Do not feed the wildlife: Using TPB approaches to identify beliefs underlying depreciative visitor behaviour in Erawan National Park, Thailand

Abstract

Protected areas are a fundamental aspect of Thailand's economy and culture, but with more than ten million visitors entering the national parks each year (DNP, 2009) there is growing potential for damage to natural resources and the visitor experience. Among the various management approaches used to address these impacts, communication is a key strategy, especially in cases where depreciative visitor actions have been identified. A common management response to visitor management issues in many natural resource recreation and tourism settings is to install signs or employ other interpretive devices in the hope of arresting undesirable behaviour (Manning, 2007). In most of these instances, the development of messages is not based on a theoretical foundation, and the effects of such communication efforts are rarely evaluated (Hughes, Ham, and Brown, 2009). In an attempt to address this shortfall, this study used a theoretical model of behaviour change to identify beliefs underlying the depreciative visitor behaviour or wildlife feeding, with the ultimate intention of creating persuasive communication designed to reduce depreciative behaviour impacts.