Establishment and Application of an Evaluation Model for Orchid Island Sustainable Tourism Development

Abstract

Global warming and climate change increase the likelihood of weather-related natural disasters that threaten ecosystems and consequently affect the tourism industry which thrives on the natural attributes of island regions. Orchid Island, the study area, is home to the Yami (Tao) tribe—the only indigenous people of Taiwan with a marine culture. The island possesses rich geological and topographical features (such as coral reefs) and distinctive biological and ecological resources (such as the green sea turtle, flying fish, and Orchid Island scops owl), and organizes traditional festivals and activities (such as the flying fish festival) as well as tribal tourism activities. These factors contribute to its immense potential to become the new tourism hotspot. To study the factors enhancing tourist experiences, a random utility model was constructed using a choice experiment method (CEM) for the tourist resort on Orchid Island. The study results demonstrated that: (1) Limiting tourists to 600/day; employing professional tour guides; providing better recreational facilities; introducing additional experience-enhancing activities; and lowering contributions towards the professional ecosystem conservation trust fund will improve the overall effectiveness of attracting tourists to Orchid Island. The evaluation results from both conditional logit and random parameter logit models were similar; (2) the analysis results from the latent class model demonstrated that island tourism has significant market segmentation. The socioeconomic backgrounds of tourists, their experiences, and their preferences exhibit heterogeneity, with significant differences in willingness to pay for island tourism.

IX Foro Internacional de Turismo Maspalomas Costa Canaria (FITMCC): La recuperación del sector turístico

“…Así, el turismo de avistamiento de cetáceos requiere de un comportamiento más responsable que concilie la gestión de la actividad con los objetivos de sostenibilidad y asegure la preservación de los ecosistemas marinos (Clark et al, 2019;García-Cegarra & Pacheco, 2017). En este sentido, los estudios proponen una gestión basada en la demanda y la experiencia de consumo (Curtin, 2010;Finkler & Higham 2004;Orams, 2000), ya que existe una creciente demanda de turistas que buscan empresas preocupadas por los aspectos éticos y ambientales, lo que permite optimizar el rendimiento de las inversiones/mejoras, al tiempo que contribuye a proteger el medio marino (Dolnicar, 2015;Tkaczynski & Rundle-Thiele, 2019).…”

Nouveauté or Cliché? Assessment on island ecological vulnerability to Tourism: Application to Zhoushan, China

“…Economic vulnerability of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) has long been emphasized in the field of political economy (Scheyvens and Momsen, 2008). In the vulnerability assessment of Asian islands to tourism from both ecological and spatial viewpoints, innovative methods and vulnerability assessment systems were adopted, such as the choice experiment method (Chen, 2019), the Small Islands Vulnerability Index (Kurniawan et al, 2016) and the Sustainable Ecotourism Indicator System (Ng et al, 2017), to evaluate their vulnerability status.…”

An Improved Ecological Services Valuation Model in Land Use Project

“…Global warming and climate change increase the likelihood of weather-related natural disasters that threaten ecosystems and consequently affect the tourism industry, which thrives on the natural attributes of island regions. Chen constructed a random utility model using a choice experiment method (CEM) for the tourist resort on Orchid Island to study the factors enhancing tourist experiences [34].…”