Geotourism is a new niche of nature-based tourism and the number of geotourist has increased rapidly in recent years in the greater China region. The increasing number of geopark visitors, on the one hand, can generate tourism revenue to the parks and benefit the local community. However, increasing visitorship can also bring negative environmental impacts to the invaluable geological resources and landscapes. Therefore, understanding geotourists’ environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviour is important a for formulating appropriate strategies of visitor management. On-site questionnaire surveys have been conducted in the geoparks of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China to explore the profile of the geotourists and investigate their environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviour. This study serves three purposes to 1) understand the environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviours of the Chinese geopark tourists, 2) compare the environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviours of three different regions in the greater China region, and 3) understand the profile of the geotourists in the greater China region. The findings of this study are important in three aspects. It can be used to inform visitor management policies and strategies of geoparks in the region and the profile of geotourists of greater China region can be a reference for tourism company for the development of geotourism products.

 

Ms. GOU Rui is a PhD student in the Department of Science and Environment Studies of The Education University of Hong Kong. She received her MSc in sustainable tourism from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on the visitors' attitudes and behaviors in protected areas in greater China region.