Introduction
The scholarly article about tourism basically explains the scope of tourism and the tourism industry in relation to the role played by national parks that act as markers for tourist attraction. The first part of this paper emphasizes nature and its importance to the tourism sector. It explains the use of different terms and the different places in the attraction of the tourists.
The National parks are credited for being major tourist attraction sites as compared to national heritage and promotion of the tourism industry as they have what the tourist wants to see, that is, the beauty of nature which has over the years proved to be a major attraction in most places in the world. The article argues that the branding of the natural environment with the marker name or label, which forms a nucleus that is the major point of attraction for visitors visiting any given place, is an important aspect of promoting tourism.
The article also discusses research conducted in Sweden in three different National sites to prove its argument. The findings were analyzed with reference to the number of people who often visit the National Parks and National Heritage sites in Sweden.
Critical Review of the Article
The article on tourists is well introduced by the author to give the reader a summary of the main argument of the article. The author also uses different terms and definitions referring to the National parks and National heritage sites as well as the natural biosphere. The article also is systematic as it tries to bring out the argument on nature as a tourist attraction in the National parks. (Boyd, 2004) The research survey was conducted in Sweden at a National park, a heritage site, and a Biosphere reserve in order to show the response of people influencing their visiting to such sites. Any scholarly article should have supporting or tangible evidence of its argument. The survey carried out shows that the author of the article had a reason to write on the specific topic and support its argument.
The article has weaknesses in its argument. It emphasizes the influence of the natural sites as the only determining factor to the tourist’s decision to visit a place. The research that was conducted was only conducted in only three places in Sweden; this is not enough to draw conclusions. Good research that could have brought about reliable and valid conclusions would have been carried out in several countries on different continents. The research again was not conducted using the right method. The use of questionnaires send to mail is not reliable as people may not respond well to it; hence the information cannot be relied on. The information collected from the various tourists who had toured the different places in Sweden from Germany and other countries may have different reasons for visiting these sites. However, this article does not put into consideration the other factors that may influence the visiting of the National parks, heritage sites, and the biosphere reserves. The most effective factor influencing the tourist’s decision to visit a particular place anywhere in the world is the marketing of the tourist destination to the rest of the world. The role of media and especially the use of the internet in the marketing tourism industry in the world is the most effective way to promote tourism.
There are other factors that also make a national park a must-go place, the presence of other supportive facilities apart from the natural protection of the biodiversity and the cultural heritage as emphasized by the article. The presence of good infrastructure in the tourist destination, communication lines, security, shopping malls, beaches, and sporting activities can be a determining factor for tourists to visit a place. (Dupuis, 2002) This article does not include the marine ecosystem and the biodiversity in nature as a factor that is supposed to be included under the natural attraction. Labeling of the different sites with natural heritage cannot be the only factor and is not applicable in all parts of the world.
Conclusion
The article is standard in the way the author is bringing out his argument as it is well introduced with a very strong conclusion. It should be noted that the issues put forward by the author in this article is not the overall determinant of tourism. There are other factors that need to be addressed in tourism management. The article has only one perspective on the issue of tourism and tends to make the reader believe that the biosphere and nature, in general, are the key elements in a tourist attraction.
References
Boyd, S. (2004). National Parks: Wilderness and Culture. In A Companion to Tourism, (Malden: Blackwell).
Buckley, R. (2004). The Effects of World Heritage Listing on Tourism to Australian National Parks, Journal of Sustainable Tourism,
Ceballos-Lascurain, H. (1996). Tourism, Ecotourism and Protected Areas, (New York: Wesley).
Dupuis, L. and D. Muller, (2002), Time-Space Use among Cross-country Skiers in Abisko, (London: Macmillan).
Fredman, P. and Heberlein, T. (2003).Changes in Skiing and Snowmobiling in Swedish Mountains. Annals of Tourism Research, (New York: McGraw-Hill).