Original Research
The potential of frogging as an ecotourism product for South African National Parks
Submitted: 29 March 2022 | Published: 21 July 2022
About the author(s)
Zoëgné Luyt, School of Tourism Management, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South AfricaPeet van der Merwe, School of Tourism Management, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
Abstract
Amid global biodiversity loss, it is important to find practical tools and solutions in order to protect biodiversity. Ecotourism is the fastest-growing sector of the international travel industry and can be a powerful conservation tool that encourages people to protect the natural environment. Traditionally, frogs have not generated much attention among ecotourists, partly because they are easily overshadowed by other more charismatic species or habitat attractions. With almost a third of the nearly 7000 known amphibian species listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), their protection is crucial. Frogging is a well-known term within the frog conservation society, describing the activity of searching for frogs in the wild. This can be combined with other ecotourism activities to attract tourists and create an interest in the conservation of frogs while having fun at the same time. The aim was to determine the ecotourism potential of frogs in South Africa, primarily by distributing questionnaires to tourists to retrieve information on whether they would be interested in participating in frog-related ecotourism activities within the South African National Parks. For this research, a quantitative research approach was followed, namely non-probability sampling, to which convenience sampling was applied. An online survey (questionnaire) was designed to collect the data for the research. The survey outcome was satisfactory, as potential tourists indicated that they would like to participate in frog-related activities. The project offers the opportunity to conserve frogs, educate tourists, and create job opportunities within the local communities. It will also create a new tourism product for the South African National Parks.
Conservation implications: The contribution of this research to conservation lies in the opportunity to benefit frog conservation through ecotourism.
Keywords
Metrics
Total abstract views: 2916Total article views: 5231
Crossref Citations
1. Willingness‐to‐pay for the conservation of endangered frog species in Taiwan
Jerald M. Velasco, Wei‐Chun Tseng, Yi‐Hsuan Chang, Ya‐Wen Chiueh, Wan‐Yu Liu, Chia‐Lin Chang
Natural Resource Modeling vol: 37 issue: 3 year: 2024
doi: 10.1111/nrm.12395