JOST 593 Minimizing Visitor Impacts to Protected Areas: The Efficacy of Low Impact Education Programs (original) (raw)

Protected area managers, tourism providers, and other organizations commonly employ education programs to address visitation-related impairment of natural and cultural resources, social conditions, and neighboring communities. These programs have different names (Leave No Trace, Codes of Conduct, Environmental Guidelines for Tourists) but share common objectives: to sustain opportunities for high quality visitor experiences while avoiding or minimizing associated negative impacts to protected area resources, visitor experiences, and park neighbors. Theoretical and empirical research studies in the United States are reviewed to evaluate the efficacy of educational efforts that seek to encourage adoption of low impact behaviors. Findings reveal that most of the visitor education efforts evaluated did effectively alter visitor knowledge, behavior and/or resource and social conditions in the intended direction. These findings, including discussions of message content, delivery, audience...