Abstract
Knowledge gaps exist in the socio-ecological systems of small touristic islands in Latin America. Understanding tourists' perceptions of their environmental knowledge can help plan actions to prevent natural capital loss necessary for local economies. Tourists' perceptions of a touristic hotspot, Holbox Island, were documented. Surveys demonstrated that tourists are aware of their environmental impacts and are interested in minimizing these. Results were compared with results on Bocas del Toro, Panama. Tourists' perceptions had similarities among sites driven by similarities in tourists' populations with a common geographic origin. Tourists lack site-specific knowledge to steer them towards environmentally conscious decisions in both regions. Findings suggest the need to promote local actions to gain tourists' understanding about their destination and support education programs on island conservation. Addressing these needs can help build resilience to overcome the adverse socio-environmental effects of tourism, environmental disasters, and health crises as COVID-19 on small islands.
Highlights
This paper aims to (1) improve the knowledge of a regional problem of scarce baseline documentation of tourists on islands becoming hotspots for global tourism; (2) demonstrate how the information of tourists surveyed may guide the development of regional conservation policies and environmental education for preserving coastal ecosystem services and (3) lead ways for educating people to become aninformed touristto improve human-nature and social interactions in the visited destinations during or after a health crises
The results show that in general, tourists are very aware that tourism has negative environmental impacts on the destination (Fig 6A)
These places have an early history of nature conservation compared to Mexico. This is exemplified by the 1900’s treaties for migratory birds [113]. These countries have wellestablished programs for Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), where citizens participate in preserving landscapes and biodiversity
Summary
This paper aims to (1) improve the knowledge of a regional problem of scarce baseline documentation of tourists on islands becoming hotspots for global tourism; (2) demonstrate how the information of tourists surveyed may guide the development of regional conservation policies and environmental education for preserving coastal ecosystem services and (3) lead ways for educating people to become aninformed touristto improve human-nature and social interactions in the visited destinations during or after a health crises
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