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Tourist's level of awareness and attitude about destination ecotourism development: a case study of Munnar, Kerala, India

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Abstract

In the sphere of mass tourism, ecotourism offers a method for promoting conservation and sustainability. Ecotourism differs from mass tourism as it includes recreational activities focusing on environmental conservation, education, and cultural experiences. Previous studies have explored tourists' awareness and attitudes towards ecotourism in various destinations but considering the unique cultural and geographical context of the destination, highlights the need for a destination-specific scale to inform sustainable decision-making. Tourist behavior and attitudes are critical to the tourism destination's long-term viability. This research aimed to study the attitude and awareness levels of tourists in Munnar towards environmentally sustainable tourism. Primary data were collected from the tourists adopting convenient sampling method. The survey results demonstrate that people have a positive attitude and are aware of the importance of environmentally friendly tourism. The findings also show that tourist awareness and attitudes toward Munnar's ecotourism and conservation are highly and strongly associated. Studying traveler understanding and attitudes toward sustainable tourism would be highly beneficial to local governments and ecotourism destination operators in responding to environmentally sustainable tourism and adapting to the need for better tourism practices.

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Due to confidentiality agreements, questionnaire feedback data sets cannot be made openly available. Supporting data like questionnaire used in the study can only be made available to bona fide researchers subject to a non-disclosure agreement.

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Acknowledgements

We want to express great appreciation to Dr. Pratyansha Singh (Ph.D. Environment Management, GGSIP University, Delhi) and Mr. Apoorv Kalra (B. Tech. Aerospace, SRM University, Chennai) for valuable and constructive suggestions in the statistical analysis of the study. We would also like to show our gratitude to the Kerala Forest Department for their support throughout this research.

Funding

We want to thank Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University for providing Short Term Research Fund (GGSIPU/DRC/Ph.D./Adm./2016/1904) supporting this research work.

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  1. University School of Environment Management, GGSIP University, Delhi, India

    Chindu Chandran & Prodyut Bhattacharya

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  1. Chindu Chandran
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Correspondence to Chindu Chandran.

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Taking the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) code as a guide, Ethics approval was not sought as all participants provided written informed consent prior to enrollment in the study and participation was voluntary. In addition, the respondent’s anonymity and confidentiality were kept.

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Chandran, C., Bhattacharya, P. Tourist's level of awareness and attitude about destination ecotourism development: a case study of Munnar, Kerala, India. Environ Dev Sustain (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03745-5

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