Developing a scale for evaluating ecotourism by visitors: a study in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

Abstract

Ecotourism has become a valuable industry in developing countries with a promise of reconciling nature conservation and economic development goals. A sample of 315 international visitors to the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA), Nepal was surveyed in April and May of 2006 to assess how they gathered information, evaluated ecotourism and rated their levels of satisfaction from their ecotourism experience. We developed a statistically valid and reliable ecotourism evaluation scale containing seven items through confirmatory factor analysis to assess visitors’ perceptions of the socio-economic and environmental outcomes of ecotourism. Visitors’ age, prior visits to the area, the use of a guide and perceptions of safety significantly influenced visitors’ evaluations, though combined to explain only a small portion of the variance in their evaluations. Contrary to a general expectation, visitors’ ecotourism evaluations were not related to their level of satisfaction associated with their visits. Overall, visitors expressed high levels of satisfaction with their visits and favorably evaluated ecotourism outcomes in the ACA. Repeat visitors exhibited more negative opinions about ecotourism outcomes. The findings suggest a link between hiring guides and visitors’ increased overall satisfaction and favorable evaluations of ecotourism. Perceptions of security also raised evaluation levels, but were not linked to hiring guides.