Abstract
There are four marine parks in Hong Kong that are managed for the purposes of conservation, education, and recreation. As the demand for nature-based tourism is increasing worldwide, marine parks provide an opportunity to meet such a demand. In this research, an exploratory and qualitative approach is adopted to explore the potential development of ecotourism with Hong Kong 's marine parks. In order to obtain an objective assessment, this study uses a holistic approach that examines the topic from the aspects of both supply and demand by using three criteria for assessment criteria: tourism attractiveness; current management practices, and the activity preferences of ecotourists. This study shows that Hong Kong marine parks have generally good potential to be developed as ecotourism attractions.
Keywords: Ecotourism; Hong Kong marine parks; tourism attractiveness; management and marketing practices; activity preferences . |
