Stakeholders' views on reducing financial support in government-led ecotourism areas

Government-led ecotourism, which is common in developing countries, produces several tangible outputs, such as the certification of international institutes for high-quality ecological landscaping, as well as increased tourism and associated socio-economic benefits. Nonetheless, the overall structure of government-led ecotourism can be weakened by changes in a government's policy. This study analyses the reasons behind the reduction of governmental support for ecotourism in the South Korean island of Jeung-do. In order to study stakeholders' views, Q methodology was used. The results showed that existing managerial staff and local officials, both being hostile to external interference, focused on gradual independence from governmental support. Furthermore, only new managerial staff desired the rapid growth dependent on government and external capital. These results illustrate that the more experience managers have with managing ecotourism activity itself, the less supportive they are of external support and rapid economic growth (at the expense of the environment). For this reason, in order to ensure long-term environmental conservation and economic sustainability, government policy changes should not lead to the replacement of existing personnel or dependence on governmental support.