Abstract
Natural protected areas have become more appealing destinations for tourists. Although the concept of nature protection and the declaration of protected areas is old, scientific overview of this attractiveness is of a more recent date. This article empirically investigates three variables, with respect to the sociodemographic profile, motivations to visit and attributes valued by ecotourists that visited a Ramsar wetland of international importance: Santay Island, in Ecuador. This National Protected Area located in the middle of 2 cities, offers a green and recreational place for ecotourists´ relaxation. The analysis is based on 1002 on-site surveys collected from tourists visiting this isle. The results indicate that the ecotourists that visit the place are mostly national young people motivated by intellectual, interpersonal, challenge and relaxation aspects, except for the one related to gastronomy. Results highlight that the most valuable attribute of the the touristic destination is public security. Given the scarcity of information and research on Community-Based ecotourism in the region, there is a dire need for additional baseline data. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n3p240
Highlights
The natural surrounding is a basic factor to take into account in the expansion of ecotourism
Natural wealth contrasts with consumption and production systems that lack sustainability and threaten the integrity of ecosystems. This dimension represents a great challenge to accelerate the introduction of better practices of clean production, ecological efficiency and analogous enforcement of more responsible behaviors with the environment in order to comply with worlds scale ecotourism destinations
The planning and implementation of tourism in natural protected areas that are fostered and managed by the community are becoming a way to reinforce the economic growth of those geographical zones
Summary
The natural surrounding is a basic factor to take into account in the expansion of ecotourism. Natural wealth contrasts with consumption and production systems that lack sustainability and threaten the integrity of ecosystems This dimension represents a great challenge to accelerate the introduction of better practices of clean production, ecological efficiency and analogous enforcement of more responsible behaviors with the environment in order to comply with worlds scale ecotourism destinations. In these circumstances, the present article aims to present the analysis of the situation of a tourist destination in a natural protected area: Santay Island, located in Durán (Ecuador-South America), through the discussion of a field study conducted throughout the year 2015. The third section presents the methodology used in the research; a fourth section reports the results of the empirical study and the last section concludes
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