Abstract
Protected areas need to implement appropriate rules to enhance sustainable recreational use. The purpose of this study is to understand the tourists’preference for recreational rules and suggest management policies. The Kinsakubaru native forest in Amami Oshima, which is our study site, is expected to be the World Heritage Site. In part because of media exposure, the number of tourists has been increasing on the island. A questionnaire survey with Best-Worst Scaling was conducted to the tourists who visited Kinsakubaru in August 2017. Our results show that the rule of ‘Mandating the guide tour’was the highest preference for tourists, followed by ‘Introduce the shuttle bus’, ‘Limit the number of tourists’, ‘Raise funds’ and ‘No regulation.’ Furthermore, we found the heterogeneity in preferences from 3 groups classified by the cluster analysis using individual responses. It is necessary to consider the variety of tourists’preferences and prepare the options for the management plan.
