What should be included in an ecotourism rating system for protected areas?

Abstract

South Africa has various rating systems / schemes for tourism related enterprises, however there are no acknowledged rating systems for ecotourism products in South Africa National Parks. The shortcomings of the current rating systems are that they rate mostly the hospitality and accommodation sectors. These systems need to be adapted for nature/wildlife products and the problem that this study addressed was to develop a needed ecotourism rating system for South African National Parks. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to develop a possible ecotourism rating system for South African National Parks. A questionnaire was distributed electronically on the SANParks’ website to numerous respondentrs. Data collection took place during April 2013. A total of 308 responses were received during the period of data collection. The main findings of the study identified eight core principles of ecotourism. In addition, these eight core principles were used for the development of the rating system. The study made an important contribution in that it developed the first ecotourism rating system for South African National Parks that is based on verifiable research data. It is also the first time that related literature and all relevant aspects of ecotourism were identified and developed into a useful questionnaire.

Keywords

• Protected areas
• rating system
• ecotourism
• national parks