The Motivation for Nature Based Tourism

Nature based tourism is one of the growing form of tourism today. Tourism which is based on nature is becoming big international industry with major economic, social and environmental effect in local and global scale. (Bukley– Pickering– Waver, 2003 1). Meyer- Arendt, 2004 cited in (Olafsdottir 2013, 127) explain that nature based tourism history has relatively short if we compare with other form of tourism example cultural tourism and traditional tourism. At the beginning tourism and travel was the journey to see the seven wonders of the world. Tourism scenario has changed and nowadays there are different reasons for travelling as tourists. In this regard Pearce, Morrison and Rutledge (1998 as cited Luo- Deng, 393) found that out of 10 significant motives of tourists, 4 were related to nature based tourism and they were motive to experience the environment, rest and relax in pleasant settings, motive to pursue special interests and skills, and to be healthy and fit. In nature based tourism, the destination gets priority because of its remoteness, cultural identity, and environment. (Johnston 1990 as cited in Silverberg-Backman-backman 20).

Nature is very important in nature tourism because the nature plays significant role in tourism as it provides motivation to travel and also is the place where tourism activities happens (Edward – Benediktsson 2013, 190). This reflects that together with the natural beauty of the destinations in nature based tourism, the human aspects like culture and hospitality of the people residing in destination place also plays a significant role. Hence, it is important to select destination based on its location and cultural identity of the people. The book review by Buckley (2000) shows that in addition to the natural aspect, the economic and social activities connected to tourism at the destination place should also be considered for successful nature based tourism.

There are so many definition about nature based tourism and most of them are talking about nature, preservation and visitors. One of the definition define nature based tourism as tourism that consists of traveling without destroy or contaminated the existing nature (Boo 1990, 2). Nature Based tourism has been defined by Hall¬–Weiler as : a broad spectrum of touristic activities, often commercialized and involving an interaction with the natural environment away from the participant’s home range (Hall¬–Weiler 1992, 143).

According to Goodwin Nature based tourism includes all tourism forms which

Nature-based, tourism encompasses all forms of tourism - mass tourism, adventure tourism, low-impact tourism, ecotourism - which use natural resources in a wild or undeveloped form- including species, habitat, landscape, scenery and salt and fresh-water features (Goodwin 1996, 287).