• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.610-629
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• 2003

Ecotourism has been considered as sustainable tourism since it has been believed to preserve the environment of a tourist destination as well as to satisfy the various needs of tourists. However, most of destinations recently developed for ecotourism have confronted environmental degradation. Therefore, it is necessary to challenge and reestablish the concept of ecotourism. This study seeks to provide new perspectives on the concept of ecotourism by estimating the sustainability of three ecotourism destinations in Jeju Island. The Yae-Rae Dong Ecotourism Village shows a high level of sustainability, while the Ah-Bu Oh-rum at Song-Dang Ri and the Experience Beach at Jong-Dal Ri shows a low level of sustainability. In result, the ecotourism in itself is not sustainable tourism, and further this study suggests that appropriate planning, development, and management of a destination are important factors to decide the success of sustainable tourism.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.3-25
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• 2012

To evaluate the sustainability assessment of eco-tourism resources, the assessment of Upo wetland was conducted by defining mathematical assessment models, by developing assessment indicators and by calculating the weight of main factors affecting on the sustainability through questionnaires analysis of 135 eco-tourism experts group. After that, the current sustainability grade level for Upo wetland was confirmed, and grade-level enhancement measures on each items were proposed. Although, this paper was focused on Upo wetland, but it is meaningful to prepare for the foundation in the sense of assessing scientifically and systematically the sustainability by providing concrete research model and method for the sustainability assessment of eco-tourism resources.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.448-455
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• 2019

Ecotourism, which is attracting attention as a method of sustainable tourism, is a tourism that aims to preserve the environment of the tourist area, to improve the participation and welfare of residents in the tourist area, and to improve the tourism experience and education. Ecotourism is a field that is developing at a faster rate than other areas of tourism. With the pace of growth, ecotourism faces new challenges for sustainability. This study focused on institutional sustainability in addition to economic, socio - cultural and environmental sustainability to assess the sustainability of ecotourism destinations. The results of this study confirm that institutional sustainability should be given priority for sustainability of ecotourism. Examples include the designation of protected areas, the establishment of ecotourism management entities, the regular investigation and research of academic purposes, the management of tourist visits and tourist information, the cooperation and participation of local residents, and the activities of commentators and managers. The attractiveness of ecological resources was also influenced by the access of tourists and the influence of local residents. Therefore, careful attention should be paid to the approach of tourists and the use of land by local residents in ecotourism. In the future, the operation of the visitor center, the professional education and mission of the interpreters' ecological resources, and the training and guidance of tourists by interpreters will be very helpful for the sustainability of the ecotourism destination.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.853-869
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• 2012

Nowadays, in the context of growing environmental consciousness and tourism industry, 'eco-tourism' has been expanding rapidly worldwide, and it is viewed as the strategy of regional development. Ecotourism is also perceived potential as an effective tool for sustainable development. However, when poorly planned and implemented an ecotourism project, it can quickly turn economic gains into social and environmental disasters. The purpose of this study is to develop standard sets of indicators to measure sustainable ecotourism, and to evaluate ecotourism sustainability practically. This study applies the indicators sets to the ecotourism through the case studies of 10 Korean ecotourism sites. Using the indicators sets, the levels and characteristics of the sustainability of 10 eco-tour sites were measured and evaluated, which makes it possible to monitor sustainable ecotourism in the future. After setting weights among domains differently, the results of the sensitivity analysis showed that the rank changes of the eco-tourism sustainability was very small, implying that the problem of weights setting among each domain will not be critical. Base on the empirical analysis, this study suggests the application of sustainability indicator sets of eco-tourism in the normative, analytic, practical aspects.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.13-22
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• 2012

This study was conducted to establish ecotourism as an introduction to sustainability and international cooperation. As a plan to retain the original meaning of ecotourism, the introduction of a program to certify/designateecotourism is being vitalized in many countries around the world. In Korea as well, an agenda to the introduction of an "Ecotourism Designation System,"which aims to ensure the quality of ecotourism at a certain level, was submitted by the Ministry of Environment to the National Assembly in June 2011, and the promotion for a demonstration program is planned this year to introduce the system. Japan has been carrying out the certification systems Good Eco-tour, which certifies the sustainability of ecotourism providers and accommodations since 2006, respectively, and has been securing the sustainability of ecotourism by enactment in 2008, as the world's first law to promote ecotourism. And the second general conference of the first Global Partnership for Sustainable Tourism(GPST) was held in Korea in March 2012, particularly, there was an agreement that the promotion of Asia and the Pacific Area Network for sustainable tourism would center around Korea, and accordingly, it is expected that Korea's status as a core country for ecotourism in the Asia-Pacific Area will increase. While the demand for an approach to natural resources is rapidly increasing, we should be active in providing an institutional strategy such as a designation system to secure the sustainability of ecotourism and seeking a plan for cooperation and network vitalization in the Asia-Pacific Area where similar natural resources and cultures are shared.

• 지역과문화
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.25-47
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• 2019

This study was to investigate the sustainable regional ecotourism development and management of the Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Center & Edinburg Scenic Wetland World Birding Center in the Lower Rio Grand Valley, Texas, USA. In oder to identify the substantiality of these two institutions, sustainable tourism evaluation indicators were developed based on the previous researches. Data were collected in December 2016 and March 2017 at the two World Birding Centers. Official documents regarding the sustainable management of the two agencies were collected and interviews with the directors of both centers were also proceeded. The findings show that the two World Bird Center have adopted basic measures for environmental substantiality but have adopted various management techniques, especially for economic and social sustainability. In particular, Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Centers have developed twenty programs and events to attract four different target markets including children and adolescents, families with young children, and adults. It also secured income by donation as wells as admission and rental fees. Furthermore, the two World Birding Centers have provided diverse volunteer opportunities for the local residents. Practical implications of the study for the Korea regional ecotourism development and management were also discussed at the end.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.95 no.6
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• pp.759-767
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• 2006

Firstly, this study aimed to identify differential characteristics of alternative tourists by comparing socioeconomic and travel characteristics, ecotourism cognition level and intention to participate in ecotourism, and eco-friendly travel attitudes between alternative tourists and mass tourists visiting Jeju Island. Secondly, it aimed to evaluate the possibility of the Jeju experimental forests managed by Warm Temperate Forest Center as an alternative tourism destination. The results shown that alternative tourists had more positive travel attitude and higher level of cognition of ecotourism and intention of participate in ecotourism than mass tourist. The cognition level and the intention of visit the experimental forests were also higher in alternative tourists group. In addition, alternative tourists were more active and participatory in nature-oriented activities, and evaluated themselves culture and nature oriented tourists. Thus, it is required to keep monitoring the alternative tourists' distinctive characteristics and to reflect those in developing and managing alternative tourism destinations.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.677-684
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• 2022

This study is a basic study to evaluate the ecological environment of Changwon City. The study site was 6 ecotourism districts in Changwon-si, and the ecotourism index was evaluated through direct visits and interviews with the person in charge through preliminary research and various literature data from June to July 2021. There are six ecotourism indicators: climate crisis, air quality improvement, water conservation, natural coexistence, citizen participation, and tourism resource management. When looking at the scores for the six ecotourism areas in Changwon, it received the highest score in the areas of natural coexistence and air quality improvement. However, the ecoregion received the lowest score in the water resource conservation category, indicating that the water resource conservation as a whole was weak. Next, tourism resource management, climate crisis, and citizen participation are at the same level in all regions. As a result of the evaluation through the low-carbon ecotourism index, the Changwon City low-carbon ecotourism certification system should first be operated as a measure to revitalize the ecotourism region. It is necessary to prepare a low-carbon ecotourism level for Changwon City. Second, it is very important to guide and promote ecotourism areas to revitalize ecotourism areas. Lastly, to operate a sustainable eco-environment area, it is necessary to operate using local governance above all else.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.56-64
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• 2011

Ecotourism is an alternative tourism which can be defined as responsible tourism in natural areas. This study deals with changing the tourists' environmental attitudes of ecotourism activities based on the elaboration likelihood model(ELM). The surveys were conducted based on the same participants to clearly measure the differences of environmental attitudes between pre and post-participation ecotourism activities. A total of 183 samples were collected in Upo Wetlands. The results showed that there were significant differences in the tourists' environmental attitudes between pre and post-participation ecotourism activities. This indicates that ecotourism participants delicately reinforce their eco-friendly attitudes through various ecotourism experiences and educational programs. The most significant finding is that anti-environmental behavior can be relieved with eco-friendliness through participation in ecotourism.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.102-114
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• 1998

Ecotourism has surged from conflicts between negative impacts of mass tourism and environmental issues. As an alternative tourism, ecotourism compromises extensively environmental, economic, educational, and cultural concerns. Ecotourism can be defined as environment-based tourism that ensures sustainable growth and development through conservation of natural and human environment, promotion of regional economy, and provision of tourism service in natural environment areas. Ecotourism should consider two key challenges; an effective means that may protect local economy through tourist-based income and improvement of residential circumstances, and role as leisure space that can improve tourist's experiences. The purpose of this study was to summarize ecotourism concepts through literature search and develop an ecotourism planning framework for Korean rural communities. In addition, developed planning framework in this study was applied to Jeongdori area, Wandogun, Korea as a case study in order to analyze its feasibility. A trial application in Jeongdori area demonstrated a possibility that ecotourism planning framework can be successfully adopted to a wide range of Korean rural communities. To ensure objectivity of framework, systematic case studies must be done in the future.