany was formed in conditions of deficit of the unused land resources, high population density, a significant level of urbanization and the predominance of cultural landscapes. The size, zoning, degree of fragmentation and staffing of the sixteen national parks located on the territory of the country differ significantly. A characteristic feature of the network of national parks of Germany is their orientation mainly on domestic tourists. Especially popular in Germany is cognitive type of ecological tourism, so it is also called "German model of ecotourism development".The features of the organization of ecological tourism in the national parks of Germany on the example of the Bavarian Forest National Park are analyzed. Nature protection and tourist and recreational activities of the national park are carried out in accordance with the Park Development Plan. The Bavarian Forest National Park is open all year round and offers many recreational activities and accommodation options for different categories of tourists. The development of the tourist infrastructure of the national park aims to the rational organization of the territory in order to maintain a balance between preserving nature and meeting the needs of ecotourists and other tourists. Available on the territory of the Bavarian Forest National Park information centers contribute to the development of ecological education programs for children and young people. The directions and prospects of development of ecological tourism within the national nature parks of Ukraine based on European experience are outlined. The main directions are: rational planning of ecotourism activities; development and improvement of tools for ensuring management activities; forming a system of standardization and certification in the realm of ecotourism services; forming and development of an ecologically safe transport network; organization of a rational structure of recreational services; intensification of recreational use of peripheral or adjacent to national parks territories; creation of a system of ecological education for visitors; information and advertising providing of ecological tourism. The interaction of parks with non-governmental organizations and the provision of a wide range of services for obtaining extra-budgetary funding is promising for the Ukrainian network of national nature parks. Strategic directions for the development of ecological tourism should be developed with a view to minimizing the consumption of natural resources to ensure their preservation for future generations.

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) in natural resource areas is an effective tool to protect and enhance the value of resources and benefit the people. Digital development is the demand of the times for its efficient realization of multiple functions, which urgently needs academic exploration. This study puts forward the concept of digital cultural ecosystem service (D-CES). Taking the cyberspace of five places in China (Three-River-Source National Park, National Park of Hainan Tropical Forest, Giant Panda National Park, Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park and Wuyishan National Park) as cases, based on a digital field survey and multi-stage questionnaire interview, combining the qualitative exploration and quantitative analysis of grounded theory, this paper constructs the digital cultural ecosystem service (D-CES) scale, and tests its effect on the travel behavior of potential tourists. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The digital cultural ecosystem service (D-CES) of the national park includes 5 themes and 18 secondary categories. (2) The D-CES measurement scale contains 5 dimensions (educational value, aesthetic value, social value, spiritual value, and entertainment value) and 16 items were compiled and verified. (3) Through the criterion validity test, the study found the impact of different dimensions on potential tourists' travel intention. (4) Finally, the research provides strategies for the construction of digital cultural ecosystem service in national parks.

Motives: Matters related to monitoring recreational use of national parks and identifying sites with high cultural values of ecosystem services are essential elements for the efficient management of these areas. Aim: The objectives of this study were to: 1) recognize the spatio-temporal distribution of activities in national parks by users of selected social media platforms; 2) identify the locations with the highest activity among the various groups visiting the national parks; 3) identify the locations (hot spots) with the highest potential for providing cultural ecosystem services (CES). Results: The spatial and temporal distribution of activities among various user groups in the national park areas was displayed using data from social media platforms and applications. Additionally, CES hotspots for the five most popular national parks were found.

-National parks and other categories of protected areas are often assumed to enhance regional economic development due to park tourism. The current study attempts to estimate the impact of the Hohe Tauern national park (Austria) on tourism by exploring whether and to what extent the national park may have had an influence on tourism development. For most national park communities, the results suggest that the establishment of the national park had some impact by enforcing an already positive trend or by weakening or reversing a negative trend of tourism. However, breakpoint tests exhibit turning points up to several years after the establishment of the park, indicating that taking a national park as the basis for tourism development is a medium to long term development strategy. In the short term, the impact of a national park on tourism is not measurable. Tourism increased by 1 to 3% annually after the breakpoint, indicating that the establishment of a national park has to be incorporated into the tourism and development strategy of a region right from the start. The causal relationship between the establishment of the national park and tourism development may be weak, in particular in communities where the difference between the actual and the forecast numbers of overnight stays is small. Marketing national park tourism and building up a brand or distinctive label may therefore contribute to regional development particularly in the long term.Key words: Tourism, national park, protected area, time series, stationarity, breakpoint test, ARIMA.JEL classifications: R110, L830, C220.Parole chiave: Turismo, parco nazionale, area protetta, serie temporale, stazionarietŕ, test di breakpoint, ARIMA.

Exploring local challenges and adaptation strategies in the establishment of National Parks in giant panda habitats

The study aims concern to nature-based tourism in national parks, to compare visitor behavior and visitors’ spatial and temporal distribution in national parks during the COVID-19 (2020) and pre- COVID-19 period (2017–2019). The research is based on a pyroelectric sensors data, entrance fees and questionnaire survey of visitors, in order to: (1) assess the spatial and temporal distribution and changes of visitors, (2) characterize changes in visitors’ behavior. The visitor number and spatial and temporal distribution changed during COVID-19 period. The visitor’s behavior identifies three visitor clusters depending on the strength of COVID-19 pandemic impact on stay on national parks: High fear visitors (HFV), Low fear visitors (LFV) and No fear visitors (NFV). Each cluster represents a different attitude toward the pandemic and its effects. The research was conducted in two national parks in Poland: Stołowe Mountains National Park and Karkonosze/Giant Mts. National Park. The resulting data were compared with data from previous years. A total of 935 respondents participated in the survey, which demonstrated a significant impact of the ongoing pandemic on many aspects of the behaviors. Most visitors argued that the pandemic had not changed their behavior because society began to perceive national parks as safe destination with a low probability of infection. 

Since China proposed building a national park system in 2017, the establishment of a planning system for nature reserves, with national parks as the main body, is being actively promoted around the country. Among them, scientific ecological space management and control zoning (ESMCZ) is an important link in maintaining the ecological stability of national parks. How to zone national parks and how to improve the precision of zoning has become a new task for national parks. Therefore, this study takes the Giant Panda National Park as the study area, takes ecosystem services and land use/cover change as the research perspective, integrates the InVEST model, PLUS model and bayes belief network (BBN) model, and builds a set of ecological space management and control zoning (ESMCZ) spatial zoning framework based on raster scale, dividing the study area into strictly protected zone, ecological buffer zone, ecological control zone and controlled development zone. The results showed that: (1) The study area showed an increasing trend in water conservation, soil conservation and carbon storage from 2005 to 2020, and the habitat quality index was generally high. The spatial heterogeneity of ecosystem services in the study area was significant, and the effect of a single factor on ecosystem services was most pronounced. (2) Large variation in area for different land uses under natural development scenarios and ecological protection scenarios. In both scenarios, the area of cultivated land, the area of grassland and the area of unused land decrease relative to 2020, and the area of forested land, the area of water and the area of constructed land increase relative to 2020. (3) The Giant Panda National Park is divided into strictly protected zone, ecological buffer zone, ecological control zone and control development zone, of which the strictly protected zone have the largest area and the best ecosystem background condition, and the control development zone have the smallest area and the worst ecosystem background condition. (4) The ecological space management and control zoning (ESMCZ) framework provides a more refined method for the secondary zoning of nature reserves such as the Giant Panda National Park, which is valuable for the implementation of zoning and categorization management for ecological conservation in the Giant Panda National Park.

Pengsong Mount Natural Tourism Park (NTP) is a habitat for long-tailed monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) in West Lombok. This study aims to determine the habitat characteristics of Macaca fascicularis in Pengsong Mount Natural Tourism Park (NTP), West Lombok. The object of this research is the long-tailed monkey (Macaca fascicularis) and all vegetation observed in the habitat of this species. Habitat characteristic data was collected using the plot method placed on an observation transect. Vegetation data taken includes vegetation at the level of seedlings, saplings, poles, and trees. Data on the physical conditions of the habitats collected included air temperature, air humidity, soil moisture, and soil pH. The data on the activity of the long-tailed monkeys studied were the daily activities of the monkeys in their habitat. The results showed that the habitat characteristics of long-tailed monkeys in Pengsong Mount Natural Tourism Park (NTP) is overgrown by 25 types of plants belonging to 15 families, has an average air temperature of 27.670C, an average air humidity of 650C, an average soil moisture of 55.67%, and the average pH of 5.2. The value of plant diversity in the Pengsong Mount Natural Tourism Park (NTP) area is 2.623 so that the value of plant diversity is classified as moderate. The value of plant evenness in the Pengsong Mount Natural Tourism Park (NTP) area is 0.815 so that the value of plant evenness is high.

This study aims to understand millennials’ nature-based tourism experience through their perceptions towards technology use and travel constraints in a nature-based tourism context by drawing upon technology escape and digital-free travel conceptualizations and leisure constraints theory. Data were collected using surveys from 276 millennials and nature-based tourism providers, and two focus groups consisting of 21 providers and 13 millennials. The findings revealed that millennials perceived laptops with WI-FI access, virtual/ augmented reality, digital cameras, and WI-FI access at campsites to be significantly less enhancing of the nature-based tourism experience compared to the providers’ perceptions. An exploratory factor analysis identified four dimensions of travel constraints among millennials, including intrapersonal, interpersonal, time, and destination attributes. The findings highlight millennials’ conflicting need to escape from day-to-day technology use while remaining connected to basic technology services. Both the theoretical contributions of these findings and practical implications are discussed.

National parks have many fondions. They serve as nature reserves and, at the same time, they provide excellent recreation opportunities for millions of people worldwide. However, from the viewpoint of the regional local population they can also frequently restrict individual activities. For this reason, the issue of the economic potential of a national park for the relevant region is usually brought up very quickly. High expectations are frequently placed on the benefits from national park tourism. Surprisingly, there is a lack — at least for the Alpine region — of comprehensive studies of the importance of national park tourism for regional economies. The present publication aims to address and reduce this information deficit. Extensive visitor surveys carried out in and around the Swiss National Park in the summer of 1998 revealed that national park tourists booking accommodation in this region of 16 communities generated demand to the value of SFr 20.6 million. SFr 10.2 million of this amount was gross value added. This is the lower limit of the value added from national park tourism in the study area, and represents 2.5% of the regional CDP. Indirect and induced regional economic effects from national park tourism are also taken into account and based on key parameters provided by the relevant literature. In this way, the upper limit of value added by national park tourism can be estimated to be approximately SFr 17.4 million or 4.25% of the regional CDP. On the other hand, the comparative economic impact of national park day tourism can be considered very small. National park tourism contributes about one quarter of the total estimated value added of the region's summer tourism. This means that the National Park can be considered to be a major attraction for summer tourism in the surrounding region. However, the surveys also revealed that visitors to the National Park region appreciate the variety of activities offered, indicating that a national park on its own would likely be insufficient to promote a region's tourism or economy.

An important tool for conserving species and their habitats and achieving sustainable development is the establishment of national parks. The population ecology of the species to be conserved, including their population size and suitable habitat, needs to be assessed prior to integrating protected areas into national parks. The Liangshan Mountains are currently the southernmost habitat of giant pandas and lie outside the newly established Giant Panda National Park (GPNP). The population is threatened with extinction due to severe isolation and human disturbance. However, there has been a ten-year gap in the census of giant pandas in this critical area. This means that conservation managers are unable to keep up to date with population and habitat dynamics. The Meigu Dafengding National Nature Reserve is the core area of the giant panda population in Liangshan and the link for gene exchange. The focus of this study is to assess the spatial distribution pattern of suitable habitat, habitat fragmentation and the habitat selection characteristics of giant pandas in the Meigu Dafengding Nature Reserve in Liangshan in order to lay the foundation for the future inclusion of Liangshan into the national park. A total of 151 giant panda fecal samples were collected in 2023. Using the distance–bamboo stem fragments method, this indicated that nearly 28 to 29 giant pandas exist within the reserve. Based on MaxEnt and FRAGSTATS, the giant panda population is concentrated in Wahei–Yiziyakou. They tend to choose gentle slopes of 10–30°, at altitudes between 2500 m and 3500 m, with average annual temperatures between 8.5 °C and 10 °C. They also select the areas close to roads and settlements for their frequent activities. Unsuitable habitat is widespread and surrounds low-, medium- and high-suitability habitats with poor habitat connectivity. In situ conservation measures are urgently needed due to the restricted distribution of populations and poor habitat suitability. This lays the foundation for the future inclusion of Liangshan into the national park, providing greater protection for the giant panda and other species in the region, and for other national parks to integrate all habitats into a single management unit. This will address conservation gaps and overlapping management, and promote the conservation of rare or endangered species.