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Minimising visitor impacts to protected areas: The efficacy of low impact education programmes

January 1, 2007

Protected area managers, tourism providers, and other organisations commonly employ education programmes to address visitation-related impairment of natural and cultural resources, social conditions, and neighbouring communities. These programmes have different names (Leave No Trace, Codes of Conduct, Environmental Guidelines for Tourists) but share common objectives: to sustain opportunities for high quality visitor experiences while avoiding or minimising associated negative impacts to protected area resources, visitor experiences, and park neighbours. Theoretical and empirical research studies in the United States are reviewed to evaluate the efficacy of educational efforts that seek to encourage adoption of low impact behaviours. Findings reveal that most of the visitor education efforts evaluated did effectively alter visitor knowledge, behaviour and/or resource and social conditions in the intended direction. These findings, including discussions of message content, delivery, audience characteristics and theoretical grounding, provide insights for improving the efficacy of future educational efforts.

Publication Year 2007
Title Minimising visitor impacts to protected areas: The efficacy of low impact education programmes
DOI 10.2167/jost593.0
Authors J. L. Marion, S. E. Reid
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Journal of Sustainable Tourism
Index ID 5224717
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
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