eco tourism development

What Is Ecotourism?

Conservation, offering market-linked long-term solutions, ecotourism provides effective economic incentives for conserving and enhancing bio-cultural diversity and helps protect the natural and cultural heritage of our beautiful planet., communities, by increasing local capacity building and employment opportunities, ecotourism is an effective vehicle for empowering local communities around the world to fight against poverty and to achieve sustainable development., interpretation, with an emphasis on enriching personal experiences and environmental awareness through interpretation, ecotourism promotes greater understanding and appreciation for nature, local society, and culture., the definition., ecotourism is now defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education” (ties, 2015). education is meant to be inclusive of both staff and guests., principles of ecotourism, ecotourism is about uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel. this means that those who implement, participate in and market ecotourism activities should adopt the following ecotourism principles:.

• Minimize physical, social, behavioral, and psychological impacts.
• Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.
• Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts.
• Provide direct financial benefits for conservation.
• Generate financial benefits for both local people and private industry.
• Deliver memorable interpretative experiences to visitors that help raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental, and social climates.
• Design, construct and operate low-impact facilities.
• Recognize the rights and spiritual beliefs of the Indigenous People in your community and work in partnership with them to create empowerment.

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What Is Ecotourism? Definition, Examples, and Pros and Cons

• Chapman University
• Sustainable Fashion
• Art & Media

Ecotourism Definition and Principles

Pros and cons.

• Examples of Ecotourism
• Frequently Asked Questions

Ecotourism is about more than simply visiting natural attractions or natural places; it’s about doing so in a responsible and sustainable manner. The term itself refers to traveling to natural areas with a focus on environmental conservation. The goal is to educate tourists about conservation efforts while offering them the chance to explore nature.

Ecotourism has benefited destinations like Madagascar, Ecuador, Kenya, and Costa Rica, and has helped provide economic growth in some of the world’s most impoverished communities. The global ecotourism market produced $92.2 billion in 2019 and is forecasted to generate $103.8 billion by 2027.

A conservationist by the name of Hector Ceballos-Lascurain is often credited with the first definition of ecotourism in 1987, that is, “tourism that consists in travelling to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated natural areas with the specific object of studying, admiring and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals, as well as any existing cultural manifestations (both past and present) found in these areas.”

The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of ecotourism since 1990, defines ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education [both in its staff and its guests].”

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) looks at ecotourism as a significant tool for conservation, though it shouldn’t be seen as a fix-all when it comes to conservation challenges:

“There may be some areas that are just not appropriate for ecotourism development and some businesses that just won’t work in the larger tourism market. That is why it is so important to understand the basics of developing and running a successful business, to ensure that your business idea is viable and will be profitable, allowing it to most effectively benefit the surrounding environment and communities.”

Marketing an ecosystem, species, or landscape towards ecotourists helps create value, and that value can help raise funds to protect and conserve those natural resources.

Sustainable ecotourism should be guided by three core principles: conservation, communities, and education.

Conservation

Conservation is arguably the most important component of ecotourism because it should offer long-term, sustainable solutions to enhancing and protecting biodiversity and nature. This is typically achieved through economic incentives paid by tourists seeking a nature-based experience, but can also come from the tourism organizations themselves, research, or direct environmental conservation efforts.

Communities

Ecotourism should increase employment opportunities and empower local communities, helping in the fight against global social issues like poverty and achieving sustainable development.

Interpretation

One of the most overlooked aspects of ecotourism is the education component. Yes, we all want to see these beautiful, natural places, but it also pays to learn about them. Increasing awareness about environmental issues and promoting a greater understanding and appreciation for nature is arguably just as important as conservation.

As one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry, there are bound to be some downsides to ecotourism. Whenever humans interact with animals or even with the environment, it risks the chance of human-wildlife conflict or other negative effects; if done so with respect and responsibility in mind, however, ecotourism can reap enormous benefits to protected areas.

As an industry that relies heavily on the presentation of eco-friendly components to attract customers, ecotourism has the inevitable potential as a vessel for greenwashing. Part of planning a trip rooted in ecotourism is doing research to ensure that an organization is truly providing substantial benefits to the environment rather than exploiting it.

Ecotourism Can Provide Sustainable Income for Local Communities

Sustainably managed ecotourism can support poverty alleviation by providing employment for local communities, which can offer them alternative means of livelihood outside of unsustainable ones (such as poaching).

Research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that communities in regions surrounding conservation areas in Costa Rica had poverty rates that were 16% lower than in areas that weren’t near protected parks. These protected areas didn’t just benefit from conservation funds due to ecotourism, but also helped to reduce poverty as well.

It Protects Natural Ecosystems

Ecotourism offers unique travel experiences focusing on nature and education, with an emphasis on sustainability and highlighting threatened or endangered species. It combines conservation with local communities and sustainable travel , highlighting principles (and operations) that minimize negative impacts and expose visitors to unique ecosystems and natural areas. When managed correctly, ecotourism can benefit both the traveler and the environment, since the money that goes into ecotourism often goes directly towards protecting the natural areas they visit.

Each year, researchers release findings on how tourist presence affects wildlife, sometimes with varying results. A study measuring levels of the stress hormone cortisol in wild habituated Malaysian orangutans found that the animals were not chronically stressed by the presence of ecotourists. The orangutans lived in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, where a local community-managed organization operates while maintaining strict guidelines to protect them.

Ecotourism May Also Hurt Those Same Natural Ecosystems

Somewhat ironically, sometimes ecotourism can hurt ecosystems just as much as it can help. Another study in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution found that ecotourism can alter animal behaviors in ways that put them at risk. If the presence of humans changes the way animals behave, those changes may make them more vulnerable by influencing their reaction to predators or poachers.

It's not just the animals who are at risk. As ecotourism activities become too popular, it can lead to the construction of new infrastructure to accommodate more visitors. Similarly, more crowds mean more pressure on local resources, increased pollution, and a higher chance of damaging the soil and plant quality through erosion. On the social side, these activities may displace Indigenous groups or local communities from their native lands, preventing them from benefiting from the economic opportunities of tourism.

Ecotourism Offers the Opportunity to Experience Nature

Renown conservationist Jane Goodall has a famous quote: “Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall all be saved.” It can be difficult to understand something that we haven’t seen with our own eyes, and ecotourism gives travelers the opportunity to gain new experiences in natural areas while learning about the issues they face. 

Ecotourism also educates children about nature, potentially creating new generations of nature lovers that could someday become conservationists themselves. Even adult visitors may learn new ways to improve their ecological footprints .

EXAMPLES OF ECOTOURISM

The East African country has some competitive advantages over its neighbors thanks to its rich natural resources, paired with the fact that it has allocated over 25% of its total area to wildlife national parks and protected areas. Because of this, an estimated 90% of tourists visit to Tanzania seeking out ecotourism activities. Ecotourism, in turn, supports 400,000 jobs and accounts for 17.2% of the national GDP, earning about $1 billion each year as its leading economic sector.

Some of Tanzania’s biggest highlights include the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro , and Zanzibar, though the country still often goes overlooked by American tourists. Visitors can take a walking safari tour in the famous Ngorongoro Conservation area, for example, with fees going to support the local Maasai community.

The country is also known for its chimpanzees , and there are several ecotourism opportunities in Gombe National Park that go directly towards protecting chimpanzee habitats.

Galapagos Islands

It comes as no surprise that the place first made famous by legendary naturalist Charles Darwin would go on to become one of the most sought-after ecotourism destinations on Earth, the Galapagos Islands .

The Directorate of the Galapagos National Park and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Tourism require tour providers to conserve water and energy, recycle waste, source locally produced goods, hire local employees with a fair wage, and offer employees additional training. A total of 97% of the land area on the Galapagos is part of the official national park, and all of its 330 islands have been divided into zones that are either completely free of human impact, protected restoration areas, or reduced impact zones adjacent to tourist-friendly areas.

Local authorities still have to be on their toes, however, since UNESCO lists increased tourism as one of the main threats facing the Galapagos today. The bulk of funding for the conservation and management of the archipelago comes from a combination of governmental institutions and entry fees paid by tourists.

Costa Rica is well-known throughout the world for its emphasis on nature-based tourism, from its numerous animal sanctuaries to its plethora of national parks and reserves. Programs like its “Ecological Blue Flag” program help inform tourists of beaches that have maintained a strict set of eco-friendly criteria.

The country’s forest cover went from 26% in 1983 to over 52% in 2021 thanks to the government’s decision to create more protected areas and promote ecotourism in the country . Now, over a quarter of its total land area is zoned as protected territory.

Costa Rica welcomes 1.7 million travelers per year, and most of them come to experience the country’s vibrant wildlife and diverse ecosystems. Its numerous biological reserves and protected parks hold some of the most extraordinary biodiversity on Earth, so the country takes special care to keep environmental conservation high on its list of priorities. 

New Zealand

In 2019, tourism generated $16.2 billion, or 5.8% of the GDP, in New Zealand. That same year, 8.4% of its citizens were employed in the tourism industry, and tourists generated $3.8 billion in tax revenue.

The country offers a vast number of ecotourism experiences, from animal sanctuaries to natural wildlife on land, sea, and even natural caves. New Zealand’s South Pacific environment, full of sights like glaciers and volcanic landscapes, is actually quite fragile, so the government puts a lot of effort into keeping it safe.

Tongariro National Park, for example, is the oldest national park in the country, and has been named by UNESCO as one of only 28 mixed cultural and natural World Heritage Sites. Its diverse volcanic landscapes and the cultural heritage of the indigenous Maori tribes within the create the perfect combination of community, education, and conservation.

How to Be a Responsible Ecotourist

• Ensure that the organizations you hire provide financial contributions to benefit conservation and find out where your money is going.
• Ask about specific steps the organization takes to protect the environment where they operate, such as recycling or promoting sustainable policies.
• Find out if they include the local community in their activities, such as hiring local guides, giving back, or through initiatives to empower the community.
• Make sure there are educational elements to the program. Does the organization take steps to respect the destination’s culture as well as its biodiversity?
• See if your organization is connected to a non-profit or charity like the International Ecotourism Society .
• Understand that wildlife interactions should be non-invasive and avoid negative impacts on the animals.

Ecotourism activities typically involve visiting and enjoying a natural place without disturbing the landscape or its inhabitants. This might involve going for a hike on a forest trail, mountain biking, surfing, bird watching, camping, or forest bathing . 

Traveling in a way that minimizes carbon emissions, like taking a train or bike instead of flying, may also be part of an ecotourism trip. Because these modes of travel tend to be slower, they may be appreciated as enjoyable and relaxing ecotourism activities.

The Wolf Conservation Center ’s programing in New York State is an example of ecotourism. This non-profit organization is dedicated to the preservation of endangered wolf species. It hosts educational sessions that allow visitors to observe wolves from a safe distance. These programs help to fund the nonprofit organization’s conservation and wildlife rehabilitation efforts.

Stonehouse, Bernard. " Ecotourism ." Environmental Geology: Encyclopedia of Earth Science , 1999, doi:10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_101

" What is Ecotourism? " The International Ecotourism Society .

" Tourism ." International Union for Conservation of Nature .

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1307712111

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033357

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2015.09.010

https://doi.org/10.5897/JHMT2016.0207

" Galapagos Islands ." UNESCO .

" About Costa Rica ." Embassy of Costa Rica in Washington DC .

https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/tourism-satellite-account-2019

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Ecotourism and sustainable development: a scientometric review of global research trends

• Published: 21 February 2022
• Volume 25 , pages 2977–3003, ( 2023 )

Cite this article

• Lishan Xu 1 , 2 ,
• Changlin Ao   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8826-7356 1 , 3 ,
• Baoqi Liu 1 &
• Zhenyu Cai 1  

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With the increasing attention and awareness of the ecological environment, ecotourism is becoming ever more popular, but it still brings problems and challenges to the sustainable development of the environment. To solve such challenges, it is necessary to review literature in the field of ecotourism and determine the key research issues and future research directions. This paper uses scientometrics implemented by CiteSpace to conduct an in-depth systematic review of research and development in the field of ecotourism. Two bibliographic datasets were obtained from the Web of Science, including a core dataset and an expanded dataset, containing articles published between 2003 and 2021. Our research shows that ecotourism has been developing rapidly in recent years. The research field of ecotourism spans many disciplines and is a comprehensive interdisciplinary subject. According to the research results, the evolution of ecotourism can be roughly divided into three phases: human disturbance, ecosystem services and sustainable development. It could be concluded that it has entered the third stage of Shneider’s four-stage theory of scientific discipline. The research not only identifies the main clusters and their advance in ecotourism research based on high impact citations and research frontier formed by citations, but also presents readers with new insights through intuitive visual images.

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1 Introduction

Ecotourism, which has appeared in academic literature since the late 1980s, is a special form of nature-based tourism that maintains the well-being of the local community while protecting the environment and provides tourists with a satisfying nature experience and enjoyment (Ceballos-Lascuráin, 1996 ; Higgins, 1996 ; Orams, 1995 ). With years of research and development, ecotourism has risen to be a subject of investigation in the field of tourism research (Weaver & Lawton, 2007 ). In 2002, the United Nations declared it the International Year of Ecotourism (IYE), and the professional Journal of Ecotourism was established in the same year.

With the progress and maturity of ecotourism as an academic research field, countless scholars have put forward standards and definitions for ecotourism (Sirakaya et al., 1999 ; Wight, 1993 ). The main objectives of ecotourism emphasize long-term sustainable development (Whitelaw et al., 2014 ), including the conservation of natural resources, the generation of economic income, education, local participation and the promotion of social benefits such as local economic development and infrastructure (Ardoin et al., 2015 ; Coria & Calfucura, 2012 ; Krüger, 2005 ; Oladeji et al., 2021 ; Ross & Wall, 1999 ; Valdivieso et al., 2015 ). It can also boost rural economies and alleviate poverty in developing countries (Snyman, 2017 ; Zhong & Liu, 2017 ).

With unrestricted increasing attention to the ecological environment and the improvement of environmental awareness, ecotourism is becoming ever more prevalent, and the demand for tourism is increasing year by year (CREST, 2019 ). This increase, however, leads to a number of environmental, social and economic challenges in the development of ecotourism. For example, due to the low public awareness of ecotourism, the increase in tourists has brought a series of negative impacts on the local ecological environment, culture and economy, including disrespect for local culture and environmental protection, as well as more infrastructure construction and economic burden to meet the needs of tourists (Ahmad et al., 2018 ; Chiu et al., 2014 ; Shasha et al., 2020 ; Xu et al., 2020 ). Such challenges and contradictions are urgent problems to be tackled by the sustainable development of ecotourism. Especially against the backdrop of the current pandemic, tourism has experienced a severe blow, but climate change and other environmental issues have not been improved (CREST, 2020 ). In this context, facing these challenges and difficulties, it is essential to re-examine the future development path of ecotourism, to explore how government agencies can formulate appropriate management policies while preserving the environment and natural resources to support sustainable tourism development. Accordingly, it is necessary to consult literature in the field of ecotourism to understand the research progress and fundamental research issues, to identify challenges, suitable methods and future research direction of ecotourism.

Some previous reviews of ecotourism offer a preview of research trends in this rapidly developing area. Weaver and Lawton ( 2007 ) provide a comprehensive assessment of the current state and future progress of contemporary ecotourism research, starting with the supply and demand dichotomy of ecotourism, as well as fundamental areas such as quality control, industry, external environment and institutions. Ardoin et al. ( 2015 ) conducted a literature review, analyzing the influence of nature tourism on ecological knowledge, attitudes, behavior and potential research into the future. Niñerola et al. ( 2019 ) used the bibliometric method and VOSviewer to study the papers on sustainable development of tourism in Scopus from 1987 to 2018, including literature landscape and development trends. Shasha et al. ( 2020 ) used bibliometrics and social network analysis to review the research progress of ecotourism from 2001 to 2018 based on the Web of Science database using BibExcel and Gephi and explored the current hot spots and methods of ecotourism research. These reviews have provided useful information for ecotourism research at that time, but cannot reflect the latest research trends and emerging development of ecotourism either of timeliness, data integrity, research themes or methods.

This study aims to reveal the theme pattern, landmark articles and emerging trends in ecotourism knowledge landscape research from macro- to micro-perspectives. Unlike previous literature surveys, from timeliness, our dataset contains articles published between 2003 and 2021, and it will reveal more of the trends that have emerged over the last 3 years. Updating the rapidly developing literature is important as recent discoveries from different areas can fundamentally change collective knowledge (Chen et al., 2012 , 2014a ). To ensure data integrity, two bibliographic datasets were generated from Web of Science, including a core dataset using the topic search and an expanded dataset using the citation expansion method, which is more robust than defining rapidly growing fields using only keyword lists (Chen et al., 2014b ). And from the research theme and method, our review focuses on the area of ecotourism and is instructed by a scientometric method conducted by CiteSpace, an analysis system for visualizing newly developing trends and key changes in scientific literature (Chen et al., 2012 ). Emerging trends are detected based on metrics calculated by CiteSpace, without human intervention or working knowledge of the subject matter (Chen et al., 2012 ). Choosing this approach can cover a more extensive and diverse range of related topics and ensure repeatability of analysis with updated data (Chen et al., 2014b ).

In addition, Shneider’s four-stage theory will be used to interpret the results in this review. According to Shneider’s four-stage theory of scientific discipline (Shneider, 2009 ), the development of a scientific discipline is divided into four stages. Stage I is the conceptualization stage, in which the objects and phenomena of a new discipline or research are established. Stage II is characterized by the development of research techniques and methods that allow researchers to investigate potential phenomena. As a result of methodological advances, there is a further understanding of objects and phenomena in the field of new subjects at this stage. Once the techniques and methods for specific purposes are available, the research enters Stage III, where the investigation is based primarily on the application of the new research method. This stage is productive, in which the research results have considerably enhanced the researchers’ understanding of the research issues and disclosed some unknown phenomena, leading to interdisciplinary convergence or the emergence of new research directions or specialties. The last stage is Stage IV, whose particularity is to transform tacit knowledge into conditional knowledge and generalized knowledge, so as to maintain and transfer the scientific knowledge generated in the first three stages.

The structure of this paper is construed as follows. The second part describes the research methods employed, the scientometric approach and CiteSpace, as well as the data collection. In the third part, the bibliographic landscape of the core dataset is expounded from the macroscopic to the microscopic angle. The fourth part explores the developments and emerging trends in the field of ecotourism based on the expanded dataset and discusses the evolution phase of ecotourism. The final part is the conclusion of this study. Future research of ecotourism is prospected, and the limitations of this study are discussed.

2 Methods and data collection

2.1 scientometric analyses and citespace.

Scientometrics is a branch of informatics that involves quantitative analysis of scientific literature in order to capture emerging trends and knowledge structures in a particular area of study (Chen et al., 2012 ). Science mapping tools generate interactive visual representations of complex structures by feeding a set of scientific literature through scientometrics and visual analysis tools to highlight potentially important patterns and trends for statistical analysis and visualization exploration (Chen, 2017 ). At present, scientometrics is widely used in many fields of research, and there are also many kinds of scientific mapping software widely used by researchers and analysts, such as VosViewer, SCI2, HistCite, SciMAT, Gephi, Pajek and CiteSpace (Chen, 2011 , 2017 ; Chen et al., 2012 ).

Among these tools, CiteSpace is known for its powerful literature co-citation analysis, and its algorithms and features are constantly being refined as it continues to evolve. CiteSpace is a citation visual analysis software developed under the background of scientometrics and data visualization to analyze the basics that are included in scientific analysis (Chen, 2017 ; Chen et al., 2012 ). It is specialized designed to satisfy the need for systematic review in rapidly changing complicated areas, particularly with the ability to identify and explain emerging trends and transition patterns (Chen et al., 2014a ). It supports multiple types of bibliometric research, such as collaborative network analysis, co-word analysis, author co-citation analysis, document co-citation analysis, and temporal and spatial visualization (Chen, 2017 ). Currently, CiteSpace has been extensively used in more than 60 fields, including computer science, information science, management and medicine (Abad-Segura et al., 2019 ; Chen, 2017 ).

In this paper, we utilize CiteSpace (5.8.R1) to analyze acquired bibliographies of ecotourism to study emerging trends and developments in this field. From macro to micro, from intuitive to complex, from whole to part and from general to special, the writing ideas are adopted. Figure  1 presented the specific research framework of this study.

The research framework of this study

2.2 Data collection

Typical sources of scientific literature are Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. Considering the quantity and quality of data, the Web of Science database was expected to provide the original data in this research. In order to comprehend the research status and development trends of ecotourism, this study systematically reviewed the ecotourism literature collected on the Web of Science Core Collection. The Web of Science Core Collection facilitates access to the world’s leading scholarly journals, books and proceedings of conferences in the sciences, social sciences, art, and humanities, as well as access to their entire citation network. It mainly includes Science Citation Index Expanded from 2003 to current and Social Sciences Citation Index from 2004 to present. Therefore, the data obtained in this study are from 2003 and were consulted on June 3, 2021.

In the process of data retrieval, it is frequently confronted with the choice between recall rate and precision rate. To address the problem of low recall rate in keyword or topic retrieval, Chen et al. ( 2014a , b ) expanded the retrieval results through ‘citation expansion’ and ‘comprehensive topic search’ strategies. However, when the recall rate is high, the accuracy rate will decrease correspondingly. In practical standpoint, instead of refining and cleaning up the original search results, a simpler and more efficient way is to cluster or skip these unrelated branches. Priority should be placed on ensuring recall rate, and data integrity is more important than data for accuracy. Therefore, two ecotourism documentation datasets, the core dataset and the expanded dataset, were obtained from the Web of Science by using comprehensive topic search and citation expansion method. The latter approach has been proved more robust than using keyword lists only to define fast-growing areas (Chen et al., 2014b ). A key bibliographic landscape is generated based on the core dataset, followed by more thorough research of the expanded dataset.

2.2.1 The core dataset

The core dataset was derived through comprehensive subject retrieval in Web of Science Core Collection. The literature type was selected as an article or review, and the language was English. The period spans 2003 to 2021. The topic search query is composed of three phrases of ecotourism: ‘ ecotour* ’ OR ‘ eco-tour* ’ OR ‘ ecological NEAR/5 tour* ’. The wildcard * is used to capture related variants of words, for example, ecotour, ecotourism, ecotourist and ecotourists. The related records that are requested include finding these terms in the title, abstract or keywords. The query yielded 2991 original unique records.

2.2.2 The expanded dataset

The expanded dataset includes the core dataset and additional records obtained by reference link association founded on the core dataset. The principle of citation expansion is that if an article cites at least one article in the core dataset, we can infer that it is related to the topic (Garfield, 1955 ). The expanded dataset is comprised of 27,172 unique records, including the core dataset and the articles that cited them. Both datasets were used for the following scientometrics analysis.

3 Bibliographic landscape based on the core dataset

The core dataset consists of a total of 2991 literature from 2003 to 2021. This study utilized the core dataset to conduct an overall understanding of the bibliographic landscape in the field of ecotourism.

3.1 Landscape views of core dataset

The distribution of the yearly publication of bibliographic records in the core and expanded datasets is presented in Fig.  2 . It can be observed that the overall number of ecotourism-related publications is on the rise, indicating that the scholarly community is increasingly interested in ecotourism. After 2018, the growth rate increased substantially. And in 2020, the number of publications in the expanded dataset is close to 5000, almost double that of 2017 and 5 times that of 2011. This displays the rapid development of research in the field of ecotourism in recent years, particularly after 2018, more and more researchers began to pay attention to this field, which also echoes the trend of global tourism development and environmental protection. With the increase in personal income, tourism has grown very rapidly, and with it, tourism revenue and tourist numbers, especially in developing states. For instance, the number of domestic tourists in China increased from 2.641 billion in 2011 to 6.06 billion in 2019, and tourism revenue increased from 1930.5 billion RMB in 2011 to 5725.1 billion RMB in 2019 (MCT, 2021 ). However, due to the lack of effective management and frequent human activities, the rapid development of tourism has led to various ecological and environmental problems, which require corresponding solutions (Shasha et al., 2020 ). This has played an active role in promoting the development of ecotourism and triggered a lot of related research. In addition, since 2005, the expanded dataset has contained numerous times as many references as the core dataset, demonstrating the importance of using citation expansion for literature retrieval in scientometric review studies.

The distribution of bibliographic records in core and expanded dataset. Note The data were consulted on June 3, 2021

The data were consulted on June 3, 2021

The dual-map overlay of scientific map literature as Fig.  3 shows, against the background of global scientific map from more than 10,000 journals covered by Web of Science, represents the distribution and connections on research bases and application fields across the entire dataset of the research topics (Chen & Leydesdorff, 2014 ). Colored lines are citation links, and numbered headings are cluster labels. On the left side is the journal distribution which cites literature, regarding the field application of ecotourism, mainly covers multiple disciplines such as 3. Ecology, Earth, Marine, 6. Psychology, Education, Health, 7. Veterinary, Animal Science and 10. Economics, Economic and Political. On the right side is the distribution of journals of cited literature, representing the research basis of ecotourism. As can be observed from the figure, ecotourism research is based on at least five disciplines on the right, including 2. Environmental, Toxicology, Nutrition, 7. Psychology, Education, Social, 8. Molecular, Biology, Genetics, 10. Plant, Ecology, Zoology and 12. Economics, Economic, Political. It can be viewed that the research field of ecotourism spans multiple disciplines and is a comprehensive and complex subject. The dual-map overlay provides a global visualization of literature growth of the discipline level.

A dual-map overlay of ecotourism literature

The total number of papers issued by a country or an institution reflects its academic focus and overall strength, while centrality indicates the degree of academic cooperation with others and the influence of published papers. The top 15 countries and institutions for the number of ecotourism papers published from 2003 to 2021 are provided in Table 1 . Similar to the study of Shasha et al. ( 2020 ), the ranking of the top six countries by the number of publications remains unchanged. As can be seen from the table, the USA ranks first in the world, far ahead in both the number of publications and the centrality. China ranks second in global ecotourism publications, followed by Australia, England, South Africa and Canada. While the latest data show that Taiwan (China), Turkey and South Korea appear on the list. Overall, the top 15 countries with the most publications cover five continents, containing a number of developed and developing, which shows that ecotourism research is receiving global attention. In terms of international academic cooperation and impact of ecotourism, Australia and England share second place, Italy and France share fourth place, followed by South Africa and Spain. China’s centrality is relatively low compared to the number of publications, ranking eighth. Academic cooperation between countries is of great significance. Usually, countries with high academic publishing level cooperate closely due to similar research interests. International academic cooperation has enhanced each other’s research capacity and promoted the development of ecotourism research. Therefore, although some countries have entered this list with the publication number, they should attach importance to increase academic cooperation with other countries and improving the international influence of published papers.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences and its university are the most prolific when it draws to institutions’ performance. It is the most important and influential research institute in China, especially in the field of sustainable development science. Australia has four universities on the list, with Griffith University and James Cook University in second and third place. USA also includes four universities, with the University of Florida in fourth place. South Africa, a developing country, gets three universities, with the University of Cape Town and the University of Johannesburg fifth and sixth, respectively. In comparison with previous studies (Shasha et al., 2020 ), Iran and Mexico each have one university in the ranking, replacing two universities in Greece, which means that the importance and influence of developing countries in the field of ecotourism is gradually rising. Based on the above results, it can be summarized that the USA, China, Australia and South Africa are relatively active countries in the field of ecotourism, and their development is also in a relatively leading position.

3.2 Most active topics

The foam tree map and the pie chart of the focal topics of ecotourism based on the core dataset generated by Carrot2 through the title of each article is illustrated in Fig.  4 . Developing and developed, case study, protected areas, sustainable tourism, tourism development and developing ecotourism are leading topics in the field of ecotourism research, as well as specific articles under the main topics. The lightweight view generated by Carrot2 provides a reference for the research, and then, co-word analysis is employed to more specifically reflect the topics in the research field.

Foam tree map and pie chart of major topics on ecotourism

The topics covered by ecotourism could be exposed by the keywords of the articles in the core dataset. Figure  5 displays the keywords analysis results generated based on the core dataset. From the visualization results in the figure, it can infer that ecotourism, conservation, tourism, management, protected area, impact, biodiversity, sustainability, national park and community are the ten most concerned topics. Distinct colors set out at the time of co-citation keywords first appear, and yellow is generated earlier than red. In addition, Fig.  5 can also reflect the development and emerging topics in the research field, such as China, Mexico, South Africa and other hot countries for ecotourism research; ecosystem service, economic value, climate change, wildlife tourism, rural tourism, forest, marine protected area and other specific research directions; valuation, contingent valuation, choice experiment and other research methods; willingness to pay, preference, benefit, perception, attitude, satisfaction, experience, behavior, motivation, risk, recreation and other specific research issues.

A landscape view of keywords based on the core dataset

4 Emerging trends and developments based on the expanded dataset

The expanded dataset, consisting of 27,172 records, is approximately nine times larger than the core dataset. This research applies the expanded dataset to profoundly explore the emerging trends and developments of ecotourism.

4.1 Keywords with citation bursts

Detection of citation bursts can indicate both the scientific community’s interest in published articles and burst keywords as an indicator of emerging tendencies. Figure  6 displays the top 30 keywords with the strongest citation bursts in the expanded dataset. Since 2003, a large number of keywords have exploded. Among them, the strongest bursts include ecotourism, bird, disturbance, reserve, Africa, challenge, sustainable development and strategy. Keywords with citation burst after 2017 are experience, challenge, sustainable development, willingness to pay, perspective, strategy, quality and satisfaction, which have continued to this day. The results indicate dynamic development and emerging trends in research hotspots in the field of ecotourism.

Top 30 keywords with the strongest citation bursts

4.2 References with citation bursts

Figure  7 sets out the top 30 references in the expanded dataset with citation bursts. The articles with the fastest growing citations can also contribute to describe the dynamics of a field. References with high values in strength column are important milestones of ecotourism research. The two articles with strong citation bursts prior to 2010 focused on the human impact on the environment and animals. West et al. ( 2006 ) discussed the relationship between parks and human beings and the social impact of protected areas, and Köndgen et al. ( 2008 ) studied the decline of endangered great apes caused by a human pandemic virus. The paper with the strongest citation burst in the entire expanded dataset was released by Fairhead et al. ( 2012 ), which looked at ‘green grabbing,’ the appropriation of land and resources for environmental purposes. Milcu et al. ( 2013 ) conducted a semi-quantitative review of publications dealing with cultural ecosystem services with the second strongest citation burst, which concluded that the improvement of the evaluation method of cultural ecosystem service value, the research on the value of cultural ecosystem service under the background of ecosystem service and the clarification of policy significance were the new themes of cultural ecosystem service research. In addition, many articles with citation burst discussed the evaluation method of ecosystem services value (Costanza et al., 2014 ; Groot et al., 2010 ), the evaluation of cultural ecosystem service value (Plieninger et al., 2013 ) and its role in ecosystem service evaluation (Chan et al., 2012 ; Chan, Guerry, et al., 2012 ; Chan, Satterfield, et al., 2012 ; Chan, Satterfield, et al., 2012 ; Daniel et al., 2012 ). The most fresh literature with strong citation burst is the article of D’Amato et al. ( 2017 ) published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, which compared and analyzed sustainable development avenues such as green, circular and bio economy. In addition, it is worthwhile noting the use of R in ecotourism, with the persuasive citation burst continuing from 2012 to the present, as indicated by the orange arrow in Fig.  7 .

Top 30 references with the strongest citation bursts

4.3 Landscape view of co-citation analysis

The landscape view of co-citation analysis of Fig.  8 is generated based on the expanded dataset. Using g -index ( k  = 25) selection criteria in the latest edition of CiteSpace, an annual citation network was constructed. The final merged network contained 3294 links, 2122 nodes and 262 co-citation clusters. The three largest linked components cover 1748 connected nodes, representing 82% of the entire network. The modularization degree of the synthetic network is 0.8485, which means that co-citation clustering can clearly define each sub-field of ecotourism. Another weighted mean silhouette value of the clustering validity evaluation is 0.9377, indicating that the clustering degree of the network is also very superior. The harmonic mean value amounts to 0.8909.

A landscape view of the co-citation network based on the expanded dataset

In the co-citation network view, the location of clusters and the correlation between clusters can show the intellectual structure in the field of ecotourism, so that readers can obtain an overall understanding of this field. The network falls into 25 co-citation clusters. The tags for each cluster are generated founded on the title, keywords and abstract of the cited article. Color-coded areas represent the time of first appeared co-citation links, with gray indicating earlier and red later. The nodes in the figure with red tree rings are references to citation bursts.

4.4 Timeline view

In order to further understand the time horizon and study process of developing evolution on clusters, after the generation of co-citation cluster map, the Y -axis is cluster number and the year of citation publication is X -axis, so as to obtain the timeline view of the co-citation network, shown as Fig.  9 . Clusters are organized vertically from largest to smallest. The color curve represents co-citation link coupled with corresponding color year, with gray representing earlier and red representing newer. Larger nodes and nodes with red tree rings indicate high citation or citation burst. The three most cited references of the year demonstrate below each node, in vertical order from least to most.

A timeline visualization of the largest clusters

The timeline view provides a reasonably instinctual and insightful reference to understand the evolutionary path of every subdomain. Figure  9 shows 19 clusters ranging from #0 to #18, with #0 being the largest cluster. As can be seen from the figure, the sustainability and activeness of each cluster are contrasting. For example, the largest cluster has been active since 2006, while the gray and purple clusters are no longer active.

4.5 Major clusters

Taking clustering as a unit and analyzing at the level of clustering, specifically selecting large or new type clustering, is the foothold of co-citation analysis, which can help to understand the principal and latest research fields related to ecotourism. Table 2 displays a summary of the foremost 19 clusters, the first nine of which are all over 100 in size. The silhouette score of all clusters is greater than 0.8, indicating that the homogeneity of each cluster is high. The mean year is the average of the publication dates of references in the cluster. By combining the results in Table 2 , Figs.  8 and 9 , it can be observed that the five largest clusters are #0 cultural ecosystem services, #1 large carnivore, #2 human disturbance, #3 whale shark and #4 ecosystem service. A recent topic is cluster #16 COVID-19 pandemic. #11 Ecological footprint and #14 social media are two relatively youthful fields.

The research status of a research field can be demonstrated by its knowledge base and research frontier. The knowledge base consists of a series of scholarly writing cited by the corresponding article, i.e., cited references, while the research frontier is the writing inspired by the knowledge base, i.e., citing articles. Distinct research frontiers may come from the same knowledge base. Consequently, each cluster is analyzed based on cited references and citing articles. The cited references and citing articles of the five largest clusters are shown in Online Appendix A. Fig a) lists the 15 top cited references with the highest Σ (sigma) value in the cluster, where Σ value indicates that the citation is optimal in terms of the comprehensive performance of structural centrality and citation bursts. Fig b) shows the major citing articles of cluster. The citation behavior of these articles determines the grouping of cited literature and thus forms the cluster. The coverage is the proportion of member citations cited by citing articles.

4.6 Phase evolution research

Through the above analysis of the core dataset and the expanded dataset of ecotourism, we can see the development and evolution of the research field of ecotourism. The research process of ecotourism has gone through several stages, and each stage has its strategic research issues. Research starts with thinking about the relationship between humans and nature, moves to study it as a whole ecosystem, and then explores sustainable development. Hence, the evolution of ecotourism can be roughly parted into three phases.

4.6.1 Phase I: Human disturbance research stage (2003–2010)

This phase of research concentrates on the influence of human activities such as ecotourism on the environment and animals. Representative keywords of this period include ecotourism, human disturbance, response, coral reef, bird, disturbance, recreation, reserve, park, South Africa and people. Representative articles are those published by West et al. ( 2006 ) and Köndgen et al. ( 2008 ) of human impact on the environment and animals. The representative clustering is #2 human disturbance, which is the third largest one, consisting of 130 cited references from 1998 to 2012 with the average year of 2004. This cluster has citation bursts between 2002 and 2010 and has been inactive since then. As showed in Fig S3 a) and b), the research base and frontier are mainly around the impact of human disturbances such as ecotourism on biology and the environment (McClung et al., 2004 ). And as showed in Fig.  8 and Fig.  9 , clusters closely related to #2 belong to this phase and are also no longer active, such as #5 off-road vehicle, #6 protected area, #10 poverty reduction and #12 sustainable lifestyle.

4.6.2 Phase II: Ecosystem services research stage (2011–2015)

In this stage, the content of ecotourism research is diversified and exploded. The research is not confined to the relationship between humans and nature, but begins to investigate it as an entire ecosystem. In addition, some specific or extended areas began to receive attention. Typical keywords are abundance, resource, Africa, risk, predation, consequence and science. The most illustrative papers in this stage are Fairhead et al. ( 2012 )’s discussion on green grabbing and Milcu et al. ( 2013 )’s review on cultural ecosystem services. Other representative papers in this period focused on the evaluation methods of ecosystem service value and the role of cultural ecosystem service in the evaluation of ecosystem service value. Most of the larger clusters in the survey erupted at this stage, including #0 cultural ecosystem services, #1 large carnivore, #3 whale shark, #4 ecosystem services. Some related clusters also belong to this stage, such as #7 neoliberal conservation, #8 responsible behavior, #9 tourism development, #13 mangrove forest, #15 volunteer tourism, #17 circular economy and #18 telecoupling framework.

Cluster #0 cultural ecosystem services are the largest cluster in ecotourism research field, containing 157 cited references from 2006 to 2019, with the mean year being 2012. It commenced to have the citation burst in 2009, with high cited continuing until 2019. Cultural ecosystem services are an essential component of ecosystem services, including spiritual, entertainment and cultural benefits. Thus, in Fig.  8 , the overlap with #4 ecosystem services can obviously be seen. In Cluster #0, many highly cited references have discussed the trade-offs between natural and cultural ecosystem services in ecosystem services (Nelson et al., 2009 ; Raudsepp-Hearne et al., 2010 ) and the important role of cultural ecosystem services in the evaluation of ecosystem services value (Burkhard et al., 2012 ; Chan, Guerry, et al., 2012 ; Chan, Satterfield, et al., 2012 ; Fisher et al., 2009 ; Groot et al., 2010 ). As non-market value, how to evaluate and quantify cultural ecosystem services is also an important issue (Hernández-Morcillo et al., 2012 ; Milcu et al., 2013 ; Plieninger et al., 2013 ). Besides, the exploration of the relationship among biodiversity, human beings and ecosystem services is also the focus of this cluster research (Bennett et al., 2015 ; Cardinale et al., 2012 ; Díaz et al., 2015 ; Mace et al., 2012 ). The citing articles of #0 indicate the continued exploration of the connotation of cultural ecosystem services and their value evaluation methods (Dickinson & Hobbs, 2017 ). It is noteworthy that some articles have introduced spatial geographic models (Havinga et al., 2020 ; Hirons et al., 2016 ) and social media methods (Calcagni et al., 2019 ) as novel methods to examine cultural ecosystem services. In addition, the link and overlap between #0 cultural ecosystem service and #17 circular economy cannot be overlooked.

Ecosystem services relate to all the benefits that humans receive from ecosystems, including supply services, regulatory services, cultural services and support services. Research on cultural ecosystem services is based on the research of ecosystem services. It can be viewed in Fig.  9 that the research and citation burst in #4 was all slightly earlier than #0. Cluster #4 includes 118 references from 2005 to 2019, with an average year of 2011. In its research and development, how to integrate ecosystem services into the market and the payment scheme to protect the natural environment is a significant research topic (Gómez-Baggethun et al., 2010 ). In Cluster #4, the most influential literature provides an overview of the payment of ecosystem services (PES) from theory to practice by Engel et al. ( 2008 ). Many highly cited references have discussed PES (Kosoy & Corbera, 2010 ; Muradian et al., 2010 ), including the effectiveness of evaluation (Naeem et al., 2015 ), social equity matters (Pascual et al., 2014 ), the suitability and challenge (Muradian et al., 2013 ), and how to contribute to saving nature (Redford & Adams, 2009 ). The cluster also includes studies on impact assessment of protected areas (Oldekop et al., 2016 ), protected areas and poverty (Brockington & Wilkie, 2015 ; Ferraro & Hanauer, 2014 ), public perceptions (Bennett, 2016 ; Bennett & Dearden, 2014 ) and forest ecosystem services (Hansen et al., 2013 ). The foremost citing articles confirm the dominant theme of ecosystem services, especially the in-depth study and discussion of PES (Muniz & Cruz, 2015 ). In addition, #4 is highly correlated with #7 neoliberal protection, and Fairhead et al. ( 2012 ), a representative article of this stage, belongs to this cluster.

As the second largest cluster, Cluster #1 contains 131 references from 2008 to 2019, with the median year of 2014. As Fig S2 a) shows, the highly cited literature has mainly studied the status and protection of large carnivores (Mace, 2014 ; Ripple et al., 2014 ), including the situation of reduction (Craigie et al., 2010 ), downgrade (Estes et al., 2011 ) and even extinction (Dirzo et al., 2014 ; Pimm et al., 2014 ), and the reasons for such results, such as tourist visits (Balmford et al., 2015 ; Geffroy et al., 2015 ) and the increase in population at the edge of the protected areas (Wittemyer et al., 2008 ). The conservation effects of protected areas on wildlife biodiversity (Watson et al., 2014 ) and the implications of tourist preference heterogeneity for conservation and management (Minin et al., 2013 ) have also received attention. It is worth noting that the high citation rate of a paper using R to estimate the linear mixed-effects model (Bates et al., 2015 ) and the use of R in this cluster. The relationship between biodiversity and ecotourism is highlighted by the representative citing articles in research frontier of this cluster (Chung et al., 2018 ).

Cluster #3 refers to marine predator, and as shown in Fig.  8 , which has a strong correlation with #1. A total of 125 references were cited from 2002 to 2018, with an average year of 2011. References with high citation in #3 mainly studied the extinction and protection of marine life such as sharks (Dulvy et al., 2014 ), as well as the economic value and ecological impact of shark ecotourism (Clua et al., 2010 ; Gallagher & Hammerschlag, 2011 ; Gallagher et al., 2015 ). The paper published by Gallagher et al. ( 2015 ) is both the highly cited reference and main citing article, mainly focusing on the impact of shark ecotourism. It is also noteworthy that #6 protected area, #13 mangrove forest and #29 Mediterranean areas are highly correlated with these two clusters (Fig.  8 ).

Moreover, some clusters are not highly correlated with other clusters, but cannot be neglected at this stage of research. Cluster #8 responsible behavior includes 107 citations with the average year 2013, and mainly studied environmentally responsible behaviors in ecotourism (Chiu et al., 2014 ). Cluster #9 tourism development contains 97 cited references with mean year of 2015, focusing on the impact of such factors as residents’ perception on tourism development (Sharpley, 2014 ). Cluster #15 volunteer tourism consists of 52 citations, with an average year of 2011, which mainly considers the role of volunteer tourism in tourism development and sustainable tourism (Wearing & McGehee, 2013 ). Cluster #18 telecoupling framework has 26 cited references with the mean year being 2015, and the application of the new integrated framework of telecoupling Footnote 1 in ecotourism can be seen (Liu et al., 2015 ).

At this stage, it can be seen that the research field of ecotourism begins to develop in the direction of diversification, including the value evaluation and related research of ecosystem services and cultural ecosystem services, as well as the exploration of wild animals and plants, marine animals and plants and biodiversity. Neoliberal conservation, tourists’ responsible behavior, tourism development, volunteer tourism and circular economy are all explored. Some new research methods have also brought fresh air to this field, such as the introduction of spatial geographic models and social media methods, the discussion of economic value evaluation methods, the widespread use of R and the exploration of telecoupling framework. Therefore, from this stage, research in the field of ecotourism has entered the second stage of scientific discipline development (Shneider, 2009 ), featured by the use and evolution of research tools that can be used to investigate potential phenomena.

4.6.3 Phase III: Sustainable development research stage (2016 to present)

This stage of research continues to explore a series of topics of the preceding phase and further extends the research field on this basis. The keywords at this stage are politics, marine protected area and valuation. Some other keywords are still very active today, such as experience, challenge, sustainable development, willingness to pay, perspective, strategy, quality and satisfaction. The representative article is about sustainable development published by D'Amato et al. ( 2017 ), as shown in Fig.  8 belonging to #17 circular economy. The emerging clusters in this period are #11 ecological footprint, #14 social media and #16 COVID-19 pandemic. Cluster #11 contains 70 cited references from 2013 to 2020 with the mean year 2017. This clustering study mainly used the ecological footprint as an environmental indicator and socioeconomic indicators such as tourism to investigate the hypothesis of environmental Kuznets curve (Ozturk et al., 2016 ; Ulucak & Bilgili, 2018 ). Cluster #14 includes 52 cited references, with an average year of 2016. It can be seen that the introduction of social media data has added new color to research in the field of ecotourism, such as using social media data to quantify landscape value (Zanten et al., 2016 ) and to understand tourists’ preferences for the experience of protected areas (Hausmann et al., 2018 ), as well as from a spatial perspective using social media geo-tagged photos as indicators for evaluating cultural ecosystem services (Richards & Friess, 2015 ). As the latest and most concerned topic, cluster #16 contains 48 cited references, with mean year of 2018. This cluster mainly cites research on over-tourism (Seraphin et al., 2018 ) and sustainable tourism (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2018 ) and explores the impact of pandemics such as COVID-19 on global tourism (Gössling et al., 2021 ).

These emerging clusters at this phase bring fresh thinking to the research of ecotourism. First of all, the analysis of ecological footprint provides a tool for measuring the degree of sustainability and helps to monitor the effectiveness of sustainable programs (Kharrazi et al., 2014 ). Research and exploration of ecological footprint in ecotourism expresses the idea of sustainable development and puts forward reasonable planning and suggestions by comparing the demand of ecological footprint with the carrying capacity of natural ecosystem. Secondly, the use of social media data brings a new perspective of data acquisition to ecotourism research. Such large-scale data acquisition can make up for the limitations of sample size and data sampling bias faced by survey data users and provide a new way to understand and explore tourist behavior and market (Li et al., 2018 ). Finally, the sudden impact of COVID-19 in 2020 and its long-term sustainability has dealt a huge blow to the tourism industry. COVID-19 has highlighted the great need and value of tourism, while fundamentally changing the way destinations, business and visitors plan, manage and experience tourism (CREST, 2020 ). However, the stagnation of tourism caused by the pandemic is not enough to meet the challenges posed by the environment and the climate crisis. Therefore, how to sustain the development of tourism in this context to meet the challenges of the environment and climate change remains an important issue in the coming period of time. These emerging clusters are pushing the boundaries of ecotourism research and the exploration of sustainable development in terms of research methods, data collection and emerging topics.

Despite the fact that the research topics in this stage are richer and more diversified, the core goal of research is still committed to the sustainable development of ecotourism. The introduction of new technologies and the productive results have led to a much-improved understanding of research issues. All this commemorates the entrance of research into the third stage of the development of scientific disciplines (Shneider, 2009 ). In addition to continuing the current research topics, the future development of the field of ecotourism will continue to focus on the goal of sustainable development and will be more diversified and interdisciplinary.

5 Conclusion

This paper uses scientometrics to make a comprehensive visual domain analysis of ecotourism. The aim is to take advantage of this method to conduct an in-depth systematic review of research and development in the field of ecotourism. We have enriched the process of systematic reviews of knowledge domains with features from the latest CiteSpace software. Compared with previous studies, this study not only updated the database, but also extended the dataset with citation expansion, so as to more comprehensively identify the rapidly developing research field. The research not only identifies the main clusters and their advance in ecotourism research based on high impact citations and research frontiers formed by citations, but also presents readers with new insights through intuitive visual images. Through this study, readers can swiftly understand the progress of ecotourism, and on the basis of this study, they can use this method to conduct in-depth analysis of the field they are interested in.

Our research shows that ecotourism has developed rapidly in recent years, with the number of published articles increasing year by year, and this trend has become more pronounced after 2018. The research field of ecotourism spans many disciplines and is a comprehensive interdisciplinary subject. Ecotourism also attracts the attention of numerous developed and developing countries and institutions. The USA, China, Australia and South Africa are in a relatively leading position in the research and development of ecotourism. Foam tree map and pie chart of major topics, and the landscape view of keywords provide the hotspot issues of the research field. The development trend of ecotourism is preliminarily understood by detecting the citation bursts of the keywords and published articles. Co-citation analysis generates the main clusters of ecotourism research, and the timeline visualization of these clusters provides a clearer view for understanding the development dynamics of the research field. Building on all the above results, the research and development of ecotourism can be roughly divided into three stages: human disturbance, ecosystem services and sustainable development. Through the study of keywords, representative literature and main clusters in each stage, the development characteristics and context of each stage are clarified. From the current research results, we can catch sight that the application of methods and software in ecotourism research and the development of cross-field. Supported by the Shneider’s four-stage theory of scientific discipline (Shneider, 2009 ), it can be thought that ecotourism is in the third stage. Research tools and methods have become more potent and convenient, and research perspectives have become more diverse.

Based on the overall situation, research hotspots and development tendency of ecotourism research, it can be seen that the sustainable development of ecotourism is the core issue of current ecotourism research and also an important goal for future development. In the context of the current pandemic, the tourism industry is in crisis, but crisis often breeds innovation, and we must take time to reconsider the way forward. As we look forward to the future of tourism, we must adopt the rigor and dedication required to adapt to the pandemic, adhering to the principles of sustainable development while emphasizing economic reliability, environmental suitability and cultural acceptance. Post-COVID, the competitive landscape of travel and tourism will change profoundly, with preventive and effective risk management, adaptation and resilience, and decarbonization laying the foundation for future competitiveness and relevance (CREST, 2020 ).

In addition, as can be seen from the research and development of ecotourism, the exploration of sustainable development increasingly needs to absorb research methods from diverse fields to guide the formulation of policy. First of all, how to evaluate and quantify ecotourism reasonably and scientifically is an essential problem to be solved in the development of ecotourism. Some scholars choose contingent valuation method (CVM) and choice experiment (CE) in environmental economics to evaluate the economic value of ecotourism, especially non-market value. In addition, the introduction of spatial econometrics and the use of geographic information system (GIS) provide spatial scale analysis methods and results presentation for the sustainable development of ecotourism. The use of social media data implies the application of big data technology in the field of ecotourism, where machine learning methods such as artificial neural networks (ANN) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) are increasingly being applied (Talebi et al., 2021 ). The measurement of ecological footprint and the use of telecoupling framework provide a reliable way to measure sustainable development and the interaction between multiple systems. These approaches all have expanded the methodological boundaries of ecotourism research. It is worth noting that R, as an open source and powerful software, is favored by scholars in the field of ecotourism. This programming language for statistical computation is now widely used in statistical analysis, data mining, data processing and mapping of ecotourism research.

The scientometrics method used in this study is mainly guided by the citation model in the literature retrieval dataset. The range of data retrieval exercises restraint by the source of retrieval and the query method utilized. While current methods can meet the requirements, iterative query optimization can also serve to advance in the quality of the data. To achieve higher data accuracy, the concept tree function in the new version of CiteSpace can also serve to clarify the research content of each clustering (Chen, 2017 ). In addition, the structural variation analysis in the new edition is also an interesting study, which can show the citation footprints of typical high-yielding authors and judge the influence of the author on the variability of network structure through the analysis of the citation footprints (Chen, 2017 ).

Availability of data and material

The data that support the findings of this study are available from Web of Science.

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This study is funded by Education Department of Heilongjiang Province (1451MSYYB013) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.71874026 and No.71171044).

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In this study, LX proposed the research topic, designed the research methodology and framework, and made the data analysis. She was the major contributor in writing the manuscript. CA contributed to the design of the whole paper, including the research topic and methodology, and also participated in the writing and revision of the manuscript. BL and ZC were involved in data collection and analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Xu, L., Ao, C., Liu, B. et al. Ecotourism and sustainable development: a scientometric review of global research trends. Environ Dev Sustain 25 , 2977–3003 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02190-0

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02190-0

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Ecotourism and Protected areas

According to the UN Tourism's definition, ecotourism refers to forms of tourism which have the following characteristics:

• All nature-based forms of tourism in which the main motivation of the tourists is the observation and appreciation of nature as well as the traditional cultures prevailing in natural areas.
• It contains educational and interpretation features.
• It is generally, but not exclusively organised by specialised tour operators for small groups. Service provider partners at the destinations tend to be small, locally owned businesses.
• It minimises negative impacts upon the natural and socio-cultural environment.
• Generating economic benefits for host communities, organisations and authorities managing natural areas with conservation purposes;
• Providing alternative employment and income opportunities for local communities;
• Increasing awareness towards the conservation of natural and cultural assets, both among locals and tourists.

Source: The British Ecotourism Market, UNWTO 2002

UN Tourism has been involved in the field of ecotourism since the early 1990s and developed a set of guidelines focusing on the strong link between protected area and tourism, with the aim of ensuring that tourism contributes to the purposes of protected areas and does not undermine them.

In the framework of the UN-declared International Year of Ecotourism (IYE) 2002, UN Tourism undertook a wide range of activities, including the organization of regional conferences and the World Ecotourism Summit , and published guidelines and methodologies for ecotourism development and market studies, as well as supported regional and national activities.

At the request of the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Tourism prepared a report on the activities undertaken by States and major international organizations in the framework of the International Year of Ecotourism . Also UN Tourism prepared a series of market reports to increase the knowledge of seven important countries considered “Ecotourism generating markets”.

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Developing ecotourism sustainability maximization (ESM) model: a safe minimum standard for climate change mitigation in the Indian Himalayas

Smriti ashok.

1 Faculty, Department of Architecture and Planning, National Institute of Technology Patna, Ashok Rajpath, Mahendru, Patna, Bihar 800005 India

Mukund Dev Behera

2 Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL), Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302 India

Hare Ram Tewari

3 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302 India

Chinmoy Jana

4 Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM), College Square (W), Kolkata, 700073 India

Associated Data

Recently, ecotourism has been identified as an adaptation strategy for mitigating climate change impacts, as it can optimize carbon sequestration, biodiversity recovery, and livelihood benefits and generate new opportunities for the sustenance of the economy, environment, and society of the area endowed with natural resources and cultural values. With the growing responsibility at the global level, ecotourism resource management (ERM) becomes inevitable for its sustainable requirements. The integration of ecological and socio-economic factors is vital for ERM, as has been demonstrated by developing an Ecotourism Sustainability Maximization Model for an area under study, that is the Yuksam-Dzongri corridor (also known as Kangchendzonga Base Camp Trek), in the Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve (KBR), Sikkim, India. This model is based on the earlier developed ecotourism sustainability assessment (ESA) framework by the authors, which is based on the hierarchical relationship among ecotourism principles, criteria, indicators, and verifiers. Employing such relationships, this paper attempts to maximize ecotourism sustainability (ES) as a function of its sustainability principles, criteria, indicators, and verifiers, subject to the constraints identified through the safe minimum standard (SMS) approach by employing linear programming. Using 58 indicators as decision variables and 114 constraints, the model resulted in a maximum level of achievable ES with a score of 84.6%, allowing the resultant optimum values of the indicators to be maintained at the operational level. A central tenet of the model is the collective responsibility and adoption of a holistic approach involving the government, tourists, tourism enterprises, and local people.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10661-022-10548-0.

Introduction

Biodiversity and conservation of cultural diversity through ecotourism is a viable tool to meet the objectives of the convention on biological diversity (CBD, 1992 , 2018 ; UNDESA, 2021 ; UNEP, 2002 ). Ecotourism as a part of sustainable tourism is firmly positioned in the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With the potential to contribute, directly or indirectly, to all the 17 SDGs, ecotourism has been included as a target in goals #8, #12, and #14 (WTO-UNDP, 2017 ). Ecotourism can be a prominent factor in achieving the targets of SDG 13–Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact due to its ability to produce new opportunities for the economy, environment, and society of the area endowed with natural and cultural resources. This has been proved in some areas where ecotourism is accepted as an adaptation strategy for mitigating the impacts of climate change on local communities, such as around the protected areas in Ghana, the Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan, etc. (Jamaliah & Powell, 2018 ; Agyeman, 2019 ). Ecotourism holds a 7% share of the international tourism market of 903 million tourist arrivals and tourist receipts of US$856 billion suggests a 2007 estimate by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). “Tourism Towards 2030,” UNWTO’s ( 2011 , 2015 ) long-term outlook and an assessment with quantitative projections estimate that with an average annual growth until 2030, international tourist arrivals worldwide are expected to grow to 1.8 billion, indicating the likely worth of ecotourism.

Ecotourism is a major income-generating ecosystem service which adds to both biomass accumulation and biodiversity recovery to mitigate the global climate change impact. Biomass accumulation results in a net increase in standing biomass in forest areas and attracts more ecotourists (Di Sacco et al., 2020 ). A study by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity – TEEB ( 2009 ) initiative estimated the value of tropical forest ecosystem services to be USD 6120/ha/year, based on data from 109 studies, where recreation and tourism contributed 6.2%. Through this role, ecotourism can provide alternative sources of livelihood opportunities and support the locals to meet the challenges posed by climate change. Thus, it is extremely effective for sustainable development, yet, over the years many adverse impacts of ecotourism have been observed in the form of trail proliferation and widening, vegetation-cover loss, exposed tree roots, soil erosion, littering at recreation sites, water contamination, unsightly, and dangerous construction, the occurrence of landslides, degradation of trekking routes, climate change-induced fires, etc. (Sirakaya et al., 2001 ; Newsome et al., 2002 ; Page & Dowling, 2002 ; Jiang, 2009 ; NITI Aayog, 2018 ).

To conserve the environmental resources, these red signals should be continually monitored to identify any negative environmental impact and corrective measures can be taken to restore the balance (Ashok et al., 2017 ; Eraqi, 2007 ; Popova, 2003 ). In this regard, ecotourism needs to be made sustainable itself through the Sustainability Monitoring Methodology, so that it can take care of environmental and cultural resources and contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions; educating communities, tourism stakeholders, and tourists on how to prepare for and adapt to climate change and protect the environment. We have identified–BellagioSTAMP-2009, developed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) as a guide to the Societies’ initiative toward measuring the progress of sustainable development based on its eight principles for sustainability assessment and measurement (IISD, 2009 ). Among its eight principles, the “Framework and Indicators of Sustainability Assessment” describes that for developing a sustainability assessment procedure, the following four steps are required–(i) a conceptual framework that identifies the domains within which core indicators to assess progress are to be identified, (ii) standardized measurement methods wherever possible, in the interest of comparability, (iii) step 3 – the most recent and reliable data, projections, and models to infer trends and build scenarios, and (iv) step 4 – comparison of indicator values with targets, as possible (IISD, 2009 ; Pinter et al., 2012 ).

Realizing the effectiveness of the BellagioSTAMP-2009 guidelines and being cognizant of the fact that there is no scientific method for ecotourism sustainability, the authors are in the process of developing a comprehensive methodology for the assessment of ecotourism’s sustainability namely, “Ecotourism Sustainability Assessment Method–ESAM” through a series of studies, namely–Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, and Stage 4. As duly discussed below, the first two stages have already been developed, while work is in progress for the last two. Stage 1 gave the “conceptual framework,” i.e., the development of the ecotourism sustainability assessment (ESA) framework–a set of principles, criteria, indicators, and verifiers to guide the measurement of the progress of the ecotourism sustainability (ES) (Ashok et al., 2017 ). Wherein, stage 2 offered a “standardized method” mentioned as–the development of the Ecotourism Sustainability Maximization (ESM) model , to set the target for achieving the maximum level of ES, which is the main objective of this paper.

The objectives are as follows: (a) to understand the impact of the global shutdown on tourists’ arrivals during COVID-19, (b) to determine the decision variables (DVs) for operationalizing the ecotourism sustainability principles at the destination level, based on the identified linear relationship among the principles, criteria, and indicators–verifiers of the already developed ESA framework, (c) to maximize the sustainability of the ecotourism destinations, despite their ecological and social constraints impeding the achievement of ecotourism sustainability, (d) to estimate the optimum value of the decision variables, i.e., ESIs for defining the use level of the resources at the ecotourism destinations, and (e) to understand the application of the optimum value of the decision variables obtained through the ESM model for the sustainability of the ecotourism destination.

The study site chosen is “Yuksam-Dzongri Corridor of West District of Sikkim Himalaya, India” with the intent to validate each step of the ESAM methodology–to obtain the necessary data on verifiable evidence, obtained through scientific data collection and periodic observation methods. The development of the ESM model is not mere empirical research, it has a strong scientific, mathematical, and theoretical base in the form of the well-established safe minimum standard approach, ecological constraints, linear equations, C&I approach, and BellagioSTAMP, etc. (Ciriacy-Wantrup, 1952 ; Perring, 1991 ; Colfer et al., 1995 ; Wright et al., 2002 ; IISD, 2009 ; Pinter et al., 2012 ).

ESM model–concepts

Ecotourism resource management (erm).

Ecotourism resource management (ERM) aims at the efficient management of ecotourism resources . It consists of natural (geographical position, microclimatic conditions, the existence of wildlife, vegetation, natural beauty, geo-morphologic structure, etc.) and cultural resources (local people, dress, food, dance/music events, festivals, architectural heritage, etc.) which collectively attract tourists from all over the world (Boley & Green, 2016 ; Eraqi, 2007 ; Kiper, 2013 ). Thus, it requires limiting the use–level of ecotourism resources, which can be managed through the safe minimum standard (SMS) approach, proposed by many scholars to help achieve the goal of sustainable ecotourism development (Perring, 1991 ; Pigram, 1990 ).

Safe minimum standard approach

The term “SMS” was first coined by Ciriacy-Wantrup ( 1952 ) for the conservation of renewable resources. This approach is defined as a collective choice process that prescribes protecting a minimum level or safe standard of a renewable natural resource unless the social costs of doing so are somehow excessive or intolerably high (Berrens et al., 1998 ). It is a “socially determined dividing line between moral imperatives to preserve and enhance natural resource systems and the free play of resource trade-off” (Toman, 1994 ; Munasinghe & Shearer, 1995 ). The SMS is a policy that eliminates the risk of catastrophic outcomes in the management of natural resources and can be used to develop the “Ecological Sustainability Constraints.” These constraints can impose direct restrictions on resources–using economic activities by deciding the level of environmental resources’ use within a limit, to achieve sustainability in the field of tourism development (Perring, 1991 ; Pigram, 1990 ).

Application of ERM and SMS through the ESA framework

The concepts of ERM and SMS can be applied to an ecotourism destination through some framework to help establish a symbiotic relationship among people, natural resources or biodiversity, and tourism activities and help to make it sustainable. In this regard, the “C&I approach”–which is used as an abbreviation for the entire hierarchy of principles, criteria, indicators, and verifiers (PCIV), has been applied. This offers a structured approach toward defining the means and objectives of achieving sustainability of ecology, economy, and society and calculating the progress of sustainability at the destination level (Colfer et al., 1995 ; Wright et al., 2002 ). Here, the ESA framework can help implement the above goals, as it has been developed using the C&I approach, as discussed below.

Structure of the ESA framework

The ESA framework has been developed using the C&I (PCIV) approach, which provides the theoretical basis for the development of the present ESM model. It states that ES depends upon its four fundamental principles–Sp I to Sp IV. These ecotourism sustainability principles are dependent on 8 ecotourism sustainability criteria– C 1 to C 8 , which further have a dependence upon 58 ecotourism sustainability indicators (ESIs)– X 11 to X 58 and their corresponding 58–verifies. The 58–verifiers can provide the status of their corresponding ESIs by collecting field-level information (as mentioned in Table ​ Table1) 1 ) (Ashok et al., 2017 ; Kumari, 2008 ; Kumari et al., 2005 ). This framework can be a powerful tool for sustainable ecotourism development and management, provided it computes the optimum values of ESIs using a “Resource Optimization Model.”

Nomenclature used for the Principles, Criteria, Indicators, and Verifiers, developed under the Ecotourism Sustainability Assessment (ESA) Framework, and calculated weights and Ecotourism sustainability constraints for ESIs (DV-Decision Variable)

ARW average relative weight (average relative weight calculated for Indicators, obtained from the subject (Ecotourism) experts and ecotourism key stakeholders), AAV average acceptable value (acceptable value of indicators obtained from ecotourism key stakeholders), ADV average desirable value (desirable value of indicators obtained from ecotourism key stakeholders)

Resource optimization model through stakeholders’ participation and application of linear programming

ERM necessitates the decision of the optimal management of environmental and socio-cultural resources to restrict their use level and guide ecotourism on the path of sustainability. Ecologically constrained optimization models have been developed by Walter and Schofield ( 1977 ) and Bertuglia et al. ( 1980 ) for the optimal management of wilderness recreation resources. However, these optimization models have not used any serious moral and social discourse while deciding on the use of environmental resources within a limit, which can provide the solution to the issue of “where to stop?” in ecotourism development.

To fulfill this, the stakeholders’ participation approach was adopted to define the use level of ecotourism resources in the study area, in the form of acceptable and desirable values of indicators for ES. The “acceptable value” of indicators refers to the acceptable levels of use of resources, which are primarily a matter of judgment (scientific or societal) based on reproductive rates, habitat conditions, market demand, and so forth (Munasinghe & Shearer, 1995 ). While the essence of “desirable value” refers to maintaining desirable conditions over time to attain intergenerational equity, which should be reflected in the system’s long To fulfill this, the stakeholders’ participation approach was adopted to define the use level of ecotourism resources in the study area, in the form of acceptable and desirable values of indicators for ES. The “acceptable value” of indicators refers to the acceptable levels of use of resources, which are primarily a matter of judgment (scientific or societal) based on reproductive rates, habitat conditions, market demand, and so forth (Munasinghe & Shearer, 1995 ). While the essence of “desirable value” refers to maintaining desirable conditions over time to attain intergenerational equity, which should be reflected in the system’s long-term stability (Prabhu et al., 1999 ). These location-specific inputs (which may also differ at different time intervals) can be used as lower and upper limit values of decision variables while formulating the linear equation. As linear programming can provide an optimal solution for a real-life problem with given constraints. It facilitates optimal allocation of resources by minimizing (e.g,. maybe overall cost of production, the adverse impact on environment, etc.) or maximizing (e.g., maybe level of sustainability of environment, customer satisfaction) its overall goal to find the solution to a problem. Thus, it can provide a simultaneous solution to three basic problems of the economy, i.e., (a) optimum allocation of productive resources, (b) efficient utilization of these resources, and (c) realizing a balance between the different sectors of the economy to generate maximum benefit (Bertuglia et al., 1980 ; Overton, 1997 ; Walter & Schofield, 1977 ). Here, this method has been applied to maximize “ecotourism-sustainability” to defining the “use level of ecotourism resources” at the optimum level under several practical constraints.

Study area description

The study area is the Yuksam-Dzongri Corridor, KBR, near the Rathong Glacier (4380 m) of the Himalayan mountain region in India (Fig. ​ (Fig.1). 1 ). The tourists data showed a rise in ecotourism over 5 times, from 1964 tourists in 1990–1991 to 10490 visitors in 2009–2010. It also showed a decline in tourist arrivals during 2011–2013 due to the earthquake in the KBR in September 2011 (Bhardwaj, 2011 ; HMI, 2018 ). Tourist arrivals further increased to 9951 during 2019 before dropping to an almost negligible level due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Fig. ​ (Fig.2 2 ).

Location map of the study area showing West District of Sikkim. Some points of tourist attractions along the trekking route are overlaid on satellite image of Kangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve

Sharp decline in Tourists Arrival can be seen in 2020, coinciding with Covid-19. However, Regression based extrapolation up to 2030 predicts a fast reversal–trend and forecast after COVID-19. Data Source: 1990–2006 (Tambe et al., 2011 ), 2008–2019 (KNP-RO (Kangchendzonga National Park, Range Office), 2019 ), Yuksam, West District, Sikkim

Methodology

Influence of covid-19 on ecotourism.

To assess the influence of COVID-19 on ecotourism at the destination and forecast the possible recovery from the terrible situation, the trend equation using the regression method was applied to the tourists’ arrival data up to 2019 and to the pandemic-impacted data of 2020. Depending on various other factors, the number of tourists is expected to rise by 2024–2026 ( S1 ; Fig. ​ Fig.2). 2 ). The projection was done in two stages.

Estimation of tourists’ arrival

This stage derived inspiration from two studies: (1) a global survey by the UNWTO’s panel of tourism experts on international tourist arrivals in different geographies across the globe (UNWTO, 2021 ), and (2) a comprehensive study conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), India upon the impact of COVID-19 on Indian household income and tourism recovery (NCAER, 2021 ). We devised two scenarios for the estimation of recovery of tourism using the Delphi method. It is an iterative and consensus-building approach to soliciting opinion and judgment by a group of experts on a particular topic and a much-used method in multiple studies related to tourism recovery forecasts (Zhang et al., 2021 ).

• #1. Scenario 1–recovery “up to 2024”
• #2. Scenario 2–recovery “later than 2024”

After completing the first and second rounds of the Delphi survey, 5-point scores were given by the experts for calculating the final values. The second estimation was based on a mix of the experts’ viewpoints (UNWTO, 2021 ) followed by the experts’ opinion pooling in two Delphi rounds.

Forecasting of the tourist arrival based on trend equation using regression

Based on the above estimation of tourist arrivals from 2020 to 2026, further 4 scenarios (S-1, S-2, S-3, and S-4) of forecasting tourist arrivals have been done by applying trend equation using regression analysis in IBM SPSS (statistical package for social scientists), 20.0. Scenarios S-1 and S-2 are based on estimated tourist data, and scenarios S-3 and S-4 are based on the percentage of estimated tourist data (Figs. ​ (Figs.2; 2 ; S1 ).

Development of the ESM model

Considering a linear relationship among the principles, criteria, and indicators, the linear programming (LP) model was applied to develop a decision-making structure to maximize the ES as a function of ecotourism principles, criteria, indicators, and corresponding verifiers. To model a linear problem, first, the decision variables were established. Here, the DVs have been determined from the ESA framework. ecotourism sustainability (ES) depends on 58 ecotourism sustainability indicators (ESIs) and their corresponding verifiers at the operational level. These 58 ESIs are considered DVs of the model (Ashok et al., 2017 ). The relative weights for the ESIs (decision variables) were obtained by implying both the Top-Down and Bottom-up approaches through the participation of subject matter (Ecotourism) experts and local key stakeholders in two stages.

Relative weight using top-down and bottom-up approach

The top-down approach refers to the application of the Delphi technique, where 19 subject matter experts ( n = 14 for 2003–2004; n = 5 for 2013) of multi-disciplinary backgrounds participated in allotting relative weights (between 0 and 100) to the sustainability principles of ecotourism (Sp I to Sp IV ). These values were calculated and their mean values were accepted. Further, all the criteria related to each principle received a pro-rated weight of that particular principle based on the priority ranking given to them by the experts. Then, their mean values were accepted as relative weight factors for criteria (Fig. ​ (Fig.3 3 ).

Broad outline for development of ecotourism sustainability assessment (ESA) Framework and Ecotourism Sustainability Maximization (ESM) Model

The bottom-up approach refers to the participation of local key stakeholders ( n = 10 for 2003–2004; n = 4 for 2018–2019) in allotting the priority ranking to the indicators (ESIs- X 11 to X 86 ) to operationalize their receptive criteria. Secondly, the weight for each criterion obtained in Stage I is assumed as 100 and then is distributed among the related indicators depending upon their priority ranking given by the local experts. Subsequently, the weights calculated for individual indicators are multiplied by the final weight factor of their respective criterion to obtain the relative efficacy of a particular indicator ( S 2 ). Finally, the relative weights for indicators (ESIs) are calculated and mean values are accepted for the model (Table ​ (Table1; 1 ; Fig. ​ Fig.4 4 ).

Methodology adopted for the development of the Ecotourism Sustainability Maximization Model

Developing linear equations for the model

The ESA framework entails that ES is based on its four key principles, i.e., (i) protection of natural and cultural resources ( Sp I ), (ii) generation of socio-economic benefits to the local community ( Sp II ), (iii) generation of environmental awareness ( Sp III ), and (iv) optimum satisfaction of touristic aspirations ( Sp IV ). These four principles have been operationalized through the different combinations of criteria like Sp I by C 1 , C 2 , C 4 , C 6 , and C 8 ; Sp II by C 1 and C 4 ; Sp III through C 4 and C 7 ; and Sp IV through C 1 , C 5 , C 7, and C 8 . These criteria can be operationalized through their respective indicators (Ashok et al., 2017 ; Kumari et al., 2005 ). Based on the relationship between the components of the ESA framework, the equation was formulated to define the objective function of the model. Ecotourism Sustainability (ES) is dependent upon 4 principles, which can be formulated as:

• W i = Weight for the i th principle of ecotourism sustainability
• Sp i = Ecotourism principles

Subsequently, the 4-principles ( Sp I , Sp IV ) depend upon the 8-criterion ( C 1 , C 8 ) occurring in different combinations for each of the principles. This is formulated as:

where W ij = Weight of j th criteria for i th principle.

Using Eqs. ( 2 ), ( 3 ), ( 4 ), and ( 5 ) in Eq. ( 1 ) where weight allocated for C 1 to C 8 can be combined ( S2 ), it can be presented as:

The 8 criteria ( C 1 , C 8 ) depend upon their respective indicators ( X 11 , X 86 ) (ESA framework; Ashok et al., 2017 ). This can be formulated as:

• X ij means j th indicator for i th criteria
• w ′ ij means weight for X ij

Formulation of the objective function

In the present model, the maximization of ecotourism sustainability has been defined as the objective function. ES depends upon four principles, namely, Sp I and Sp IV (Eq. ( 1 )). These four principles depend upon many criteria (Eqs. ( 2 ), ( 3 ), ( 4 ), and ( 5 )). Further, these criteria depend upon several indicators (Eqs. ( 7 ), ( 8 ), ( 9 ), ( 10 ), ( 11 ), ( 12 ), ( 13 ), and ( 14 )). Finally, ES depends upon 58 indicators, considered as the DVs for the model. Among the 58-DVs, 13 have a negative impact on the sustainability of ecotourism but the remaining ones have a positive impact. As maximization of ecotourism sustainability is the objective of the model, the following equation was formulated to obtain the OV of indicators (Eq. ( 15 )).

Development of ecotourism constraints and sustainability indicators

58 bounded constraints were based on the desirable and acceptable values of the DVs (Table ​ (Table1), 1 ), while 56 others were identified based on the dependence of each variable on others (Table ​ (Table2). 2 ). The acceptable and desirable values obtained by consulting local experts were used as bounded constraints (Table ​ (Table1). 1 ). These values were used as lower and upper bounds in the model, respectively.

Other constraints developed by identifying the dependency of each Ecotourism Sustainability Indicator (Decision Variables)

In the case of decision variables having a positive impact

where m ij = the minimum value of the decision variable required for ecotourism sustainability, X ij = decision variable, and M ij = maximum value of decision variable are desirable for ecotourism sustainability.

For example, for the indicator X 11 = 22% ≤ X 11 ≤ 40.5%.

In the case of decision variables having a negative impact.

The negative impact of DVs indicates that when these DVs increase, the ecotourism sustainability will decrease, therefore,

where m ij = the minimum value of decision variable desirable for ecotourism sustainability, X ij = decision variable, and M ij = maximum value of decision variable acceptable for ecotourism sustainability.

For example, for indicator X 16 the acceptable and desirable values may be presented as 9.80% ≤ X 16 ≤ 4.90%. The growth of exotic plants is very harmful to the indigenous plant communities because the alien plants compete with them for space, light, nutrients, and water (Newsome et al., 2002 ). So, less than 4.90% growth of weeds is desirable for the ES, while up to 9.80% of the growth of weeds (from the base year of 1995) is acceptable for the study area. The key stakeholders have allotted acceptable and desirable values for each DV. Their mean values were calculated and have been accepted for the model as constraints (lower and upper bounds for decision variables) in the model (Table ​ (Table1 1 ).

Other constraints

The dependency of each indicator was identified on other indicators, and respective weights were assigned. For example, wildlife sighting depends on the availability of clean water ( X 13 ) and the abundance of forest resources ( X 14 ). The abundance of these resources depends upon the involvement of the younger generation in the conservation of natural resources ( X 86 ), which requires the transfer of traditional resource conservation knowledge to the younger generation ( X 85 ). This is only possible when the local population is aware ( X 71 ) and empowered ( X 81 ) to protect resources. Along with this, it also requires government regulatory policy regarding the protection of natural resources ( X 41 ). Such dependency has been taken as the basis of the following equation.

The above equation indicates the dependency of decision variable X 11 on the other variables, namely, X 13 , X 14 , X 41 , X 71 , X 81 , X 85 , and X 86 . It also means that the value of X 11 should be less than the sum of individual weights of the above 7 which are 0.09, 0.09, 0.14, 0.18, 0.16, 0.22, and 0.12, respectively. Similarly, the dependency of each indicator was identified and assigned their respective weights. These equations were used as constraints in the model (Table ​ (Table2 2 ).

The objective function was solved for 58 DVs in total, subject to a set of 114 constraints, by using the traditional simplex method for single objective linear programming with the help of the QSB software (Jana et al., 2004 ) through the Eq. ( 15 ).

Results and discussions

Trend equation regression analysis generated four scenarios for the recovery of tourist arrivals, namely, S-1, S-2, S-3, and S-4, in the study area. These scenarios estimated the recovery period (for tourists’ arrival) of 4 years, 4–5 years, 6 years, and 5–6 years, respectively to reach the level of 2019. Among these four scenarios, the best forecasting has been shown in scenario 2, where the mean square error is minimal, i.e., 234.82 and estimates the recovery by 2026, increasing the tourists’ number up to 10,040 by then and eventually to 15,940 by 2030 (Fig. ​ (Fig.2; 2 ; S1 ). The prediction curve shows a sharp decline in tourist arrivals in 2020 due to the situation created by COVID-19. However, regression-based extrapolation has shown a fast recovery in tourist arrivals by 2026, as the prediction is based on the actual tourists’ data from 2001 to 2019. This is reflected in the linear trend from “2001 to 2010” and “2012 to 2019” (Fig. ​ (Fig.2). 2 ). The sharp decline in tourist arrival in 2011 and 2020 due to the occurrence of the 2011 earthquake in the area and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) proved that any kind of excessive use or abuse of “ecotourism resources” or a “dreadful pandemic” like situation may not only limit the potential tourism earnings in this area but also in the entire state of Sikkim in future (Singh & Bhutia, 2020 ). Moreover, the Yuksam-Dzongri trekking corridor falls under the alpine and sub-alpine vegetation zone of the Indian Himalayas, which needs utmost care to protect its sensitive biodiversity and possibly mitigate any probable adverse impact of climate change. In such a situation, the optimum value of decision variables (ESIs) obtained by the ESM model can act as a protective cover for controlling the use levels of ecotourism resources, thus maximizing the site’s sustainability afterward, if adopted.

With 58 indicators and 114 constraints (Eq. ( 15 )), the ESM model revealed the maximum level of ecotourism sustainability at a score of 84.6%. This value was further cross-checked on the barometer of sustainability/measure of success (BoS/MoS) scale (Table ​ (Table3). 3 ). Based on the BOS scale, it can be construed that if an ecotourism destination achieves 80–100% (level 5) sustainability, it can be deemed to be a sustainable ecotourism destination. Further, the model derived the optimum value of the ecotourism sustainability indicators–ESIs (Table ​ (Table4), 4 ), which means that the above level of ecotourism sustainability (84.6%) can only be achieved if the destination restricts the utility level of the environmental resources up to its optima.

Ecotourism sustainability performance scale

Optimum values of Decision Variable (ESIs) achieved from modeling using linear programming; 84.6% level of eco-tourism sustainability was achieved through the model

DV represents decision variables, OV represents optimum, ESIs represent ecotourism sustainability indicators

Now the question occurs that how the model derived “optimum values” of ecotourism sustainability indicators can help achieve sustainable ecotourism development? How it can manage the ecotourism resources so that specific types of natural and cultural attractions of the ecotourism destinations are maintained? In this regard, the authors identified three ways that can be useful for the authorities or ecotourism-site managers (i.e., in the case of Study Area the Forests and Environment Department; Tourism Department; Police Check-Post, Yuksam, as well as the CBO namely–Kangchendzonga Conservation Committee) can maintain the destination’s ecological sensitivity while sustainably managing ecotourism, as discussed below.

Relative contributions of criteria to achieve ecotourism sustainability

While scrutinizing the relative contributions of criteria in achieving 84.6% of ES, the contributions of “ C 1 ”– “maintenance of ecosystem health,” “ C 4 ”– “enabling environment and environmental awareness generation” and “ C 7 ”– “people’s participation” are a prerequisite for sustainable management and were found to be the maximum. This suggests that other criteria must support the fulfillment of the above criteria, but it does not undermine the importance of others. The next–highest contributions are of “ C 2 ” and “ C 8 ” which refer to preserving cultural diversity through the maintenance of the local culture and the use of indigenous ecological knowledge for ecotourism development and management. If the above-mentioned five criteria are supported by the adoption of carrying capacity “ C 6 ” norms, then it can provide an excellent base for the last two criteria, “ C 3 ”– “livelihood generation” and “ C 5 ”– “visitor satisfaction” ( S3 ).

Operationalisation of ecotourism sustainability principles through criteria and indicators

The first principle of ecotourism– “protection of natural and cultural resources,” Sp I , offers a challenge to ecotourism to develop its tourism capacity and the quality of its products without affecting the very environment that maintains and nurtures it. This requires the adoption of resource conservation values during the decision-making, which is possible by adopting the OV of indicators as guidelines. The contribution of “ C 1 ” “maintenance of ecosystem health,” towards achieving a sustainability score on the BoS/MoS scale was found the highest so it should be accorded the highest priority during any ecotourism development and management decision-making. This criterion is followed by “ C 2 ”– “maintenance of local culture,” “ C 6 ”– “carrying capacity,” “ C 4 ”– “enabling environment and environmental awareness generation,” “ C 7 ”– “people’s participation” and “ C 8 ”– “conservation management using traditional knowledge” ( S3 ).

While assessing the OV of ESIs (Table ​ (Table4; 4 ; Fig. ​ Fig.5a–h), 5 a–h), it can be construed that the optimum value of some indicators, viz. X 13 , X 14 , X 1 5 , X 16 , X 1 7 , X 1 8 , X 19 , X 111 , X 21 , X 23 , X 26 , X 27 , X 42 , X 43 , X 44 , X 63 , X 64 , X 72 , and X 85 are falling under the range of 80–100%. Next to these, are some indicators, viz. X 12 , X 110 , X 22 , X 24 , X 45 , X 46 , X 61 , X 62 , X 65 , X 71 , X 75 , X 84 , and X 86 have OV between 60–80%. These are followed by indicators X 11 , X 25 , X 41 , X 73 , X 74 , and X 76 having 40 to 60%. Lastly, values of a few indicators viz. X 48 , X 81 , and X 82 fall between 20–40%. In line with the guideline provided by the Quebec declaration on ecotourism (QDE, 2002 ) the OV of indicators emphasizes prioritizing critical components, as these are vital for maintaining the flow of ecosystem services. The relative contribution of criteria as per the ESA Framework and the relative contribution of ESIs as per the optimum value achieved by the ESM model can guide the ecotourism management authority.

a – h Optimum value achieved for 58 indicators with eight criteria; a. Maintenance of ecosystem health. b Maintenance of local culture. c Livelihood generation. d Enabling environment and environmental condition. e Tourists’ satisfaction. f Carrying capacity. g People’s participation. h Conservation management through indigenous knowledge

Likewise, principle I, the relative contribution of criteria as per the ESA framework and the relative contribution of ESIs as per Optimum Value achieved by the ESM model, has been analyzed for principles II, III, and IV for operationalizing the ecotourism sustainability principle in the study area mentioned in the supplementary document ( S 4 ). This can guide the ecotourism management authority to implement the optimum value of ESIs to restrict the use level of ecotourism resources in the area.

Application of optimum value of ESIs to restrict the utility level of ecotourism resources

The ecotourism management authority or site-managers can manage their destination’s valuable and sensitive resources for ecotourism based on the optimum value achieved by the model.

Supporting indicators for criterion C 1 (maintenance of healthy ecosystems)

Ecotourism management authorities or site managers need to restrict the use level of resources depending on the positive and negative impact of ESIs on the ES. Criterion, C 1 was objectively measured by examining its related indicators based on its OV resulting from the model (Fig. ​ (Fig.5a; 5 a; Table ​ Table4). 4 ). In the case of “availability of fresh water (rivers, streams, lakes)” ( X 13 ), the OV obtained was 96.5%. Hence the mountain ecosystem can be designated as healthy if pure water is abundantly available throughout the year. If 100% of the “religious and heritage sites” ( X 14 ), then it is presumed that the rich biodiversity and culture of the mountain ecosystem could be preserved. As the presence of ecosystem-specific plants, which represent the “unique ecosystem features (endemic species: floral and faunal)” ( X 15 ), are critical for the maintenance of the mountain ecosystem, their extent of occurrence should optimally be 98%. In the case of the “occurrence of the endangered/threatened species” ( X 18 ), the OV arrived was 96.5%, which calls for more conservation efforts from the part of forest department without which many species might become extinct and disturb the balance of the ecosystem. In the case of the composite indicator “status of civic amenities” ( X 110 ), the OV was 76%, which implies that even if only 76% of the population has access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities and 76% of solid waste generated is disposed of, then the destination can also be considered sustainable (Table ​ (Table4; 4 ; Fig. ​ Fig.4 4 ).

In the case of negative indicators, i.e., “presence of exotic species (flora and fauna)” ( X 16 ), the OV derived was 4.9%, while for “growth in livestock population” ( X 17 ), the value obtained was 7%. This entails that beyond this level, any growth in weeds and livestock population may prove devastating for the region (Chettri et al., 2002 ). The OV for “RCC use in tourism infrastructure development” ( X 19 ) was derived as 5.2%, which depicts that beyond this level, RCC construction can have harmful effects on ecological health. This has been experienced in many destinations (Hunter & Green, 1995 ). “Occurrence of natural hazards” ( X 111 ), creates great imbalances in the functioning of the ecosystem and destructs the human life support system as well. Its value has also come close to the minimum desirable of 4.5% (Table ​ (Table4; 4 ; Fig. ​ Fig.5a). 5 a). The optimal values of indicators obtained by the model are of great importance.

Likewise, the optimal values of indicators obtained by the model are of great importance and are presented in Table ​ Table4 4 and Fig. ​ Fig.5b, 5 b, c, d, e, f, g, and h. If applied, they can help in achieving the maximum level of ecotourism sustainability at the operational level.

Under complex situations, having a multitude of interests among the stakeholders, i.e., tourists, locals, NGOs, tour operators, etc., the ESM model can prove to be an ideal solution as it adopts the SMS approach to define the acceptable and desirable values of indicators, referred to as, DVs by involving all stakeholders. Here, the ESM model can be considered an executable decision-making tool as it calculates the optimum value of 58 DVs to achieve 84.6% of ES, which falls under the Sustainable Category (80–100%) on the MoS Scale defined by Prescott-Allen ( 2001 ). If adopted, the ESM model can control the uses of ecotourism resources at the operational level and can also support the local community to sustain their livelihood even in the case of climate change in Himalayan regions as predicted by IPCC ( 2022 ).

Extended use of the results of the ESM Model can only be useful when (a) it is substantially validated, and (b) its applicability (in terms of the performance of the ESIs at the operational level) is assessed on a temporal level. Based on the availability of the field data, the authors will be duly validating and assessing the applicability of the ESM model which may logically be developed as the 3rd and 4th study series in the process of developing an ESAM as per the guidelines given by the BellagioSTAMP 2009. In addition to this, the authors also want to integrate their 4 stage study series of the ESAM with a web-based geospatial platform, to make it a more comprehensive tool for ecotourism sustainability assessment and monitoring. This tool would be assessing the level of ecotourism sustainability based on the spatial information collected for 58 ESIs. Among the 58 ESIs, spatial data for 11 indicators, related to the first criterion, “C1–maintenance of ecosystem health,” can be generated through satellite imagery and its derived products. The spatial data for the rest of the 47 indicators related to seven criteria ranging from “C2–maintenance of local culture” to “C8–conservation management using traditional/indigenous knowledge system” can be generated through crowdsourcing involving ecotourism stakeholders, i.e., tourists, local people (ecotourism service providers, CBOs, tour operators, etc.), government Tourism departments. Thus, it can fulfill the target of SDG 12. b, which mentions “developing and implementing tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism” by fulfilling SDGs 8.9 (ensuring jobs, promotion of local culture and tourism products) and 15 (Protecting, restoring, and managing biodiversity in the terrestrial ecosystem) identified by the report of working group II sustainable tourism in the Indian Himalayan region (NITI Aayog, 2018 ). Through the application of the above “monitoring tool,” deforestation can be controlled, carbon stock can be maintained and the biodiversity-rich areas will be undisturbed so they will regenerate. In turn, it will help optimize biodiversity recovery and livelihood benefits and can play an important role in taking urgent action to mitigate climate change for achieving the targets of SDG 13 in the Indian Himalayan regions.

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

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• Published: 05 October 2023

Sustainable development, eco-tourism carrying capacity and fuzzy algorithm-a study on Kanas in Belt and Road

• Kui Yu 1 &
• Han Gao 2  

Scientific Reports volume  13 , Article number:  16789 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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• Environmental social sciences

In this paper, the method of fuzzy pattern recognition is adopted in more precisely evaluating the actual state of eco-tourism development regarding a given tourist destination in comparison with the three standard patterns (saturated/optimal/deficient) of development degree. The research process is as follows: Firstly, the indictors of carrying capacity of a tourist destination and the corresponding measuring factors are established; secondly, an assessment group is recruited to work out the most constraining factors among the measuring factors; thirdly, by means of field survey, numerical values of the actual state are acquired; fourthly, there comes out the membership vectors and the membership matrix of the standard patterns corresponding to the vectors of three standard patterns, threshold and the actual state; Finally, it could be identified which standard pattern that the actual state is closest to via the lattice degrees of proximity. An exemplary case study on Kanas National Nature Reserves is attached to the logic calculus. This paper is contributed to dynamically monitor the threshold of tourism carrying capacity and precisely identify which carrying capacity (spatial resource/ecological environment/economic resources/people’s psychology/socio-culture) with potential risks.

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Introduction

The ideology of sustainable tourism development was formed in the early 1990s. The main frameworks and objectives of sustainable tourism development theory were elaborated by the Globe’90 International Conference held in Canada in 1990 as: (1) Strengthening ecological awareness; (2) Promoting equity development; (3) Improving quality life of local community; (4) Providing high-quality experience to the tourists; (5) Protecting the environment which tourism development relies on in the future. The main frameworks and objectives are aimed to coordinate in the interests of environment, tourists and local community 1 .

According to Pigram, sustainable tourism has the potential to be a tangible expression of sustainable development. Its core issues are intra-generational equity and inter-generational equity in the future, as well as a series of social equity rules (i.e. equity between the output of tourist attractions and the costs of protecting the environment) 2 . The eco-tourism has been growing rapidly in recent years, in particular with the rapid spread of social media (i.e. Instagram, or Little Red Book in China), these new forms of tourism in popularity are especially apt to mutate into mass tourism (i.e. increasing number of tourists, intensive marketing, large accommodations and transportations in need, changes in products, and the impact on the destination). Tourism, like any other industries, would inevitably damage the environment in the long run. Moreover, due to the cancer-like nature of tourism exploitation, it tends to invade more remote, undamaged areas accompanied by more established tourist attractions being overdeveloped 3 , 4 . New airstrips and hotels are being built at a growing rate, delivering mass tourism to the most remote places and islands. Tourism can therefore be a contributing variable in the environmental degradation throughout regions and countries. Generally, big cities seem to be more resilient to the tourist invasions than the wide open countryside and a variety of particularly fragile environments (i.e. islands, coral reefs and oases). The impact on small towns would be more severe than on big cities, due to being less ecologically and culturally resilient to the tourist invasions.

The challenges facing the tourism are even harder under the pandemic. After the lockdown of the first half of 2022, many people were desperately getting out. Many places were gearing up for a wave of retaliatory consumption. Along with the summer holidays coming, a vengeful tourism boom indeed arrived in Sanya, a landmark of travel destinations, was swept by the epidemic, leaving more than 80,000 tourists retained on the island in July, 2022. Starting from January, 2023, passport applications have been resumed for outbound travelers in China. This is coupled with the removal of COVID tests and quarantine for all inbound traffic. The global tourism industry, which has been in the downturn for the last three years, is likely about to recover in a highly stressful way. Statistics show that in the first five months of 2022, global tourism strongly rebounded with about 250 million global tourists, double the number of 2021. In some regions, arrivals have already reached, or even exceeded the pre-pandemic levels. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) pointed out that “Governments need to rethink their tourism policies to encourage more diversity, reducing concentration in high-density destinations and putting in place long-term strategies that are ecologically sustainable and socially inclusive.” The theme of World Tourism Day on September 27, 2022 is exactly “Rethinking Tourism”. Tourism has taken on a new meaning in the wake of the global fight against COVID-19. People come into thinking deeply about tourism, which means that humanity should get along with the planet in a more united and environmentally friendly way.

After this wave of outbreaks in tourist destinations, people can’t help reflecting on how to dynamically and scientifically monitor the carrying capacity of tourist destination in condition of social distance required by the epidemic prevention. How to brake in time before the irreversible impacts are caused in excess of the threshold? How to predict the eco-tourism would be turned into a mass tourism? How to measure the ultimate capacity of exploitation and usage of a tourist attraction? Conducting scientific research and assessment on the state of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity in the manner of “threshold” may be the key to the problem.

This paper is pragmatically trying to respond the above questions via indirect method of patter recognition with application of fuzzy algorithm. The exploitation and usage state of a given eco-attraction can be scientifically discriminated by measuring the carrying capacity. The skill is in help with dynamic monitoring and risk pre-warning on the imminently breakable carrying capacity for the management department, coping with the seasonal crowd surging by all accounts. Firstly, the literatures are sorted out in this paper consistent with the relation between sustainable development, sustainable tourism and carrying capacity; secondly, the indicators of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity are established; thirdly, in application of fuzzy pattern recognition, the exploitation and usage state of eco-tourism carrying capacity is dynamically discriminated; fourthly, the indirect method of fuzzy pattern recognition is applicable to an exemplary case of the hit tourist attraction Kanas in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (abbreviated as “Xinjiang”) China, aiming to get hold of “threshold” related to Kanas and scientifically control the risk of excessive development.

Reference review

Sustainable development.

The term sustainable development in evolution is generally supposedly initiated by the increased environmental awareness in the 1960s and 1970s 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 . In response to the failure of the economic growth model during Post-World War II, it was called for an alternative, more sustainable model of development.

Early ideology of sustainable development was proposed at the international conferences (Stockholm Conference on People and the Environment, 1972) and the conceptualisations in literatures as well as conferences in form of The Limits to Growth 11 , Ecological Principles of Economic Development 12 , the Brandt Commission Report 1980, and Our Common Future (World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), 1987). Sustainable development was subsequently in discussion at the G7 Summit in Paris in 1989 13 , World Conservation Strategy in 1981 [International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)], United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF 1991). Sustainable development in Our Common Future was defined as a “process to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED 1987). Sustainability is possessed of three fundamental elements (ecological, socio-cultural, economic), and three fundamental principles (future, equity, holism) 14 .

Sustainability in tourism and sustainable development

The profound and rapid changes that have been taking place in the world over the past two decades are embodied in the changes in tourism. In comparison with the expansion of tourism scale, the introduction of “sustainability” is the exercisable variable most likely to change the nature of tourism. Rosenow and Pulsipher called for “new tourism” that does not exceed carrying capacity, protecting towns, enhancing environmental and heritage values, and educating visitors 15 . Butler’s life cycle theory of tourist destinations 16 was considered indirectly reflecting the concept of sustainable development 9 and the concept of carrying capacity 17 , 18 .

Since the publication of Brundtland Commission Report Our Common Future (WCED 1987) in 1987, the term sustainability has been shifted from the ideology of sustainable development into the tourism industry. According to current literatures, sustainable tourism is generally defined as,

tourism which is developed and maintained in an area (community, environment) in such a manner and at such a scale that it remains viable over an infinite period and does not degrade or alter the environment (human and physical) in which it exists to such a degree that it prohibits the successful development and well-being of other activities and processes 19 .

Tourism is a key sector to the national economic development and social well-being of people. Take China as an example (Fig.  1 ).

The tourism in China has consecutively been undergoing rapid growth from 2011 to 2019. Tourism revenue resolutely surged to an all-time high of 5.725 billion RMB in 2019. Even with the devastating impact of covid-19 in 2021, the total number of Chinese domestic tourists reached 3.246 billion, the domestic tourism revenue (total tourism consumption) mount to as much as 2.92 trillion RMB 20 .

Therefore, inserting the word “tourism” in the middle of “sustainable development” is an effort to converge the two lines into one and transform this concept into action. Pigram also expressed a similar point of view 2 .

Sustainable tourism has the potential to become a tangible expression of sustainable…development. Yet it runs the risk of remaining irrelevant and inert as a feasible policy option for the real world of tourism development, without the development of effective means of translating the idea into action.

The term “sustainable tourism” is now widely used in the tourism literatures. However, the definition, validity and operability of the term have been in controversy all the time. As far as the definition is concerned, sustainable tourism is criticized for being narrow and sectoral 9 , 10 , 11 , 19 . Sustainable tourism may share some concerns with sustainable development. However, sustainable tourism has its own specific tourism-centric agenda in the aim of maintaining business viability, sometimes being understood as an ideology and perspective rather than an explicitly operational definition 21 . Some organizations, such as the WTO Task Force, choose not to particularly define “sustainable tourism”. They propose that it is a concept applicable to a specific place or destination and should therefore be defined on a case-by-case basis 22 .

Cater believes that there are four loose stakeholders (host community, tourist, tourism operators and regulators, natural environment), which respectively play an equally important role in developing natural environment and managing tourist products in executing sustainable tourism development 23 . The tourism system should be built in the interests of all stakeholders. It is asserted by Muller that the objectives of sustainable tourism are in essence comprised of the following factors 24 ,

economic health,

subjective well-being of the locals,

unspoilt nature, protection of resources,

healthy culture and

optimum satisfaction of guest requirements.

Muller depicts the objectives of sustainable tourism as a balanced tourism development, no one dominating 24 . In fact, Hunter regards sustainable tourism as 25 , need not (indeed should not) imply that these often competing aspects are somehow to be balanced. In reality, trade-off decisions taken on a day to day basis will almost certainly produce priorities which emerge to skew the destination area based tourism environment system in favor or certain aspects.

Moreover, the opinions of Healey and Shaw are phrased as 26 , preference for the conception of balances and trade-offs not only sits more comfortably with economic priorities, it is also more easily subverted by imperatives of economic growth in that environmental limits to a trade-off are not set.

Over the past decades, sustainable tourism has been in dispute over how to put it into practice. The solutions to this issue are running through the literatures related to sustainable development. Sara et al. analyzed the topics of 20 articles most cited during 2019–2020 and concluded that the contribution of tourism to economic growth and the measurement of sustainability are receiving more attention 27 . There is a voice that sustainable tourism is about reducing the use of the non-renewable resources. In light of the carrying capacity, sustainable products or minimum safety standards 2 , researchers can’t help wondering to what extent should a precautionary development put into effect averse to the risks of exceeding the limits of carrying capacity 28 ? Under this background, carrying capacity is put forward as a paradigm to ascertain and constrain the usage of a tourist destination 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 . Nowadays, tourism carrying capacity, as a solution on local scale, has been widely adopted in tourism research, aiming to provide more specific, time / space solutions at the local level.

The main measuring methods of tourism carrying capacity

The concept of carrying capacity was initiated in the field of rangeland and wildland management. Four types of classification are as follows: physical carrying capacity, perceptual carrying capacity, social carrying capacity and economic carrying capacity, which are the methodological basis for measuring carrying capacity 33 . The logistic model was combined with carrying capacity by Odum, but it is pointed out that the logistic model is a deterministic model solely applicable to the laboratory situation, in which the world is presumptively a deterministic closed system rather than an open system. Therefore, the application of logistic model in carrying capacity is prone to be a misleading. One of the criticisms of carrying capacity is the abstract nature and the inconsistency of the measured values with the realities of a particular area 34 , 35 . Lack of a comprehensive definition of carrying capacity, the ever-changing nature of the concept and the variety of approaches to measurement have accounted for the criticism. The interface to all methods of measuring carrying capacity is the identification and determination of the limit of acceptable variation (LAC), which is the alternative basis of measurement. Various approaches, such as weighted valuation, multi-criteria ranking of capacity, management models adapted to ecosystems, ecological footprint models, and other simple and composite models have been used to measure physical, ecological, social and perceptual carrying capacity 36 , 37 . The guideline put forward by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1996 applied to computing the carrying capacity of regions are suitable for tourism development within the protected zones 22 . Since the twenty-first century, scholars began to pay more attention to the quantitative research and practice of tourism environmental carrying capacity. Saveriades established a mathematical model to conduct an empirical study on the tourism social carrying capacity of Cyprus parks 37 . Tony Prato proposed the Adaptive Ecosystem Management (AEM) and Multiple Attribute Scoring Test of Capacity (MAS⁃TEC) models, which were adopted to assess the carrying capacity of national parks in the United States 38 . Steven Lawson et al. 39 expanded and elaborated on the use of computer simulation modeling as a tool for proactive monitoring and adaptive management of social carrying capacity at Arches National Park 35 , 36 .

The thresholds have been measured in many case studies 40 . Shelby and Heberlein argued that carrying capacity should be determined by studying tourist expectations as well as predetermined rules of destination managers. The two sociologists expanded the conceptual basis by differentiating the types of activities that tourists engage in natural areas, establishing a model of social carrying capacity that is still valid today and has been applied to natural areas 41 . Vaske and Shelby reviewed the studies on perceived crowding between 1975 and 2005 (all at recreational venues) 42 . It is concluded that the criteria proposed by Shelby and Heberlein 43 remain a viable methodology for assessing carrying capacity based on perceived crowding levels. Seidl and Tisdell 38 outlined that the considerable uncertainty to the measurement of carrying capacity are attributed to the highly variable nature of the environment, the nonlinear dynamic nature of many causal relationships and the lack of knowledge. Saveriades stated that carrying capacity is more of a dynamic and fluid concept 44 . In addition to measurement issues, the impact of carrying capacity varies in line with the destination and also depends on destination management processes 45 . Some scholars believe that establishing the purpose of a region is crucial for determining the carrying capacity. Therefore, for any region, there are various carrying capacities, implying no single capacity can apply to the whole region 46 . Simon et al. conducted qualitative research and highlighted the major problems in measuring carrying capacity in manner of different ways to reach a destination and no specific standard way to measure carrying capacity 39 . Few studies have discussed the problems in measuring the carrying capacity of tourist destinations under pressure. Although significant progress has been made in evaluating carrying capacity, most current methods are non-quantitative and lack analytical rigor.

The studies on environmental carrying capacity in China are mainly in the aspects of the minimum quantity law, namely the barrel theory, and the weight of measurement and evaluation indictors in application of mathematical model. Cheng Zhen et al. proposed the law of minimum tourism environmental capacity and built a mathematical model 47 . Cui Fengjun et al. proposed a static model for measurement in result of exploring the connotation and composition of tourism environmental carrying capacity. Given by social, cultural, economic, psychological and other factors of tourist destinations, a systematic tourism carrying capacity indicator was brought up 48 . Liu Mei et al. adopted Pressure-State-Response (PSR) Model to construct the evaluation model of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity of water eco-tourism scenic spots 49 . The conceptual system and evaluation of tourism environmental carrying capacity in China are in terms of single-factor measurement, and there is insufficient research on the comprehensive evaluation model involving multiple factors.

In conclusion, it is identified that those works aimed at providing indicators or systems for measuring sustainability are limited to a specific region. In addition, the lack of data makes the accuracy of the studies difficult. It is essential to expand empirical studies in this field 50 . Taking the eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity as a paradigm for the study of sustainable tourism, with application of fuzzy algorithm, this paper is empirically dedicated to assessing the actual state of eco-tourism development degree (excessive / moderate / insufficient), as a reference for risk evaluation and scheme adjustment. The study procedure is as following: (1) Establishing the indicator of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity and corresponding measuring factors, followed by building standard patterns; (2) On account of fuzzy algorithm, adopting fuzzy pattern recognition to assess the actual state of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity, identifying to which standard pattern it is most approximate to. The tourism planners and local organizations can take this method as a powerful and useful tool to dynamically monitor the state of carrying capacity. As a result, the potential exploitation capacity, resilience, integrity of structure and function regarding the natural resources, as well as the long-term well-being of ecosystem can be guaranteed.

The mathematical expression of fuzzy pattern recognition

In expression with a relative state, not a specific number, carrying capacity would be seemingly more consistent with the spirit and purpose of regulations. As long as the impact remains acceptable, the current usage of a tourist attraction could be continuously carried out. If the state becomes unacceptable and all other management strategies are unsuitable other than reducing the usage, the carrying capacity so far could be adjusted to the current usage to meet the requirements of regulations (Fig.  2 ).

There are two main aspects integrated into the definitions of tourism carrying capacity: (1) the biophysical component, connecting to the integrity of the resource-base which suggests some specific threshold or level of tolerance after which further exploitation or usage may put pressure on the natural ecosystem; and (2) the behavioral component, in response to the quality of tourism experience 17 .

Carrying capacity is defined by WTO as “the maximum number of people that can visit a tourist destination at the same time without causing disruption by physical, economic or socio-cultural means and an unacceptable reduction in tourist satisfaction”. Therefore, carrying capacity intrinsically indicates a curvilinear relationship between usage and impact, which would vary in capacity under different environmental and social conditions 51 . Tourism carrying capacity is considered to be a manipulative variable in the consecutively changing process. Consequently, the way of measuring carrying capacity should be suitable for the multi-objective, conditional, nonlinear and highly dynamic state of system 52 . As a matter of fact, the vaguely, imprecisely defined categories of scenarios, mostly encountered in the real world, are different from the ones explicitly defined in the traditionally mathematical manner due to the fuzziness featuring the boundaries of the categories. The so-called fuzziness goes by the name of fuzzy set, which means there is no sharp transform from membership to non-membership in a category of scenario. The difference between fuzzy algorithm and probability statistics is that the latter lacks the competence in grasping the fuzzy problem and dealing with higher-order complex systems 53 .

A pattern is an ideally imitable sample, in form of fuzzy set. Pattern recognition refers to identifying which standard pattern an object is closest to. Sergios claims that Pattern recognition is a scientific discipline whose aim is the classification of the objects into a lot of categories or classes. Pattern recognition is also an integral part in most machine intelligence system built for decision making 54 . Pattern recognition is generally visualized as a sequence of some steps in process, namely (i) data acquisition, (ii) feature selection, and (iii) classification procedure (Fig.  3 ) 55 .

A general scheme of pattern recognition 55 .

Fuzzy pattern recognition is based on fuzzy algorithm 51 . The Pattern recognition system based on fuzzy sets theory can imitate thinking process of human being widely and deeply 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 . The purpose of this paper is about to evaluate the actual state of a given tourist destination, and to identify its development degree (excessive / moderate / insufficient) by measuring which standard state it is closest to. The moderate development degree, acting as a transition between the excessive and insufficient development degree, is the ideal goal for a tourist destination. This paper is grounded in the fuzzy pattern recognition which is mathematically expressed as follows.

Assuming \(A{ = }\left( {a_{1} ,a_{2} , \ldots ,a_{p} } \right)\) and \(B{ = }\left( {b_{1} ,b_{2} , \ldots ,b_{p} } \right)\) being two p -dimensional fuzzy vectors (fuzzy set in expression with vectors), the symbol “ \(\wedge\) ”and “ \(\vee\) ”are respectively representing taking “minimum operation” and “maximize operation”.

The inner product \(A \cdot B\) of the fuzzy vectors A and B is defined as

The outer product \(A \odot B\) of the fuzzy vectors A and B is defined as

The lattice degree of proximity \(N\left( { \, A{, }B \, } \right)\) between the fuzzy vectors A and B is defined as

It is deduced from the definition that the closer the lattice degree of proximity regarding two fuzzy vectors gets to 1, the more approximate the two fuzzy vectors are. On the contrary, the closer the lattice degree of proximity regarding two fuzzy vectors gets to 0, the estranged the two vectors are.

Assuming A and B 1 , B 2 , …, B n are both p -dimensional fuzzy vectors, in existence of \(j_{0} \in \left\{ {1,2, \cdots \cdots ,n} \right\}\) , on the nearest neighbor rule, the following formula is on hand:

from which A would be inferentially categorized into pattern \(B_{{j_{0} }}\) under conditions that A is closest to \(B_{{j_{0} }}\) .

Indicators of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity

Carrying capacity, in connection with the evaluation criteria reflecting an objective or an expected state, assures the tourism development of marching in the right direction. The indicators of sustainable tourism should be endowed with relevance, resonance, reliability and simplicity, accompanied by measuring factors which are carefully selected and properly screened.

This study constitutes the indicator of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity, consistent with the research by Jinmei and Jian 60 , containing five componential indicators as carrying capacity of spatial resource ( C 1 ), carrying capacity of ecological environment ( C 2 ), carrying capacity of economic environment ( C 3 ), carrying capacity of people’s psychology ( C 4 ) and carrying capacity of socio-culture ( C 5 ). The measuring factors affiliated with each indicator are shown in Table 1 .

From the measuring factors associated with the five indicators of carrying capacity (Table 1 ), it can be seen that some are hard indicators for quantitative analysis, while some are soft indicators for qualitative analysis. The degrees to which a tourist attraction is being developed and used, are categorized into three fuzzy standard patterns (excessive / moderate / insufficient), objectively reflecting the degree of adequateness for development. For this purpose, the investment developers, tourism authorities, local governments, experienced experts and local communities of a tourist destination (referred to as “assessment group”) are recruited for periodically assessing the eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity of a tourist destination. Firstly, the decisive factor, among the measuring factors of each carrying capacity C i ( i  = 1,2,…,5), extremely constraining the tourism development, is the referral factor easiest to reach saturated state. The constraining factors are to be figured out among the measuring factors, which is consistent with the barrel theory (the poorly done and most disadvantaged part determine the development of an organization). Given by the constraining factors, as well as the actual experiential data in recent years, statistical data, medium and long-term development planning for the tourist destination, the roughly numerical values of saturated/optimal/deficient standard patterns expressed as c i 1 / c i 2 / c i 3 (take the mid-value if only an interval range determined) are resulted. Thus, the vectors of the three standard patterns of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity are generated in formula ( 3 ):

Hereafter S 1 / S 2 / S 3 are respectively named after the vectors of saturated / optimal / deficient standard patterns, referral to the excessive / moderate / insufficient development degrees to the tourist destination. Taking the three vectors as column vectors, the standard pattern matrix of the eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity accrues as follows:

of which c ij represents the numerical value of standard pattern j pertinent to the carrying capacity i ( i  = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; j  = 1, 2, 3). It should be noticed that the validation of c ij , the basis for evaluating the development and usage state of tourist attraction, is vital. For example, it is roughly verified by the assessment group that the area capacity, a hard indictor for quantitative analysis in nature, is the decisively constraining factor among the measuring factors (touring routes capacity, area capacity, ecological capacity, crossroads capacity), with respect to the spatial resource carrying capacity C 1 regarding a given tourist destination. The following formula stands out correspondingly:

Here D j / d / T j / t are respectively designated as tourist areas / per person occupied areas / opening hours (could be day / week / month / year) / the time for sightseeing. The formula in expression of c 1 j , which is treated as the number of people (including tourists and working staff) accommodated by the tourist destination, is capable of reasonably measuring the carrying capacity of spatial resources. In response to the determination of D 1 / D 2 / D 3 and T 1 / T 2 / T 3 by the assessment group, the large / appropriate / low receiving capacity, in name of c 11 / c 12 / c 13 , referring to the numerical values of saturated / optimal / deficient standard patterns in regard to the tourist destination, hence is got touched. To give another case, the residents’ psychological capacity, the most constraining factor among the measuring factors (residents / tourists’ psychological capacity) subject to the people’s psychological carrying capacity C 4 , is roughly verified by the assessment group. Therefore arises the numerical values of saturated / optimal / deficient standard patterns in name of c 41 / c 42 / c 43 , as a matter of fact, corresponding to the averaging of the number of visitors the local residents could tolerate resulted from questionnaire and / or field survey.

The eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity is verifiably capable of being self-regulated, resilient and self-preserving to the ecosystem of a tourist destination. Therefore, eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity usually exhibits in form of “threshold”, as much as to say that exceeding the “threshold” would most likely compromise the functional play and maintenance of the ecological environment system. Accordingly, in addition to locate the numerical value of c i , the vector of threshold in form of \(S_{\max } = \left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {c_{1\max } } & {c_{2\max } } & \ldots & {c_{5\max } } \\ \end{array} } \right)\) should be taken into consideration. The threshold is written as c i max ( i  = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), corresponding to the maximum limit of each carrying capacity, which should be met with the following formula ( 5 ) for each i :

Back to the first case above, the threshold c 1max of the spatial resource carrying capacity C 1 generally indicates the maximum receiving capacity of a given tourist destination.

The state evaluation matrix in application of fuzzy pattern recognition

Since the numerical values of each standard pattern vary in magnitude and dimension, lacking in comparability, the standard pattern matrix C in formula ( 4 ) should be correspondingly transformed into the membership matrix in application of fuzzy algorithm. Considering that the “nearest neighbor” rule is met for any numerical value, the following formula ( 6 ) is adopted for normalization process:

It can be told from formula ( 5 ) that the numerical value c ij * is located between closed interval [0, 1], namely \(0 \le c_{ij}^{*} \le 1\) . It turns out the numerical values of all the optimal standard patterns are transformed into 1, denoted as \(c_{i2}^{*} = 1\quad \left( {i = 1,2,3,4,5} \right)\) , obviously highlighting “the more moderate the better” rule. C ij * is named after the degree to which the standard pattern j of the carrying capacity i is subordinate to the optimal standard pattern. Under this circumstance, the optimal tourism output accrued from the componential carrying capacities is released, followed by the membership vectors (formula 7 ) corresponding to the vectors of the three standard patterns of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity:

which is respectively named after the membership vectors of saturated / optimal / deficient standard pattern, collectively called membership vectors of the three standard patterns. Apparently, the three vectors are fuzzy vectors.

Taking the three membership vectors as column vectors, hereafter the membership matrix C * of the standard pattern matrix C is drawn out:

In pursuit of the standard pattern to which the actual state of the eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity is closest, the field survey is carried out. The actual state vectors of the carrying capacity as following is originated from the numerical values denoted as c 10 , c 20 , c 30 , c 40 , c 50 :

Which are input into formula ( 6 ) for normalization, the result coming out:

The membership vector S 0 * of the actual state regarding the carrying capacity S 0 is as following:

Apparently, the above is fuzzy vector as well. The three lattice degrees of proximity are put forward as a consequence:

If there is \(j_{0} \in \left\{ {1,2,3} \right\}\) , the following formula ( 9 ) is put in play:

where upon based on the “the more moderate the better” rule in fuzzy algorithm, it could be confirmed that standard pattern j 0 which the actual state of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity of a given tourist destination is closest to and categorized into. Formula ( 9 ) is the evaluation matrix as for the actual state of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity regarding a given tourist destination by means of fuzzy pattern recognition.

An exemplary case study on the eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity of Kanas National Nature Reserves

Based on the eco-tourism environmental data of 2018 Kanas National Nature Reserves in Xinjiang, the eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity is exemplarily processed in this paper. Kanas National Nature Reserves are awarded to national 5A scenic area. Since the first tourist was received in 1997, the tourism in Kanas has been developing at a fast pace. With the implementation of Belt and Road Initiative strategy and the approval of the World Cultural Heritage application of “Silk Road” in 2022, the tourist attractions in Xinjiang along the Silk Road are once again warming up. Xinjiang accounts for six among the 33 representative sites successfully applied for World Heritage. The once dazzling pearl on the ancient Silk Road has again been glamorous to the global tourists. At present, Kanas National Nature Reserves, one of the two leading tourist destinations in Xinjiang, have been shaped as a quality national tourism route.

Overview of the region

Nature resources

Kanas National Nature Reserves are located at the junction of four countries (Fig.  4 ). Kanas tourist destination is centered on Kanas Lake which changes color with seasons and weathers. It is well-known as a “Color Changing Lake”, which is dyed with trees and surrounded by soaring snow peaks and bright mountains in every autumn. The scenery is picturesque.

According to the Baidu Map, the area circled in red line is Kanas National Nature Reserves. It is located in northern Xinjiang, at the junction of China, People’s Republic of Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Tuva Republic.

Kanas tourist destination, located in the hinterland of Europe and Asia with high latitude, is featured with great changes in solar altitude angle with seasons, short time of direct exposure, heat disparity, which result in warm spring and autumn without summer climate characteristics, cold winter but not dramatic. The average annual temperature is − 0.2 °C, with the annual rainfall ranging from 780 to 1114 mm. Due to the complex terrain, the difference in vertical height, and the different climatic conditions related, various soil types have been developed in Kanas region. The complex naturally geographical environment in the area has brought rich animal and plant resources into being. At present, Kanas National Nature Reserves still maintains a primitive environmental state, providing a good place for the habitat and growth of wild animals and plants.

Socio-cultural and economic conditions

The nature reserves have anciently been a nomadic area for many ethnic groups (i.e. Mongolian, Kazakh) from north, which are located in Kanas Village, Hemu Village, Baihaba Village, Tilekti village and Zibaroi, etc. Besides the tertiary industry related to tourism, the nature reserves are mainly in the line of animal husbandry and agricultural production business in small amount. In a word, the economic development level is still very low in the tourist destination.

Eco-tourism in Kanas and Belt and Road initiative

Located in the hinterland of the Eurasian continent, Xinjiang is an important channel for the exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations, an important junction on the ancient Silk Road, and a pivotal gateway for China to open to the west. Xinjiang is a pearl on the Belt and Road plate. Its unique geographical advantages and cultural spirits are full of mysterious colors, attracting tourists to explore here. The rapid development of transportation and infrastructure has remarkably propelled the tourism development in Xinjiang. On June 16, 2022, Alar Tarim Airport, the first geological airport built in the Tarim River basin, is opened up officially. The annual passenger throughput could be expected to reach 300 thousand person-time. In 2021, Xinjiang received 191 million tourists. As a name card of Xinjiang tourism, Kanas holds the position of enhancing the brand influence of Xinjiang tourism, establishing unique regional advantages, and promoting the development of tourism markets along the Belt and Road plate.

According to the “Classification, Investigation and Evaluation of Tourism Resources” (GB / T18972-2017) of the People’s Republic of China, the tourism resources in the region are classified and summarized in line with main category, sub-category, fundamental type of tourism resources and object of tourism resources. It shows that Kanas tourist destination is endowed with 8 main categories (geomatic landscape, water landscape, biological landscape, celestial and climatic landscape, architecture and facilities, historical relics, tourist purchases, humanistic activities) and 18 sub-categories which have been exploited to varying degrees. The main tourist attractions, in variety types of nature and culture, as well as rich landscapes, are concentrated in Kanas Lake, Hemu Village, Baihaba Village. In recent years, relying on the regional advantages in ecological environment, ice and snow attractions, folk culture, Kanas tourist destination has fully achieved a rapid development for being leisure, vacational village and health preservation. By virtue of the uniquely geographical advantages of Belt and Road Initiative, Kanas tourist destination prevails in becoming an area for international ski tourism.

With the Belt and Road Initiative, Kanas National Nature Reserves have seen a tourism boom in the past decade. Statistics show that the number of tourists to Kanas in 2018 was 22.83 million, more than seven times that of 2008. Tourism revenue was 23.4 billion RMB, 18 times that of 2008. On July 23, 2019, the number of tourists in Kanas scenic spots (Kanas core scenic spots, Baihaba scenic spots and Hemu scenic spots) exceeded 10 thousand a day, more than 20 days earlier than that in 2018 61 . The two peak tourist seasons in Kanas are generally during July to September in summer and the ski season from October to March of the following year. In recent years, with the entertaining and leisure facilities in Kanas getting further developed and improved, the peak tourist seasons are promisingly extended. At the same time, Kanas has also prompted its marketing and promotions, especially the hit of the variety entertainment program named “See You Again” in collaboration with a well-known Internet Video Platform in 2021.Kanas has become one of the tourist destinations that many young people most yearn for. This program, which was being filmed in Hemu scenic area and Kanas Lake scenic area, invited three celebrity couples with relationship problems to embark on an 18-day trip to Kanas. The audiences marvel at the magnificent and vast natural scenery as well as the exotic culture offered by Kanas, as a “fairyland on earth”, with the snow-capped peaks that never melt all the year round, the blue lake in the dense forest, and the arcadia-like villages. On July 9, 2022, even though the epidemic has not yet ended, with the aid of the local Corban Festival in Xinjiang, the average daily number of visitors to Kanas tourist attractions has surpassed 30 thousand, setting a new record for single-day tourist reception in recent years 62 . The 2023 Spring Festival marked the first tourism outbreak in China after the end of the epidemic in the past 3 years. On January 25, 2023, the three major ski resorts of Jungshan International Ski Resort in Altay City, Kokotohai International Ski Resort and Hemu (Jikepulin) International Ski Resort received a single-day high of 15 thousand tourists for sightseeing and skiing 63 .

Environmental protection objectives for Kanas eco-tourism development

In compliance with the regulations pertinent to the classification and protection goals from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China, Kanas National Nature Reserves and Kanas tourist destination are functionally categorized into Grade I by the “Air Environmental Quality Guidelines” (GB3095-2012), while Kanas Lake is functionally classified into Grade I in line with the “Environmental Quality Guidelines for Surface Water” (GB 3838-2002).

The computing process of Kanas eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity

In combination of general situations of eco-tourism development, as well as the uniquely natural, social, economic characteristics in Kanas tourist destination, the daily carrying capacity of spatial resource, ecological environment and economic environment in 2018 are obtained by applying related formulas and barrel theory. In the analysis of local history and reality, the daily carrying capacities of people’s psychological and socio-cultural environment are emerged 64 . Therefore, based on the calculation and analysis, the vectors S 1 / S 2 / S 3 corresponding to the saturated / optimal / deficient standard patterns are determined. Then, the threshold vector S max consequently comes out given by the following formula,

Since the consultation from the assessment group is not available so far, the threshold acquired by the above formula might be unreasonably less than the correspondingly numerical value regarding the saturated standard pattern. Hence, an appropriate amendment is made in this paper as follows,

Kanas Lake is the main scenic spot of Kanas tourist attractions (Fig.  5 ) The touring routes to the Xiahukou Scenic Spot are verifiably pivotal to the threshold by calculating the spatial resource capacity of the Kanas Lake (Lake landscapes, Xiahukou Scenic Spot, Kanas Village). The daily carrying capacity of spatial resource is ascertained as follows,

Touring routes of Kanas tourist attractions and main scenic spots (Kanas Lake, Hemu Villiage, Burzin, all marked in red) are displayed. Jiadengyu (marked in blue) is the entrance of the main scenic spots.

The ecological environment carrying capacity is constraining to the daily sewage treatment capacity. The maximum daily wastewater effluent of Kanas tourist destination is 590.50 m 3 / day. Sewage treatment capacity reaches 413.35 m 3 / day, given the sewage treatment rate as high as 70%, due to the continuous improvement of the drainage facilities 64 . The following can be deduced from this,

The daily accommodation capacity of tourist reception, composed of limited number of wooden homes and yurts outsourced by the individual enterprises, in addition to 3000 beds in different scale and grading, goes up to about 4000 beds 63 . The following data rises in response,

800 indigenous people and 1200 Hemu villagers, currently home in the main communities, are mostly nomadic people. The Tuva culture (i.e. the life style, religion, ritual activities) is the most distinctive folk custom featuring an atmosphere of antiquity and simplicity 64 . With the opening of family hotels and start-ups from the residents due to the rise of tourism, most of the Tuvas have being greatly improved their living conditions. The psychological carrying capacity of residents who are engaged in tourism as service or management personnel is conceivably close to infinite 64 . The 3-dimensional correlational vectors as following are generated by all accounts,

From 2011 to 2015, the number of tourists in Kanas has been massively increasing. In the peak season of 2018, the average number of arrivals soared to about 4000 person-time / day, and 6500 person-time / day for the rush hours 64 . Accordingly, the carrying capacity of spatial resource = (4000 + 6500) ÷ 2 = 5250 person-time / day; the sewage treatment rate = 80%, the carrying capacity of ecological environment = 472.4 m 3 / day; the carrying capacity of economic environment = 4000 beds; and people’s psychological capacity and socio-cultural capacity need not be discussed. Therefore, the actual state vector S 0 in 2018 is,

which is input into formula ( 6 ). The following membership vectors of the three standard patterns and the actual state membership vector are output in consequence,

According to formula ( 1 ), the lattice degrees of proximity between S 0 * and S 1 * / S 2 * / S 3 * is respectively calculated as follows,

In accordance with the evaluation matrix of formula ( 9 ), the indirect method of fuzzy pattern recognition is adopted to assess the actual state of eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity of Kanas tourist destination in 2018,

which illustrates that Kanas tourist destination is most approximate to or categorized into the saturated standard pattern, indicating that the tourism attractions are being overdeveloped right now in terms of the carrying capacities of spatial resource and ecological environment, which should be paid attention by the tourism monitoring authorities and operators.

The applicability of fuzzy pattern recognition

Carrying capacity is not a formula of obtaining a fictitious number, beyond which development should cease, neither being fixed, but dynamic and resilient, which can’t go with an optimized answers or classification and be adaptive to the classic mathematics. Fuzzy sets can effectively describe the extension and intension of a concept. Pattern recognition refers to the science that concerns the description or classification (recognition) of measuring the noisy data and complex environment, followed by correct decisions. Carrying capacity can be manipulated by this managerial techniques and controls.

The interpretation of the pattern recognition results

Generally speaking, the higher the numerical value of N ( S 0 *, S 1 *) is, so is the higher degree of the overdevelopment. If it turns out the actual state of a given tourist destination is most approach to or categorized into the saturated/optimal/deficient standard pattern, the higher the numerical value of N ( S 0 *, S 1 *) is, so is the higher degree of excessive/moderate/insufficient development. In particular, if it turns out that the actual state of the tourist destination is closest to or categorized into the saturated or insufficient standard pattern, each carrying capacity should be meticulously inspected. As a result, the actual state could be promisingly and accurately adjusted toward the optimal standard pattern.

The reality of Kansas in corroboration with the discriminative results in the paper

In fact, with the incrementally convenient transportations, the development of tourist attractions and the improvement of tourism facilities, the arrivals to Kanas have been keeping at a high level in the past few years. It seems that the environmental carrying capacity symptomatizes being overloaded at the cost of compromising consumer experience. The so-called “three difficulties and one obstacle” (difficult to park, refuel, go to toilet; poor cell phone signal) is exactly reflecting the consumer complaint about the overcrowding of scenic spots. The environment is exposed to the high pressure from tourists, likewise. With the popularity of wild camping in China, more and more tourists become keen to camp in Kanas scenic spots wildly. Trampling on the grass and discarding garbage at will not only have an impact on the environment, but more seriously, an irreversible impact on the growth of rare tree species and the habitat of animals deriving from the deterioration of vegetation, water, landform and natural landscape.

Conclusions

No remote islands or primitive tribes could be immune to the extremely developed transportation and networks nowadays. Eco-tourism could be unpredictably transformed into mass tourism by any chance, which must enormously make impact on the culture, style of life, and world-view of inhabitants of tourist regions. Hence, sustainable development is out of the question. This paper believes that the eco-tourism environmental carrying capacity, a most effective tool for the management department, of great importance to supervise the development state and distinguish which carrying capacity is about to be overloaded, and measures should decidedly be underway. Due to the carrying capacity being a dynamic and fluid concept, the fuzzy pattern recognition can be looked as categorization problem, as inductive process, as structure analysis, as discrimination method and so on concerning evaluating carrying capacity.

The executive steps are specifically as follows:

The measuring factors of each carrying capacity are ascertained by establishing the indicator of carrying capacity relevant to a given tourist destination.

A decisively constraining measuring factor is figured out among the measuring factors of each carrying capacity by the assessment group organized by the development investors, tourism management department, local government, experienced experts and local residents. The numerical values of the three standard patterns and standard pattern matrix, as well as the vectors of threshold and the actual state are confirmed in sequence by the help of field investigation.

The vectors of the three standard patterns and the actual state are processed in normalization by implementing “the more moderate the better” rule, as a consequence, the corresponding membership vectors and the membership matrix of the standard patterns are got hold of.

In comparison of the lattice degrees of proximity, the actual state could be identifiably proximal to which standard (saturated / optimal / deficient) pattern of development. The result plays a role in being a reference to the decisions on the next step development.

The case of Kanas clarifies that tourism had been pro to destruction of the natural elements that form the basis of the tourist products. Negative effects are aligned with motion, staying, and different forms of leisure activities leading to pollution and quantitative decrease of natural resources, to the endangerment of the unmolested and diverse wildlife, and in many places to the destruction of natural landscapes, which should sound an alarm across the actors with the tourism management department.

In recent years, the tourism carrying capacity is entitled to the wisdom featured tourism research. The tourism carrying capacity state of the protected areas could be synchronously measured by means of the advanced information technology for establishing an early warning mechanism, such as the use of location information to collect tourist flow and tourism behavior data. On the other hand, dynamic surveillance and early warning could be realized in a manner of digital monitoring. For example, dynamic data of tourist flow and spatial distribution could be grasped in combination of various sensors of each scenic spot and tourist data management system for monitoring regional carrying capacity. In addition, more and more methods (i.e. system dynamics model) are used to measure the growth limit and ecological vulnerability of tourist attraction and to estimate the potential risks related, for the purpose of timely adjusting strategies and maintaining the sustainable development of local tourism.

Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Yu, K., Gao, H. Sustainable development, eco-tourism carrying capacity and fuzzy algorithm-a study on Kanas in Belt and Road. Sci Rep 13 , 16789 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41961-1

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What is sustainable tourism in panama, it depends who you ask.

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Veteran guide Rich Cahill on the Panama Canal. Panamanians have adopted a flexible definition of ... [+] sustainability as they grapple with an influx of tourists.

If you ask Rich Cahill to define sustainable tourism, he'll tell you about the wilderness next to the Panama Canal where you can find ocelots, howler monkeys, and three-toed sloths. It's about explaining to visitors that nature is both fragile and resilient — a contradiction that's on full display in these lush Central American rainforests.

"People think they know sustainability," says Cahill, who runs Ancon Expeditions , a Panamanian tour operator. "But they're not thinking big enough."

Sustainable means something different to David Kianni, general manager of the Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo . To him, it's about being a responsible corporate citizen — no single-use plastics, and having an active conservation initiative — and creating a mentorship program that supports native culture.

Just down a cobblestone street in Old Town Panama City, you'll find yet another definition of sustainability at the just-opened Amarla Casco Viejo , a boutique hotel. For general manager María Antonieta Ramírez, it's about following all the best practices of conservation and promoting artists like Phoebe Montague Warr, whose riveting images of Panama's biodiversity are on display in the guest rooms.

Sustainability in tourism is a broad topic that covers environmental protection, supporting local communities and cultural preservation. But what does sustainability really mean?

I'll be asking that question as I travel through the Caribbean, a part of the world that has aggressively pursued a reputation for sustainability in tourism. But how sustainable is the Caribbean when compared to other places? How can you tell if a destination is really sustainable? And ultimately, is sustainability worth it, not just to the visitor and the business, but also to the affected communities?

A Psychologist Explores The Rise Of ‘Hikikomori Syndrome’

Ipad 2024 apple just accidentally revealed an all new product it seems, apple iphone 16 pro models exposed in new leak.

For a benchmark, I decided to start in Panama, perhaps one of the sustainability pioneers. Guides like Cahill were leading tourists through tropical rainforests decades ago, before ecotourism became a household word. Panama also has a colorful history as an adventure destination, featuring dictators, military invasions and plenty of intrigue. Plus, it's an airline hub that connects to many Caribbean islands, as well as other destinations in the Americas and Europe.

What is sustainable tourism?

Experts will tell you that, on its broadest level, sustainable tourism is about reducing the negative environmental, social, and economic consequences of travel. But it's also about helping local communities and preserving natural and cultural resources for people who live in the affected areas.

Sustainability means that you can keep coming back to the place again and again without worrying about it being depleted or destroyed. And here are three main ways a destination can pursue a sustainability goal:

Reducing environmental damage

Sustainable tourism tries to lower carbon emissions, reduce waste and conserve resources. Hotel recycling programs and carbon neutrality commitments by airlines fall under this category.

Helping local communities

Sustainability is also about empowering local communities through small business mentorship programs and sourcing local products. When your boutique hotel offers a locally made drink or soap product, chances are it's part of a sustainability effort.

Preserving culture

The final aspect of sustainable tourism is about helping people maintain local cultures and traditions. This may include promoting a range of tourist-related activities that allows visitors to appreciate the ways of the indigenous society.

These three core sustainability principles sound simple enough. But when it comes down to it, the definition is like sand in your fingers. It's elusive. It sounds promotional, and at times gimmicky. And ultimately, isn't sustainability something airlines, hotels and tour operators should have been doing all along?

A cargo ship passes through the Panama Canal near Gatun Lake.

In the Panama Canal, a practical definition of sustainability

The Panama Canal is an unlikely ecotourism destination. Dredging a canal between the Atlantic and Pacific disrupted fragile ecosystems and led to the extinction of several species, notably the golden frog. But the security concerns also preserved fragile rainforest, and after gaining ownership of the canal from the U.S., Panama created Soberania National Park to protect the area surrounding the canal.

Today, the national park is home to some of the most spectacular birdwatching in Central America. You can see everything from crested guans and toucan to heron and antbirds hawks in the forests. These animals have adapted to the canal. It isn't uncommon to see a monkey or jaguar swimming across the canal during a boat tour.

Cahill, an American who grew up in Panama, remembers when the U.S. still administered the canal and the entire area was closed off to most people. Ironically, he says the military bases and travel restrictions saved the area from development and made it one of the leading ecotourism attractions in Latin America.

And then the visitors came.

"Growth is a tough thing without good planning," he says. "It's easy to forget that."

But growth is very much on everyone's mind in Panama. That's because the country has seen an influx in visitors as more cruise ships have come through the Panama Canal. A new cruise terminal has opened just outside Panama City, straining the city's limited tourism infrastructure.

"When you get all these cruise ships coming in, you can see the consequences of poor planning," adds Cahill.

So that's one perspective. Panama wasn't meant to be an ecotourism destination, but it became one despite the serious consequences of a canal being dug through it — maybe even because of it. And now it is struggling with its own success. More people want to see Panama, to transit through the canal, to go birdwatching and to experience the rainforests that maybe would have been decimated if it hadn't been for the canal.

The canal should have destroyed the environment, but the rainforests are resilient and the enormous public works project ended up protecting the environment, in a way. It's a curious contradiction.

The 2023 class of graduates from Copa's Aeronautical Technicians Academy.

Can an airline be sustainable?

Back in Casco Viejo, Panama's old town, there are more people wrestling with the same questions: What, exactly, does it mean to be sustainable?

For example, what if you're an airline? Air carriers are constantly getting themselves into trouble for claiming to be green. In the last six months, several governments have handed out fines to airlines who made bold but ultimately false claims about their carbon offset programs. The smart airlines are keeping a low profile — and making a difference where they can.

Katherine Katsudas, a senior manager at Copa Airlines , is pondering sustainability over lunch at Kaandela, the Amarla Casco Viejo's restaurant. For the Panamanian carrier, sustainability is about giving back to the community by subsidizing its low-key Aeronautical Technicians Academy. The airline quietly opened the training facility in Tocumen, just outside Panama City, a few years ago. It offers young men and women from disadvantaged backgrounds full scholarships to train as aircraft mechanics.

"And they have a guaranteed job waiting for them when they graduate," she says.

The program has benefited everyone by graduating 132 maintenance technicians, she adds. It removed one of the major obstacles to higher learning for the young people enrolled in the program, which is that they can't afford tuition and end up missing classes because of financial or family obligations. The 86 students currently enrolled in the program receive a stipend for living expenses.

It also gives people from an underprivileged community, many of whom live just a stone's throw from the airport, a chance to have a stake in one of Panama's most successful businesses.

Few travelers stop to consider the aircraft mechanic who maintains their plane, or the low-income neighborhood next to the airport when they land in Panama City. But it is all part of an economic ecosystem that must also be sustainable in order for all this to work, according to Katsudas.

Being a good corporate citizen is something Copa was doing long before sustainability was a buzzword. But now that someone has given it a name, the airline has fully embraced it.

María Antonieta Ramírez, general manager of the Amarla Casco Viejo, shows off the photographs of ... [+] Phoebe Montague Warr.

A boutique hotel that supports sustainability

Upstairs in the Amarla's guest rooms, you can see sustainability efforts on display. Each room in this meticulously restored 120-year-old boutique property is completely unique, and that extends to the framed photos on the walls, many of which are for sale. The images depict indigenous people in the Panamanian rainforests. The photos are colorful and visually arresting.

Ramírez, the hotel's general manager, explains that the photographer’s works are intended to support the heritage of different indigenous communities.

"The portrait capture the essence and diversity of its people — breathtaking landscapes, nature, fauna and the enduring spirit of its indigenous communities," she explains.

She says 30% of profits go back to indigenous individuals in the picture, the community where the image was shot, or to their chosen charity.

This type of sustainability is becoming more common in Latin American luxury hotels, where guests are looking for more than a written commitment to sustainability. They want something tangible, and maybe even something they can take home with them to remind them of their adventure.

Gunayala coconut oil retails for $5 a bottle. In the first year of production, the oil produced ... [+] $4,300 in revenue for the indigenous community.

Building sustainability through coconut oil

The Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo has a fascinating backstory. The building was a military club that was almost completely leveled by U.S. forces during the 1989 Panama invasion. According to several people I spoke with, the Americans believed Manuel Noriega was hiding there. He wasn't.

Just before the pandemic, the hotel was rebuilt as a luxury urban resort. Today, visitors can relax at its elegant Mayda bar overlooking the canal and watch the cruise ships float by.

The Sofitel's sustainability program feels like a combination of the approaches taken by Copa and Amarla. It's a mentorship initiative that develops young indigenous entrepreneurs in collaboration with the Forest Stewardship Council Indigenous Foundation , an organization that supports indigenous people worldwide. The Sofitel marketing team is working with the Guna Ogob community to create a sustainable business selling coconut oil.

"We've been guiding the young talent step by step as to how to go from setting up the business to marketing and selling the coconut oil, as well as managing its finances and cash flow," explains Kianni, the hotel's general manager. "Our mentorship Initiative has been developed to help the indigenous community to further develop their business model and gain revenues to be used by the community."

Kianni says Guna Ogob Coconut Oil is about to become an official business, through its mentorship program will be supported by the hotel. But he's gone a step further, and is in contact with Sofitel corporate to use this model for other hotels within the brand, which will support other indigenous communities.

David Kianni, general manager of the Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo, on the hotel's rooftop bar.

Why bother being sustainable?

I asked Kianni why he was spending valuable resources on developing a coconut oil business at a time when the Panamanian lodging industry is still struggling to recover from the aftereffects of the pandemic. He said people expect more than green certifications and recycling programs.

"They want to make a real difference," he told me.

That may be the biggest takeaway from the Panamanian sustainability experience. Whether you're guiding travelers through the locks of the Panama Canal, training underprivileged people to become aircraft mechanics, or selling photos of indigenous people or marketing coconut oil, people are tired of the talk. They want action — not words.

Simply saying that you are sustainable is no longer enough in the travel industry. You have to think big.

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5 Getaways That Reinvent Eco-Tourism

From the Columbia River Gorge to the Chesapeake Bay, these retreats provide educational and volunteer experiences for travelers not only wanting to reconnect with nature, but to give back.

By Lauren Matison

Hotels and glamping sites touting sustainability practices and nature-based activities have proliferated throughout the United States in the last decade, finding financial success by offering guests a let-nature-nurture-you wellness experience.

But many of these destinations have targeted only luxury travelers, and focused on an ethos of self-improvement. Now a growing number of hospitality entrepreneurs are working with or employing naturalists and scientists to reinvent eco-tourism by championing an outward, altruistic kind of outdoor therapy — regenerative tourism initiatives such as trail building and oyster reef restoration opportunities — as well as climate-change education.

“Having sustainability or ‘eco’ experiences perceived as ‘cool’ may help shift cultural perspectives in the long run,” said Leah Thomas , a climate justice activist and the author of “ The Intersectional Environmentalist .” Ms. Thomas says engaging travelers just one time in habitat restoration work or an environmental class can teach them to care about the planet.

Here are five affordable retreats that aim to inspire community activism and a more sustainable lifestyle.

Thatcher, Idaho

Maple Grove Hot Springs & Retreat Center

At the Maple Grove Hot Springs & Retreat Center, in southeast Idaho, guests can enjoy a soak in one of six thermal pools, but many also sign up for invasive plant removal, trail development or tree planting.

“We want guests from all walks of life to strike that perfect balance of rest, work, learning, thinking, sharing, laughing and exploring. The marriage of those creates a very transformative experience,” said Jordan Menzel, the founder of Maple Grove.

Powered by solar and hydro sources, the off-grid, 45-acre Maple Grove is currently working to become the world’s first B Corporation-certified hot springs, Mr. Menzel said. (The designation requires a certification of social and environmental performance). The retreat, opened in 2019, has stone shelters, yurts and cabins (nightly rates from $170), as well as walk-in tents and camper-van sites ($45). The center provides kayaks and river tubes at the beach, and concerts and outdoor movies by the pool, as well as foraging hikes, workshops on composting and managing a home garden, and cold plunges in the river.

To honor the Northwestern Band of Shoshone people who made their winter home on the Bear River, Maple Grove hosts a quarterly storytelling event led by a Shoshone tribal elder. Mr. Menzel also recently launched a conservation organization, Oneidanarrows.org , to stop a proposed dam on a nearby waterway.

Multiple locations

In 2017, after feeling ostracized at several national parks, Evelynn Escobar, a Black and Indigenous second-generation Guatemalan American, created Hike Clerb, an intersectional women’s hiking club and nonprofit committed to equitable access in the outdoors. (Clerb, she said, is slang referring to any type of club.) Ms. Escobar designs day and overnight experiences that balance healing in nature with land restoration projects and activities that encompass cultural heritage and decolonization education.

Ms. Escobar has hosted 77 free and low-cost meet-ups so far where participants have gathered not only to hike — and clean up trash along the trail — but to bike, surf, fish, farm and more. In California, the Hike Clerb community planted 100 oak trees in the Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area and worked with Heal the Bay nonprofit to clean up the historically Black beach, Bruce’s Beach, now known as Manhattan Beach.

“The concept of these trips is bringing Black and brown facilitators and participants together to restore a place,” Ms. Escobar said. “As we are taking care of the land, it’s taking care of us.”

In fall 2022, Ms. Escobar created a two-night overnight retreat called Night Clerb at Ace Hotel Palm Springs ($300). This year and next, Night Clerb events will take place in Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hawaii and Yosemite National Park.

“People are craving opportunities to visit places as stewards versus tourists,” Ms. Escobar said. “When you feel connected to a place and have respect for it, you respect yourselves in that place, too. In that way, it’s a luxury experience.”

Irvington, Va.

The Tides Inn

The Tides Inn sits on the Carter’s Creek tributary of Chesapeake Bay, which produces around 500 million pounds of seafood annually. Since before the hotel opened in 1947, pollution and over-harvesting have been decimating the population of oysters, a keystone species for all marine life. In summer 2021, Tides Inn completed a $3.6 million shoreline restoration project that has since allowed oyster reefs to make a comeback, with help from a steady stream of guests.

The inn’s resident ecologist, Will Smiley, has been leading volunteer experiences for the last three years, including a popular one that repopulates baby oysters.

“As of January 2024, we have grown and planted over one million oysters,” said Mr. Smiley, noting that sea horses are returning to the area, a great bio-indicator. By planting oysters, which feed on the creek’s overabundance of algae (partly because of lawn-chemical runoff), the inn is also helping revive sea grass beds that are known to remove excess nutrients and maintain a healthy ecosystem.

The 70-room resort (nightly rates from $249) offers activities on and off the water, from kayaking and paddle-board yoga to pickleball and a pool and spa. But the heart of the inn is its boardwalk, which curves around 13,000 feet of shoreline and was designed as an outdoor museum with signs about the restoration project, local species and native plants. Family-friendly programming includes birding walks, beekeeping, blue crab ecology tours and pollinator garden lessons with the inn’s horticulturist, Matt Little. An off-site volunteer excursion ($200 per person), benefiting the river nonprofit Friends of Rappahannock , pairs a picnic with planting trees and wetland grasses.

“Just make your world the world,” said Mr. Smiley as he walked along a new 6.2-mile nature trail on the inn’s rewilded golf course. “If you make small daily changes like curbing waste and ditching plastic, you’ll feel good.”

Deep River, Ontario

Anupaya Cabin Co.

“I think the climate crisis can cause people to feel such paralysis, like it’s almost too little, too late,” said Shannon MacLaggan, who created Anupaya Cabin Co., with her husband, Pete, as a wilderness retreat and incubator for climate action in 2021. “There are massive esoteric concepts about how to tackle global warming, but this is something tangible and applicable.”

The 12-acre property (nightly rates from $232), along the upper Ottawa River, has a lodge, private beach and eight renovated cabins, each with a kitchen, grill, fire pit and porch views of the Laurentian Mountains. Anupaya invites every guest — inner-city youth groups receive a 50 percent room discount — to join the environmental movement in whatever way they can.

That might mean participating in cleanups through the hotel’s One Pound Promise initiative (60,000 pounds of waste have been collected so far), foraging workshops, planting fruit trees and berry bushes, or learning to grow and harvest food in the garden, where guests are often found pulling invasive plants and picking salad ingredients. Visitors can also work on trail management projects with the local Friends of Rivière du Moine nonprofit, or do trail maintenance at nearby Four Seasons Conservancy . “The whole reason we started Anupaya is to remind people how a part of nature we all are,” Ms. MacLaggan said. “If you love something, you feel a sense of responsibility toward it.”

Anupaya is introducing more formal volunteer opportunities in 2024. The Sustainable Saturdays initiative, to run from May to November, will offer free two-hour educational sessions on composting, starting a medicinal garden, raising chickens and more.

Mosier, Ore.

Fir Haven Retreats

This August, the restoration ecologist Kieron Wilde plans to welcome the first guests to Fir Haven, a 20-acre, plastic-free property an hour outside Portland, on the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge. Fir Haven will have A-frame cabins with kitchenettes (nightly rates from $115), platform tent sites ($50), E.V. chargers and an informal educational lab for environmental stewardship.

Mr. Wilde aims to create experiences “for people to be immersed in conservation,” he said, like planting Garry Oak trees, both as a fire suppression tool and to support a rich native habitat.

Fir Haven will offer a menu of volunteer projects and field trips for guests, working with nonprofit partners like Trail Keepers of Oregon .

“It was time to double-down on the non-extractive, regenerative travel movement, and inspire people to leave a positive impact together,” said Mr. Wilde, who previously worked for the Bureau of Land Management and started First Nature Tours, an eco-tour operator. Mr. Wilde said there will be plenty of traditional wellness activities, including yoga and forest bathing, as well as biking the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway or hiking at nearby Rowana Crest Viewpoint .

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

An earlier version of this article misstated the name of a tree being planted in Oregon. It is the Garry oak, not Gerry oak. It also misstated the cause of algae overgrowth in the Chesapeake Bay. The overgrowth comes from runoff of lawn chemicals, not pesticides.

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Open Up Your World

Considering a trip, or just some armchair traveling here are some ideas..

52 Places:  Why do we travel? For food, culture, adventure, natural beauty? Our 2024 list has all those elements, and more .

Mumbai:  Spend 36 hours in this fast-changing Indian city  by exploring ancient caves, catching a concert in a former textile mill and feasting on mangoes.

Kyoto:  The Japanese city’s dry gardens offer spots for quiet contemplation  in an increasingly overtouristed destination.

Iceland:  The country markets itself as a destination to see the northern lights. But they can be elusive, as one writer recently found .

Texas:  Canoeing the Rio Grande near Big Bend National Park can be magical. But as the river dries, it’s getting harder to find where a boat will actually float .

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Advancing Biodiversity Conservation: 10th Africa Regional Dialogue on Biodiversity Finance

April 4, 2024.

Participants to the 10th Africa Regional Dialogue on Biodiversity Finance, Blantyre, Malawi, 3-5 April 2024

Blantyre, 3 April 2024 – Planet Earth requires approximately  US$ 950 billion annually for the restoration and protection of its imperiled ecosystems, vital for sustaining livelihoods. Yet, only an average of  US$ 121 billion is allocated each year for biodiversity conservation. Closing this financing gap necessitates collaborative efforts from governments, private sector actors, NGOs, and communities to effectively mobilize and allocate resources for biodiversity conservation.

Since its inception in 2012, the United Nations Development Programme's Biodiversity Finance Initiative  (UNDP-BIOFIN) has played an important role in assisting 41 countries worldwide in developing biodiversity financing plans and mobilizing resources for conservation efforts. Its innovative approach enables countries to measure current biodiversity expenditures, determine financial needs, and identify suitable finance solutions to bridge national biodiversity finance gaps. In 2024, 91 more countries will embark on this journey with the help of the Global Environment Facility and UNDP-BIOFIN. 

Annually, UNDP-BIOFIN organizes regional dialogues worldwide to exchange best practices and refine strategies, mechanisms, and methodologies. From 3-5 April, the 10th Africa Regional Dialogue for Biodiversity Finance was held in Blantyre, Malawi. Over 70 biodiversity finance experts and government officials from 16 countries convened to share experiences, discuss the effective implementation of Biodiversity Finance Plans, and explore opportunities for finance solutions.

"Globally, we have catalyzed US$400 million and unlocked US$1 billion in public finance for conservations purposes. We collaborate with local communities, civil society, national parks, private entities, and government organizations to secure the financing needed to achieve biodiversity objectives on the ground," said Bruno Mweemba, BIOFIN’s Technical Advisor. 

Malawi joined the global BIOFIN partnership in 2018 and identified a need for US$93 million from 2020-2025 to meet national and sub-national biodiversity targets outlined in the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). The BIOFIN programme in Malawi developed a Biodiversity Finance Plan, outlining priority finance solutions.

"Biodiversity is a major economic and social development driver in Malawi, contributing significantly to food security, ecotourism, social benefits, recreation, and sectoral job creation within various sectors. Despite its importance, biodiversity was not previously prioritized. BIOFIN's National Biodiversity Expenditure Review facilitated full integration of biodiversity into national planning agendas and financial systems. We have identified 11 finance solutions to generate US$6.3 million between 2021-2025 in Malawi," Hilton Msamali, stated the National BIOFIN Technical Coordinator in Malawi. 

In his remarks the Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change, Hon. Dr. Michael Bizwick Usi commented, “conservation has a huge cost, it costs money to recruit human resources that protect our biodiversity hotspots; remove invasive alien species; reduce poaching; prevent deforestation and sustain the ecosystem services.” He further said, “increasing budget expenditure for biodiversity conservation is not only a moral imperative but also an investment in our collective future. We need to act swiftly and decisively to prioritize biodiversity conservation in the national budget and demonstrate our country's commitment to preserving the rich biodiversity for sustainable economic development”.

The regional dialogue covered diverse financing opportunities for biodiversity, including financial sector participation, positive incentives, impact investments, repurposing harmful subsidies and community engagement. Participants discussed payments for ecosystem services, digital finance solutions and other topics. At the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), countries committed to update their national biodiversity strategies and action plans and biodiversity financing plans, which are crucial for closing biodiversity financing gaps and implementing the CBD at the national level. Participants discussed how countries can maximize their impact on biodiversity conservation efforts by  integrating these two plans .

Addressing biodiversity finance is critical for environmental sustainability, human well-being, and the achievement of global development goals. 

BIOFIN was launched in 2012 and supports over 40 countries to design and implement national biodiversity finance plans. For more information:  http://www.biofin.org

Ms. Sawiche Wamunza, Communication & Partnership Analyst, United Nations Development Programme’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative in Tanzania /Malawi, email:  [email protected] Tel: +255 752 869542

Steve M’bayeni, Communciations Associate, United Nations Development Programme’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative in Malawi, email:  [email protected] Tel: +265993693152

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