The Impact of Visitor Behavior on the Environmental Protection of Tourist Farms in Guangdong

Abstract

Some tourist farms established in the Chinese province of Guangdong suffer from a dearth of farm management and a lack of awareness of environmental protection issues among visitors, leading to pollution problems in farm tourism. The study reported in this paper examined how the managers of two farms protect the natural environment using the setting factors of physical orientation, interactive exhibits and the presence of tour guides, following the mindfulness and mindlessness model. The findings of the study revealed that the quality of the natural environment in both farms was acceptable, indicating the effectiveness of the setting factors. However, it was found that some signs were discolored and broken, there were insufficient interactive exhibits, and no tour guide service was available for individual visitors. Based on these findings, some recommendations are offered for farm managers on how to protect the natural environment.

Keywords:

• farm tourism
• environmental protection
• Guangdong

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for providing constructive comments on improving an earlier version of this paper.