Viable yet Protected for Future Generations? An Examination of the Extensive Forest-Based Tourism Market

Abstract

This article focuses on forest tourism and rainforests in particular, and explores their potentialto contribute to the global tourism industry. The specific objectives of the study were todevelop a profile, including motivations, of tourists visiting the Wet Tropics rainforest of Australia and to identify previous patterns of forest visitation in both Australia and other global destinations. A survey of 1,408 visitors conducted at a number of Wet Tropicsrainforest sites in the tropical north region of Australia found that over 37% of the sample hadpreviously visited forests while on holidays indicating that forest-based tourism is a major component to the nature-based market. Countries and forested sites in South-East Asia werethe most popular as holiday attractions with over 13% of respondents having visited thesesites. This was followed by countries of the South Pacific, North America, South America, Central America, Africa, South Asia and China, the Caribbean and Europe. While overall thisis a promising result, forest-based tourism faces a number of pressures including urbansettlement, extractive industries and in the near future climate change.