Skip to main content

Table 1 Research methods of natural World Heritage conservation and tourism

From: Natural world heritage conservation and tourism: a review

Categories

Methods

Data sources

Core contents

References

Investigation research methods

In-depth interviews and fieldwork

Questionnaires responses by residents

Residents’ value orientation and attitudes toward heritage tourism.

[37, 38]

Landscape sensitivity assessment

Questionnaires responses by visitors

The impact of tourism on landscape vision.

[47]

AHP

Questionnaires responses by stakeholders

The coordinated development mechanism of ecotourism.

[48]

Delphi method

Questionnaires and telephone interviews with experts

Tourism landscape resource evaluation and zoning protection.

[49]

SEM

Questionnaires responses by visitors

Tourists’ environmental attitudes and environmental behavior tendencies.

[50, 51]

Questionnaires responses by visitors

How Outstanding Universal Value, service quality and place attachment influences tourist intention towards world heritage conservation.

[52]

Questionnaires responses by residents

The interaction between residents’ participation, tourism perception and their environmental protection awareness.

[53]

Questionnaires responses by visitors

Willingness to pay for tourists’ ecological compensation.

[28]

Questionnaires responses by residents

The value derived by the local community from world heritage.

[54]

Ethics matrix approach

In-depth interviews, field observations and questionnaires responses by stakeholders

Ethical boundaries of national park management models to achieve multi-value management of natural heritage sites and deal with conflicting stakeholders.

[55]

Travel cost method, contingent valuation method

Questionnaires responses by visitors

The value of heritage tourism resources.

[56]

Perception survey

Questionnaires responses by visitors

The impact of tourist’s environmental attitude on their environmental behaviors.

[57, 58]

Questionnaires responses by residents

The factors that influence the perception of residents' responsibility for the world heritage conservation.

[59, 60]

Questionnaires responses by visitors

The tourists’ modal choice motivation and their willingness to accept regulatory measures.

[61]

Field observations

Interviews to local tour operators and climbers

The impact assessment of outdoor climbing activities on the geological heritage.

[37]

Open-ended interviews

Questionnaires responses by visitors

The pull and push factors in heritage tourism.

[62]

PCA

Questionnaires responses by residents

The influence of negative political environment on sustainable tourism.

[63]

System dynamics model

Questionnaires responses by residents and visitors, water quality monitoring

Dynamic prediction of tourism environmental carrying capacity of karst properties.

[64]

WINT analysis

Questionnaires responses by stakeholders

Local stakeholders’ perceptions of sustainable development.

[65]

Convergent parallel mixed method

Questionnaires responses by visitors and in-depth interviews responses by stakeholders

Assess the role of communication in community participation towards sustainable tourism.

[66]

Indirect research methods

SWOT analysis

Official websites (provincial institutes, property site, world heritage center)

Sustainable development of natural heritage site.

[40]

Carbon footprint

Statistical yearbook, tourism enterprises and institutions

Tourism ecological footprint of natural world heritage site.

[43]

Literature review and expert interview

International articles and scores from experts

The operational mechanism of ecotourism based on the perspective of stakeholders.

[41]

CNKI, expert’s points

Physical fitness tourism resource development and environmental protection innovation in world heritage sites.

[42]

AHP, fuzzy mathematical methods

Master Plan for the heritage site

Ecological environmental threshold and tourist capacity and its impact on biological diversity.

[17]

Official evaluations analysis

Advisory body evaluations of nominated sites

How and when issues of sustainability and tourism emerged in the properties as well as how concerns about these issues have changed over time.

[67]

Panel data analysis

China Entrepreneur Investment Club (CEIC), Official websites of UNESCO world heritage center and Chinese world heritage sites

Tourism effects of world heritage sites and its impact on heritage protection.

[68]

Official websites (national and state institutes, UNESCO world heritage center)

The tourism attractiveness of world heritage sites.

[69]

Propensity score matching

Statistical yearbook, statistical bulletin

The effectiveness of the world heritage on promoting the growth of tourism economy.

[70]

Static model of tourism environment capacity

Management agencies and tourism companies of the property

Tourism environmental carrying capacity of natural world heritage site.

[44]

Grounded theory

Tourist comment texts from travel social networking sites

The structure of tourism image value perception of karst natural properties.

[71]

Literature review

Scopus, Web of Science, Ebsco, Proquest

Different ways of using heritage interpretation as a tool for managing areas of sustainable development.

[24]

Website analysis

Websites of natural properties

How internet content can support the digital identification of nature sites and their branding as tourist destinations.

[72]

Experimental research methods

Remote sensing, GIS

Geospatial data cloud, China meteorological administration, protected planet, National aeronautics and space administration (NASA), National geomatics center of China

The impact of natural disasters on natural heritage site and its tourism.

[45]

Global static partial equilibrium model

Landsat TM remote sensing image and SPOT remote sensing image

Ecological asset evaluation and ecological compensation of natural heritage site.

[73]

Landscape pattern index

Geospatial data cloud

Spatiotemporal changes of the landscape pattern and diving factors in natural heritage site.

[74]

High-resolution online tracer test

On-line monitoring

Influences of tourism activities on hydrochemistry of karst ground water.

[18, 75, 76]

Investigation method of sample plot

Ground sample survey

Effects of tourism disturbance on the plant diversity of typical karst forest.

[46, 77]