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Urban ecotourism: Defining and assessing dimensions using fuzzy number construction
Tourism Management 31 (2010) 739–743
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman
Urban ecotourism: Defining and assessing dimensions using fuzzy number constructionq Yi-Yen Wu a, *, Hsiao-Lin Wang b, Yu-Feng Ho b a b
Department of Environmental Management, Tungnan University, No.152, Sec. 3, Beishen Rd., Shenkeng Township, Taipei County 222, Taiwan Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design, Chaoyang University of Technology, 168 Jifong E. Rd, Wufong Township, Taichung 41349, Taiwan
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Received 16 June 2008 Accepted 18 July 2009
This study assesses the dimensions of urban ecotourism. The indicators in this study undertaken in Taiwan were shaped by a novel approach, the fuzzy number construction approach. This approach possesses various advantages, including an ability was to cope with ambiguous issues; its comprehensive nature and the need for subjects to respond with a single number. The results revealed that economic factors played a lesser role than did social and environmental factors. Additionally the study reinforces the significant position of community participation while promoting urban ecotourism. The paper reports data and findings derived from two ecotourism destinations, one located in urban area and the other located in non-urban area. The findings indicate that ‘‘identifying with local culture’’ had the highest weight (7.19%), followed by ‘‘inclination of supporting environmental conservation’’ (7.06%),‘‘satisfying local environment’’ (6.82%), ‘‘the 5 degree of habitat diversity’’ (6.58%),‘‘inclination of urban ecotourism’’ (6.50%), and ‘‘coverage of the green areas’’ (6.36%). Implications for management indicate that urban park areas suffer greater stress due to recreational usage. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Urban ecotourism Fuzzy number construction approach Community participation
1. Introduction In the last decade, some researchers tried to explore the potential for urban ecotourism (Orams, 1995), while considering the limited land of the earth, and that most facilities are located in urban areas. Gradually, the importance of developing urban ecotourism has been highlighted (Gibson, Dodd, Joppe, & Jamieson, 2003; Green Tourism Association, 2006; Higham & Lu¨ck, 2002; Kastelein, 2004; Wu & Wang, 2007). Although urban ecotourism is an emerging concept, its contents still cannot to be clearly laid out. It seems that the differences between urban ecotourism and traditional ecotourism are still in dispute (Lawton & Weaver, 2001). Therefore, it is time to further discuss the contents of urban ecotourism and to develop a scholarly approach to its indicators. Whereas the process of collecting scholars’ assessments and that of integrating the different views could be strenuous and timeconsuming, this study tried to apply fuzzy number construction
q Yi-Yen Wu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Management at Tungnan University (152, Sec. 3, Beishen Rd., Shenkeng Township, Taipei County 222, Taiwan, Email: [email protected]). His research interests include ecotourism and urban planning. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ886 925988551; fax: þ886 4 23742373. E-mail address: [email protected] (Y.-Y. Wu). 0261-5177/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2009.07.014
approach to moderate the problem. It is hoped that this method might contribute to develop an alternative pattern for correlative studies. 2. Criteria of urban ecotourism Reviewing past studies, ecotourism emphasizes that the natural or pristine areas are its destinations. However, there are still some related research to support the fact that urban areas have the potential to develop ecotourism (Lawton & Weaver, 2001, p.315). Urban ecotourism was proposed firstly by the Blackstone Corporation (1996), and was identified as one of the sustainable ways for traveling in urban areas. According to the definition made by the Urban Ecotourism Conference in 2004, urban ecotourism is simply nature travel and conservation in a city environment. Also, its interested stakeholders have been asked to focus on restoring and conserving the natural and cultural heritage, including: 1.) natural landscapes, biodiversity, and indigenous cultures; 2.) maximizing local benefits and engaging the local community as owners, investors, hosts and guides; 3.) educating visitors and residents on environmental matters, heritage resources, sustainability, and 4.) reducing our ecological footprint (Urban Ecotourism Declaration, 2006). From the website of the Osaka Tourism Association, Urban Ecotourism means the tourism which respects the natural
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Y.-Y. Wu et al. / Tourism Management 31 (2010) 739–743
ecosystem of a city. In order to express this idea, it is emphasized that the word ‘‘urban’’ is added to ‘‘ecotourism’’ (What is Urban Ecotourism, 2006). The Toronto Green Tourism Association (2006) indicated that Urban Green Tourism (Urban Ecotourism) is ‘‘travel and exploration in and around a city that provides visitors and residents with a greater appreciation of the cities’ natural and cultural resources’’. Because of the limitation of the land, many Asian island regions, such as Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, have promoted urban ecotourism actively, and have mixed it with urban tourism. It seems that urban tourism places emphasis on the cultural aspects, in order to promote the urban economy (Douglas, 2001; Law, 1996). The practices of urban ecotourism, mixed with urban tourism, gradually depart from the central part of ecotourism, and since then, more disagreements have arisen. Summarily speaking, on the one hand, even though the boundaries of urban ecotourism have overlapped with urban tourism, their core ideas are considerably different. On the other hand, the contents of urban ecotourism are similar to the concerns of traditional ecotourism, since the weights of the same indicators, from our study in the two fields, may have their nuances based on their innate relationships with the urban areas. Details are given as follows. 3. Methodology 3.1. The evaluating framework After reviewing the literature on what the relative terms concern, it was found that the social, economic and environmental dimensions were suggested as the basic indicators of the framework for ecotourism (Wright, Hall, & Lew, 1998). Based upon these three key dimensions, and also upon the research, this paper, therefore, has tried to build upon those indicators, in order to measure their roles in the ecotourism market. To collect information on the social culture, the industry, the economy, and the environmental ecosystem, this study used 19 sustainable evaluation indicators drawn from the literature above (see Fig. 1). These indicators were then tailored to become urban ecotourism indicators that measure the potential of destination.
3.2. Application of the novel fuzzy approach The Delphi Technique is characterized by Kaynak and Macauley (1984, p.90) as ‘‘a unique method of eliciting and refining group judgment based on the rationale that a group of experts is better than one expert when exact knowledge is not available’’. Hence, Green, Hunter, and Moore (1990), Gokhale (2001) and Tsaur, Lin, and Lin (2006) used the Delphi Technique as a way to assess the environmental impact of tourism developments, and the results were quantified. However, considering the fuzzy space inside the experts’ opinions and judgments, Ishikawa et al. (1993) proposed the fuzzy Delphi method to integrate the experts’ hazy assessment. But in collecting the questionnaires, the fuzzy Delphi method may also have its limitation, since the experts are asked to have triple judgments for one criterion. This means that some confusion about responding to the questions may emerge. This study therefore adapted the novel approach proposed by Cheng (2005) for fuzzy number construction to unearth the indicators of developing urban ecotourism. To anchor the position of these indicators, a five-point Likert scale was used. Then, the sustainable urban ecotourism indicators system (SUEIS) was established through the process. Traditionally, as fuzzy number construction was set up into fuzzy sets, Cheng (2005) introduces a novel approach for identifying the membership function of a fuzzy number from a series of observations, real numbers, g1,.,gn. Estimating the mode of the fuzzy number involves locating the center, around which the gis gather. In the estimation process, scores lying closer to the center are considered to have greater importance. This means that the estimation of this center is the weighted average of the gis. Therefore, the relative distances between the various gis are used to locate their congestion, in order to estimate the center of the gis. While the result is a triangular fuzzy number, it is necessary to simplify it as one single number. Zhao and Govind (1991) propose the Center-of-Area concept to get the best non-fuzzy value (BNP). BNP can be presented as:
BNP ¼
ððb aÞ þ ðm aÞÞ þa 3
where m is defined as: n X
m ¼
wi gi ;
i¼1
per i
sh
ave l ex
uri
flo
enc e
s
wi is the weight to be associated with gi when estimating the mode m of the fuzzy number and,
loc
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 12s2 1 þ r2
pro m
y
ct
nes s So cia l as pe
Ec
Sc
En
3.66 4.14
4.54
γ
cal
mi
Environmental aspect
mo
eco
Ecotourism
of ack db fee t efi ben t ec asp
Urban
μ (g1)
ic
Sustainable
om
on
l aw are
b ¼ mþ
Ec
pro mo tin env g iro nm ent a
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 12r2 s2 1 þ r2
om
con
oti ng tr
al e
a ¼ m
degrading
promoting ecological
the impacts of traffic
evaluation
Fig. 1. Tri-dimensional targeting model.
0
Fig. 2. Membership function of a triangular fuzzy number for the first level.
Y.-Y. Wu et al. / Tourism Management 31 (2010) 739–743
741
Table 1 Urban ecotourism indicators system and weights. Dimension
Score
Range
Sub-Dimension
Score
Indicator
Score
Weight(Wk)
Social aspect (So)
4.14 (4.62)
3.23
Promoting travel experiences
3.96 (4.12)
6.51
Promoting environmental awareness
4.64 (4.14)
Satisfying local environment Satisfying travel convenience Satisfying recreational facilities Satisfying public facilities Identifying with local culture The Inclination of supporting environmental conservation The Inclination of urban ecotourism The Inclination of participating urban ecotourism
4.43 3.89 3.91 3.70 4.00 4.18
(4.51) (3.72) (3.87) (3.72) (4.73) (4.65)
6.82% 5.62% 5.85% 5.62% 7.19% 7.06%
4.30 (4.28) 4.21 (4.17)
6.50% 6.34%
Tourism’ contribution to local job opportunities Tourism’s contribution to local revenues tourism’s contribution to local tax Public input in preserving recreation resource Tourism’s contribution to local social welfare input The equitableness of local income
3.13 3.60 3.40 4.29 3.90 3.46
(3.62) (3.37) (3.44) (4.56) (3.60) (3.24)
3.25% 3.03% 3.09% 3.83% 3.02% 2.72%
Economic aspect (Ec)
3.66 (3.22)
Environmental aspect (En)
4.54 (4.38)
1.30
Flourishing local economy
3.24 (3.51)
4.72
Feedback of economical benefit
3.90 (3.28)
2.78
Degrading the impacts of traffic Promoting ecological evaluation
3.99 (4.13)
The convenience of public transportation system The fluency of traffic
3.89 (3.75) 3.97 (3.85)
5.39% 5.53%
4.51 (4.24)
Coverage of the green areas The degree of biological diversity The degree of habitat diversity
4.80 (4.31) 4.78 (4.21) 4.57 (4.46)
6.36% 6.21% 6.58%
5.79
*The number is the top of triangular fuzzy number, inside the parenthesis is its BNP.
4. Indicator survey results
5. Discussions and conclusions
Tsaur, Lin, and Lin (2006) argues that the most important step of the Delphi technique is selecting the respondents. Considering the representative of these respondents, Ok (2006) and Tsaur et al. (2006) both asked an authoritative organization to recommend the list. Hence, this study asked the Taiwan Ecotourism Association, which is the only NGO involved with the ecotourism sector in Taiwan, to recommend twenty-five ecotourism experts with different backgrounds and twenty experts, including scholars, government officials, and representatives from the tourism industry, who would agree to take part in an expert survey, while Delbecq, Van de Ven, and Gustafson (1975) suggests the suitable simple size is between 15 and 30. Besides the mode m of the fuzzy number, this study also estimated the triangular fuzzy number of each indicator. Limited by the number of words in this study, only the ranges of each aspect from the first level will be shown in the table and in the diagram (see Fig. 2). The final score of each indicator is calculated by the following equation:
All in all, by the results of our research and compared to the results of Tsaur et al. (2006) and Ross and Wall (1999), the environmental dimension is clearly much more important than the economic dimension in the issues of urban ecotourism. In the processes of investigation, the experts reveal their reasons grounded upon the differences between the economic background of urban residents and non-urban areas. Thus, traditional ecotourism, which highlights the promotion of a destination’s economic development through tourism to reduce the economic distance, is not so important in urban ecotourism. This study also shows the relative natural environment is valuable and fragile in a city, because it has to resist the spread of an adapted city. In other words, urban ecotourism pays more attention to reducing the negative impact of development rather than strengthening it. For inspecting the practicability of sustainable urban ecotourism indicator system (SUEIS), this study takes three main cities in Taiwan, which are zealous in setting urban ecotourism into action, as basis of empirical research, and they are Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. After integrating the experts familiar with three cities individually, the results conform to the recognition of the public. Taipei, which owns the best public transportation system, most conservation areas, and multiple culture resources among Taiwanese cities, has its advantages in promoting urban ecotourism. Through observing the authenticity of the results, this study also gives two examples in Taiwan as the basis of empirical research, namely the Yangmingshan National Park1 and the Yushan National Park2 (see Fig. 3). The justification for these two areas as case studies is their strong distinction in interpreting urban ecotourism and traditional ecotourism. Although there are more than one-hundred thousand nature reserves all over the world, and usually in rural areas, Yangmingshan National Park is one of the minority located in the center of a major metropolis (Zhang, 2005). By contrast, Yushan National Park is one of the most famous virgin natural reserves in Taiwan, far away from a metropolis. From
p Sk ¼ P3 i
i ¼ 1 pi
qj P6
j ¼ 1 qj
rj P19
k ¼ 1 rk
where Sk is the final score of nineteen indicators; pi is the score of the three main aspects, including the environmental, economic and social aspects; qi is the score of the important six sub-aspects; and rk is the score of the nineteen indicators. After that, the weight of each indicator is presented as wk. If the total weights are seen as 100%, the equation of each weight is:
S wk ¼ P19k
k ¼ 1 sk
100%
According to Table 1, weights totaled one. Within this framework, the degree of ‘‘identifying with local culture’’ had the highest weight (7.19%), followed by ‘‘inclination of supporting environmental conservation’’ (7.06%), ‘‘satisfying local environment’’ (6.82%), ‘‘the degree of habitat diversity’’ (6.58%), ‘‘inclination of urban ecotourism’’ (6.50%), and ‘‘coverage of the green areas’’ (6.36%). These results are compatible with the principle of sustainable tourism and ecotourism. This means that tourism development should be based on the sustainable use of resources.
1 Yangmingshan National Park has limited boundary with 11 455 hacres, and the location is across Taipei City and County. 2 Yushan National Park is the largest national park in Taiwan with 105 490 hacres, and its boundary is across several rural areas far away from local city.
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Y.-Y. Wu et al. / Tourism Management 31 (2010) 739–743
Yangmingshan National Park Taipei City
TAIWAN STRAIT Taichung City
PACIFIC OCEAN Hualian City
Yushan National Park
Legend: Yangmingshan National Park Yushan National Park Central Mountain
Taitung City Kaoshuing City
Main city in Taiwan
Fig. 3. Two examples of urban ecotourism and traditional ecotourism in Taiwan. Table 2 Urban ecotourism indicators system and weights. Year
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Average
Infringing the law of National Park(100%) (Unit: the number of cases/hectare)
Yushan Yangmingshan
0.05% 4.53%
0.07% 4.10%
0.05% 3.20%
0.03% 1.89%
0.03% 2.90%
0.05% 3.32%
Biodiversities(100%) (Unit: the number of species/hectare)
Yushan Yangmingshan
2.44% 22.88%
2.45% 23.14%
3.33% 23.26%
3.36% 23.26%
3.40% 23.26%
3.00% 23.16%
Occupancy Permit(100%) (Unit: m2/hectare)
Yushan Yangmingshan
0.70% 16.89%
0.00% 16.83%
0.46% 23.48%
1.46% 37.63%
0.18% 101.65%
0.56% 39.30%
Leisure press (Unit: number of tourists/hectare)
Yushan Yangmingshan
12.66 376.87
14.54 397.99
11.90 423.75
12.79 363.33
13.15 421.07
13 397
Resource: Construction and Planning Agency, 2006.
Table 2, it is obvious that the case of urban ecotourism (Yangmingshan National Park) is under greater recreational stress, namely the pressure relating to leisure activities. On average by acres, the number of illegal events against the laws of the National Park which happened in Yangmingshan National Park is larger than those in Yushan National Park. This implies that there are more events against the essence of the rules of the national park, which happened in the destination of urban ecotourism. In addition, because of the presence of more tourists and construction, the destinations of urban ecotourism could suffer from more stress than traditional ecotourism would. On the other hand, while the ecological aspects are observed, the destinations of urban ecotourism, such as Yangmingshan National Park for example, have more excellent biodiversities than traditional ecotourism, such as Yushan National Park does. All of this data could show the authenticity of experts’ opinions. From forementioned statements, the focuses of urban ecotourism are not only on urban areas but also on suburbs or on the surrounding rural areas, such as Yangmingshan National Park. This might cause some blurry edges of urban ecotourism. Therefore, this study tries to clarify the different relationships between urban ecotourism with urban areas and traditional ecotourism with urban areas, which may contribute to the recognition of the blurred edge.
It seems that the differences between urban ecotourism and traditional ecotourism could be enlarged due to the increasing of accessible destinations. In conclusion, while urban ecotourism is a burgeoning subject in the research of ecotourism, more attempts are needed to interpret the contents of urban ecotourism. Therefore, this study tries to introduce an alternative approach, the fuzzy number construction approach, to construct SUEIS. It may contribute to the understanding of urban ecotourism, and to excavate the discrepancies of urban ecotourism and traditional ecotourism. Acknowledgement This paper is part of the result of the research project of the National Science Council. (NSC 96-2415-H-029-006-SS2). The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the NSC. References Blackstone Corporation. (1996). Developing an urban ecotourism strategy for Metropolitan Toronto: A feasibility assessment for the green tourism partnership. Toronto: Toronto Green Tourism Association. Cheng, C. B. (2005). Fuzzy process control: construction of control charts with fuzzy numbers. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 154, 287–303.
Y.-Y. Wu et al. / Tourism Management 31 (2010) 739–743 Construction and Planning Agency. (2006). An constructional annual report. Taipei: Construction and Planning Agency. Delbecq, A. L., Van de Ven, A. H., & Gustafson, D. H. (1975). Group techniques for program planning: A guide to nominal group and Delphi processes. NJ: Scott, Foresman and Company. Douglas, G. P. (2001). An integrative framework for urban tourism research. Annals of Tourism Research, 28(4), 926–946. Gibson, A., Dodd, R., Joppe, M., & Jamieson, B. (2003). Ecotourism in the city? Toronoto’s green tourism association. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 15(6), 324–327. Gokhale, A. A. (2001). Environmental initiative prioritization with a Delphi approach: a case study. Environmental Management, 28(2), 187–198. Green, H., Hunter, C., & Moore, B. (1990). Assessing the environmental impact of tourism development: using the Delphi technique. Tourism Management, 11(2), 111–120. Green Tourism Association. Retrieved 19.07.06, from http://greentourism.ca/what. php. Higham, J., & Lu¨ck, M. (2002). Urban ecotourism: a contradiction in terms. Journal of Ecotourism, 1(1), 36–51. Ishikawa, A., Amagasa, M., Shiga, T., Tomizawa, G., Tarsuta, R., & Mieno, H. (1993). The max–min Delphi methodand fuzzy Delphi method via fuzzy integration. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 55(3), 241–253. Kastelein, B. (2004). Urban ecotourism: impossible conundrum. Business Mexico, 10, 36–42. Kaynak, E., & Macauley, J. A. (1984). The Delphi technique in the measurement of tourism market potential: the case of Nova Scotia. Tourism Management, 5(2), 87–101.
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Law, C. M. (1996). Introduction. In C. M. Law (Ed.), Tourism in major cities (pp. 1–10). London: International Thomson Business Press. Lawton, L. J., & Weaver, D. B. (2001). Modified spaces. In D. B. Weaver (Ed.), The encyclopedia of ecotourism (pp. 73–92). Oxon, UK New York, NY: CABI Pub. Ok, K. (2006). Multiple criteria activity selection for ecotourism planning in ˆ neada. Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 30, 153–164. ¨U U Orams, M. B. (1995). Toward a more desirable form of ecotourism. Tourism Management, 16(1), 3–8. Ross, S., & Wall, G. (1999). Evaluating ecotourism: the case of North Sulawasi, Indonesia. Tourism Management, 20(6), 673–682. Tsaur, S. H., Lin, Y. C., & Lin, J. H. (2006). Evaluating ecotourism sustainability from the integrated perspective of resource, community and tourism. Tourism Management, 27, 640–653. Urban Ecotourism Declaration. Retrieved 18.05.06, http://www.planeta.com/ ecotravel/tour/urbandeclaration.html. What is Urban Ecotourism. Retrieved 15.05.06, http://www.tourism.city.osaka.jp/ ecology/eng/01.html. Wu, Y. Y., & Wang, H. L. (2007). Urban ecotourism, a contradiction? International Ecotourism Monthly, 90, 8–9. Wright, P., Hall, C. M., & Lew, A. A. (Eds.). (1998). Tools for sustainability analysis in planning and managing tourism and recreation in the destination, sustainable tourism: A geographical perspective. New York: Addison Wesley Longman. Zhang, L. C. (2005). The blessing of Yangmingshan National Park in its 20th anniversary. The News of Yangmingshan National Park, 68, 10–12, (in Chinese). Zhao, R., & Govind, R. (1991). Algebraic characteristics of extended fuzzy number. Information Sciences, 54, 103–130.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman
Urban ecotourism: Defining and assessing dimensions using fuzzy number constructionq Yi-Yen Wu a, *, Hsiao-Lin Wang b, Yu-Feng Ho b a b
Department of Environmental Management, Tungnan University, No.152, Sec. 3, Beishen Rd., Shenkeng Township, Taipei County 222, Taiwan Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design, Chaoyang University of Technology, 168 Jifong E. Rd, Wufong Township, Taichung 41349, Taiwan
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Received 16 June 2008 Accepted 18 July 2009
This study assesses the dimensions of urban ecotourism. The indicators in this study undertaken in Taiwan were shaped by a novel approach, the fuzzy number construction approach. This approach possesses various advantages, including an ability was to cope with ambiguous issues; its comprehensive nature and the need for subjects to respond with a single number. The results revealed that economic factors played a lesser role than did social and environmental factors. Additionally the study reinforces the significant position of community participation while promoting urban ecotourism. The paper reports data and findings derived from two ecotourism destinations, one located in urban area and the other located in non-urban area. The findings indicate that ‘‘identifying with local culture’’ had the highest weight (7.19%), followed by ‘‘inclination of supporting environmental conservation’’ (7.06%),‘‘satisfying local environment’’ (6.82%), ‘‘the 5 degree of habitat diversity’’ (6.58%),‘‘inclination of urban ecotourism’’ (6.50%), and ‘‘coverage of the green areas’’ (6.36%). Implications for management indicate that urban park areas suffer greater stress due to recreational usage. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Urban ecotourism Fuzzy number construction approach Community participation
1. Introduction In the last decade, some researchers tried to explore the potential for urban ecotourism (Orams, 1995), while considering the limited land of the earth, and that most facilities are located in urban areas. Gradually, the importance of developing urban ecotourism has been highlighted (Gibson, Dodd, Joppe, & Jamieson, 2003; Green Tourism Association, 2006; Higham & Lu¨ck, 2002; Kastelein, 2004; Wu & Wang, 2007). Although urban ecotourism is an emerging concept, its contents still cannot to be clearly laid out. It seems that the differences between urban ecotourism and traditional ecotourism are still in dispute (Lawton & Weaver, 2001). Therefore, it is time to further discuss the contents of urban ecotourism and to develop a scholarly approach to its indicators. Whereas the process of collecting scholars’ assessments and that of integrating the different views could be strenuous and timeconsuming, this study tried to apply fuzzy number construction
q Yi-Yen Wu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Management at Tungnan University (152, Sec. 3, Beishen Rd., Shenkeng Township, Taipei County 222, Taiwan, Email: [email protected]). His research interests include ecotourism and urban planning. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ886 925988551; fax: þ886 4 23742373. E-mail address: [email protected] (Y.-Y. Wu). 0261-5177/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2009.07.014
approach to moderate the problem. It is hoped that this method might contribute to develop an alternative pattern for correlative studies. 2. Criteria of urban ecotourism Reviewing past studies, ecotourism emphasizes that the natural or pristine areas are its destinations. However, there are still some related research to support the fact that urban areas have the potential to develop ecotourism (Lawton & Weaver, 2001, p.315). Urban ecotourism was proposed firstly by the Blackstone Corporation (1996), and was identified as one of the sustainable ways for traveling in urban areas. According to the definition made by the Urban Ecotourism Conference in 2004, urban ecotourism is simply nature travel and conservation in a city environment. Also, its interested stakeholders have been asked to focus on restoring and conserving the natural and cultural heritage, including: 1.) natural landscapes, biodiversity, and indigenous cultures; 2.) maximizing local benefits and engaging the local community as owners, investors, hosts and guides; 3.) educating visitors and residents on environmental matters, heritage resources, sustainability, and 4.) reducing our ecological footprint (Urban Ecotourism Declaration, 2006). From the website of the Osaka Tourism Association, Urban Ecotourism means the tourism which respects the natural
740
Y.-Y. Wu et al. / Tourism Management 31 (2010) 739–743
ecosystem of a city. In order to express this idea, it is emphasized that the word ‘‘urban’’ is added to ‘‘ecotourism’’ (What is Urban Ecotourism, 2006). The Toronto Green Tourism Association (2006) indicated that Urban Green Tourism (Urban Ecotourism) is ‘‘travel and exploration in and around a city that provides visitors and residents with a greater appreciation of the cities’ natural and cultural resources’’. Because of the limitation of the land, many Asian island regions, such as Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, have promoted urban ecotourism actively, and have mixed it with urban tourism. It seems that urban tourism places emphasis on the cultural aspects, in order to promote the urban economy (Douglas, 2001; Law, 1996). The practices of urban ecotourism, mixed with urban tourism, gradually depart from the central part of ecotourism, and since then, more disagreements have arisen. Summarily speaking, on the one hand, even though the boundaries of urban ecotourism have overlapped with urban tourism, their core ideas are considerably different. On the other hand, the contents of urban ecotourism are similar to the concerns of traditional ecotourism, since the weights of the same indicators, from our study in the two fields, may have their nuances based on their innate relationships with the urban areas. Details are given as follows. 3. Methodology 3.1. The evaluating framework After reviewing the literature on what the relative terms concern, it was found that the social, economic and environmental dimensions were suggested as the basic indicators of the framework for ecotourism (Wright, Hall, & Lew, 1998). Based upon these three key dimensions, and also upon the research, this paper, therefore, has tried to build upon those indicators, in order to measure their roles in the ecotourism market. To collect information on the social culture, the industry, the economy, and the environmental ecosystem, this study used 19 sustainable evaluation indicators drawn from the literature above (see Fig. 1). These indicators were then tailored to become urban ecotourism indicators that measure the potential of destination.
3.2. Application of the novel fuzzy approach The Delphi Technique is characterized by Kaynak and Macauley (1984, p.90) as ‘‘a unique method of eliciting and refining group judgment based on the rationale that a group of experts is better than one expert when exact knowledge is not available’’. Hence, Green, Hunter, and Moore (1990), Gokhale (2001) and Tsaur, Lin, and Lin (2006) used the Delphi Technique as a way to assess the environmental impact of tourism developments, and the results were quantified. However, considering the fuzzy space inside the experts’ opinions and judgments, Ishikawa et al. (1993) proposed the fuzzy Delphi method to integrate the experts’ hazy assessment. But in collecting the questionnaires, the fuzzy Delphi method may also have its limitation, since the experts are asked to have triple judgments for one criterion. This means that some confusion about responding to the questions may emerge. This study therefore adapted the novel approach proposed by Cheng (2005) for fuzzy number construction to unearth the indicators of developing urban ecotourism. To anchor the position of these indicators, a five-point Likert scale was used. Then, the sustainable urban ecotourism indicators system (SUEIS) was established through the process. Traditionally, as fuzzy number construction was set up into fuzzy sets, Cheng (2005) introduces a novel approach for identifying the membership function of a fuzzy number from a series of observations, real numbers, g1,.,gn. Estimating the mode of the fuzzy number involves locating the center, around which the gis gather. In the estimation process, scores lying closer to the center are considered to have greater importance. This means that the estimation of this center is the weighted average of the gis. Therefore, the relative distances between the various gis are used to locate their congestion, in order to estimate the center of the gis. While the result is a triangular fuzzy number, it is necessary to simplify it as one single number. Zhao and Govind (1991) propose the Center-of-Area concept to get the best non-fuzzy value (BNP). BNP can be presented as:
BNP ¼
ððb aÞ þ ðm aÞÞ þa 3
where m is defined as: n X
m ¼
wi gi ;
i¼1
per i
sh
ave l ex
uri
flo
enc e
s
wi is the weight to be associated with gi when estimating the mode m of the fuzzy number and,
loc
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 12s2 1 þ r2
pro m
y
ct
nes s So cia l as pe
Ec
Sc
En
3.66 4.14
4.54
γ
cal
mi
Environmental aspect
mo
eco
Ecotourism
of ack db fee t efi ben t ec asp
Urban
μ (g1)
ic
Sustainable
om
on
l aw are
b ¼ mþ
Ec
pro mo tin env g iro nm ent a
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 12r2 s2 1 þ r2
om
con
oti ng tr
al e
a ¼ m
degrading
promoting ecological
the impacts of traffic
evaluation
Fig. 1. Tri-dimensional targeting model.
0
Fig. 2. Membership function of a triangular fuzzy number for the first level.
Y.-Y. Wu et al. / Tourism Management 31 (2010) 739–743
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Table 1 Urban ecotourism indicators system and weights. Dimension
Score
Range
Sub-Dimension
Score
Indicator
Score
Weight(Wk)
Social aspect (So)
4.14 (4.62)
3.23
Promoting travel experiences
3.96 (4.12)
6.51
Promoting environmental awareness
4.64 (4.14)
Satisfying local environment Satisfying travel convenience Satisfying recreational facilities Satisfying public facilities Identifying with local culture The Inclination of supporting environmental conservation The Inclination of urban ecotourism The Inclination of participating urban ecotourism
4.43 3.89 3.91 3.70 4.00 4.18
(4.51) (3.72) (3.87) (3.72) (4.73) (4.65)
6.82% 5.62% 5.85% 5.62% 7.19% 7.06%
4.30 (4.28) 4.21 (4.17)
6.50% 6.34%
Tourism’ contribution to local job opportunities Tourism’s contribution to local revenues tourism’s contribution to local tax Public input in preserving recreation resource Tourism’s contribution to local social welfare input The equitableness of local income
3.13 3.60 3.40 4.29 3.90 3.46
(3.62) (3.37) (3.44) (4.56) (3.60) (3.24)
3.25% 3.03% 3.09% 3.83% 3.02% 2.72%
Economic aspect (Ec)
3.66 (3.22)
Environmental aspect (En)
4.54 (4.38)
1.30
Flourishing local economy
3.24 (3.51)
4.72
Feedback of economical benefit
3.90 (3.28)
2.78
Degrading the impacts of traffic Promoting ecological evaluation
3.99 (4.13)
The convenience of public transportation system The fluency of traffic
3.89 (3.75) 3.97 (3.85)
5.39% 5.53%
4.51 (4.24)
Coverage of the green areas The degree of biological diversity The degree of habitat diversity
4.80 (4.31) 4.78 (4.21) 4.57 (4.46)
6.36% 6.21% 6.58%
5.79
*The number is the top of triangular fuzzy number, inside the parenthesis is its BNP.
4. Indicator survey results
5. Discussions and conclusions
Tsaur, Lin, and Lin (2006) argues that the most important step of the Delphi technique is selecting the respondents. Considering the representative of these respondents, Ok (2006) and Tsaur et al. (2006) both asked an authoritative organization to recommend the list. Hence, this study asked the Taiwan Ecotourism Association, which is the only NGO involved with the ecotourism sector in Taiwan, to recommend twenty-five ecotourism experts with different backgrounds and twenty experts, including scholars, government officials, and representatives from the tourism industry, who would agree to take part in an expert survey, while Delbecq, Van de Ven, and Gustafson (1975) suggests the suitable simple size is between 15 and 30. Besides the mode m of the fuzzy number, this study also estimated the triangular fuzzy number of each indicator. Limited by the number of words in this study, only the ranges of each aspect from the first level will be shown in the table and in the diagram (see Fig. 2). The final score of each indicator is calculated by the following equation:
All in all, by the results of our research and compared to the results of Tsaur et al. (2006) and Ross and Wall (1999), the environmental dimension is clearly much more important than the economic dimension in the issues of urban ecotourism. In the processes of investigation, the experts reveal their reasons grounded upon the differences between the economic background of urban residents and non-urban areas. Thus, traditional ecotourism, which highlights the promotion of a destination’s economic development through tourism to reduce the economic distance, is not so important in urban ecotourism. This study also shows the relative natural environment is valuable and fragile in a city, because it has to resist the spread of an adapted city. In other words, urban ecotourism pays more attention to reducing the negative impact of development rather than strengthening it. For inspecting the practicability of sustainable urban ecotourism indicator system (SUEIS), this study takes three main cities in Taiwan, which are zealous in setting urban ecotourism into action, as basis of empirical research, and they are Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. After integrating the experts familiar with three cities individually, the results conform to the recognition of the public. Taipei, which owns the best public transportation system, most conservation areas, and multiple culture resources among Taiwanese cities, has its advantages in promoting urban ecotourism. Through observing the authenticity of the results, this study also gives two examples in Taiwan as the basis of empirical research, namely the Yangmingshan National Park1 and the Yushan National Park2 (see Fig. 3). The justification for these two areas as case studies is their strong distinction in interpreting urban ecotourism and traditional ecotourism. Although there are more than one-hundred thousand nature reserves all over the world, and usually in rural areas, Yangmingshan National Park is one of the minority located in the center of a major metropolis (Zhang, 2005). By contrast, Yushan National Park is one of the most famous virgin natural reserves in Taiwan, far away from a metropolis. From
p Sk ¼ P3 i
i ¼ 1 pi
qj P6
j ¼ 1 qj
rj P19
k ¼ 1 rk
where Sk is the final score of nineteen indicators; pi is the score of the three main aspects, including the environmental, economic and social aspects; qi is the score of the important six sub-aspects; and rk is the score of the nineteen indicators. After that, the weight of each indicator is presented as wk. If the total weights are seen as 100%, the equation of each weight is:
S wk ¼ P19k
k ¼ 1 sk
100%
According to Table 1, weights totaled one. Within this framework, the degree of ‘‘identifying with local culture’’ had the highest weight (7.19%), followed by ‘‘inclination of supporting environmental conservation’’ (7.06%), ‘‘satisfying local environment’’ (6.82%), ‘‘the degree of habitat diversity’’ (6.58%), ‘‘inclination of urban ecotourism’’ (6.50%), and ‘‘coverage of the green areas’’ (6.36%). These results are compatible with the principle of sustainable tourism and ecotourism. This means that tourism development should be based on the sustainable use of resources.
1 Yangmingshan National Park has limited boundary with 11 455 hacres, and the location is across Taipei City and County. 2 Yushan National Park is the largest national park in Taiwan with 105 490 hacres, and its boundary is across several rural areas far away from local city.
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Y.-Y. Wu et al. / Tourism Management 31 (2010) 739–743
Yangmingshan National Park Taipei City
TAIWAN STRAIT Taichung City
PACIFIC OCEAN Hualian City
Yushan National Park
Legend: Yangmingshan National Park Yushan National Park Central Mountain
Taitung City Kaoshuing City
Main city in Taiwan
Fig. 3. Two examples of urban ecotourism and traditional ecotourism in Taiwan. Table 2 Urban ecotourism indicators system and weights. Year
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Average
Infringing the law of National Park(100%) (Unit: the number of cases/hectare)
Yushan Yangmingshan
0.05% 4.53%
0.07% 4.10%
0.05% 3.20%
0.03% 1.89%
0.03% 2.90%
0.05% 3.32%
Biodiversities(100%) (Unit: the number of species/hectare)
Yushan Yangmingshan
2.44% 22.88%
2.45% 23.14%
3.33% 23.26%
3.36% 23.26%
3.40% 23.26%
3.00% 23.16%
Occupancy Permit(100%) (Unit: m2/hectare)
Yushan Yangmingshan
0.70% 16.89%
0.00% 16.83%
0.46% 23.48%
1.46% 37.63%
0.18% 101.65%
0.56% 39.30%
Leisure press (Unit: number of tourists/hectare)
Yushan Yangmingshan
12.66 376.87
14.54 397.99
11.90 423.75
12.79 363.33
13.15 421.07
13 397
Resource: Construction and Planning Agency, 2006.
Table 2, it is obvious that the case of urban ecotourism (Yangmingshan National Park) is under greater recreational stress, namely the pressure relating to leisure activities. On average by acres, the number of illegal events against the laws of the National Park which happened in Yangmingshan National Park is larger than those in Yushan National Park. This implies that there are more events against the essence of the rules of the national park, which happened in the destination of urban ecotourism. In addition, because of the presence of more tourists and construction, the destinations of urban ecotourism could suffer from more stress than traditional ecotourism would. On the other hand, while the ecological aspects are observed, the destinations of urban ecotourism, such as Yangmingshan National Park for example, have more excellent biodiversities than traditional ecotourism, such as Yushan National Park does. All of this data could show the authenticity of experts’ opinions. From forementioned statements, the focuses of urban ecotourism are not only on urban areas but also on suburbs or on the surrounding rural areas, such as Yangmingshan National Park. This might cause some blurry edges of urban ecotourism. Therefore, this study tries to clarify the different relationships between urban ecotourism with urban areas and traditional ecotourism with urban areas, which may contribute to the recognition of the blurred edge.
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