Description
The paper seeks to examine nature-based tourism (NBT) impacts from business
managers’ perceptions in economic, cultural and environmental aspects and understands the
relationship among socio-demographic characteristics, type and level of involvement and participants’
perception of impacts
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Nature-based tourism impacts in I-Lan, Taiwan: business managers' perceptions
J oe Ying Chin Yang Yu Mei Chen
Article information:
To cite this document:
J oe Ying Chin Yang Yu Mei Chen, (2008),"Nature-based tourism impacts in I-Lan, Taiwan: business
managers' perceptions", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 2 Iss 3 pp.
250 - 270
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Mastura J aafar, Kalsom Kayat, Tania Maria Tangit, Mohd Firdous Yacob, (2013),"Nature-based rural
tourism and its economic benefits: a case study of Kinabalu National Park", Worldwide Hospitality and
Tourism Themes, Vol. 5 Iss 4 pp. 342-352http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-03-2013-0016
Bishnu Sharma, Pam Dyer, (2009),"Residents' involvement in tourism and their perceptions
of tourism impacts", Benchmarking: An International J ournal, Vol. 16 Iss 3 pp. 351-371 http://
dx.doi.org/10.1108/14635770910961371
Leonard A. J ackson, (2008),"Residents' perceptions of the impacts of special event
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dx.doi.org/10.1108/17538330810911244
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Nature-based tourism impacts
in I-Lan, Taiwan: business
managers’ perceptions
Joe Ying Chin Yang
Department of Tourism and Leisure, Diwan College of Management,
Tainan, Taiwan, and
Yu Mei Chen
Center for General Education, Kun-Shan University of Technology,
Yung-Kang City, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose – The paper seeks to examine nature-based tourism (NBT) impacts from business
managers’ perceptions in economic, cultural and environmental aspects and understands the
relationship among socio-demographic characteristics, type and level of involvement and participants’
perception of impacts.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses social exchange theory to explain costs/bene?ts
in each aspect. Several indicators including social-demographic characteristics, attitudes toward the
government, types and level of involvement are used to analyze costs/bene?ts of tourism impacts.
Findings – NBT has a moderate impact on participants’ business – contributing approximately
30 per cent of their annual sales and 31 per cent of customers. Business managers believe bene?ts to
the social/cultural environment are the most apparent impact in I-Lan, followed by economic bene?ts.
Participants believe that county government does well in tourism planning, and they believe that they
could in?uence county government’s tourism planning.
Research limitations/implications – Tourism related businesses are purposely chosen for this
study. Thus, the ?ndings cannot be inferred to a larger population.
Practical implications – The ?ndings support the usefulness of social exchange theory in
costs/bene?ts aspects. County government might change its role from top-down decision-making style
to co-partner with local business people.
Originality/value – The paper provides insights into understanding of business managers’
perceived impacts. Therefore, county tourism planners and researchers can have a more ef?cient and
holistic management of NBT in the region.
Keywords Tourism, Individual perception, Taiwan, Cost bene?t analysis
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In Taiwan’s export-import oriented economy, most of its counties have relied on
establishing manufacturing plants and commercial companies for their economic
development over the past 40 years; however, I-Lan County has set a different tone. It
promoted tourism as its primary economic activity. I-Lan County was the ?rst
tourism-oriented county in Taiwan in the 1980s (I-Lan County Government Report, 2000).
In addition, I-Lan was the ?rst county that spent money in professional research and
identi?ed guidelines for its county planning in Taiwan (Chen, 2003; Lee, 2003).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1750-6182.htm
IJCTHR
2,3
250
Received November 2006
Revised May 2007
Accepted December 2007
International Journal of Culture,
Tourism and Hospitality Research
Vol. 2 No. 3, 2008
pp. 250-270
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1750-6182
DOI 10.1108/17506180810891618
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Tourism generates 16-20 per cent of county’s economic output, as much as $120
million annually, and creates 46,000 jobs (I-Lan County Government Report, 2004).
I-Lan’s county government leads the way for tourism development in the county. The
county government has created and developed many events (e.g. Children’s Festival,
Green Expo). The local economy relies heavily on this government-led tourism, and local
businesses are an important part of the overall county tourismdevelopment (Lee, 2003).
Business associations usually have a close relationship with county government and
government agencies (I-Lan County Government Report, 2004).
Tourism development in I-Lan is more than 20 years old, and is appropriate now to
evaluate the impacts tourism has on the county’s businesses and stakeholders. Most
tourismstudies inI-Lan focus ona single sector (e.g. leisure farming) or special events (e.g.
Green Expo, Children’s Festival). Research has not looked at tourism’s effect on the entire
county. Based on both central (DGBAS, 2003) and county governments’ data (I-Lan
County Government Report, 2004), this study uses 15 types of business managers as units
of analysis, whichare relatedtotourism, andthe studyarea covers the entire I-LanCounty.
When examining tourism impacts, with their dual roles as business operators and
residents, business managers can provide unique perceptions about the critical issues
related to tourism impacts. This study differs from others’ study in I-Lan in two general
perspectives. First, the study assesses factors in?uencing ?fteen types of business
managers’ perceptions in the entire county. Second, the study examines the nature-based
tourism (NBT) development in I-Lan, where NBT is at its inception stage for the entire
country (Tourism Bureau, 2002, Tourism Bureau, 2005).
Attitudes and perceptions
Attitudes and perceptions of tourism impacts play an important role in tourism
studies. Researchers have used perceptions of residents and tourists to understand
tourism impacts in many tourism destinations (Liu and Var, 1986; Andereck and Vogt,
2000; Weaver et al., 2001; Andriotis and Vaughan, 2003). Studies have shown that three
main elements of the exchange process can be identi?ed, economic, environmental, and
social/cultural, in terms of resident perception of tourism impacts – costs and bene?ts
(King et al., 1993; Milman and Pizam, 1988; Long et al., 1990; Schluter and Var, 1988).
Most studies measure perceptions of impacts or attitudes using a series of
agreement scales (Weaver et al., 2001; Deccio and Baloglu, 2002; Sirakaya et al., 2002;
McGehee and Andereck, 2004).
Social exchange theory relations to tourism impacts
Social exchange theory is based on the concept that people are reward-pursuing and
punishment-avoiding, and people are motivated to action by expectation of pro?ts
(Napier and Bryant, 1980). Bagozzi (1978, p. 538) states that exchange involves
“a transfer of something tangible or intangible, actual or symbolic, between two or
more social actors”. La Porta et al. (1997) show that both economic and social
performance is positively affected by trust in exchange and other social relations. The
research from Fukuyama (1996) suggest that mutual trust within large economic
organizations represent a major factor of their success in the market, which is
measured by the volume of exchange (La Porta et al., 1997).
In terms of tourism, residents are willing to enter into exchange with tourists if they
receive more bene?ts than costs (Jurowski et al., 1997). Based on social exchange,
Nature-based
tourism impacts
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researchers assumed that economic bene?ts derived from tourism development in
exchange for social and environmental impacts (Harrill, 2004).
Community involvement
Involvement is an action of information searching or extended problem solving
behavior (Engel and Blackwell, 1982). Researchers discuss measures of involvement
including amount of time spent, frequency of participation and experience (Donnelly
et al., 1986; McIntyre and Pigram, 1992; Scott and Godbey, 1994). Level of involvement
could be measured by time and money (Havitz and Dimanche, 1990; Kim et al., 1997)
and involvement meant to understand people’s decision-making process (Fesenmaier
and Johnson, 1989; Madrigal, 1993; Kull, 2002).
Relevant research to I-Lan
Chen (1998) uses the travel cost method to study the value Chi-Lan forest recreation
and the results showed that the average recreation value was NT$223.6 (US$ 8) per
visitor. Lin and Tang (1999) conduct visitor surveys in the Fushan Botanical Garden
and found that visitors’ primary motivation was appreciation for the environment.
Hong (2001) examines the perception of I-Lan’s local government and its economic
development. The ?ndings show that I-Lan’s economic growth was still far behind
most of the other counties in Taiwan after 20 years of tourism development due to low
pro?ts in tourism comparing to the manufacturing industry.
Chen (2003) argues that in order to form the tourism policy, the county government
gathered professional elites, local communities, local industries and local activists in
a long-term interaction and accumulated experiences to establish a unique “alternative
development” style in Taiwan. Chu (2004) studies leisure farming and marketing in
I-Lan. The ?ndings indicate that the driving forces of the “operational basis” for leisure
farms were the current operating situation and competitiveness. Kuo (2004) argues that
I-Lan was still ahead of other areas in tourism, but that the county government should
include more private sectors and local non-pro?t organizations involving in tourism
for its sustainable development.
Study site
The study area is I-Lan County, Taiwan. Approximately, 463,000 people live in the
2,143 km
2
county, which is located in the northeast corner of Taiwan Island. It faces the
Paci?c Ocean on the east, and is surrounded by mountains on the west, south and
north. Three quarters of the county is mountainous. Because of its geographic location,
it has limited access to the other areas in Taiwan (Figure 1).
I-Lan is situated in a subtropical climate with an average annual temperature of
228C year round and 210 average annual days of rain. It is full of diverse natural
attractions, which include beaches, offshore islands, tall mountains, forests, lakes,
waterfalls, hot springs and unique cold springs (I-Lan County Government Report,
2004). Furthermore, due to its low development, I-Lan’s natural landscape is well
preserved. I-Lan has been regarded as “backward” and its economic development has
always been 10-20 years behind other Taiwan counties (Kop, 1992; Shi, 1994; Shen,
2002; Chen, 2003; Lee, 2003).
Three stages of tourism development can be categorized in I-Lan since 1981: Stage 1
(1981-1989): Exploration, involvement and development; Stage 2 (1989-1997):
IJCTHR
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Development of cultural tourism and major tourism activities; and Stage 3 (1997-2005):
Consolidation of major tourism activities.
Method
The conceptual model in this study combines the model of Gursoy and Rutherford
(2004) and other models regarding socio-demographic characteristics, types of
involvement and level of involvement (Figure 2).
Based on past research, people’s socio-demographic make-up and experience with
tourism likely effect how they perceive the costs and bene?ts of tourism. Therefore,
socio-demographic and business characteristic (e.g. length of owning business,
respondents’ organization) variables are likely an important component of this study
along with two intervening variables:
(1) type of involvement; and
(2) level of involvement.
The largest part of this study focused on business managers’ perception of economic,
social/cultural, and environmental impacts. The majority of the items that compiled
this list came from individual interviews with I-Lan business managers. Researchers
worded each impact so each was consistent within the questionnaire and with other
tourism impact studies. They were also placed into appropriate categories (i.e.
economic, social/cultural, and environmental) (Ap and Crompton, 1998; I-Lan County
Tourism Comprehensive Plan, 1996; Gilbert and Clark, 1997; Snaith and Haley, 1999;
Weaver et al., 2001; Chen, 2003). Items were validated using a short impact study and a
total of 42 items were used in the ?nal questionnaire.
This study attempts to answer the following questions:
(1) What are the stakeholders’ perceptions of economic, social/cultural and
environmental costs (ENC) /bene?ts of NBT?
Figure 1.
Map of study site
Map of Taiwan Map of I-Lan County
China
Chinmen
TAIPEI
Taipei
Tauryuan
Hsinchu
Miaoli
Talchung
Nantour
Taichung
Taitung
Keelung
IIan
Yunlin
Chunghua
Chiayi Chiayi
Penghus
Tainan
Kaosiung
Pingtung
Hualien
Toucheng
Jiaosi
Yuanshan Yilan City Jhuangwei
Sansing
Loudong
Dongshan
Nan-ao
Datong
Su-ao
Wujie
KAOSIUNG
Nature-based
tourism impacts
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(2) How do stakeholders’ socio-demographic (e.g., gender, age, level of education,
location of residence) and business characteristic (e.g., respondents’
organization, length of owning business) relate to their involvement in
tourism planning (as characterized by type of involvement, attitudes toward the
government, and level of involvement)?
(3) How do stakeholders’ socio-demographic characteristics and level of
involvement relate to their perception of costs/bene?ts?
Survey instrument
This study used a three-phase approach to answer its research questions. First,
individual interviews were used to identify NBT’s current role in I-Lan and existing
impacts of NBT. Second, a short survey that focused entirely on perceived impacts was
given to a small sample or business managers to validate the impact indices to be used
in the ?nal phase of research. Finally, the primary data gathering technique was an
on-site survey of I-Lan business managers.
The formal questionnaire included 13 Sections. Sections 1-11 asked participants to rate
the perception of impacts using the scales that were de?ned in the earlier research.
Responses to the statements regarding impacts used a ?ve-point index scale ranging from
“strongly disagree” ( ¼ 1) to “strongly agree” ( ¼ 5). A “no opinion” ( ¼ 3) option was
available. Section 12 addressed respondents’ level of involvement where managers
indicated perceptions of county government, their title/position, and amount of times and
money they were involved as a decision-maker, a tour provider, or a tourist in tourism.
Figure 2.
Conceptual model of
costs/bene?ts of NBT
impacts, type of
involvement, and level of
involvement
Type of Involvement
Food/Restaurant
Gift/grocery
Hotel, leisure farms
Supermarket
Car/bus rental
Taxi/ Bus
Printing
Whale–watching
Travel agencies
Financing institutes
Sales revenue
% of NBT revenue
% of NBT customers
% of change
Socio-demos &
Business characteristics
Gender
Age
Education
Raised in I–Lan
Residence
Length of Business
Organization
Perceived costs/benefits
of tourism impacts
Economic benefits
Economic costs
Social/cultural benefits
Social/cultural costs
Environmental benefits
Environmental costs Level of Involvement
Attitudes toward gov’t
Decision–maker
Part of tour programs
Tourist
No involvement
IJCTHR
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Section13askedparticipants for descriptive information, whichincludedtype of business,
economic descriptors and socio-demographic characteristics.
The survey was ?rst written in English and then translated into Chinese by the
researcher. A sample of 60 college students and 14 business managers were chosen to
pilot test the questionnaire in September and October 2005. The pretest was used to
determine content validity of the instrument, ?ow of questionnaire, and to obtain
respondents’ opinions.
The sample
The sample selected for the main questionnaire was business owners/managers’ from
15 business types (Table II). All businesses had some relation with NBT. Potential
respondents were distributed over the entire twelve administrative districts in I-Lan
County including I-Lan City and its 11 townships (Figure 1). Study participants were
purposely chosen based on two factors:
(1) their role in the NBT industry, the importance each type of business has in the
tourism industry, with certain types (e.g. hotels and travel agencies) having a
more direct role; therefore, receiving more respondents; and
(2) the number of potential businesses in a speci?c region, with more participants
coming from cities like I-Lan city where there are a higher density of tourism
businesses.
The survey was conducted during October-December 2005 in I-Lan. To be validated,
each company/organization received only one interview, and each respondent answered
one questionnaire only. To obtain more in-depth information from respondents,
follow-up interviews were conducted soon after the initial questionnaire was
administered. A total of 316 completed questionnaires were obtained, which included
240 by face-to-face interviews and 76 by mail from remote areas (e.g. Da-tong, Nan-Ao,
and YuanShan townships). About 30 of the questionnaires were eliminated due to
missing data and responses frompeople not related to NBTbusinesses. This resulted in
a total of 286 usable questionnaires, a response rate of 90 per cent.
Analysis
Socio-demographic characteristics. Results showed that most respondents (64.3 per cent)
were between 36-55 years old (with a mean of 43 years) and 59 per cent were male and
41 per cent were female (Table I). A little more than one-third of respondents
(36.1 per cent) possessed a high school/vocational diploma and 44 per cent had a college
degree or higher. Respondents with a college degree (44 per cent) were higher than that
of the county data (18 per cent), which might indicate tourism development attracts
better-educated people. Most participants (83 per cent) lived in I-Lan as children.
Business characteristics. The 347 respondents were categorized in 15 business types
(Table II). Almost three quarters of respondents managed hotels (18 per cent),
restaurants (16 per cent), B&B’s (15 per cent), leisure farms (12 per cent) and gift shops
(11 per cent). About 10 per cent of respondents chose more than one type of business,
with the largest overlap between people saying they were employed in leisure farms,
B&B’s, and restaurants.
On average, the participants owned a business in the community for 13.8 years,
with 41 per cent owning a business between 2-6 years. Almost half of the participants
Nature-based
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(46 per cent) were members of business organizations (e.g. I-Lan County Hotel
Association), but 43 per cent of participants were not members of an organization or
association. And 11 per cent of participants also served as representatives of local
tourism associations while operating their tourism businesses.
The ?nancial success and role NBT tourism plays in receiving ?nancial revenues
was evaluated in terms of total sales revenue, percent of sales and customers from
NBT, and change in sales revenue in the last ?ve-years. Almost one third of the
respondents reported making less than NT$1,200,000 (USD 40,000) and 13.6 per cent
reported more than NT$50,000,000 (USD 1,680,000) in annual sales revenue. Sales
revenue data show that businesses made an average of 30 per cent of annual sales and
31 per cent of customers from NBT. Whale watching businesses had the highest
percentage of sales (59.3 per cent) and customers (56.4 per cent) from NBT (Table III).
More leisure farm, B&B and gift store businesses have increased their sales revenue
rather than decreased over the last ?ve years. For all business types, 56 per cent of
respondents reported increases in sales revenue and 43 per cent reported decreases
(Table III).
Attitudes toward government and level of involvement
Generally, most participants have positive attitudes towards the government and how
it is working with stakeholders in tourism planning. Over 75 per cent of respondents
Variable Category Per cent
a
Gender Male 59
Female 41
Age 20-35 26
36-45 34
46-55 30
56-75 10
Education Less than high school 20
High school/vocational 36
Technical/associates degree 27
College graduate and advanced degree 17
Raised in I-Lan Yes 83
No 17
Residence IL city 26
Lou-Dong 16
Jiaosi 15
DongShan 9
YuanShan 9
Tou-Cheng 6
Su-Ao 5
ChaungWei 4.0
Wu-Jih 4
Da-tong 3
Shan-Hsin 2
Nan-Ao 1.0
Other 7
Note:
a
N ¼ 286
Table I.
Frequency of
respondents’
socio-demographic
characteristics
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agreed that county government invited them to assist in tourism planning and knew
their concerns (Table IV) and 60 per cent of respondents agreed that they could
in?uence tourism planning. When the four items where combined into an overall
attitudes toward government index (reliability ¼ 0.8953), the index had a mean of 3.65.
Overall, perceptions of bene?ts and costs
Stakeholders have similarly high perceptions of NBT’s bene?ts, with all the groups
having means between 3.6 and 4.2. In terms of individual factors, economic bene?t 2
(ECB2) package tour program (PTP) had the highest mean (4.2), followed by
social/cultural bene?ts (SCB) (4.1), while social/cultural cost (SCC) (3.0), and economic
cost 3 (ECC3) leakages (2.9) ranked last (Table V). Respondents also perceived
tourism variability (mean 3.7) and rising land prices (3.9) as major economic costs,
while leakage outside the county (mean 2.9) was the lowest perceived impact.
Overall, respondents perceived much lower cost in ENC, social cost and ECC3
(tourism leakages) than the relative bene?t groups. With NBT bene?ts receiving
rather high scores, respondents apparently have a strong positive perception of NBT;
therefore, the analysis will focus on respondents’ perceptions of bene?ts – rather
than costs.
Variable Category Per cent
Type of business Gift 11
(n ¼ 347) Market 3
Food 16
Taxi/bus 2
Hotel 18
Leisure farm 12
B&B 15
Adv/printing 2
Rental 7
Whale watching 2
Travel agency 3
Farmers ass. 5
S&L 1
Bank 4
Other 3
Length of owning Less than two years 11
Business (n ¼ 263) 2-6 years 41
7-15 years 24
16-30 years 16
31-150 years 9
Organization Local of?cial/consultant 0
(n ¼ 263) Representative 0
Reps of tourism assoc. 11
Private reps/org 46
Independent businesses 43
Notes: 30 respondents chose more than one type of business; 25 respondents failed to ?ll out length of
business and organization
Table II.
Respondents’ type
of business, length
of business and
organization
Nature-based
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e
n
t
o
f
c
u
s
t
o
m
e
r
s
t
h
a
t
d
e
r
i
v
e
s
f
r
o
m
N
B
T
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
i
n
c
r
e
a
s
e
i
n
r
e
v
e
n
u
e
o
v
e
r
t
h
e
l
a
s
t
?
v
e
y
e
a
r
s
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
d
e
c
r
e
a
s
e
i
n
r
e
v
e
n
u
e
o
v
e
r
t
h
e
l
a
s
t
?
v
e
y
e
a
r
s
W
h
a
l
e
8
5
9
.
3
5
6
.
4
1
0
.
0
1
5
.
0
G
i
f
t
3
3
3
7
.
5
3
8
.
8
2
4
.
7
2
3
.
3
B
&
B
5
1
3
5
.
5
3
8
.
0
2
6
.
0
3
6
.
3
P
r
i
n
t
i
n
g
5
3
2
.
3
2
9
.
4
1
1
.
0
1
7
.
5
L
.
F
a
r
m
3
8
3
1
.
4
3
3
.
5
2
0
.
0
2
6
.
3
F
o
o
d
4
6
2
7
.
7
2
7
.
5
2
4
.
0
2
2
.
0
M
a
r
k
e
t
9
2
6
.
8
2
6
.
8
3
0
.
0
2
5
.
0
B
u
s
5
1
6
.
0
1
8
.
0
2
0
.
0
1
0
.
0
H
o
t
e
l
5
8
3
0
.
6
3
1
.
3
1
5
.
4
2
3
.
8
C
a
r
r
e
n
t
5
2
9
.
3
3
1
.
5
1
8
.
3
1
9
.
6
T
r
a
v
e
l
9
2
8
.
6
3
0
.
9
3
5
.
0
1
1
.
5
F
a
r
m
e
r
s
A
1
1
2
2
.
5
1
5
S
a
v
i
n
g
s
a
n
d
l
o
a
n
s
2
1
5
.
0
B
a
n
k
9
2
0
.
0
2
1
M
e
a
n
3
0
3
1
N
o
t
e
s
:
N
¼
2
6
5
;
2
3
r
e
s
p
o
n
d
e
n
t
s
f
a
i
l
e
d
t
o
?
l
l
o
u
t
s
a
l
e
s
i
t
e
m
s
;
5
6
p
e
r
c
e
n
t
o
f
r
e
s
p
o
n
d
e
n
t
s
r
e
p
o
r
t
e
d
i
n
c
r
e
a
s
e
i
n
s
a
l
e
s
a
n
d
4
3
p
e
r
c
e
n
t
o
f
t
h
e
m
r
e
p
o
r
t
e
d
d
e
c
r
e
a
s
e
Table III.
Relationships between
type of business and sales
revenue
IJCTHR
2,3
258
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
0
5
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
Although ECB 2 PTP had the highest mean, survey data showed that only 38 per cent
of respondents participated in PTP, and many respondents failed to answer the speci?c
PTP questions. Thus, this paper will not further analyze costs and bene?ts of PTP.
When combining individual bene?t/cost into the same groups, SCB group ranked at
the top among other bene?ts groups, followed by environmental bene?ts (ENB) group
and economic bene?ts (Table VI). Respondents perceived the most bene?t from the
SCB group, which might be related to the county government’s promotion of cultural
activities since 1990s. This might also help to explain respondents’ low perception of
socio-cultural costs.
Socio-demographic relationship with type of involvement
There was no signi?cant difference between socio-demographic characteristics and
type of business (Table VII). However, there was a signi?cant relationship between
gender and type of business ( p ¼ 0.052) at the p ¼ 0.1 level.
Attitudes toward government and level of involvement
Results show that, there is little relationship between socio-demographic variables and
participants’ attitudes toward the government and involvement in tourism planning.
Respondents’ organization was signi?cantly related to participating in tourism
planning in the past 12 months. The model predicted or explained 24 per cent of the
variance in passtime (Table VIII). Respondents who represented tourism associations
participated more in tourism planning.
Respondents’ organization and education were signi?cantly related to participating
in government tourism programs. The model predicted or explained 19 per cent of
variance in Partake (Table IX).
Respondents’ organization was signi?cantly related to donating money to tourism
activities. The model predicted or explained 24 per cent of the variance in Donate
(Table X). Respondents’ who represented tourism associations and private
organizations contributed more money to tourism planning. On the other hand,
Per cent
a
Strongly
disagree Disagree No opinion Agree
Strongly
agree Mean SD
Statement (attitudes toward
county government)
County government invites
you to participate in tourism
planning 1.7 6.6 15 65.4 11.2 3.78 0.80
County government knows
your concerns and issues
of tourism planning 1.7 10.5 16.8 61.2 9.8 3.67 0.86
County government accepts
your opinions 2.4 7.7 21 58.7 10.1 3.66 0.85
You in?uence county
tourism planning 2.8 14 23.8 50 9.4 3.49 0.94
Mean ¼ 3.65 2.2 9.7 19.2 58.8 10.1 3.65
Note:
a
N ¼ 261
Table IV.
Distribution of
respondents’ perceptions
of county government
Nature-based
tourism impacts
in I-Lan, Taiwan
259
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
0
5
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
N
M
e
a
n
S
t
r
o
n
g
l
y
d
i
s
a
g
r
e
e
S
t
r
o
n
g
l
y
a
g
r
e
e
E
C
B
2
(
e
c
o
n
o
m
i
c
b
e
n
e
?
t
2
:
p
a
c
k
a
g
e
t
o
u
r
p
r
o
g
r
a
m
–
P
T
P
)
1
6
8
4
.
2
0
0
2
6
6
3
2
7
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
e
d
t
h
e
v
a
r
i
e
t
y
o
f
P
T
P
1
7
1
4
.
2
1
0
1
4
5
8
2
7
U
p
g
r
a
d
e
s
t
h
e
q
u
a
l
i
t
y
o
f
s
e
r
v
i
c
e
o
f
P
T
P
1
6
9
4
.
1
7
0
3
5
6
3
2
8
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
e
s
c
u
s
t
o
m
e
r
s
f
r
o
m
P
T
P
1
6
9
4
.
2
2
0
1
4
6
6
2
9
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
e
s
s
a
l
e
s
r
e
v
e
n
u
e
s
f
r
o
m
P
T
P
1
6
7
4
.
0
4
0
5
1
0
6
2
2
3
I
n
t
e
g
r
a
t
e
s
l
o
c
a
l
i
n
d
u
s
t
r
i
e
s
f
r
o
m
P
T
P
1
6
7
4
.
1
3
0
1
8
6
5
2
5
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
e
s
n
a
m
e
-
r
e
c
o
g
n
i
t
i
o
n
f
o
r
b
u
s
i
n
e
s
s
e
s
f
r
o
m
P
T
P
1
6
7
4
.
1
9
0
1
7
6
4
2
8
S
C
B
:
t
o
u
r
i
s
m
’
s
a
f
f
e
c
t
o
n
c
u
l
t
u
r
a
l
i
d
e
n
t
i
t
y
a
n
d
r
e
c
o
g
n
i
t
i
o
n
)
2
8
6
4
.
1
0
2
1
8
1
5
5
6
8
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
e
d
d
i
v
e
r
s
i
t
y
o
f
c
u
l
t
u
r
a
l
a
c
t
i
v
i
t
i
e
s
a
m
o
n
g
d
i
f
f
e
r
e
n
t
e
t
h
n
i
c
g
r
o
u
p
s
2
8
6
4
.
1
0
1
9
7
7
1
1
2
I
m
p
r
o
v
e
d
a
u
t
o
n
o
m
y
i
n
t
h
e
c
o
m
m
u
n
i
t
y
2
8
6
4
.
0
1
.
2
1
8
1
3
5
8
9
I
m
p
r
o
v
e
d
t
h
e
u
n
d
e
r
s
t
a
n
d
i
n
g
a
m
o
n
g
d
i
f
f
e
r
e
n
t
c
o
m
m
u
n
i
t
i
e
s
a
n
d
c
u
l
t
u
r
e
s
2
8
6
4
.
0
9
2
2
8
2
6
4
0
4
E
N
B
(
e
n
v
i
r
o
n
m
e
n
t
a
l
b
e
n
e
?
t
)
2
8
6
3
.
8
0
2
1
6
1
5
5
5
1
3
E
n
h
a
n
c
i
n
g
p
r
e
s
e
r
v
a
t
i
o
n
o
f
e
c
o
s
y
s
t
e
m
2
8
6
3
.
4
0
3
2
2
1
8
4
6
1
1
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
i
n
g
l
o
c
a
l
r
e
s
i
d
e
n
t
s
’
a
w
a
r
e
n
e
s
s
o
f
i
m
p
o
r
t
a
n
c
e
o
f
m
a
i
n
t
a
i
n
i
n
g
n
a
t
u
r
a
l
a
m
e
n
i
t
i
e
s
2
8
6
3
.
9
8
0
1
0
1
2
6
4
1
4
I
m
p
r
o
v
i
n
g
l
o
c
a
l
a
r
e
a
s
’
a
p
p
e
a
r
a
n
c
e
2
8
6
4
.
0
0
1
6
1
0
6
1
2
2
E
C
B
1
(
e
c
o
n
o
m
i
c
b
e
n
e
?
t
1
:
j
o
b
a
n
d
s
a
l
e
s
r
e
v
e
n
u
e
i
s
s
u
e
s
)
2
8
6
3
.
6
0
1
1
5
1
7
5
9
9
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
i
n
g
r
e
v
e
n
u
e
s
f
o
r
b
u
s
i
n
e
s
s
2
8
6
3
.
8
3
1
‘
9
7
7
1
1
2
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
i
n
g
j
o
b
o
p
p
o
r
t
u
n
i
t
i
e
s
2
8
6
3
.
5
5
2
1
8
1
3
5
8
9
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
i
n
g
w
a
g
e
s
a
n
d
f
r
i
n
g
e
b
e
n
e
?
t
s
2
8
6
3
.
1
4
2
2
8
2
6
4
0
4
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
i
n
g
w
h
a
l
e
w
a
t
c
h
i
n
g
b
u
s
i
n
e
s
s
e
s
2
8
6
3
.
8
1
0
5
2
0
6
5
1
0
E
C
C
1
(
e
c
o
n
o
m
i
c
c
o
s
t
1
:
l
a
n
d
p
r
i
c
e
s
)
2
8
6
3
.
9
0
1
7
1
0
6
0
2
2
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
e
d
r
e
n
t
o
f
h
o
u
s
e
s
a
n
d
l
a
n
d
s
2
8
6
3
.
6
9
1
1
2
1
6
5
9
1
2
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
e
d
i
n
h
o
u
s
i
n
g
a
n
d
l
a
n
d
p
r
i
c
e
s
w
h
i
c
h
o
n
l
y
h
a
p
p
e
n
e
d
i
n
t
o
u
r
i
s
m
d
e
v
e
l
o
p
m
e
n
t
a
r
e
a
s
2
8
6
3
.
9
1
1
6
1
1
6
4
1
8
I
n
c
r
e
a
s
e
d
i
n
h
o
u
s
i
n
g
a
n
d
l
a
n
d
p
r
i
c
e
s
,
w
h
i
c
h
i
s
r
e
l
a
t
e
d
t
o
P
e
i
-
I
f
r
e
e
w
a
y
2
8
6
4
.
2
3
1
2
5
5
7
3
5
E
C
C
2
(
e
c
o
n
o
m
i
c
c
o
s
t
2
:
t
o
u
r
i
s
m
v
a
r
i
a
b
i
l
i
t
y
)
2
8
6
3
.
7
0
1
1
2
1
7
5
5
1
5
(
c
o
n
t
i
n
u
e
d
)
Table V.
Overall perceptions of
costs/bene?ts of tourism
impacts
IJCTHR
2,3
260
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
0
5
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
N
M
e
a
n
S
t
r
o
n
g
l
y
d
i
s
a
g
r
e
e
S
t
r
o
n
g
l
y
a
g
r
e
e
V
i
s
i
t
o
r
s
o
v
e
r
-
c
o
n
v
e
r
g
e
n
c
e
i
n
s
p
e
c
i
?
c
s
e
a
s
o
n
s
2
8
6
4
.
0
5
0
8
7
5
6
2
8
O
v
e
r
-
u
s
i
n
g
t
o
u
r
i
s
m
r
e
s
o
u
r
c
e
s
i
n
p
e
a
k
s
e
a
s
o
n
s
2
8
6
3
.
5
4
0
1
8
2
1
5
1
1
0
U
n
d
e
r
-
u
s
i
n
g
t
o
u
r
i
s
m
r
e
s
o
u
r
c
e
s
i
n
l
o
w
s
e
a
s
o
n
s
2
8
6
3
.
6
1
1
1
4
1
9
5
4
1
2
A
f
f
e
c
t
i
n
g
t
h
e
b
a
l
a
n
c
e
o
f
r
e
v
e
n
u
e
,
e
x
p
e
n
s
e
s
a
n
d
w
i
l
l
i
n
g
n
e
s
s
o
f
i
n
v
e
s
t
m
e
n
t
2
8
6
3
.
7
2
1
9
1
9
5
8
1
3
R
e
s
u
l
t
i
n
g
i
n
s
p
a
t
i
a
l
e
n
v
i
r
o
n
m
e
n
t
c
a
r
r
y
i
n
g
p
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Table V.
Nature-based
tourism impacts
in I-Lan, Taiwan
261
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Y
U
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V
E
R
S
I
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A
t
2
2
:
0
5
2
4
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a
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a
r
y
2
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6
(
P
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)
respondents who represented individual businesses donated less money to tourism
planning.
Attitudes toward the government and participation in tourism planning in the next
12 months were signi?cantly related to SCB. The model predicted or explained
12 per cent of variance in SCB (Table XI). Respondents who interacted more with
county government and respondents who were willing to participate in tourism
planning over the next 12 months perceived more SCB than other respondents.
Interaction of socio-demographic characteristics and level of involvement to perception of
bene?ts
Regression and a one-way ANOVA were used to examine how the respondents’
socio-demographics interacted with their attitudes toward the government and level
Variable Mean
Social/cultural bene?ts (SCB) 4.1
Environmental bene?ts (ENB) 3.8
Economic bene?ts (ECB) 3.6
Economic costs (ECC) 3.5
Environmental costs (ENC) 3.4
Social/cultural costs (SCC) 3.0
Notes: ECB – ECB1; ECC – ECC1 þ ECC2 þ ECC3; N ¼ 286
Table VI.
Overall perceptions of
impacts in groups
Variable F Error df Sig
Age 1.37 1.000 0.545
Gender 152.11 1.000 0.052
Education 2.20 1.000 0.470
Raised in I-Lan as children 5.06 1.000 0.266
Length of owning business 1.30 1.000 0.570
Residence 2.80 1.000 0.439
Notes: General linear model: multivariate test; signi?cant level p , 0.10
Table VII.
Signi?cant level between
socio-demographics and
type of business
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 3.409 0.665 5.128 0.000
Organization 20.468 0.065 27.172 0.000
Gender 20.157 0.108 21.458 0.146
Age 0.009 0.005 1.753 0.081
Education 0.037 0.049 0.767 0.444
Raised in I-Lan as children 20.043 0.140 20.309 0.758
Residence 0.026 0.017 1.540 0.125
Owning business less than one year 20.075 0.230 20.327 0.744
Owning business more than one year 20.001 0.003 20.254 0.800
Notes: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.239
Table VIII.
Past participation in
tourism planning over the
past 12 months
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of involvement related to their perception of bene?ts. Attitudes toward government,
participating intourismplanning over the past 12 months, and willingness to participate
in tourismplanning over the next 12 months were signi?cantly related to the perception
of SCB. The model predicted or explained 16 per cent of the variance in SCB (Table XII).
In other words, respondents who participated in tourism planning over the past 12
months would be willing to participate in tourism planning over the next 12 months.
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 3.442 0.901 3.818 0.000
Organization 20.665 0.088 27.518 0.000
Gender 20.012 0.146 20.082 0.935
Age 0.004 0.007 0.568 0.571
Education 0.100 0.066 1.519 0.130
Raised in I-Lan as children 0.198 0.190 1.045 0.297
Residence 20.034 0.023 21.487 0.138
Owning business less than one year 0.300 0.311 0.965 0.336
Owning business more than one year 0.001 0.004 0.366 0.714
Notes: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.236
Table X.
Contributing money
to tourism planning
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 3.119 0.171 18.28 0.000
Attitudes toward the government 0.162 0.041 3.943 0.000
Past participation over the last 12 months 20.066 0.049 21.328 0.185
Willing to participate over the next 12 months 0.102 0.041 2.475 0.014
Implemented tourism activities over the last 12 months 0.016 0.066 0.240 0.811
Used tourism projects over the last 12 months 0.060 0.065 0.923 0.357
Participated as a tourist over the last 12 months 0.058 0.051 1.142 0.254
Contributed over the last 12 months 0.006 0.033 0.173 0.863
Notes: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.12
Table XI.
Attitudes toward the
government and SCB (1)
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 2.787 0.638 4.368 0.000
Organization 20.398 0.063 26.355 0.000
Gender 0.050 0.103 0.481 0.631
Age 0.007 0.005 1.472 0.142
Education 0.125 0.047 2.662 0.008
Raised in I-Lan as children 0.081 0.134 0.607 0.544
Residence 0.008 0.016 0.490 0.624
Owning business less than one year 20.197 0.220 20.893 0.373
Owning business more than one year 20.001 0.003 20.307 0.759
Note: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.186
Table IX.
Participation
in government tourism
projects
Nature-based
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However, these variables showed opposite affects on the perception of SCB. People who
stated that they participated more in decision-making perceived less SCB.
Attitudes toward the government, age, and if they operated their business longer
than one year were signi?cantly related to economic bene?t 1 (ECB1): job and sales
revenue; however, the model only predicted or explained 10 per cent of the variance
(Table XIII). Respondents who were older than 35 tended to operate their businesses
longer than that of younger respondents. However, respondents who operated their
business longer than one year did not perceive more jobs and sales revenue bene?ts.
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 2.840 0.518 5.481 0.000
Attitudes toward the government 0.174 0.044 3.965 0.000
Past participation over the last 12 months 20.121 0.061 21.984 0.048
Willing to participate over the next 12 months 0.135 0.046 2.948 0.004
Implemented tourism over the last 12 months 20.012 0.077 20.153 0.878
Used tourism projects over the last 12 months 0.093 0.079 1.174 0.242
Participated as a tourist over the last 12 months 0.059 0.055 1.084 0.280
Contributed over the last 12 months 20.019 0.038 20.494 0.622
Organization 20.078 0.051 21.542 0.124
Gender 0.020 0.074 0.268 0.789
Age 0.002 0.004 0.491 0.624
Education 0.000 0.033 0.010 0.992
Raised in I-Lan as children 0.076 0.095 0.800 0.425
Residence 0.016 0.012 1.394 0.165
Owning business less than one year 0.182 0.157 1.160 0.247
Owning business more than one year 0.001 0.002 0.280 0.780
Notes: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.161
Table XII.
Attitudes toward
government, past
and future participation
and SCB
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 2.730 0.630 4.331 0.000
Attitudes toward the government 0.126 0.053 2.349 0.020
Past participation over the last 12 months 20.099 0.074 21.336 0.183
Willing to participate over the next 12 months 0.065 0.056 1.169 0.243
Implemented tourism activities over the last 12 months 0.020 0.093 0.213 0.831
Used tourism projects over the last 12 months 0.105 0.096 1.095 0.275
Participated as a tourist over the last 12 months 0.032 0.066 0.488 0.626
Contributed over the last 12 months 20.051 0.046 21.092 0.276
Organization 20.020 0.062 20.329 0.742
Gender 20.113 0.090 21.260 0.209
Age 0.009 0.004 2.096 0.037
Education 0.020 0.041 0.500 0.617
Raised in I-Lan as children 0.046 0.115 0.397 0.692
Residence 20.006 0.014 20.438 0.662
Owning business less than one year 0.044 0.190 0.233 0.816
Owning business more than one year 20.006 0.002 22.661 0.008
Notes: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.103
Table XIII.
Attitude toward
government, socio-demo,
business characters and
ECB1
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Findings
NBT is the right direction
About 90 per cent of respondents in follow-up interviews agreed that NBT was good
for I-Lan and should continue to be developed as a tool for sustainable development.
Results show that most business managers (78 per cent) are aware that they need to
keep a well-managed environment for continuing their tourism businesses. Results
also show that ENC was not a major concern for respondents. County data show that
environmental disasters such as mudslides and water pollution are rare in I-Lan (I-Lan
County Government, 2002).
The ?ndings show that 30 per cent of annual sales and 31 per cent of customers
generated from NBT (Table III). Whale watching businesses had the highest
percentage of sales (59.3 per cent) and customers (56.4 per cent) from NBT, followed by
B&B (36, 38 per cent) and leisure farm (31, 34 per cent). Respondents from these three
businesses reported higher NBT sales and customers but not 100 per cent generated
from NBT, which might indicate that they perceived large portion of customers (40-65
per cent) as non-NBT tourists. These customers were in PTP which usually included
whale watching, leisure farms or B&B activities. These ?gures also indicate the stage
of NBT development in the region.
Role of county government
County government has controlled and managed most tourism resources in I-Lan over
the last 20-years. While tourism development has reached its consolidation stage (Lee,
2003; Shen, 2002), the county government needs to release its resources and invite more
private sector involvement in tourism (Kuo, 2004). The comments from follow-up
interviews support the study’s ?ndings that businesses have positive attitudes toward
tourism and the government, but they would like to pursue these bene?ts as
independent businesses – not in collaboration with the government.
Pei-I freeway impact
Pei-I freeway (30.8 km) was completed and opened on June, 2006 after ?fteen years of
construction, whichshortenedthe travel distance fromthree hours to 40 minbetweenTaipei
and I-Lan. Results showed that over 92 per cent of respondents agreed that the increase in
housing and land prices was related to the Pei-I freeway (mean 4.23). Based on survey data
and follow-up interviews, over 90 per cent of respondents expressed mixed feelings about
the freeway. They agreed that Pei-I would bring visitors and help their economy. On the
other hand, they were also worried about the negative impacts on social/cultural values and
damage to the fragile environment, which will undoubtedly follow.
Since the opening of Pei-I freeway will change I-Lan’s overall outlook in economic,
social/cultural and environmental aspects, future research will need to be conducted to
identify and measure these impacts.
Perception of impacts
Results show that respondents perceived the SCB higher than environmental and
economic bene?ts, as well as all costs. The I-Lan County Government has engaged in
culture activities as major tourismactivities since 1990s. For example, the county held the
grappling with ghosts competition at Tou-Cheng in 1991, Happy I-Lan Year since 1994,
Nature-based
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in I-Lan, Taiwan
265
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a
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6
(
P
T
)
holding International Collegiate Regatta in 1994 and children’s festival in1996. These
activities were often co-sponsored by local businesses, which activated the local industry.
In the recent past, the central Taiwan Government had suppressed many such cultural
activities. Integrating cultural activities with tourism might likely have increased the
sense of local sprit and cultural identity for participating tourismbusinesses. In fact, I-Lan
was rankedthe ?rst in“sense of pride” among21 counties andcities inTaiwanin1996 and
1997, and was also ranked the ?rst as “the most favorable living place in Taiwan” in
several recent surveys (Lee, 2003). Furthermore, these cultural activities have successfully
attracted visitors and generated sales revenue for local business.
Results also show that ENB ranked second followed by economic bene?ts. The
county rejected polluting manufacturing plants, which included the largest
manufacturing company-Formosa Group and a government owned power plant,
proposed to build in 1980s and 1990s (Lee, 2003; Chen, 2003). I-Lan was the ?rst county
to establish and implement environmental protection standards and regulations in the
1980s and 1990s, which later became environmental protection policies for the central
Taiwan Government (Hong, 2001; Lee, 2003; Chen, 2003). As a result, the environment
in I-Lan is well conserved compared to other areas in Taiwan. This relates to why I-Lan
is so popular among nature-based tourists.
Results show that economic bene?ts ranked last in bene?ts, which might re?ect the
economic structure in I-Lan. Past research revealed that the economic bene?ts
generated from tourism are a small portion of the economy due to tourism’s labor
intensive and low-pro?t feature (Hong, 2001). Thus, the economic bene?t derived from
tourism in I-Lan has been unable to offset its economic gap. Another explanation for
the ranking might be individual respondent’s perception in economic versus group or
whole society’s perceptions in social/cultural and environmental issues. Perceptions of
economic issues are usually related to short-term, direct and personal experience, while
perceptions of social/cultural and environmental issues are usually related to
long-term, indirect or whole society’s experience.
Socio-demographic characteristics relationship with tourism involvement
Results showthat most socio-demographic characteristics have little role in affecting the
type of involvement I-Lan business managers have in tourism. The ?ndings also show
that well-educated respondents participated more in the four levels of involvement.
Survey data show that 44 per cent of respondents have a college degree (Table I), which
is much higher than county average (18 per cent). It also means that respondents with
better education are likely to be non-natives, who bring capital to invest in I-Lan. As
investors, these respondents would tend to participate more in tourism planning.
Respondents’ organization was related to level of involvement. This con?rms that
people who are involved in tourismassociations or other private business organizations
are more likely to take part in the government’s tourism program, either as a
decision-maker or actively participating in government sponsored programs.
Interaction of socio-demographic characteristics and level of involvement to perception of
bene?ts
Results show that attitudes toward the government and age were positively related to
economic bene?ts that described job and sales revenue issue. However, operating a
business longer than one year was negatively related to ECB1.
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Although respondents who had more positive attitudes towards the government
were more likely to perceive SCB; actual interaction with the government programs, in
terms of past participation in decision making, visiting programs as a tourist, and
donating to tourism programs, were not signi?cantly related to perceptions of these
bene?ts. As stated earlier, this highlights the ?nding that participants’ perception of
the government is more important in determining perceptions of bene?ts than actual
interaction with the government. Past research in social exchange reveals that higher
level of trust people has with a decision-maker has a positive affect on GNP and social
performance (La Porta et al., 1997). This could be the case in I-Lan. Business managers
had positive perceptions toward the government, but they lost trust with the
government when they interacted with the government.
Other research (Madrigal, 1993) shows that residents with positive perceptions of
tourism believe that they could in?uence tourism decisions. Business managers in
I-Lan could lose trust with the government as they become more involved in the
government’s tourism programs (as decision makers or participants). This could result
in a gradual eroding of support for NBT in I-Lan – at least as a county initiative.
Suggestions and implications
The ?ndings indicate that SCB are the most apparent in I-Lan and these perceptions
were likely shaped by I-Lan’s strong commitment to NBT over the last several decades.
The reviving of cultural identity and cultural recognition in the region symbolizes the
struggle of local culture versus the in?uence of Chinese culture, which has been the
mainstream culture in Taiwan since 1950s.
Another major ?nding in this study is that participants’ perception of the
government is more important in determining perceptions of bene?ts than actual
interaction with the government. It indicates that, the county government might
change its role from top-down decision-making style to co-partnering with local
business people. The county can also alleviate its own ?nancial burden by releasing
some of tourism activities to private sectors and use private sectors’ resources for
sustainable NBT development in I-Lan. In fact, the county government has decided to
discontinue children’s festival for fewer visitors and losing money in the past several
years (I-Lan County Council Report, 2007), which seems to match the ?ndings of this
study that tourism development should not mainly rely on the county government’s
?nancial support and its management. The end of ten-year children’s festival in I-Lan
may indicate that government funded tourism events are probably not the good way
for sustainable tourism in I-Lan and elsewhere. The county government may need to
adjust its role from dominating to consulting or assisting county tourism activities.
The third ?nding indicates that NBT will be the right direction for the county. Most
participants in follow-up interview expressed their pride and concern about the county
environment. They were very proud of well-kept landscaping and environment and
were aware of the important of maintaining the ecosystem for future tourism
development.
This study might also provide an implication for tourism development in other
countries, where regional communities seek for tourism as alternatives for their
economic development without falling into traditional manufacturing type of
development.
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Corresponding author
Joe Ying Chin Yang can be contacted at: [email protected]
IJCTHR
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This article has been cited by:
1. Vikneswaran Nair, Lo May Chiun, Sanjit Singh. 2014. The International Tourists’ Perspective on
Malaysia's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 144,
433-445. [CrossRef]
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doc_604773401.pdf
The paper seeks to examine nature-based tourism (NBT) impacts from business
managers’ perceptions in economic, cultural and environmental aspects and understands the
relationship among socio-demographic characteristics, type and level of involvement and participants’
perception of impacts
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Nature-based tourism impacts in I-Lan, Taiwan: business managers' perceptions
J oe Ying Chin Yang Yu Mei Chen
Article information:
To cite this document:
J oe Ying Chin Yang Yu Mei Chen, (2008),"Nature-based tourism impacts in I-Lan, Taiwan: business
managers' perceptions", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 2 Iss 3 pp.
250 - 270
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Nature-based tourism impacts
in I-Lan, Taiwan: business
managers’ perceptions
Joe Ying Chin Yang
Department of Tourism and Leisure, Diwan College of Management,
Tainan, Taiwan, and
Yu Mei Chen
Center for General Education, Kun-Shan University of Technology,
Yung-Kang City, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose – The paper seeks to examine nature-based tourism (NBT) impacts from business
managers’ perceptions in economic, cultural and environmental aspects and understands the
relationship among socio-demographic characteristics, type and level of involvement and participants’
perception of impacts.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses social exchange theory to explain costs/bene?ts
in each aspect. Several indicators including social-demographic characteristics, attitudes toward the
government, types and level of involvement are used to analyze costs/bene?ts of tourism impacts.
Findings – NBT has a moderate impact on participants’ business – contributing approximately
30 per cent of their annual sales and 31 per cent of customers. Business managers believe bene?ts to
the social/cultural environment are the most apparent impact in I-Lan, followed by economic bene?ts.
Participants believe that county government does well in tourism planning, and they believe that they
could in?uence county government’s tourism planning.
Research limitations/implications – Tourism related businesses are purposely chosen for this
study. Thus, the ?ndings cannot be inferred to a larger population.
Practical implications – The ?ndings support the usefulness of social exchange theory in
costs/bene?ts aspects. County government might change its role from top-down decision-making style
to co-partner with local business people.
Originality/value – The paper provides insights into understanding of business managers’
perceived impacts. Therefore, county tourism planners and researchers can have a more ef?cient and
holistic management of NBT in the region.
Keywords Tourism, Individual perception, Taiwan, Cost bene?t analysis
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In Taiwan’s export-import oriented economy, most of its counties have relied on
establishing manufacturing plants and commercial companies for their economic
development over the past 40 years; however, I-Lan County has set a different tone. It
promoted tourism as its primary economic activity. I-Lan County was the ?rst
tourism-oriented county in Taiwan in the 1980s (I-Lan County Government Report, 2000).
In addition, I-Lan was the ?rst county that spent money in professional research and
identi?ed guidelines for its county planning in Taiwan (Chen, 2003; Lee, 2003).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1750-6182.htm
IJCTHR
2,3
250
Received November 2006
Revised May 2007
Accepted December 2007
International Journal of Culture,
Tourism and Hospitality Research
Vol. 2 No. 3, 2008
pp. 250-270
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1750-6182
DOI 10.1108/17506180810891618
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Tourism generates 16-20 per cent of county’s economic output, as much as $120
million annually, and creates 46,000 jobs (I-Lan County Government Report, 2004).
I-Lan’s county government leads the way for tourism development in the county. The
county government has created and developed many events (e.g. Children’s Festival,
Green Expo). The local economy relies heavily on this government-led tourism, and local
businesses are an important part of the overall county tourismdevelopment (Lee, 2003).
Business associations usually have a close relationship with county government and
government agencies (I-Lan County Government Report, 2004).
Tourism development in I-Lan is more than 20 years old, and is appropriate now to
evaluate the impacts tourism has on the county’s businesses and stakeholders. Most
tourismstudies inI-Lan focus ona single sector (e.g. leisure farming) or special events (e.g.
Green Expo, Children’s Festival). Research has not looked at tourism’s effect on the entire
county. Based on both central (DGBAS, 2003) and county governments’ data (I-Lan
County Government Report, 2004), this study uses 15 types of business managers as units
of analysis, whichare relatedtotourism, andthe studyarea covers the entire I-LanCounty.
When examining tourism impacts, with their dual roles as business operators and
residents, business managers can provide unique perceptions about the critical issues
related to tourism impacts. This study differs from others’ study in I-Lan in two general
perspectives. First, the study assesses factors in?uencing ?fteen types of business
managers’ perceptions in the entire county. Second, the study examines the nature-based
tourism (NBT) development in I-Lan, where NBT is at its inception stage for the entire
country (Tourism Bureau, 2002, Tourism Bureau, 2005).
Attitudes and perceptions
Attitudes and perceptions of tourism impacts play an important role in tourism
studies. Researchers have used perceptions of residents and tourists to understand
tourism impacts in many tourism destinations (Liu and Var, 1986; Andereck and Vogt,
2000; Weaver et al., 2001; Andriotis and Vaughan, 2003). Studies have shown that three
main elements of the exchange process can be identi?ed, economic, environmental, and
social/cultural, in terms of resident perception of tourism impacts – costs and bene?ts
(King et al., 1993; Milman and Pizam, 1988; Long et al., 1990; Schluter and Var, 1988).
Most studies measure perceptions of impacts or attitudes using a series of
agreement scales (Weaver et al., 2001; Deccio and Baloglu, 2002; Sirakaya et al., 2002;
McGehee and Andereck, 2004).
Social exchange theory relations to tourism impacts
Social exchange theory is based on the concept that people are reward-pursuing and
punishment-avoiding, and people are motivated to action by expectation of pro?ts
(Napier and Bryant, 1980). Bagozzi (1978, p. 538) states that exchange involves
“a transfer of something tangible or intangible, actual or symbolic, between two or
more social actors”. La Porta et al. (1997) show that both economic and social
performance is positively affected by trust in exchange and other social relations. The
research from Fukuyama (1996) suggest that mutual trust within large economic
organizations represent a major factor of their success in the market, which is
measured by the volume of exchange (La Porta et al., 1997).
In terms of tourism, residents are willing to enter into exchange with tourists if they
receive more bene?ts than costs (Jurowski et al., 1997). Based on social exchange,
Nature-based
tourism impacts
in I-Lan, Taiwan
251
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researchers assumed that economic bene?ts derived from tourism development in
exchange for social and environmental impacts (Harrill, 2004).
Community involvement
Involvement is an action of information searching or extended problem solving
behavior (Engel and Blackwell, 1982). Researchers discuss measures of involvement
including amount of time spent, frequency of participation and experience (Donnelly
et al., 1986; McIntyre and Pigram, 1992; Scott and Godbey, 1994). Level of involvement
could be measured by time and money (Havitz and Dimanche, 1990; Kim et al., 1997)
and involvement meant to understand people’s decision-making process (Fesenmaier
and Johnson, 1989; Madrigal, 1993; Kull, 2002).
Relevant research to I-Lan
Chen (1998) uses the travel cost method to study the value Chi-Lan forest recreation
and the results showed that the average recreation value was NT$223.6 (US$ 8) per
visitor. Lin and Tang (1999) conduct visitor surveys in the Fushan Botanical Garden
and found that visitors’ primary motivation was appreciation for the environment.
Hong (2001) examines the perception of I-Lan’s local government and its economic
development. The ?ndings show that I-Lan’s economic growth was still far behind
most of the other counties in Taiwan after 20 years of tourism development due to low
pro?ts in tourism comparing to the manufacturing industry.
Chen (2003) argues that in order to form the tourism policy, the county government
gathered professional elites, local communities, local industries and local activists in
a long-term interaction and accumulated experiences to establish a unique “alternative
development” style in Taiwan. Chu (2004) studies leisure farming and marketing in
I-Lan. The ?ndings indicate that the driving forces of the “operational basis” for leisure
farms were the current operating situation and competitiveness. Kuo (2004) argues that
I-Lan was still ahead of other areas in tourism, but that the county government should
include more private sectors and local non-pro?t organizations involving in tourism
for its sustainable development.
Study site
The study area is I-Lan County, Taiwan. Approximately, 463,000 people live in the
2,143 km
2
county, which is located in the northeast corner of Taiwan Island. It faces the
Paci?c Ocean on the east, and is surrounded by mountains on the west, south and
north. Three quarters of the county is mountainous. Because of its geographic location,
it has limited access to the other areas in Taiwan (Figure 1).
I-Lan is situated in a subtropical climate with an average annual temperature of
228C year round and 210 average annual days of rain. It is full of diverse natural
attractions, which include beaches, offshore islands, tall mountains, forests, lakes,
waterfalls, hot springs and unique cold springs (I-Lan County Government Report,
2004). Furthermore, due to its low development, I-Lan’s natural landscape is well
preserved. I-Lan has been regarded as “backward” and its economic development has
always been 10-20 years behind other Taiwan counties (Kop, 1992; Shi, 1994; Shen,
2002; Chen, 2003; Lee, 2003).
Three stages of tourism development can be categorized in I-Lan since 1981: Stage 1
(1981-1989): Exploration, involvement and development; Stage 2 (1989-1997):
IJCTHR
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Development of cultural tourism and major tourism activities; and Stage 3 (1997-2005):
Consolidation of major tourism activities.
Method
The conceptual model in this study combines the model of Gursoy and Rutherford
(2004) and other models regarding socio-demographic characteristics, types of
involvement and level of involvement (Figure 2).
Based on past research, people’s socio-demographic make-up and experience with
tourism likely effect how they perceive the costs and bene?ts of tourism. Therefore,
socio-demographic and business characteristic (e.g. length of owning business,
respondents’ organization) variables are likely an important component of this study
along with two intervening variables:
(1) type of involvement; and
(2) level of involvement.
The largest part of this study focused on business managers’ perception of economic,
social/cultural, and environmental impacts. The majority of the items that compiled
this list came from individual interviews with I-Lan business managers. Researchers
worded each impact so each was consistent within the questionnaire and with other
tourism impact studies. They were also placed into appropriate categories (i.e.
economic, social/cultural, and environmental) (Ap and Crompton, 1998; I-Lan County
Tourism Comprehensive Plan, 1996; Gilbert and Clark, 1997; Snaith and Haley, 1999;
Weaver et al., 2001; Chen, 2003). Items were validated using a short impact study and a
total of 42 items were used in the ?nal questionnaire.
This study attempts to answer the following questions:
(1) What are the stakeholders’ perceptions of economic, social/cultural and
environmental costs (ENC) /bene?ts of NBT?
Figure 1.
Map of study site
Map of Taiwan Map of I-Lan County
China
Chinmen
TAIPEI
Taipei
Tauryuan
Hsinchu
Miaoli
Talchung
Nantour
Taichung
Taitung
Keelung
IIan
Yunlin
Chunghua
Chiayi Chiayi
Penghus
Tainan
Kaosiung
Pingtung
Hualien
Toucheng
Jiaosi
Yuanshan Yilan City Jhuangwei
Sansing
Loudong
Dongshan
Nan-ao
Datong
Su-ao
Wujie
KAOSIUNG
Nature-based
tourism impacts
in I-Lan, Taiwan
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(2) How do stakeholders’ socio-demographic (e.g., gender, age, level of education,
location of residence) and business characteristic (e.g., respondents’
organization, length of owning business) relate to their involvement in
tourism planning (as characterized by type of involvement, attitudes toward the
government, and level of involvement)?
(3) How do stakeholders’ socio-demographic characteristics and level of
involvement relate to their perception of costs/bene?ts?
Survey instrument
This study used a three-phase approach to answer its research questions. First,
individual interviews were used to identify NBT’s current role in I-Lan and existing
impacts of NBT. Second, a short survey that focused entirely on perceived impacts was
given to a small sample or business managers to validate the impact indices to be used
in the ?nal phase of research. Finally, the primary data gathering technique was an
on-site survey of I-Lan business managers.
The formal questionnaire included 13 Sections. Sections 1-11 asked participants to rate
the perception of impacts using the scales that were de?ned in the earlier research.
Responses to the statements regarding impacts used a ?ve-point index scale ranging from
“strongly disagree” ( ¼ 1) to “strongly agree” ( ¼ 5). A “no opinion” ( ¼ 3) option was
available. Section 12 addressed respondents’ level of involvement where managers
indicated perceptions of county government, their title/position, and amount of times and
money they were involved as a decision-maker, a tour provider, or a tourist in tourism.
Figure 2.
Conceptual model of
costs/bene?ts of NBT
impacts, type of
involvement, and level of
involvement
Type of Involvement
Food/Restaurant
Gift/grocery
Hotel, leisure farms
Supermarket
Car/bus rental
Taxi/ Bus
Printing
Whale–watching
Travel agencies
Financing institutes
Sales revenue
% of NBT revenue
% of NBT customers
% of change
Socio-demos &
Business characteristics
Gender
Age
Education
Raised in I–Lan
Residence
Length of Business
Organization
Perceived costs/benefits
of tourism impacts
Economic benefits
Economic costs
Social/cultural benefits
Social/cultural costs
Environmental benefits
Environmental costs Level of Involvement
Attitudes toward gov’t
Decision–maker
Part of tour programs
Tourist
No involvement
IJCTHR
2,3
254
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Section13askedparticipants for descriptive information, whichincludedtype of business,
economic descriptors and socio-demographic characteristics.
The survey was ?rst written in English and then translated into Chinese by the
researcher. A sample of 60 college students and 14 business managers were chosen to
pilot test the questionnaire in September and October 2005. The pretest was used to
determine content validity of the instrument, ?ow of questionnaire, and to obtain
respondents’ opinions.
The sample
The sample selected for the main questionnaire was business owners/managers’ from
15 business types (Table II). All businesses had some relation with NBT. Potential
respondents were distributed over the entire twelve administrative districts in I-Lan
County including I-Lan City and its 11 townships (Figure 1). Study participants were
purposely chosen based on two factors:
(1) their role in the NBT industry, the importance each type of business has in the
tourism industry, with certain types (e.g. hotels and travel agencies) having a
more direct role; therefore, receiving more respondents; and
(2) the number of potential businesses in a speci?c region, with more participants
coming from cities like I-Lan city where there are a higher density of tourism
businesses.
The survey was conducted during October-December 2005 in I-Lan. To be validated,
each company/organization received only one interview, and each respondent answered
one questionnaire only. To obtain more in-depth information from respondents,
follow-up interviews were conducted soon after the initial questionnaire was
administered. A total of 316 completed questionnaires were obtained, which included
240 by face-to-face interviews and 76 by mail from remote areas (e.g. Da-tong, Nan-Ao,
and YuanShan townships). About 30 of the questionnaires were eliminated due to
missing data and responses frompeople not related to NBTbusinesses. This resulted in
a total of 286 usable questionnaires, a response rate of 90 per cent.
Analysis
Socio-demographic characteristics. Results showed that most respondents (64.3 per cent)
were between 36-55 years old (with a mean of 43 years) and 59 per cent were male and
41 per cent were female (Table I). A little more than one-third of respondents
(36.1 per cent) possessed a high school/vocational diploma and 44 per cent had a college
degree or higher. Respondents with a college degree (44 per cent) were higher than that
of the county data (18 per cent), which might indicate tourism development attracts
better-educated people. Most participants (83 per cent) lived in I-Lan as children.
Business characteristics. The 347 respondents were categorized in 15 business types
(Table II). Almost three quarters of respondents managed hotels (18 per cent),
restaurants (16 per cent), B&B’s (15 per cent), leisure farms (12 per cent) and gift shops
(11 per cent). About 10 per cent of respondents chose more than one type of business,
with the largest overlap between people saying they were employed in leisure farms,
B&B’s, and restaurants.
On average, the participants owned a business in the community for 13.8 years,
with 41 per cent owning a business between 2-6 years. Almost half of the participants
Nature-based
tourism impacts
in I-Lan, Taiwan
255
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(46 per cent) were members of business organizations (e.g. I-Lan County Hotel
Association), but 43 per cent of participants were not members of an organization or
association. And 11 per cent of participants also served as representatives of local
tourism associations while operating their tourism businesses.
The ?nancial success and role NBT tourism plays in receiving ?nancial revenues
was evaluated in terms of total sales revenue, percent of sales and customers from
NBT, and change in sales revenue in the last ?ve-years. Almost one third of the
respondents reported making less than NT$1,200,000 (USD 40,000) and 13.6 per cent
reported more than NT$50,000,000 (USD 1,680,000) in annual sales revenue. Sales
revenue data show that businesses made an average of 30 per cent of annual sales and
31 per cent of customers from NBT. Whale watching businesses had the highest
percentage of sales (59.3 per cent) and customers (56.4 per cent) from NBT (Table III).
More leisure farm, B&B and gift store businesses have increased their sales revenue
rather than decreased over the last ?ve years. For all business types, 56 per cent of
respondents reported increases in sales revenue and 43 per cent reported decreases
(Table III).
Attitudes toward government and level of involvement
Generally, most participants have positive attitudes towards the government and how
it is working with stakeholders in tourism planning. Over 75 per cent of respondents
Variable Category Per cent
a
Gender Male 59
Female 41
Age 20-35 26
36-45 34
46-55 30
56-75 10
Education Less than high school 20
High school/vocational 36
Technical/associates degree 27
College graduate and advanced degree 17
Raised in I-Lan Yes 83
No 17
Residence IL city 26
Lou-Dong 16
Jiaosi 15
DongShan 9
YuanShan 9
Tou-Cheng 6
Su-Ao 5
ChaungWei 4.0
Wu-Jih 4
Da-tong 3
Shan-Hsin 2
Nan-Ao 1.0
Other 7
Note:
a
N ¼ 286
Table I.
Frequency of
respondents’
socio-demographic
characteristics
IJCTHR
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agreed that county government invited them to assist in tourism planning and knew
their concerns (Table IV) and 60 per cent of respondents agreed that they could
in?uence tourism planning. When the four items where combined into an overall
attitudes toward government index (reliability ¼ 0.8953), the index had a mean of 3.65.
Overall, perceptions of bene?ts and costs
Stakeholders have similarly high perceptions of NBT’s bene?ts, with all the groups
having means between 3.6 and 4.2. In terms of individual factors, economic bene?t 2
(ECB2) package tour program (PTP) had the highest mean (4.2), followed by
social/cultural bene?ts (SCB) (4.1), while social/cultural cost (SCC) (3.0), and economic
cost 3 (ECC3) leakages (2.9) ranked last (Table V). Respondents also perceived
tourism variability (mean 3.7) and rising land prices (3.9) as major economic costs,
while leakage outside the county (mean 2.9) was the lowest perceived impact.
Overall, respondents perceived much lower cost in ENC, social cost and ECC3
(tourism leakages) than the relative bene?t groups. With NBT bene?ts receiving
rather high scores, respondents apparently have a strong positive perception of NBT;
therefore, the analysis will focus on respondents’ perceptions of bene?ts – rather
than costs.
Variable Category Per cent
Type of business Gift 11
(n ¼ 347) Market 3
Food 16
Taxi/bus 2
Hotel 18
Leisure farm 12
B&B 15
Adv/printing 2
Rental 7
Whale watching 2
Travel agency 3
Farmers ass. 5
S&L 1
Bank 4
Other 3
Length of owning Less than two years 11
Business (n ¼ 263) 2-6 years 41
7-15 years 24
16-30 years 16
31-150 years 9
Organization Local of?cial/consultant 0
(n ¼ 263) Representative 0
Reps of tourism assoc. 11
Private reps/org 46
Independent businesses 43
Notes: 30 respondents chose more than one type of business; 25 respondents failed to ?ll out length of
business and organization
Table II.
Respondents’ type
of business, length
of business and
organization
Nature-based
tourism impacts
in I-Lan, Taiwan
257
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Relationships between
type of business and sales
revenue
IJCTHR
2,3
258
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Although ECB 2 PTP had the highest mean, survey data showed that only 38 per cent
of respondents participated in PTP, and many respondents failed to answer the speci?c
PTP questions. Thus, this paper will not further analyze costs and bene?ts of PTP.
When combining individual bene?t/cost into the same groups, SCB group ranked at
the top among other bene?ts groups, followed by environmental bene?ts (ENB) group
and economic bene?ts (Table VI). Respondents perceived the most bene?t from the
SCB group, which might be related to the county government’s promotion of cultural
activities since 1990s. This might also help to explain respondents’ low perception of
socio-cultural costs.
Socio-demographic relationship with type of involvement
There was no signi?cant difference between socio-demographic characteristics and
type of business (Table VII). However, there was a signi?cant relationship between
gender and type of business ( p ¼ 0.052) at the p ¼ 0.1 level.
Attitudes toward government and level of involvement
Results show that, there is little relationship between socio-demographic variables and
participants’ attitudes toward the government and involvement in tourism planning.
Respondents’ organization was signi?cantly related to participating in tourism
planning in the past 12 months. The model predicted or explained 24 per cent of the
variance in passtime (Table VIII). Respondents who represented tourism associations
participated more in tourism planning.
Respondents’ organization and education were signi?cantly related to participating
in government tourism programs. The model predicted or explained 19 per cent of
variance in Partake (Table IX).
Respondents’ organization was signi?cantly related to donating money to tourism
activities. The model predicted or explained 24 per cent of the variance in Donate
(Table X). Respondents’ who represented tourism associations and private
organizations contributed more money to tourism planning. On the other hand,
Per cent
a
Strongly
disagree Disagree No opinion Agree
Strongly
agree Mean SD
Statement (attitudes toward
county government)
County government invites
you to participate in tourism
planning 1.7 6.6 15 65.4 11.2 3.78 0.80
County government knows
your concerns and issues
of tourism planning 1.7 10.5 16.8 61.2 9.8 3.67 0.86
County government accepts
your opinions 2.4 7.7 21 58.7 10.1 3.66 0.85
You in?uence county
tourism planning 2.8 14 23.8 50 9.4 3.49 0.94
Mean ¼ 3.65 2.2 9.7 19.2 58.8 10.1 3.65
Note:
a
N ¼ 261
Table IV.
Distribution of
respondents’ perceptions
of county government
Nature-based
tourism impacts
in I-Lan, Taiwan
259
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(
c
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)
Table V.
Overall perceptions of
costs/bene?ts of tourism
impacts
IJCTHR
2,3
260
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
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t
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4
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a
n
u
a
r
y
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(
P
T
)
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.
8
1
8
3
3
3
2
2
6
1
Table V.
Nature-based
tourism impacts
in I-Lan, Taiwan
261
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
0
5
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
respondents who represented individual businesses donated less money to tourism
planning.
Attitudes toward the government and participation in tourism planning in the next
12 months were signi?cantly related to SCB. The model predicted or explained
12 per cent of variance in SCB (Table XI). Respondents who interacted more with
county government and respondents who were willing to participate in tourism
planning over the next 12 months perceived more SCB than other respondents.
Interaction of socio-demographic characteristics and level of involvement to perception of
bene?ts
Regression and a one-way ANOVA were used to examine how the respondents’
socio-demographics interacted with their attitudes toward the government and level
Variable Mean
Social/cultural bene?ts (SCB) 4.1
Environmental bene?ts (ENB) 3.8
Economic bene?ts (ECB) 3.6
Economic costs (ECC) 3.5
Environmental costs (ENC) 3.4
Social/cultural costs (SCC) 3.0
Notes: ECB – ECB1; ECC – ECC1 þ ECC2 þ ECC3; N ¼ 286
Table VI.
Overall perceptions of
impacts in groups
Variable F Error df Sig
Age 1.37 1.000 0.545
Gender 152.11 1.000 0.052
Education 2.20 1.000 0.470
Raised in I-Lan as children 5.06 1.000 0.266
Length of owning business 1.30 1.000 0.570
Residence 2.80 1.000 0.439
Notes: General linear model: multivariate test; signi?cant level p , 0.10
Table VII.
Signi?cant level between
socio-demographics and
type of business
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 3.409 0.665 5.128 0.000
Organization 20.468 0.065 27.172 0.000
Gender 20.157 0.108 21.458 0.146
Age 0.009 0.005 1.753 0.081
Education 0.037 0.049 0.767 0.444
Raised in I-Lan as children 20.043 0.140 20.309 0.758
Residence 0.026 0.017 1.540 0.125
Owning business less than one year 20.075 0.230 20.327 0.744
Owning business more than one year 20.001 0.003 20.254 0.800
Notes: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.239
Table VIII.
Past participation in
tourism planning over the
past 12 months
IJCTHR
2,3
262
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
0
5
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
of involvement related to their perception of bene?ts. Attitudes toward government,
participating intourismplanning over the past 12 months, and willingness to participate
in tourismplanning over the next 12 months were signi?cantly related to the perception
of SCB. The model predicted or explained 16 per cent of the variance in SCB (Table XII).
In other words, respondents who participated in tourism planning over the past 12
months would be willing to participate in tourism planning over the next 12 months.
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 3.442 0.901 3.818 0.000
Organization 20.665 0.088 27.518 0.000
Gender 20.012 0.146 20.082 0.935
Age 0.004 0.007 0.568 0.571
Education 0.100 0.066 1.519 0.130
Raised in I-Lan as children 0.198 0.190 1.045 0.297
Residence 20.034 0.023 21.487 0.138
Owning business less than one year 0.300 0.311 0.965 0.336
Owning business more than one year 0.001 0.004 0.366 0.714
Notes: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.236
Table X.
Contributing money
to tourism planning
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 3.119 0.171 18.28 0.000
Attitudes toward the government 0.162 0.041 3.943 0.000
Past participation over the last 12 months 20.066 0.049 21.328 0.185
Willing to participate over the next 12 months 0.102 0.041 2.475 0.014
Implemented tourism activities over the last 12 months 0.016 0.066 0.240 0.811
Used tourism projects over the last 12 months 0.060 0.065 0.923 0.357
Participated as a tourist over the last 12 months 0.058 0.051 1.142 0.254
Contributed over the last 12 months 0.006 0.033 0.173 0.863
Notes: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.12
Table XI.
Attitudes toward the
government and SCB (1)
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 2.787 0.638 4.368 0.000
Organization 20.398 0.063 26.355 0.000
Gender 0.050 0.103 0.481 0.631
Age 0.007 0.005 1.472 0.142
Education 0.125 0.047 2.662 0.008
Raised in I-Lan as children 0.081 0.134 0.607 0.544
Residence 0.008 0.016 0.490 0.624
Owning business less than one year 20.197 0.220 20.893 0.373
Owning business more than one year 20.001 0.003 20.307 0.759
Note: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.186
Table IX.
Participation
in government tourism
projects
Nature-based
tourism impacts
in I-Lan, Taiwan
263
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d
b
y
P
O
N
D
I
C
H
E
R
R
Y
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
I
T
Y
A
t
2
2
:
0
5
2
4
J
a
n
u
a
r
y
2
0
1
6
(
P
T
)
However, these variables showed opposite affects on the perception of SCB. People who
stated that they participated more in decision-making perceived less SCB.
Attitudes toward the government, age, and if they operated their business longer
than one year were signi?cantly related to economic bene?t 1 (ECB1): job and sales
revenue; however, the model only predicted or explained 10 per cent of the variance
(Table XIII). Respondents who were older than 35 tended to operate their businesses
longer than that of younger respondents. However, respondents who operated their
business longer than one year did not perceive more jobs and sales revenue bene?ts.
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 2.840 0.518 5.481 0.000
Attitudes toward the government 0.174 0.044 3.965 0.000
Past participation over the last 12 months 20.121 0.061 21.984 0.048
Willing to participate over the next 12 months 0.135 0.046 2.948 0.004
Implemented tourism over the last 12 months 20.012 0.077 20.153 0.878
Used tourism projects over the last 12 months 0.093 0.079 1.174 0.242
Participated as a tourist over the last 12 months 0.059 0.055 1.084 0.280
Contributed over the last 12 months 20.019 0.038 20.494 0.622
Organization 20.078 0.051 21.542 0.124
Gender 0.020 0.074 0.268 0.789
Age 0.002 0.004 0.491 0.624
Education 0.000 0.033 0.010 0.992
Raised in I-Lan as children 0.076 0.095 0.800 0.425
Residence 0.016 0.012 1.394 0.165
Owning business less than one year 0.182 0.157 1.160 0.247
Owning business more than one year 0.001 0.002 0.280 0.780
Notes: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.161
Table XII.
Attitudes toward
government, past
and future participation
and SCB
Variable B SE t Sig.
Constant 2.730 0.630 4.331 0.000
Attitudes toward the government 0.126 0.053 2.349 0.020
Past participation over the last 12 months 20.099 0.074 21.336 0.183
Willing to participate over the next 12 months 0.065 0.056 1.169 0.243
Implemented tourism activities over the last 12 months 0.020 0.093 0.213 0.831
Used tourism projects over the last 12 months 0.105 0.096 1.095 0.275
Participated as a tourist over the last 12 months 0.032 0.066 0.488 0.626
Contributed over the last 12 months 20.051 0.046 21.092 0.276
Organization 20.020 0.062 20.329 0.742
Gender 20.113 0.090 21.260 0.209
Age 0.009 0.004 2.096 0.037
Education 0.020 0.041 0.500 0.617
Raised in I-Lan as children 0.046 0.115 0.397 0.692
Residence 20.006 0.014 20.438 0.662
Owning business less than one year 0.044 0.190 0.233 0.816
Owning business more than one year 20.006 0.002 22.661 0.008
Notes: Signi?cant level at p , 0.05; r
2
¼ 0.103
Table XIII.
Attitude toward
government, socio-demo,
business characters and
ECB1
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Findings
NBT is the right direction
About 90 per cent of respondents in follow-up interviews agreed that NBT was good
for I-Lan and should continue to be developed as a tool for sustainable development.
Results show that most business managers (78 per cent) are aware that they need to
keep a well-managed environment for continuing their tourism businesses. Results
also show that ENC was not a major concern for respondents. County data show that
environmental disasters such as mudslides and water pollution are rare in I-Lan (I-Lan
County Government, 2002).
The ?ndings show that 30 per cent of annual sales and 31 per cent of customers
generated from NBT (Table III). Whale watching businesses had the highest
percentage of sales (59.3 per cent) and customers (56.4 per cent) from NBT, followed by
B&B (36, 38 per cent) and leisure farm (31, 34 per cent). Respondents from these three
businesses reported higher NBT sales and customers but not 100 per cent generated
from NBT, which might indicate that they perceived large portion of customers (40-65
per cent) as non-NBT tourists. These customers were in PTP which usually included
whale watching, leisure farms or B&B activities. These ?gures also indicate the stage
of NBT development in the region.
Role of county government
County government has controlled and managed most tourism resources in I-Lan over
the last 20-years. While tourism development has reached its consolidation stage (Lee,
2003; Shen, 2002), the county government needs to release its resources and invite more
private sector involvement in tourism (Kuo, 2004). The comments from follow-up
interviews support the study’s ?ndings that businesses have positive attitudes toward
tourism and the government, but they would like to pursue these bene?ts as
independent businesses – not in collaboration with the government.
Pei-I freeway impact
Pei-I freeway (30.8 km) was completed and opened on June, 2006 after ?fteen years of
construction, whichshortenedthe travel distance fromthree hours to 40 minbetweenTaipei
and I-Lan. Results showed that over 92 per cent of respondents agreed that the increase in
housing and land prices was related to the Pei-I freeway (mean 4.23). Based on survey data
and follow-up interviews, over 90 per cent of respondents expressed mixed feelings about
the freeway. They agreed that Pei-I would bring visitors and help their economy. On the
other hand, they were also worried about the negative impacts on social/cultural values and
damage to the fragile environment, which will undoubtedly follow.
Since the opening of Pei-I freeway will change I-Lan’s overall outlook in economic,
social/cultural and environmental aspects, future research will need to be conducted to
identify and measure these impacts.
Perception of impacts
Results show that respondents perceived the SCB higher than environmental and
economic bene?ts, as well as all costs. The I-Lan County Government has engaged in
culture activities as major tourismactivities since 1990s. For example, the county held the
grappling with ghosts competition at Tou-Cheng in 1991, Happy I-Lan Year since 1994,
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holding International Collegiate Regatta in 1994 and children’s festival in1996. These
activities were often co-sponsored by local businesses, which activated the local industry.
In the recent past, the central Taiwan Government had suppressed many such cultural
activities. Integrating cultural activities with tourism might likely have increased the
sense of local sprit and cultural identity for participating tourismbusinesses. In fact, I-Lan
was rankedthe ?rst in“sense of pride” among21 counties andcities inTaiwanin1996 and
1997, and was also ranked the ?rst as “the most favorable living place in Taiwan” in
several recent surveys (Lee, 2003). Furthermore, these cultural activities have successfully
attracted visitors and generated sales revenue for local business.
Results also show that ENB ranked second followed by economic bene?ts. The
county rejected polluting manufacturing plants, which included the largest
manufacturing company-Formosa Group and a government owned power plant,
proposed to build in 1980s and 1990s (Lee, 2003; Chen, 2003). I-Lan was the ?rst county
to establish and implement environmental protection standards and regulations in the
1980s and 1990s, which later became environmental protection policies for the central
Taiwan Government (Hong, 2001; Lee, 2003; Chen, 2003). As a result, the environment
in I-Lan is well conserved compared to other areas in Taiwan. This relates to why I-Lan
is so popular among nature-based tourists.
Results show that economic bene?ts ranked last in bene?ts, which might re?ect the
economic structure in I-Lan. Past research revealed that the economic bene?ts
generated from tourism are a small portion of the economy due to tourism’s labor
intensive and low-pro?t feature (Hong, 2001). Thus, the economic bene?t derived from
tourism in I-Lan has been unable to offset its economic gap. Another explanation for
the ranking might be individual respondent’s perception in economic versus group or
whole society’s perceptions in social/cultural and environmental issues. Perceptions of
economic issues are usually related to short-term, direct and personal experience, while
perceptions of social/cultural and environmental issues are usually related to
long-term, indirect or whole society’s experience.
Socio-demographic characteristics relationship with tourism involvement
Results showthat most socio-demographic characteristics have little role in affecting the
type of involvement I-Lan business managers have in tourism. The ?ndings also show
that well-educated respondents participated more in the four levels of involvement.
Survey data show that 44 per cent of respondents have a college degree (Table I), which
is much higher than county average (18 per cent). It also means that respondents with
better education are likely to be non-natives, who bring capital to invest in I-Lan. As
investors, these respondents would tend to participate more in tourism planning.
Respondents’ organization was related to level of involvement. This con?rms that
people who are involved in tourismassociations or other private business organizations
are more likely to take part in the government’s tourism program, either as a
decision-maker or actively participating in government sponsored programs.
Interaction of socio-demographic characteristics and level of involvement to perception of
bene?ts
Results show that attitudes toward the government and age were positively related to
economic bene?ts that described job and sales revenue issue. However, operating a
business longer than one year was negatively related to ECB1.
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Although respondents who had more positive attitudes towards the government
were more likely to perceive SCB; actual interaction with the government programs, in
terms of past participation in decision making, visiting programs as a tourist, and
donating to tourism programs, were not signi?cantly related to perceptions of these
bene?ts. As stated earlier, this highlights the ?nding that participants’ perception of
the government is more important in determining perceptions of bene?ts than actual
interaction with the government. Past research in social exchange reveals that higher
level of trust people has with a decision-maker has a positive affect on GNP and social
performance (La Porta et al., 1997). This could be the case in I-Lan. Business managers
had positive perceptions toward the government, but they lost trust with the
government when they interacted with the government.
Other research (Madrigal, 1993) shows that residents with positive perceptions of
tourism believe that they could in?uence tourism decisions. Business managers in
I-Lan could lose trust with the government as they become more involved in the
government’s tourism programs (as decision makers or participants). This could result
in a gradual eroding of support for NBT in I-Lan – at least as a county initiative.
Suggestions and implications
The ?ndings indicate that SCB are the most apparent in I-Lan and these perceptions
were likely shaped by I-Lan’s strong commitment to NBT over the last several decades.
The reviving of cultural identity and cultural recognition in the region symbolizes the
struggle of local culture versus the in?uence of Chinese culture, which has been the
mainstream culture in Taiwan since 1950s.
Another major ?nding in this study is that participants’ perception of the
government is more important in determining perceptions of bene?ts than actual
interaction with the government. It indicates that, the county government might
change its role from top-down decision-making style to co-partnering with local
business people. The county can also alleviate its own ?nancial burden by releasing
some of tourism activities to private sectors and use private sectors’ resources for
sustainable NBT development in I-Lan. In fact, the county government has decided to
discontinue children’s festival for fewer visitors and losing money in the past several
years (I-Lan County Council Report, 2007), which seems to match the ?ndings of this
study that tourism development should not mainly rely on the county government’s
?nancial support and its management. The end of ten-year children’s festival in I-Lan
may indicate that government funded tourism events are probably not the good way
for sustainable tourism in I-Lan and elsewhere. The county government may need to
adjust its role from dominating to consulting or assisting county tourism activities.
The third ?nding indicates that NBT will be the right direction for the county. Most
participants in follow-up interview expressed their pride and concern about the county
environment. They were very proud of well-kept landscaping and environment and
were aware of the important of maintaining the ecosystem for future tourism
development.
This study might also provide an implication for tourism development in other
countries, where regional communities seek for tourism as alternatives for their
economic development without falling into traditional manufacturing type of
development.
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Corresponding author
Joe Ying Chin Yang can be contacted at: [email protected]
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