6.03.00 – Nature-based tourism

The Nature-based Tourism Working Group focuses on the multi-disciplinary aspects of understanding, managing, and planning nature-based tourism. From the identification of recreation indicators that assist managers to provide for quality tourism opportunities to the development of social theories that expand our knowledge of the nature-based tourism phenomenon; this working group provides a contemporary illustration of recreation and tourism's role in expanding and improving natural resource management.

Over the last half century, social science researchers have made great strides to better understand how to provide tourism opportunities to attain the wealth of personal, social, economic, and environmental benefits available through the use of natural resources for nature-based tourism. A special issue sponsored by Working Group 6.03 in the open access journal Forests was published in 2011-2019, which detailed examples of research from around the world that highlights the state of knowledge related to nature-based tourism. Examples of manuscripts include

Ahtikoski, A.;  Tuulentie, S.; Hallikainen, V.; Nivala,V.; Vatanen, E.; Tyrväinen, L.; and Salminen, S. 2012. Potential Trade-Offs Between Nature-Based Tourism and Forestry, a Case Study in Northern Finland. Forests 2011, 2(4), 894-912.

Fredman, P.; Romild, U.; Yuan, M.;  and Wolf-Watz, D. 2012. Latent Demand and Time Contextual Constraints to Outdoor Recreation in Sweden. Forests 2012, 3(1), 1-21.

Oftedal, A.; Davenport, M.; Schneider, I.E.; Zerger, C.; Schreurs, B.; and Vogel, M. 2012. An Ecosystem Approach to Recreation Location Quotients. Forests 2011, 2(4), 993-1012.

Wyman, M.; Barborak, J.R.; Inamdar, N.; and Stein, T.V. 2012. Best Practices for Tourism Concessions in Protected Areas: A Review of the Field. Forests 2011, 2(4), 913-928.