Wilderness: a resource or a sanctuary? Views of tourism service providers

Abstract

The growing popularity of nature-based tourism means that the tourism industry is increasingly utilizing wilderness areas to provide visitor experiences. However, tourism activities negatively impact wilderness quality. Tourism service providers play an important role in shaping these impacts. Therefore, this study investigates their preferences regarding wilderness use and development. It focuses on the Icelandic Central Highlands, which contain some of Europe’s largest wildernesses and are an important venue for tourism. The relationship between participants’ preferences and environmental attitudes is also investigated, providing insights into the reasoning behind these preferences. For this study an online questionnaire was distributed among day tour providers and travel agencies operating in Iceland. The results revealed that the attitudes of over 87% of the participants were pro-environmental. Accordingly, most tourism service providers preferred basic tourism infrastructure in the Central Highlands, and they did not support further energy or road developments. However, their attitudes toward the Central Highlands National Park proposal were divergent despite the positive relationship with environmental attitudes. Concerns about regulations and access restrictions to the area played an important role in shaping the attitudes toward the national park proposal, demonstrating the importance of considering tourism stakeholders’ interests for ensuring their support for wilderness conservation.