Managing nature and the ecotourism experience

This paper is an extension of an earlier study that sought to identify the distinctive elements of wilderness that contribute to triggering peak experiences. Thirty-nine participants who had visited wilderness areas were recruited using a voluntary wilderness registration system operated by the Victorian National Parks Service, Australia. Using a postal survey participants were asked to provide a written response to an openended question requesting them to describe, in their own words, a peak experience in wilderness, along with a series of closed questions related to barriers to the experience