IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i9p3807-d1387406.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wilderness as Tourism Destination: Place Meanings and Preferences of Tourism Service Providers

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir

    (Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Dunhaga 5, 107 Reykjavik, Iceland)

  • Edita Tverijonaite

    (Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Dunhaga 5, 107 Reykjavik, Iceland)

Abstract

The increase in wilderness use for nature-based tourism has complex implications for wilderness management. Tourism service providers play an important role in shaping tourism development trends, which can have an impact on wilderness. This stresses the importance of studying their perceptions and preferences regarding wilderness management. This study explores the meanings wilderness areas contain for tourism operators, the relationship of these meanings with wilderness management and development preferences, and the potential of place-based approaches to contribute to wilderness management. The study is based on 47 semi-structured interviews with tourism service providers offering services within or near the Icelandic Central Highlands, known for their vast, high-quality wilderness areas. The findings emphasize the importance of place meanings assigned by tourism service providers in shaping wilderness management preferences. The study highlights the usefulness of place-based management approaches, which can help identify potential conflicts between tourism and wilderness preservation, select proactive measures to minimize tourism’s impact on wilderness quality, and thereby facilitate sustainable tourism practices in wilderness.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir & Edita Tverijonaite, 2024. "Wilderness as Tourism Destination: Place Meanings and Preferences of Tourism Service Providers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-18, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:9:p:3807-:d:1387406
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/9/3807/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/9/3807/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michaël Virgil Bishop & Rannveig Ólafsdóttir & Þorvarður Árnason, 2022. "Tourism, Recreation and Wilderness: Public Perceptions of Conservation and Access in the Central Highland of Iceland," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, February.
    2. Steve Carver & Sif Konráðsdóttir & Snæbjörn Guðmundsson & Ben Carver & Oliver Kenyon, 2023. "New Approaches to Modelling Wilderness Quality in Iceland," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-28, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Steve Carver & Sif Konráðsdóttir & Snæbjörn Guðmundsson & Ben Carver & Oliver Kenyon, 2023. "New Approaches to Modelling Wilderness Quality in Iceland," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-28, February.
    2. Uthpala Mudalige & Steve Carver, 2024. "Unveiling Sri Lanka’s Wilderness: GIS-Based Modelling of Wilderness Attributes," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Marcelino Sánchez-Rivero & Juan de la Cruz Sánchez-Domínguez & Mª Cristina Rodríguez-Rangel, 2022. "Estimating the Probability of Visiting a Protected Natural Space and Its Conditioning Factors: The Case of the Monfragüe Biosphere Reserve (Spain)," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-19, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:9:p:3807-:d:1387406. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.