| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1013687 | Tourism Management Perspectives | 2014 | 8 Pages |
•Environmental values should line with tourism to ensure nature's conservation.•The study examines the role of quietness in green tourism growth.•Quiet protected areas were related to, and thus reflecting, green tourism development.•Quietness was identified as the prevalent feature of green tourism development.•Quietness should be preserved or eco-managed by means of green tourism.
The role of nature in tourism is widely acknowledged; yet, information remains limited about the determinants of green tourism development within conservation areas. Here, we aimed to provide a framework for exploring the supportive role of quietness in green tourism development. Because natural quietness is expected to facilitate conservation and promote environment-friendly tourism, we tested whether quiet areas within conservation sites in Greece indicate “hotspots” of green tourism. We found that the percentage of quietness was related to environment-friendly tourism, indicating that the acoustic value of a site contributes towards driving the pattern of green tourism. When more than 30% of the surface area of a conservation site was quiet, activities supporting green tourism were significantly higher. This threshold implies that both the conservation and acoustic value of a site are important in environment-conscious tourism destinations. Overall, we suggest that the acoustic quality of a site might function as a tool for management, facilitating the identification of green tourism “hotspots”.
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