Ecotourism and nature based tourism research framework to assess the sociocultural impact of tour operations: A case study in Belize.

摘要

Belize is a popular tourist destination and known for development issues and opportunities related to ecotourism and nature based tourism. Many ecotourism and nature based tourism destinations have experienced different impacts such as economic development, infrastructure, building of hotels and resorts, and sociocultural impacts.;Most ecotourists travel in Belize using tour operators. Therfore, this project attempts to study some questions related to tour operations, such as, are tour operations providing benefits to local people? Are tour operations causing more negative than positive impact to the host communities?;Research is not frequently conducted to measure the sociocultural impacts of ecotourism and nature based tourism. Tourism research has been focused primarily on the economic and environmental issues. In response, this research project provides a general view of ecotourism and nature based tourism in Belize, and proposes an ecotourism and nature based tourism research framework to assess two sociocultural impacts of tour operations in Belize: (1)changes in forms of local employment, and (2) the growth of resentment and hostility towards tourists by local people.