A Study of the Residents’Cognition of Environmental Impacts and Attitudes to Develop Ecotourism in Liouciou Island

[[abstract]]Because of unique geological and topographical environments in Liouciou Island, wealth of ecological resources and natural landscapes are created. A large crowd tourists attracted to visit Liouciou Island caused economic, environmental and social impacts toward Liouciou Island. The objective of this study was to investigate the residents’ cognitions of tourism impacts and their knowledge and attitudes of ecotourism developments at Liouciou Island. A random sampling of self-administered questionnaires was used to investigate the Liouciou residents in the period of January 1 to February 29 2012. Three hundred and forty-eight samples were selected in this cross-sectional, descriptive study by using a structured questionnaire. Three hundred and nineteen valid data were used to analyze as the results, the valid corresponding rate was 91.67 %. The statistic results showed that there were significant differences between the respondents’ personal characteristics and the correct answer numbers of ecotourism knowledge; careers related the respondents’ relatives or family members and respondents’ experiences of providing resources and time for Liouciou ecotourism developments were the respondents’ personal characteristics. The respondents’ demographic characteristics were significantly different to their cognitions of tourism impacts and attitudes of ecotourism developments. The respondents’ cognitions of tourism impacts were significantly related to their attitudes of ecotourism developments. Although the respondents worried to develop ecotourism to cause inconvenient living environments, they supported to develop ecotourism at Liouciou Island. They suggested to build more facilities and to communicate with residents to promote ecotourism