Abstract
On Maui (Hawai‘i), the terrestrial basking of Hawaiian green sea turtles draws close to 500 visitors daily to Ho‘okipa Beach Park. Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund (HWF), a local non-profit organisation, strives to provide casual interpretation to visitors and protect the basking sea turtles. The visitor volume has created great angst regarding tourist conduct and the resulting welfare of the sea turtles. This chapter presents the results of 543 survey respondents regarding the impact of the basking event on visitors in the areas of visitor satisfaction, learning, attitudes and behaviours and the interrelationships within these. Sources of satisfaction that impact the visitor experience and how the information provided to visitors during their experience influences their environmental behaviour intentions are investigated. The research adopted four outcome indicators from Orams’ marine tourism model: visitor satisfaction, learning, attitudes, and behaviours, and outlines the visitors’ call for responsible visitor behaviour and sustainable management of the basking event.
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Black, C., Engeset, M., Lück, M. (2023). Visitor Responsibility and Desired Site Improvements for Basking Sea Turtles. In: Köchling, A., Seeler, S., van der Merwe, P., Postma, A. (eds) Towards Sustainable and Resilient Tourism Futures. Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Instituts für Tourismusforschung, vol 1. Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin. https://doi.org/10.37307/b.978-3-503-21195-1.05
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