Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Visitor Learning: In The Polar Bear Capital Of The World, Jill Bueddefeld, Christine Van Winkle, Mary Benbow

TTRA Canada 2018 Conference

This paper will discuss the visitor experience, design, and measurement when comparing in-situ and ex-situ nature-based tourism case studies. Particularly, this presentation will address the methods used to learn more about the social dynamics that help facilitate visitor learning and how to plan for particular types of visitor experiences. This research will also discuss the effect of place, authenticity and the importance of sustainable and responsible tourism in experiential visitor learning.

Tourism to ecologically sensitive areas, such as the Canadian Arctic, is often regarded as a way for people to learn about environmental issues such as climate change, as well …