International Trends in Park Tourism : The Emerging Role of Finance

sufficiently large that submarkets are apparent. Eagles (1995a) suggests, using a motive-based methodology for segmentation, that the nature-tourism market contains at least four recognizable niche markets: ecotourism, wilderness use, adventure travel, and car camping. Ecotourism involves travel for the discovery of and learning about wild, natural environments. Wilderness travel involves personal re-creation through primitive travel in natural environments that are devoid of human disturbance. Adventure travel is personal accomplishment through the thrills of dominating dangerous environments. Car camping is safe, family travel in the interface between the wild and the civilized (Eagles 1995a). This classification utilizes unique sets of social motives to identify the market segments. Each of the niche markets is at a different stage in the typical business cycle using Butler’s (1980) tourism life-cycle analysis approach. Ecotourism and adventure tourism have considerable growth potential, according to this analysis. Wilderness travel is reaching capacity in many locales because of the requirement of very low-density use in wilderness destinations. Car camping is probably in decline, or soon will be, largely due to the peak population profile of the developed word passing beyond the ages in which camping is popular. All four of these market segments are visible in park tourism internationally. Given the different travel motivations in each submarket, it is important for planners and managers to be aware of the implications for park visitor management—for example, the levels of social grouping, the level of desired service, the level of environmental quality, and the desired environmental attributes vary amongst the four submarkets. It is important to note that such submarket differences only become visible when the naturebased tourism volume reaches a sufficiently large size. Nature-based tourism is a large and growing segment of international tourism. In several countries where the most important export industry is