Modelling attitudes to nature, tourism and sustainable development in national parks: A survey of visitors in China and the UK

• A causal relationship of attitudes is found.
• The relationship links nature, tourism and sustainable development.
• Anthropocentric or ecocentric values are identified.
• They have a significant influence on attitudes to sustainable development.
• These attitudes to nature can also be used to predict attitudes to tourism.

This research undertook a visitor survey in two protected areas in different cultural contexts, namely China and the UK, to explore whether the value a person attaches to the environment influences their attitude towards sustainable tourism development in national parks. Structural equation models were developed with data from 597 and 368 questionnaires collected in Jiuzhaigou National Scenic Area, China and the New Forest National Park, UK respectively. The results suggested that anthropocentric or ecocentric values significantly influence people's attitudes to tourism and sustainable development. The same structured causal relationship was found in both samples, between people's attitudes towards the natural environment, conservation and tourism in a national park context.