Analyzing direct and indirect effects of climate change trend on the number of visitors toward national forest parks: A case of Taiwan. (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Wan-Yu; Huang, Yen-Hsiang; Lin, Chun-Cheng
• Is Part Of: Journal of hospitality and tourism management. Volume 48(2021)
• Page Start: 10
• Page End: 22
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: Climate change -- Number of visitors -- Meteorological information -- National forest park; Hospitality industry -- Management -- Periodicals; Tourism -- Management -- Periodicals; Hospitality industry -- Australia -- Management -- Periodicals; Tourism -- Australia -- Management -- Periodicals; Hospitality industry -- Management; Tourism -- Management; Australia; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 338.4791068
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.05.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1447-6770

Abstract

Abstract: Climatic factors and global warming have great impacts on the tourists' behaviors. The goal of this study is to explore how they affect the total number of visitors, and the Huisun National Forest Park (HNFP) in Taiwan was selected as the research site. This study comprehensively evaluated the direct and indirect effects of climate change on the total number of visitors. Regression models were built to examine variations in the total number of visitors, including potential future climate scenarios in four global warming scenarios, and a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate tourists' behaviors. The majority of the respondents were male, aged 17–24 years, and students with an educational level of (junior) college. The results show that climate change may not decrease on the total number of visitors to HNFP if only temperature and precipitation variations are considered. The climate-induced factors also have less effects on the travel intention for the tourists who have not visited. The visitors were most concerned about landscape transformation under climate change. Therefore, the managers should pay more attention to the conservation and maintenance of the area's landscapes to avoid reduced revisit intention and frequency. Since the total number of visitors is expected to increase, the HNFP managers need to modify the policies accordingly. The outcomes can be used for developing strategies in response to climate change.