| Low-carbon tourism is an important form for the sustainable development of forest tourism, and forest park is the main carrier of forest tourism development, the development of forest parks on how best to achieve the "low carbon" is worth exploring. Based on the systematic collection and research on the research progress in basic theory about forest tourism and low-carbon tourism at home and abroad, the paper did the field interviews and surveys in five forest parks that has geographical representation in Hainan, like the Haikou Volcanoes national forest park, Diaoluoshan national forest park, Bawangling national forest park, Limu Mountain national forest park and Sanya Yalong Bay forest park, where the first four forest parks as national forest park, Sanya Yalong Bay forest park as city and county forest park. Using low-carbon economy theory, travel systems theory, theory of sustainable development, life cycle assessment theory, and constructing the tourism carbon footprint model for Hainan forest park, respectively, from three aspects like tourism traffic carbon footprint, tourism accommodation carbon footprint and tourism catering carbon footprint of a comparative analysis for the tourism carbon footprint in five forest parks, while understanding forest park tourists' cognitive and behavioral as well as willing about low-carbon tourism.Then objectively stating the existing problems of low-carbon tourism development in these forest parks, and putting forward to the low-carbon tourism strategy of the tourism development in forest parks.(1) Hainan has the largest area of tropical forest in China. Its forest tourism resources is rich. The province's existing twenty-seven forest parks, a total area of 1666.67 square kilometers, of which nine national forest parks, sixteen provincial-level forest parks and two city and county level forest parks. With the recent increase in Hainan forest parks tourist trips and tourism income, the total amount of travel carbon footprint in forest parks is increasing year by year from 2010 to 2013. Its total amount was from 10033.41 t to 41445.07 t, had an increase of 3.13 times and the average annual growth rate of 60.45%. Then it had decreases in 2014. With the change in the total number of tourists reception, the per capita tourism carbon footprint in forest parks had the trend of first decreased and then increased, but its growth was more moderate compared to other forms of tourism, per capita tourism carbon footprint was also smaller, such as the per capita tourism carbon footprint Hainan province was 638.77kg/person in 2012, while the per capita tourism carbon footprint in forest parks was only 11.09kg/person, the former was about 58 times than the latter.(2) Currently, all the hotels in the five forest parks used electricity and natural gas as the main conventional energy.The survey found that nearly 90% of visitors stay in a day in forest parks, and about 98% of visitors' main purpose to forest parks was sightseeing and leisure resort, the carbon emissions in the hotels focused on tourism catering emissions. Among them, the forest tourism resources in Sanya Yalong Bay forest park although far less than in the remaining four national forest parks, because of the tourism market in an advantageous location and convenient transportation, its development was more mature and received numerous visitors, the carbon dioxide total emissions in hotel catering and accommodation releases about 17 times to the sum of other contrast four national forest parks' carbon emissions.(3) The five forest parks' source markets were mainly domestic tourists. These tourists mainly came from the economically developed eastern China, such as the Pearl River Delta region, the Yangtze River Delta region, the Bohai Sea region and the three northeast provinces. According to the survey, most tourists in the four national forest parks were currently still from Hainan province,while tourists in Sanya Yalong Bay forest park were mostly from east China, and then followed by those from the south China, north China and northeast area.(4) Tourists that came to Hainan mainly choose to travel by airplane, train, bus or self-driving, nearly 73% of them keen to travel by airplane. After reaching to Hainan, the main choice of visitors was traveling by car, self-driving, by taxi or bus to forest park. In recent years, the popularity of private car travel and self-driving travel certainly affected the low-carbon tourism in Hainan forest parks. The tourism traffic carbon emissions in these five forest parks were mainly from external traffic, of which about 82% were caused by traffic outside the province, and the carbon emissions generated that choose to travel by airplane was much greater than by train, car and self-driving produced. The carbon footprint produced in Hainan province was small. About the carbon emissions from external transport, the carbon emissions in Sanya Yalong Bay forest park was 60 times than the sum of four national forest parks', because of the number of tourists travel to Sanya Yalong Bay forest park amounted to 2.15 million in 2014, which was 30 times than the total number of four national forest parks' visitors. In addition, due to the current four national forest parks' scenic tour are mainly walking, while using sightseeing car in Sanya Yalong Bay forest park's scenic tour, hence the carbon emissions from traffic within Sanya Yalong Bay forest park was also more than four times than the sum of four national forest parks.(5) From the demographic characteristics of tourists, the male tourists in Hainan forest parks were less than female tourists,the ratio was 46.7% and 53.3%. The age of tourists in these forest parks was mainly between 18 to 45 years old, accounting for 85.5% of the total number of survey. Tourists that have higher education are the maximum proportion in forest tourism, while college and higher education accounted for 68.3%. Students, teachers, business executives, self-employed professionals accounted for 67.3% in these forest tourists, reflecting the tourists' desire to travel is also influenced by leisure time and other factors. The monthly income of those forest park visitors was 3,500-8000 yuan which accounted for 50.7%, while most tourists' monthly income was 3500-5000 yuan that accounted for 30.6%. The different gender, age, education, occupation and monthly income, the different travel preferences and behavior of tourists in the process of forest tourism.(6) The extent of understand the concept of low-carbon tourism for most tourists to Hainan forest parks was poorly understood or a basic understanding, respectively accounting for 48.09% and 42.04%. Only 3.50% of visitors expressed great understanding, while 6.34% are still totally no idea about low-carbon tourism. Analysis showed that the higher the education level of tourists, the higher awareness of the low-carbon travel. The proportion of tourists that have higher degree or above and have a very understanding of low-carbon tourism accounted for 82% of the total number tourists who have well aware of low-carbon tourism. From the professional perspective, teachers and civil servants had the highest level of understanding of low-carbon tourism, then followed by sales and services, military police, professional and technical staff as well as students. In terms of age, the young visitors had a higher degree of accepting and had more profound awareness and understanding of low carbon tourism, while those tourists who over 45 years old had a downward trend about low-carbon tourism perception. Tourists' recognition of low-carbon tourism with their revenue had no significant linear relationship. These two groups that expressed willingness to rational consumption and saving food as well as try not to use disposable tableware in the dining and to take garbage like plastic bottles or trash into the specified when visited the resorts were more visitors, the former accounted for 95.1% of the number of respondents, while the latter was 95.6%. In addition, visitors that had willingness to stay in green hotels and to reduce the number of single replacement towels as well as to pay for carbon emissions generated by travel accounted for 78.2% of the total number of respondents, 79.9%, 75.2% respectively. Analysis showed that most visitors are willing to practice low-carbon behavior in the course of a journey.(7) Good carbon management of resources and environment is the basis for the low-carbon development of Hainan forest parks. Government and relevant departments need to make plans for the low-carbon tourism development which related to forest parks, paying more attention to the protection of forest parks, and increasing forest carbon sinks, actively building upon existing capital markets to broaden the financing channels, to increase investment in renewable energy and clean energy to promote forest park to achieve energy conservation. Enterprises that related to forest park tourism need to increase energy efficiency, emphasis on source reduction and waste separation and recovery to do to to improve the utilization of waste recycling; continuous development of low-carbon tourism product, while strengthening the training of employees of carbon. In addition, the relevant departments and managers about forest parks should be prepared to do interactive with tourism sector and interactive guides that related to the resort, strengthen multilateral cooperation in order to improve low-carbon tourism tourist enthusiasm, urging the formation of a low-carbon consumption concept for tourists, thereby increasing tourists' low carbon travel literacy. |
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