Communities’ support for tourism development and environmental conservation programmes in Ipo Watershed, Philippines

Abstract

This paper recognizes tourism’s potential in balancing economic development of communities in the peripheries of watersheds with nature conservation. It was conducted in Ipo watershed which has 6,600 hectares of forest and provides fresh water to more than 13 million people in Metro Manila, Philippines. The objectives of the study are to determine the community’s perception of tourism and identify factors affecting their support for tourism development and environment conservation. Survey questionnaires and face to face interviews were conducted to 102 respondents. To determine the relationship of different variables, Structural Equation Modelling was used. The study revealed that the communities have positive perception on tourism and in using the Motivation, Opportunity Ability model the study revealed that motivation and ability had significant effect with support for tourism development and environment conservation. The study contributes to the literature on tourism in protected area and can be used by the national and local government in formulating strategies in achieving sustainable protected area management.

Keywords

• community’s perception
• ipo watershed
• motivation opportunity and ability model
• support for tourism.