Experiences and the associated emotions play an important, if not decisive, role in nature tourism. Insights into factors influencing the quality of the experience are therefore important, both with regard to the optimal design of nature tourism offers and in order to reconcile the needs and interests of tourism and nature conservation in terms of sustainable development.
During the grey seal birthing season on Heligoland (Dune Island), the aim is to investigate how tourists perceive this natural phenomenon. A combination of different methods for real-time measurement of both spatiotemporal behavior (movement patterns on the “Winter Experience Trail” via GPS tracking) and the emotions of visitors using new technologies for real-time measurement of physiological data will be used.
The project is being implemented in cooperation with the "Department of Environment and Geography", University of Manitoba, Winnipeg (Canada) and the "Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW)", University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover.
West Coast University of Applied Sciences
German Institute for Tourism Research
Fritz-Thiedemann-Ring 20
25746 Heide
