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Sutherland, Lucy Ann (2005) The role of botanic gardens in less developed countries in sustainable nature-based tourism and their contribution to conservation and sustainable development. Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.
Botanic garden managers are.considering the role of their institutions within the tourism industry, especially in such niche markets as sustainable nature-based tourism, to fulfil their commitment to the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and local Agenda 21. This thesis contributes to recent discourse on modified spaces and sustainable nature-based tourism and argues that botanic gardens in Less Developed Countries are playing a role, albeit small. Furthermore, their potential for greater participation within the sustainable nature-based tourism industry is evident. Tourists, tourism industry representatives, and botanic garden and protected area staff were key informants for this thesis, and a multi-strategy research approach was developed and applied to investigate the role of botanic gardens in sustainable nature-based tourism using Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (South Africa), Jardin Botanico Nacional (Cuba) and Belize Botanic Garden (Belize) as case studies. In addition, tourist surveys conducted in Table Mountain National Park (South Africa), La Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra del Rosario (Cuba) and Blue Hole National Park (Belize) provided comparative information on tourist motivations, expectations of settings and perceptions of experiences. The value of this research's multi-strategy approach lies in its ability to provide a methods framework to assist botanic garden staff in assessing the potential role of their botanic garden institutions in sustainable forms of nature-based tourism, such as ecotourism. The research revealed the three case studies botanic gardens tend to operate on the periphery of their nature-based tourism industries, with no evidence to suggest their management are key players in this particular market. Nevertheless, tourists and tourism industry representatives consider botanic gardens to be excellent nature experiences and, in addition, effective in providing some experiences associated with sustainable nature-based tourism. The current research found the main role of botanic gardens in sustainable nature-based tourism to be educational, although a passive approach to raising awareness of biodiversity among tourists dominates. The research identified several factors that hinder the integration of botanic gardens into the nature-based tourism/ecotourism sector. First, integration depends on the host country's socio-political situation, and secondly, perceptions of botanic gardens held by tourism industry representatives will determine the role of gardens. Thirdly, all three gardens lack a strategic approach to developing and monitoring their role in nature-based tourism and this weakens their position in this sector. The contribution of botanic gardens tourism to conservation and sustainable development was also investigated and it was concluded that tourism is not the panacea to economic and conservation issues faced by botanical institutions, although it does make direct and indirect contributions to both.
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