the nature of tourism destinations

Nature-Based Destinations and the Future of Travel

Destination Analysts was honored to have our ongoing Coronavirus Travel Sentiment Index research featured in The New York Times’ critical look at the future of travel, as “the outbreak will undoubtedly change how we think, act and travel, at least in the short term.” Following are the findings that spotlight the article’s exploration of travelers’ potential desires for more remote and nature-based settings.

In #thebeforetime, cities reigned as the destination type for Americans’ trip aspirations and volume. Back in January we asked a simple travel expectations question in our The State of the American Traveler survey of 2,000 American leisure travelers: “In the next 12 months, how many will you take that will include each of the following types of leisure destinations?” As shown in the graphic below, at that time 74.0% Americans were planning almost two urban trips for 2020—far more than any other destination type.

Fast forward to the week of April 14th, with near-nationwide shelter in place orders and COVID-19 a full-blown pandemic. In our weekly survey of 1,200 American travelers about their feelings and behaviors on travel in the wake of the coronavirus, nearly 40 percent reported they would change the types of destinations they choose to visit.

Beyond the substitution of destinations, the coronavirus pandemic looks to have a perhaps temporary but still fundamental impact on how Americans travel and the experiences they choose. American travelers also said they would be avoiding crowded places (55.7%), often a hallmark of the urban travel experience. They also said they would avoid destinations hardest hit by coronavirus (50.5%), which have predominately been cities thus far.

When asked the place they will visit on their very first post-pandemic trip, beach/resort destinations (38.2%) and small towns/rural areas (30.0%) topped the list. A significant number also say they will be taking more road trips because of coronavirus—road trips lending themselves well to exploring lesser trafficked and nature-based destinations.

Another finding lending to the benefit nature-based destinations may reap from the pandemic is the increased interest in camping and RVing. We asked the American travelers we surveyed the week of April 24th if the pandemic made camping and RVing more attractive. Nearly 4 in 10 agreed it did.

Nature-based destinations indeed have an opportunity to position themselves well for post-pandemic travel, introduce themselves to new travel audiences and even grow and sustain market share into the future.

To make sure you receive notifications of our latest findings, you can sign up here .

Recent Posts

• The State of the American Traveler in August 2023 —Travel Budgets and Planning Windows Shrink, TikTok & Podcasts Keeps Rising
• Travelers React to AI-Generated Travel Ads
• The State of the American Traveler in July 2023 — What Trip Spending Will be Compromised to Keep Traveling
• Globetrotting! The Latest Profile of the Internationally Traveling American
• The State of the American Traveler in June 2023 — Sticker Shock Results in Trip Changes Amidst a Record Summer Travel Season
• Advertising effectiveness
• Coronavirus
• Destination Analysts
• Economic Impact
• International Travel
• Meetings Industry
• Presentations
• The State of the American Traveler
• The State of the International Traveler
• Travel Outlook
• Uncategorized
• Website Usability

The State of the International Traveler Study™

Order Your Custom Report Today.

Destination Analysts’ annual tracking study, The State of the International Traveler™ tracks key destination performance metrics in 14 major feeder markets for over 60 U.S. destinations. Custom reports are available for destinations including:

What is nature tourism and why is it so popular?

Disclaimer: Some posts on Tourism Teacher may contain affiliate links. If you appreciate this content, you can show your support by making a purchase through these links or by buying me a coffee . Thank you for your support!

Nature tourism is a fantastic type of tourism and it is on the rise! But what is it and why is it so popular? Read on to learn more…

What is nature tourism?

Why is nature tourism important, what is the difference between nature tourism and ecotourism, types of nature tourism, bird watching, scuba diving, scenic driving, bush walking, visiting parks, fishing , cycling , nature tours, nature tourism- further reading.

Nature tourism is all about visiting natural areas and is closed aligned with the concept of rural tourism . Places that nature tourists might visit include might include beaches, forests or national parks. Activities focus on the natural environment rather than visiting man-mad features; think stargazing and hiking, for example. There are locations right across the globe which are perfect for nature tourism.

The CBI (Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries) in the Netherlands define nature tourism as follows:

Nature tourism, also called nature-based tourism, is tourism based on the natural attractions of an area. It consists of responsible travel to experience natural areas and their landscape, flora and fauna, protecting the environment and improving the quality of life of locals.

Nature tourism is important as it allows people to see and appreciate the beauty of our natural environment. Through this kind of tourism, we are able to escape the pollution and pressures of city life – it is good for our physical and mental wellbeing to be out in nature, breathing in fresh air and seeing lush greenery or sparkly blue seas. Nature tourism also encourages visitors to take an interest in the natural environment, which may then translate to them making a more conscious effort where environmental issues are concerned. With climate change being an ever-present and ongoing issue, this is definitely a good thing.

Following on from this, nature tourism gives land owners, local communities and local governments more reason to preserve and take care of natural areas. If they know people will come to visit, it is in their best interest to look after these places and is a great incentive for developing their sustainable tourism provision. Visiting tourists can do wonders for local community pride this way.

As with all tourism, nature tourism brings in money . This economic boost trickles down through a whole community; people need places to stay, and food to eat, and they want to buy souvenirs. Hikers may need to buy replacement walking boots, and weary explorers will always need somewhere to rest their heads at night. Jobs are created and economies are boosted through natural tourism, in the surrounding areas of the specific locations too.

Is nature tourism different from ecotourism? Put simply, yes. They are very similar, but ecotourism is perhaps a more specialised branch of nature tourism if we were looking to clearly define the difference in some way. Nature tourism is about visiting an area – responsibly, yes – rather than actively aiming to learn about the environment and participating in its protection. A nature tourist might visit a beach and admire its beauty, while an ecotourist might join in with a beach clean-up. The lines are blurred, of course, as they so often are when we try to differentiate between types of tourism .

There are different types of nature tourism. This is where we will see similarities with another kind of tourism: adventure tourism. You can read all about adventure tourism here if you’re interested! However, the similarity is that both can be split into two ‘types’: hard and soft.

Soft nature tourism might involve bird watching, visiting a beach to sunbathe, gentle walks through country parks and so on. Hard nature tourism is a bit more tough going: mountain climbing, bush walking and scuba diving, for example. Below I’ll go into some of these specific examples, so you can see how diverse nature tourism is!

Nature tourism examples

There are many examples of nature tourism to be found. Keep reading to see what they are, and whether they fall into the hard or soft category.

Bird watching is an example of soft nature tourism. People of all ages and abilities can do this, with or without a guide. You just need some background knowledge of bird species (or a book explaining them) and perhaps some binoculars. the Gambia is a hotspot for bird watching!

This is more of an example of hard nature tourism. It’s much more adventurous, and requires specialist equipment and a guide or a lot of training/experience. Head under the water to see what kind of nature is on display down there: coral, fish, shells and so much more. It’s subjective, but Barracuda Point in Malaysia is apparently the most beautiful place in the world to scuba dive… and I am a big fan of diving in Dahab , Egypt too!

This is another ‘soft’ activity in that it is low-risk and doesn’t require physical exertion. The North Coast 500 in Scotland is an example of a famous scenic drive – this is a great way to experience nature. From rolling hills to winding rivers, there is so much to see out of the window from the comfort of your car. Another fantastic example is the Kings Highway in Jordan , where you will see endless desert, canyons and incredible rock formations.

Camping is, again, an example of soft nature tourism. While it’s a little more ‘involved’ than scenic driving, for example, it is still relatively low risk and most of us are able to participate. Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand is said to be one of the most beautiful places in the world to camp, with its green landscapes and snowy mountain scenery. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro gives you some fantastic camping opportunities too- just make sure you buy the best wild camping tent !

While controversial, hunting tourism is an example of nature tourism as it takes place in natural spaces. It is definitely one for the hard category, as you need special equipment to do so and it can obviously be quite dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. It is also often a discussion point for ethical tourism .

For the most part, this is a very safe activity and therefore falls into the soft category again. Guided tours are available in all of the very best stargazing locations, such as El Teide National Park in Tenerife, and it has even spawned its own branch of tourism. This is known as dark sky tourism, and there are many examples of activities that fall within this. They include stargazing, of course, alongside seeing the Northern Lights, watching an eclipse, astronomy tours and staying in accommodations that offer a clear view of the night sky such as glass domes.

This can be dangerous in that it is all about going off the beaten track, and walking through bushes/on rough ground. Therefore we can categorise this as hard nature tourism; it is something you would do when hiking, and gives you a bit of an adrenaline kick!

One of the easiest and most common forms of nature tourism is simply visiting a park. Whether this is a UK national park or your local green space at home, visiting a park is a definite example of this type of tourism. You’ll see birds, insects, flowers, trees, grass and more. Have a leisurely stroll, cycle through or sit and eat a picnic surrounded by nature.

Fishing falls in the middle of the soft and hard categories. You do need specialist equipment, but with most types of fishing there is little to no risk to life involved. But you need to be in nature – by or even on a lake or river – to do it, so it definitely counts as a form of nature tourism. People have obviously been fishing for years as a source of food gathering, but it is also a recreational hobby enjoyed by many.

This is another middle of the road activity. Kayaking can be dangerous, although it usually isn’t – you’ll often have a guide with you, and of course specialist equipment (the kayak) is required. It’s a really fun activity that many people enjoy!

You can visit a beach and simply do… nothing! This is still an example of nature tourism, as beaches are natural environments. Bali has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and tourists flock there to relax and soak up the sunshine. Beaches are also usually near to bars and restaurants, and you might find people doing beach yoga or watching the sunrise/sunset. Thailand even has all-night moonlight beach parties. They are versatile and beautiful locations!

Again, another activity that could be considered hard or soft. It depends where you go, really. A gentle bike ride along a specific cycle lane through a park is nothing like mountain biking in harsh terrains. It’s all about the level of ability you have and what risks you’re willing to take. But cycling is definitely a great way to get out and about in nature. It is also a low-cost and eco-friendly activity, which makes it a winner from many angles.

These tend to be a longer duration than many activities mentioned above, which you may do regularly but for a few hours at a time. Nature tours are days or even weeks-long trips, out into the wilderness with nature and wildlife experts. You might travel by air or train, or go on a cruise, and your guide will be on hand to point out every aspect of nature there is to see. These nature tours will take visitors to some of the most beautiful destinations on earth, such as trekking in Chiang Mai , Croatia, seeing the glaciers in Iceland and Alaska, and gazing at the best waterfalls in Finger Lakes . They’ll set you back a fair bit, but the memories you’ll make seeing bears and waterfalls and glorious sunsets will more than make up for it!

If you enjoyed this article, I am sure that you will love these too!

• Homestay tourism: What is a homestay?
• Cultural tourism explained: What, why and where
• Volunteer tourism: The reasons why people volunteer
• What is adventure tourism and why is it so big?
• Rural tourism explained: What, where and why

Liked this article? Click to share!

The 10 Most Unique Nature Travel Destinations

Written by Maartje

The best nature travel destinations in the world include breathtaking landscapes, diverse ecosystems, and unparalleled opportunities for adventure and exploration. From the pristine volcanoes of Indonesia to the rugged wilderness of Canada, and the lush rainforests of Rwanda to the vibrant coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef, there is a destination to captivate every nature enthusiast. Namibia and South Africa offer a unique blend of majestic deserts and abundant wildlife, while Bolivia’s surreal landscapes seem almost otherworldly. Let us inspire you to book your next trips to these extraordinary destinations, where nature’s splendor knows no bounds.

Best destinations for nature vacations

#1 indonesia.

Indonesia is a cluster of more than 17,500 volcanic and tropical islands making it the perfect destination for a cruise . It stands as one of the most captivating travel destinations for nature enthusiasts. This breathtaking archipelago offers a myriad of opportunities to immerse oneself in the splendor of Mother Nature. Among Indonesia’s best nature travel destinations are its remarkable national parks and islands. Komodo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, boasts stunning landscapes and is home to the famous Komodo dragons, the world’s largest lizards. The Komodo volcano, which lent its name to the park, adds an awe-inspiring touch to the wilderness.

For wildlife enthusiasts, encountering orangutans in their natural habitat is a truly heartwarming experience. Indonesia’s dense rainforests, particularly in places like Sumatra and Borneo, provide a sanctuary for these majestic creatures. Bali, known for its lush rice terraces and verdant jungles, is a favorite among travelers seeking natural beauty.

Diving and snorkeling enthusiasts will find paradise in Raja Ampat, a remote and untouched archipelago in Indonesia’s eastern region. Its crystal-clear waters, vibrant coral reefs, and diverse marine life make it a dream destination for underwater exploration.

However, exploring Indonesia’s natural wonders wouldn’t be complete without mentioning its remarkable volcanoes. Boasting around 400 volcanoes, many of which remain active, the country’s volcanic landscapes offer a captivating mix of beauty and power. While these volcanoes pose challenges, they also provide fertile soil and stunning vistas that are a testament to the country’s geological marvels.

Indonesia, with its enchanting national parks, unique wildlife, idyllic islands, and awe-inspiring volcanoes, offers an unparalleled adventure for nature lovers seeking to reconnect with the Earth’s natural wonders. From the exotic wilderness of Komodo National Park to the tranquil charm of Bali and the breathtaking underwater world of Raja Ampat, each destination provides an opportunity to experience the diverse and abundant beauty of Indonesia’s nature-rich landscape. 

Canada is a nature lover’s paradise where breathtaking landscapes and awe-inspiring natural wonders await. If you’re seeking an unforgettable adventure surrounded by Mother Nature’s finest, Canada should be at the top of your travel list. With its diverse and pristine wilderness, this vast country offers an array of spectacular destinations that will leave you in awe.

One of the best nature travel destinations in Canada is the Niagara Falls region in Ontario. This enchanting area boasts the world-famous Niagara Falls, a magnificent display of raw power and beauty. The falls cascade with force through the Niagara Gorge, creating a mesmerizing spectacle. Witnessing the sheer power of the falls is an experience like no other. During the summer months, the region comes alive with outdoor activities, making it an ideal destination for nature lovers.

Another top-notch destination is the province of Alberta, home to Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. These pristine parks, nestled in the heart of the Canadian Rockies, boast majestic mountains, turquoise lakes, and an abundance of wildlife. The picturesque Lake Louise, surrounded by snow-capped peaks, is a must-visit spot for any nature enthusiast. Hike along the Lake Agnes Tea House trail, and you’ll be rewarded with stunning views of an alpine lake and the chance to indulge in a cozy log cabin experience.

Driving along the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper is a scenic adventure that will take your breath away. Admire rushing waterfalls, ancient glaciers, and towering mountains as you traverse this iconic route. Wildlife safaris in Jasper offer an opportunity to spot bears, moose, elk, and other fascinating creatures in their natural habitat.

Venture to Vancouver Island on Canada’s west coast, a haven for outdoor lovers. Explore the rugged coastline, lush forests, and pristine beaches that offer endless opportunities for hiking, camping, and water-based activities. The West Coast Trail, a challenging 75-kilometer hike, treats adventurers to breathtaking coastal views and a chance to reconnect with nature.

In British Columbia, Whistler beckons with its rugged landscapes and outdoor thrills. While renowned for winter sports, the summer season offers equally exciting adventures, including hiking through enchanting forests and taking in the sweeping vistas from the Peak 2 Peak gondola.

Canada is a treasure trove of natural wonders, catering to every nature lover’s desires. From the thundering Niagara Falls to the serene lakes of the Canadian Rockies and the wild beauty of Vancouver Island, this country has it all. Embrace the great outdoors, immerse yourself in nature’s embrace, and let Canada’s stunning landscapes inspire your soul. Discover the best of nature in Canada and create memories that will last a lifetime.

Nestled in the heart of Africa lies Rwanda, a mesmerizing land of a thousand hills that beckons nature lovers from all corners of the world. Renowned for its awe-inspiring biodiversity and captivating landscapes, Rwanda stands tall as one of the best travel destinations for those seeking an unforgettable encounter with nature.

One of the top attractions that draws travelers to Rwanda is the rare and majestic mountain gorillas found in the Parc National des Volcans. Made famous by Dian Fossey and the movie “Gorillas in the Mist”, this national park offers a unique opportunity to embark on a thrilling gorilla trekking adventure . As you venture into the lush forests, guided by experienced rangers, you’ll witness these gentle giants in their natural habitat, an encounter that leaves an indelible mark.

For those craving a taste of the African savannah, the Akagera National Park, located on the border with Tanzania, awaits with its sprawling landscapes. Here, visitors can partake in exhilarating safaris and game drives. This will allow you to witness an array of wildlife, including lions, giraffes, elephants, and zebras, freely roaming the savannah.

Another natural gem in Rwanda is the Nyungwe Forest National Park, one of Central Africa’s largest protected mountain forests. This sanctuary shelters not only chimpanzees but also various other primate species. As you traverse the forest trails, the mesmerizing calls of these primates will enchant you, providing an intimate glimpse into their fascinating lives.

These main attractions, the mountain gorillas in Parc National des Volcans, the savannepark Akagera, and the chimpanzees in Nyungwe Forest National Park, are just a glimpse of the many wonders Rwanda has to offer. As a nature enthusiast, you’ll find yourself in awe of the country’s commitment to conservation and the harmonious coexistence between humans and wildlife.

#4 The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef, located off the coast of Queensland in North-East Australia, is undoubtedly one of the most famous nature travel destinations in the world. It is a true paradise for nature lovers. As the world’s largest coral reef system, it spans over 2,300 kilometers and is composed of more than 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands. It is a breathtaking marvel visible even from space, proudly holding its place on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

For nature enthusiasts, the Great Barrier Reef offers an unparalleled experience with its diverse marine life, colorful corals, and crystal-clear waters. Snorkeling and diving are the most popular activities to immerse oneself in this underwater wonderland. Swimming alongside vibrant fish, graceful manta rays, and the magnificent humpback whales (during migration season) is an unforgettable adventure. The rich biodiversity and sheer expanse of the reef provide countless opportunities for exploration and awe-inspiring encounters with nature’s wonders.

To truly make the most of a visit to the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns and Townsville serve as ideal starting points. From these coastal hubs, tourists can embark on diving expeditions or take scenic boat cruises, enjoying the stunning views of the azure sea and lush islands. The adventurous can opt for heli-flights to witness the reef’s vastness from above, capturing Instagram-worthy shots of this natural marvel.

For those seeking a more immersive experience, spending a night on one of the reef’s islands is a must. These secluded getaways offer a chance to connect with nature intimately, away from the bustling mainland. Waking up to the sound of gentle waves and witnessing the sunrise over the reef is an experience that lingers in the heart long after leaving.

The Great Barrier Reef’s significance as a globally recognized natural treasure, coupled with its accessibility from major cities, has made it Australia’s premier tourist attraction. However, it is crucial for travelers to adopt eco-friendly practices and support sustainable tourism to preserve this delicate ecosystem for future generations.

#5 Namibia & South Africa

When it comes to nature travel destinations, Namibia and South Africa stand out as two of the most awe-inspiring and captivating countries for nature enthusiasts. Namibia’s surreal landscapes and South Africa’s diverse wildlife make them perfect choices for adventurers seeking unforgettable experiences in the great outdoors.

Namibia’s Sossusvlei , with its mesmerizing sand dunes, is a top draw for visitors. The undulating golden dunes, especially at sunrise and sunset, paint an ethereal canvas that must be seen to be believed. Etosha National Park , on the other hand, boasts an otherworldly salt pan and attracts many wildlife, including elephants, lions, and rhinos. Embarking on a self-drive safari through the park offers an exhilarating experience, where travelers can witness untamed African wildlife in their natural habitat.

For those with a thirst for adventure, the Skeleton Coast in Namibia delivers an eerie yet fascinating landscape. With its desolate stretches and shipwrecks, this barren coastal region exudes an aura of mystery and allure. 

Meanwhile, South Africa’s Kruger National Park remains an epitome of wildlife conservation and biodiversity. Spanning across vast savannahs and woodlands, it provides shelter to the famous Big Five along with a myriad of other species. The immersive game drives allow visitors to encounter the beauty of African wildlife up close and personal. The Garden Route, a scenic stretch along the southeastern coast, offers a diverse range of natural wonders, from lush forests and sparkling lakes to majestic cliffs and sandy beaches. The Panoramaroute, another gem in South Africa, treats visitors to breathtaking vistas of Blyde River Canyon, God’s Window, and Bourke’s Luck Potholes, creating a truly awe-inspiring experience.

Finally, no visit to South Africa is complete without experiencing the iconic Table Mountain in Cape Town. Whether hiked or accessed by a cable car, the panoramic views from the top are nothing short of breathtaking, making it a must-visit spot for nature enthusiasts and photographers alike.

Namibia and South Africa epitomize nature’s grandeur, offering an array of awe-inspiring destinations. From the captivating dunes of Sossusvlei to the wildlife-rich Kruger National Park and the breathtaking panoramas of Table Mountain, these two countries undoubtedly belong on the bucket list of any nature lover and adventurer.

Nestled in South America, Bolivia beckons nature lovers with a treasure trove of captivating landscapes and diverse ecosystems. As one of the best nature travel destinations, Bolivia’s natural wonders promise an unforgettable journey for adventurous souls seeking breathtaking vistas and unique wildlife encounters.

At the heart of Bolivia lies the iconic Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat spanning over 7,000 square kilometers. During the rainy season from November to April, the Uyuni salt flats transform into a mesmerizing mirror, reflecting the skies and offering an ethereal experience that leaves visitors in awe.

For birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts, the Amboro National Park is a true paradise. Its strategic location between the Andes, the Amazon rainforest, and the Chaco desert fosters a rich biodiversity. With an impressive count of approximately 800 bird species, including vibrant flamingos, and elusive creatures like pumas and ocelots, the park offers a tantalizing glimpse into the wonders of the natural world.

Southeast of Amboro, the captivating Los Vulcanes entices visitors with its striking rock formations and dense jungles. Here, rare avian species grace the skies, providing a rare and enriching opportunity for birdwatching amidst awe-inspiring scenery.

Lake Titicaca, straddling the border between Bolivia and Peru, claims the title of the world’s highest navigable lake. This sacred body of water, steeped in ancient Inca beliefs, is adorned with intriguing archaeological sites that speak of a rich historical heritage, making it a must-visit destination for both nature and history enthusiasts.

Venturing into southwestern Bolivia, the breathtaking Laguna Verde awaits travelers in the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve. The emerald green lake, set against the dormant Licancabur Volcano, creates a picture-perfect backdrop for encountering three species of flamingos and an array of remarkable wildlife. Near the Laguna Verde also lies the enigmatic Laguna Colorada mesmerizes with its red waters and graceful pink flamingos. 

Adding to Bolivia’s allure is the Salvador Dalí Desert, an arid valley in the southwest that enchants with its stark yet alluring charm. Perfect for soulful introspection and awe-inspiring photography, this barren landscape is a testament to nature’s unique artistry.

Lastly, Valle De La Luna, or Moon Valley, enchants with its maze of spires and canyons shaped over millennia by the forces of wind and water. The surreal beauty of this destination offers visitors a profound connection with the wonders of the Earth.

For nature enthusiasts seeking unparalleled experiences, Bolivia emerges as a top-tier destination. Its diverse landscapes, rich biodiversity, and surreal natural wonders ensure that every traveler embarks on an extraordinary journey, creating cherished memories that last a lifetime.

#7 United States

When it comes to nature travel destinations, the United States stands out as an unparalleled paradise for nature lovers, offering an astonishing array of breathtaking landscapes and diverse ecosystems. With its vast size and geographical variety, the USA boasts some of the most iconic and awe-inspiring natural wonders on the planet, making it a dream destination for any outdoor enthusiast.

Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park, is a testament to the country’s commitment to preserving its natural heritage. Located primarily in Wyoming, but stretching into Montana and Idaho, Yellowstone captivates visitors with its geothermal wonders, including the iconic Old Faithful geyser. The park’s mesmerizing hot springs, geysers, and wildlife-rich meadows make it a must-visit destination, offering endless opportunities for exploration and adventure.

Yosemite National Park, nestled in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, is a true gem for nature enthusiasts. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is renowned for its towering waterfalls, ancient giant sequoias, and dramatic granite cliffs like El Capitan and Half Dome. Hiking through Yosemite Valley provides a profound connection with nature, and witnessing the sun illuminating the valley at dawn is an unforgettable experience that leaves visitors in awe of its sheer beauty.

The Grand Canyon, Arizona, is a colossal masterpiece carved by the Colorado River over millions of years. This immense canyon showcases vivid rock layers that tell the Earth’s geological story. The vastness and depth of the Grand Canyon instill a sense of wonder, with countless viewpoints offering breathtaking vistas. Whether hiking along the rim or descending into the canyon itself, travelers are treated to a majestic landscape that words can scarcely describe.

Venturing into Arizona’s Monument Valley is like stepping into a surreal painting. This iconic landscape of red sandstone mesas and buttes is a sacred and spiritual place for the Navajo Nation. The stark beauty of Monument Valley has been immortalized in countless Western films, and experiencing the region’s ethereal sunrises and sunsets is a truly transcendent encounter with nature.

For those seeking unspoiled wilderness, Alaska is an unrivaled destination. Its vast and untamed landscapes include towering glaciers, misty fjords, and expansive national parks. Denali National Park, home to North America’s highest peak, Denali (formerly Mount McKinley), offers unparalleled opportunities for wildlife viewing, including grizzly bears, caribou, and Dall sheep. The rugged and remote beauty of Alaska is a testament to the raw power and unyielding allure of nature.

In conclusion, the United States has secured its place among the best nature travel destinations globally due to its diverse and captivating natural wonders. From the geothermal marvels of Yellowstone and the majestic granite cliffs of Yosemite to the awe-inspiring vastness of the Grand Canyon, the sacred beauty of Monument Valley, and the untamed wilderness of Alaska, these destinations present an invitation to immerse oneself in the unspoiled grandeur of the natural world.

Nestled in the North Atlantic Ocean, Iceland stands as a mesmerizing masterpiece and an unparalleled nature lover’s haven. Renowned for its breathtaking landscapes and untouched wilderness, it easily ranks among the best travel destinations for those seeking an intimate encounter with nature’s raw beauty.

Among its many allures, the Golden Circle stands as a testament to Iceland’s geothermal wonders. The geysers put on a spectacular show, shooting bursts of steaming water high into the sky, while the iconic Gullfoss waterfall roars with majestic power, casting a mesmerizing rainbow in its cascading spray. Visitors are left spellbound by the primal forces at play in this geological wonderland.

Venturing further south, the Skaftafell Glacier beckons adventurers to explore its icy realm. A sanctuary within Vatnajökull National Park, Skaftafell’s vast expanse of shimmering glaciers and frozen landscapes offers an otherworldly experience. Nearby, Diamond Beach glimmers like a treasure trove with chunks of glacial ice scattered along its black sand, a truly awe-inspiring sight.

Continuing eastward, the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon captivates with its surreal beauty, where massive icebergs gracefully drift in serene waters. Witnessing these ice sculptures slowly make their way to the Atlantic Ocean is an unforgettable spectacle that tugs at the heartstrings of every nature enthusiast.

Heading west, the Snaefellsness Peninsula unravels a dreamscape of diverse natural wonders. A towering glacier-capped volcano, Snaefellsjökull, reigns over the region, exuding an aura of mysticism and spiritual energy. The rugged coastline adorned with sea cliffs and basalt formations, including the iconic Arnarstapi and Djúpalónssandur, showcases Iceland’s dramatic coastal charm.

For an avian encounter like no other, Vestmannaeyjar , or the Westman Islands, welcomes visitors with its extraordinary puffin colonies. Visiting the volcanic island is a must in spring, when puffins flock to this small island just south of the Icelandic coast.

#9 New Zealand

Nestled in the southern Pacific Ocean, New Zealand stands as a mesmerizing paradise for nature enthusiasts, boasting an unparalleled array of diverse landscapes. Renowned for its awe-inspiring beauty and untamed wilderness, it is undoubtedly one of the world’s best nature travel destinations.

At the heart of New Zealand lies its famous national parks, each with its own distinct charm. Fiordland National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, welcomes adventurers with its mystical fjords, cascading waterfalls, and lush rainforests. Milford Sound, often referred to as the “Eighth Wonder of the World”, mesmerizes visitors with its sheer cliffs and tranquil waters, offering the chance to witness dolphins and seals at play.

For those seeking an otherworldly experience, Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park awaits, where the majestic Southern Alps reach for the heavens. Hikers, climbers, and mountaineers find their sanctuary here, surrounded by glaciers and alpine beauty.

Traveling north to Tongariro National Park, travelers are captivated by the raw power of volcanic landscapes. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing offers an unforgettable trek amidst active volcanoes, emerald lakes, and vibrant crater formations.

Further on, in the Coromandel Peninsula, lies the ethereal Cathedral Cove. Accessible only by foot or kayak, this hidden gem showcases dramatic rock arches, golden sandy beaches, and crystal-clear waters, inviting a moment of serenity and wonder.

In the South Island’s Marlborough Sounds, an enchanting labyrinth of sunken valleys and tranquil waterways await exploration. Sea kayaking through this maze of green-clad hills and secluded bays allows for an intimate connection with nature’s harmony.

Beyond its scenic wonders, New Zealand’s dedication to environmental conservation makes it an even more alluring destination. As a leader in sustainable practices, the country prioritizes protecting its natural wonders, ensuring future generations can also revel in the beauty of its untouched landscapes.

#10 Argentina

In the realm of captivating nature travel destinations, Argentina reigns as a nature paradise for adventurers. Boasting a rich tapestry of diverse landscapes, this South American gem stands as a haven for nature lovers seeking unparalleled experiences. Whether it’s the awe-inspiring wildlife, majestic mountains, unforgettable hiking trails or serene lakes, Argentina offers an extraordinary array of natural wonders to explore.

Puerto Madryn emerges as a premier destination for a heart-stirring encounter with marine marvels. The nearby Peninsula Valdes unveils an enchanting spectacle of colossal whales. Whale watching in Peninsula Valdes promises an unforgettable rendezvous with these gentle giants, leaving visitors in absolute awe of nature’s grandeur.

Venturing further south, the ‘End of the World’ beckons intrepid travelers to Ushuaia, gateway to the mythical Tierra del Fuego. Nestled amidst untamed landscapes, this remote region presents a surreal fusion of imposing Andean peaks, emerald forests, and untamed fjords. The captivating allure of Ushuaia lies in its untamed wilderness.

No visit to Argentina would be complete without witnessing the stunning Perito Moreno Glacier . This imposing glacier is a highlight of Los Glaciares National Park, where travelers can marvel at the colossal ice formations and even witness ice calving events, a truly unforgettable sight.

Treading northwards to Bariloche, travelers are treated to a picturesque landscape bedecked with stunning lakes. Nestled amid the Andes, this region beckons adventurers to explore its lush forests, snow-capped peaks, and serene waters. Boating across the crystalline lakes offers a tranquil escape, enveloping visitors in the embrace of nature’s tranquil beauty.

For those with a penchant for indulgence and relaxation amidst nature’s bounty, Mendoza’s wine country presents a divine retreat. Beyond the vineyards, framed by the mighty Andes, this province boasts remarkable landscapes that enthrall all who tread upon its soil.

Lastly, journeying to Salta uncovers a natural wonder of a different kind: the captivating salt plains. Known as the Salinas Grandes, these vast, white expanses stretch to the horizon, painting a surreal backdrop that defies imagination. Witnessing the salt plains at Salta is an ethereal experience, as the landscape’s stark simplicity leaves a profound impact on visitors.

Save this pin for later:

Related Entries

27 famous volcanoes for your travel bucket list.

21 best places to go for a 21st birthday

22 best family travel blogs to follow in 2022

25 best street art cities in the world

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Int J Environ Res Public Health

Restoration of Visitors through Nature-Based Tourism: A Systematic Review, Conceptual Framework, and Future Research Directions

Mengyuan qiu.

1 College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China; moc.liamg@321188nauygnem

2 College of Business Administration, Jiangsu Vocational Institute of Commerce, Nanjing 211168, China; gro.ude-htiffirg@ijahs

3 Gold Coast Campus, Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4222, Australia

Associated Data

The original data is provided by all the authors. If there are relevant research needs, the data can be obtained by sending an email to Mengyuan Qiu ( moc.liamg@321188nauygnem ). Please indicate the purpose of the research and the statement of data confidentiality in the email.

Visiting natural environments could restore health and contribute to human sustainability. However, the understanding of potential linkages between restoration of visitors and nature-based tourism remains incomplete, resulting in a lack of orientation for researchers and managers. This study aimed to explore how visitors achieve restoration through nature by analyzing published literature on tourism. Using a systematic review method, this study examined destination types, participant traits, theoretical foundations, and potential restorative outcomes presented in 34 identified articles. A new framework that synthesizes relevant research and conceptualizes the restorative mechanisms of nature-based tourism from a human–nature interaction perspective was developed. Owing to the limitations in the theories, methods, cases, and the COVID-19 pandemic, interdisciplinary methods and multisensory theories are needed in the future to shed further light on the restoration of visitors through nature-based tourism. The findings provide a theoretical perspective on the consideration of nature-based tourism as a public-wellness product worldwide, and the study provides recommendations for future research in a COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 society.

1. Introduction

Urbanization, resource exploitation, and lifestyle changes have reduced people’s opportunities for preserving and improving their quality of life [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Furthermore, there exists a wide consensus that the outbreak and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic not only affects physical health but also mental health and well-being. It is most likely that society will face an increase in health challenges, behavioral disturbances, and substance use disorders as extreme stressors exacerbate or induce psychiatric problems [ 4 ]. While the pandemic will end eventually due to medical developments, its ill effects on the health and well-being of the general population will remain for a long time [ 5 ]. A growing number of people are craving for an opportunity to get close to nature to heal their bodies and minds when facing such a global crisis [ 6 ].

The need for restoration through nature has a long history, originating from ancient Chinese healers and Greek philosophers, and the belief that humans can improve their body and mind in natural environments repeatedly appears throughout recorded human history [ 7 ]. The process of renewing or recovering physical, psychological, and social capabilities that have become depleted in meeting ordinary adaptational demands is described as the concept of “restoration” [ 8 ]. Nature-based tourism, which primarily involves the direct enjoyment of undisturbed natural environments, is an important way for people to recover from stress and mental fatigue [ 9 ]. According to the visual characteristics of the restorative environment (e.g., natural color, spatial structural, vegetation coverage, etc.), Bell proposed the “place palette” and believed that spaces with different colors are varied in their restorative effects [ 10 ]. Green spaces and blue spaces are the most common natural destinations that may help recover health and well-being [ 2 , 10 ]. Such spaces range from gardens and parks to woodlands and forests as well as oceans, coasts, and inland water bodies, and they also include environments with various natural elements. Travel and tourism make up the largest service industry in the world, while nature-based tourism serves as a primary part of this industry [ 11 ]. In 2019, over eight billion people visited nature reserves around the world for relaxation or recovery, generating an estimated revenue of $600 billion [ 12 ].

However, while the term “restoration” is occasionally used within tourism theory, it has not been clearly defined, related to nature, and theorized or tested until recently [ 13 , 14 ]. Apart from the number of published empirical studies on the restorative experiences of visitors through nature, no structured overview of research findings on the relationship between visitors and nature-based tourism exists. A general understanding of how visitors achieve restoration through nature-based tourism is not only essential to maintain and improve the well-being of visitors in our rapidly urbanizing world but also provides a more balanced view of the conservation and utilization of nature [ 15 ].

With this background, the purpose of this study was to propose a conceptual framework to describe the relationship between restoration of visitors and nature-based tourism through a systematic review. A conceptual framework is defined as a network of linked concepts. It has significant advantages on its capacity for modification and its emphasis on understanding instead of prediction [ 16 ]. Before the review, the methodology of creating a comprehensive list of articles pertaining to the associations between restoration of visitors and nature-based tourism is provided. In the review, the results of identifying, selecting, appraising, and synthesizing the evidence for restoration of visitors through nature-based tourism are presented. Subsequently, a conceptual framework of how visitors achieve restoration through nature-based tourism is discussed. To support the conceptual framework, empirical findings relevant to environmental triggers, experience of visitors, and restorative outcomes are analyzed. Finally, directions for future research are discussed.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. systematic literature review.

This study performed a systematic review of relevant literature that specifically examined the restorative mechanism of visitors in natural environments. Systematic literature reviews (SLRs) differ from other forms of reviews, such as traditional literature reviews and commentaries [ 17 ]. A protocol of an SLR is identified a priori and details the study inclusion criteria, establishes a series of review questions, identifies relevant studies, appraises their quality, and summarizes the evidence to provide an overall understanding of the research on a certain topic [ 18 ]. The SLR is a suitable method for this study because it synthesizes findings from recent literature while reducing the effect of the reviewers’ own biases, thus identifying research gaps and providing suggestions and directions for further research. Hartig et al. agreed that an SLR is an improved method for the identification of academic evidence and that it is suitable for application in tourism [ 8 ]. In this study, we established a three-step system for identifying, selecting, and critically evaluating relevant literature to address the research questions.

2.2. Search Strategy and Selection Criteria

The first step of the three-step process involved a comprehensive literature search. We restricted our search to primary research articles in peer-reviewed scientific literature and focused on identifying articles relevant to this review through standardized search methods, including electronic database searches and opportunistic searches through relevant reference lists [ 19 ]. Our review considered articles published between 1 January 1989 and 1 October 2021. The year 1989 is important because seminal investigations on restoration were published [ 20 ]. The ISI Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus were used as scientific search engines to find appropriate literature. WoS is the most commonly used search engine for literature reviews; however, it does not contain a sufficient number of tourism journals. Scopus was thus used as a complementary database because its coverage of tourism journals is more comprehensive [ 21 ]. The search terms were entered using the categories “title, abstract, and keywords” for Scopus and “topic” for WoS. The search profile was based on several primary search terms, which can be divided into two groups: one group referred to the natural environment and the second group to the restorative experience of nature ( Table 1 ). The terms were chosen based on literature review on restoration through nature [ 8 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. In WoS, we used the category of “hospitality, tourism, leisure, and sports” to refine the search for articles. In Scopus, we used the titles of journals to find articles published in the field of tourism.

Search terms.

2.3. Study Eligibility Criteria

Second, articles were screened and those articles with titles or abstracts that did not match the main research objectives of our study were excluded. Articles on restoration through nature were included based on the following criteria [ 22 , 25 ]:

• The article was an original research article or literature review.
• The article reported data on any measure of restorative experience. The restoration could include psychological health, cognitive rejuvenation, social well-being, or spiritual improvement.
• The article presented evidence suggesting that visitors are directly exposed to the natural environment. The natural environment was used in a broad sense to include any environment that appeared to be green and blue. “Direct exposure” indicated physical presence within the environment and the use of the environment as a setting for tourism activity. Both observational and experimental studies were included. However, experiences based on virtual environments comprising pictures, slides, or videos were not included as participants were not directly exposed to the real natural environment [ 25 ].
• The article belonged to the field of tourism, hospitality, or leisure, but not sports.

Excluded from the review were studies that focused on the benefits of everyday athletics/exercise performance in natural environments and resilience to natural hazards (e.g., earthquake, debris flow, water, and soil loss) rather than on humans. To reduce assessment bias, the review of relevant literature was shared equally by the two authors. The primary author performed a final check of the selected journal articles to ensure equality in evaluation.

2.4. Narrative Analysis of the Selected Articles

Finally, owing to the heterogeneity of the literature selected (in terms of approach, key concepts, designs, and methods), a form of narrative analysis was applied [ 26 ]. Narrative analysis, which adopts a textual approach to synthesis, is a widely recognized and validated approach, and it is used when considerable differences in terms of design, methods, outcomes, and analysis exist. Basic information was extracted from all articles that met the review criteria, and the information was input into a standardized spreadsheet, including author names, year of publication, country, study design, study population, sample size, assessment of the environment, types of restorative outcomes measured, confounding factors, and other relevant information, such as information on potential biases. Two authors independently worked on data extraction and evaluation of the quality of the studies. An agreement was reached via consensus and the evidence was classified.

3.1. Overview and General Patterns

During the initial search process, 92 studies were identified, 65 using WoS, 17 using Scopus, and 10 using the snowballing system ( Figure 1 ). These studies reflected the widespread discussion on the restorative effects of nature on visitors. Based on screening of the titles and abstracts, 40 journal articles were selected. Most of the articles that were excluded did not meet the inclusion criteria or were not based on primary research. Full-text screening based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria identified a final list of 34 articles that were relevant for this review.

Flow chart of the screening process. WoS, Web of Science.

Figure 2 shows that since 2009, an increasing number of publications have examined the restorative potential of nature in diverse types of nature-based tourism destinations. This indicates a paradigm shift in terms of restoration research by integrating environment, health, and tourism perspectives [ 27 ]. Figure 3 shows that research is dominated by findings from Western developed nations, while Africa and Latin America are poorly represented. The selected articles cover 21 study areas of developed countries or areas, such as the US, UK, Germany, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. An interesting phenomenon is the increasing number of articles from emerging countries and areas such as mainland China. The progress of research on restoration of visitors through nature-based tourism has been remarkable in these emerging countries in the last decade.

Number of published journal articles meeting inclusion criteria (2008–2020). Note: Year 2020 was included in this figure and in all analyses, even though not all papers from this year are likely to have been published at the time of the review.

Regional distribution of case studies of this review. Note: Regions are defined by the number of cases identified in them.

3.2. Groups of Publications According to Main Content

According to the narrative analysis, all the articles that met the review criteria were characteristically suitable in terms of design, methods, theoretical background, and outcomes. Based on the focus of the respective articles, they were grouped into the following four “content groups”:

• (a) Articles that analyzed the direct and indirect restorative effects of nature-based tourism (articles 1–19).
• (b) Articles that considered restoration as an important motivation for nature-based tourism destinations (articles 20–28).
• (c) Articles that had a conceptual focus and considered scale development (articles 29–32).
• (d) Articles that were literature reviews that specifically focused on restoration in the tourism field (articles 33 and 34).

Table 2 illustrates the structural details of these subgroups with frequencies of studies by country, methods used, and year of publication. Additionally, the theories, target groups, and natural destinations are summarized by screening the basic contents of these studies. Most of the studies focused on the direct and indirect restorative effects of nature-based tourism. Within this group, the number of published studies sharply increased over the last few years. Most of the articles presented studies conducted in Europe and the US, followed by studies from China and Australia. Quantitative statistics with questionnaire-based surveys were the most common method used (58%). Three studies (16%) used a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews and coding analysis. Only two studies (11%) adopted physiological experiments to measure the restorative outcomes of visitors participating in nature-based tourism.

Characteristics of tourism studies on restoration from nature.

The second group of papers dealing with restorative motivations mainly concerned undifferentiated “total” visitors (74%). Only one study directly addressed patients. Most of the studies conducted in China used a questionnaire-based survey as the main method (56%). Studies that combined qualitative and quantitative analyses contributed 22% of the total. The number of published studies decreased gradually with time.

The third group, which discussed methodology development, concerned effective measurement of restorative outcomes. Research in this field has been increasing in the last decade. Most of the studies were conducted in the US and China. Principal component analysis (PCA) and structural equation model (SEM) were the main methods applied in these studies.

The fourth group consisted of literature reviews that specifically focused on restoration of visitors through nature. The papers in this group exhibited disciplinary variations encompassing ecology, epidemiology, psychology, anthropology, public health, and urban/landscape design. Quality analysis was the main method applied in these review articles and some of them used the SLR.

Apart from the two review articles, 32 papers were case studies. The studies mainly focused on visitors to green or blue spaces in urban cities or rural areas, including forests, hot springs, mountains, and coastal areas and beaches ( Table 2 ). Only five papers referred to both local residents and visitors from outside. Three major theories were applied to explain restoration of visitors through nature-based tourism; namely, attention restoration theory (ART) [ 28 , 29 ], stress recovery theory (SRT) [ 30 , 31 ], and the biophilia hypothesis [ 32 ]. These theories are multidisciplinary in nature and the details are provided in the next section.

4. Discussion

4.1. restorative triggers: nature-based destinations and visitors.

Restoration is the result of human–nature interaction. As critical triggers, visitors are the subjects in the restorative process, while nature-based destinations provide available resources. A geographical bias toward developed countries in high latitudes was observed in natural destinations, particularly in North America and Europe ( Figure 3 ), probably because only papers in English were included. It is evident from our review that the focus of most of the studies was on visitors from the developed world or restoration through nature in developed countries. However, it is evident from Table 2 and Figure 3 that a significant amount of research also focuses on natural destinations in emerging countries, especially China. As Lehto stated, the specifics of Chinese visitors’ experiences of restoration through nature-based tourism has received growing attention from both academics and practitioners in the last decades [ 33 ], as the rapid pace of economic development and globalization has resulted in excessively intense and sub-health conditions. Nature-based tourism has increasingly become a part of the good life for the Chinese for their sustainable development [ 34 ].

Most of the studies analyzed refer to undifferentiated “total” visitor groups of nature-based tourism, including local recreationists and outside vacationers. They were often affluent or medium-income earners from developed countries or emerging countries, highlighting a positive relationship between affluence and interest in health and wellness [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. This is unsurprising given the current perceptions of natural areas as a luxury, and it reflects a broader trend identified in travel literature wherein older people and subsistence income earners appear less likely to visit natural environments than younger people and medium-/high-level salary earners [ 16 ]. In particular, elderly people from low-income groups struggle to meet the cost of transportation, park entrance fees, and access to recreational facilities in distant natural areas. This trend has been observed in several large cities in France, such as Paris and Marseille [ 40 ]. The characteristics of destinations and visitors support the notion that the use of and access to natural areas is socioeconomically driven and varies according to individual circumstances [ 41 ].

Nine of the selected 34 journal articles showed that visitors are motivated to visit natural environments, to some degree, by the need to restore their health ( Table 3 ). Getting away from daily routines and life stress is the primary distinguishing motivation for visitors seeking restorative experiences [ 42 ]. Health-related motivations are also common among certain types of visitors. Some specific health-related motivations mentioned by various restoration seekers include the improvement of overall health, enhancement of physical attractiveness, rejuvenation of one’s appearance, weight loss, fitness, and curing psoriasis [ 43 , 44 ]. Spa and hot spring destinations were deemed ideal. Apart from physical and psychological restoration, Chan et al. and Dryglas et al. identified enriching one’s travel experience, learning new things about nature, experiencing the beauty of nature, sharing knowledge with others, and enhancing social relationships as spiritual factors that motivate nature-based tourism [ 39 , 45 ].

Motivations of restorative tourism.

These multidimensional motivations reflect increasing notions within modern societies, suggesting that visiting natural destinations meets diverse needs through physical, psychological, and spiritual improvement [ 46 ]. Restoration-related motivations can be explained by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Health-related restoration is a physiological need of visitors, which is a basic prerequisite for higher functioning [ 47 ]. The primary distinguishing motivation of escape and stress reduction seems to fit most clearly at the psychological level. Strengthening social relationships also fulfills the psychological need for love, affection, and friendship. The highest level of need is that for esteem and self-actualization, wherein an individual fulfills the highest potential and obtains spiritual transformation ( Figure 4 ). Exposure to nature could provide a restoration that fulfills the lower needs and also allows the higher needs of esteem and self-actualization to be met.

Correspondence between the restorative motivations of visitors in natural environments and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

4.2. Restorative Experience and Its Theoretical Explanation

In tourism literature, ART is the seemingly undisputable explanatory framework for the restorative process. It is a psycho-functionalist theory that distinguishes between directed attention and involuntary attention. After extended use, a visitor’s directed attention may become fatigued and lead to negative emotions and useless behaviors. For functionalists, natural environments seem particularly restorative because they provide an opportunity to “get away” from routine life, contain “fascinating” stimuli that effortlessly engage involuntary attention, allow visitors to be in a large enough world where the “extent” of the environment is perceived, and “compatibility” exists between inclinations of visitors and the environmental demands. These four restorative characteristics—“fascination”, “being away”, “extent”, and “compatibility”—have been used to explain the preference for nature-based tourism and to predict the type of destination that motivates visitors [ 48 ]. According to ART, the restorative process is explained well by a general push–pull framework. “Being away” and “compatibility” could be seen as intrinsic factors of visitors to push them to participate in nature-based tourism, while “fascination” and “extent” may serve as extrinsic factors in the destination that pull visitors [ 14 ].

SRT is a psycho-evolutionary theory maintaining that because humans have evolved over a long period in natural environments, exposure to certain natural environments automatically elicits a variety of stress-reducing psychophysiological responses [ 31 ]. While SRT and ART complement one another, they differ in what drives people toward the restorative nature: in SRT, it is physiological stress, whereas in ART, it is mental fatigue. Attention fatigue can be considered an after effect of stress and may be treated as a condition that increases vulnerability to stress [ 49 ]. Biophilia is an evolutionary theory that describes the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to nature. Various empirical studies have suggested that attraction to nature is evidenced across diverse cultures (e.g., [ 50 , 51 ]) and at very young ages (e.g., [ 52 ]). The difference between biophilia, ART, and SRT is that the former theory stresses that an environmental preference is an innate part of who we are, while the latter two theories hypothesize that it is affected by people’s need for restoration [ 53 , 54 , 55 ].

Beyond the idiosyncrasies of each theory, their implications are similar: (1) The properties of nature provide opportunities for visitors to have a restorative experience; (2) Environments perceived as natural tend to be more restorative than those perceived as urban or artificial. In the following sections, we provide a comprehensive review of the empirical research that tested this hypothesis.

4.3. Potential Restorative Outcomes and Measurments

The restorative benefits of nature can be divided into physical health, psychological wellness, psychosocial development, and spiritual upliftment ( Figure 5 ). This suggests that restoration through nature-based tourism should not only be limited to recovery from physical fatigue but also refers to a wider range of health benefits to the emotional state, attitude, and behavior [ 20 , 27 ]. The emphasis on mental restoration indicates that with the increase in the discretionary income of visitors, they have shifted their expectations from material products to more personalized socializing experiences [ 34 ].

Restorative outcomes from experiences of nature.

4.3.1. Physical Health and Psychological Wellness

Direct physical health benefits have been reported from physical activity that results from engaging in contact with nature, including healed medical conditions [ 36 , 43 ], contributions to reductions in obesity [ 39 ], enhancement of physical fitness [ 41 , 56 ], and general good health [ 57 , 58 ]. Nevertheless, most studies (a total of 17 articles) in our review focused on the potential restorative outcomes of psychological wellness from nature-based tourism. One of the first studies that examined the relationship between mood and nature compared the experience of visitors visiting an urban park and people recreating indoors, and it was published in Leisure Science [ 59 ]. The study found that the moods of visitors changed slightly but more significantly than that of people indoors, which is consistent with predictions that suggest nature reduces stress. Interestingly, there were few observable differences between sick and healthy visitors with regard to receiving psychological restoration through nature. A substantial body of evidence suggests that visiting natural areas is mentally beneficial to visitors as a whole [ 34 , 56 ]. All 19 articles agreed that natural areas could promote attention recovery and stress relief through high levels of positive emotions, low levels of negative emotions, and a sense of satisfaction with one’s quality of life. For visitors suffering from mood disorders and attention fatigue, immersive natural environments, such as forests with hiking trails, can provide enhanced opportunities for nature connectedness and place attachment and can positively impact the visitors’ mood and feeling of satisfaction [ 37 ].

4.3.2. Spiritual Upliftment

Hall pointed out that people may find restoration each day to survive but seek a deep, prolonged restoration when they can afford to take a nature-based vacation [ 14 ]. Hence, spiritual upliftment is thought to be the key restorative outcome of nature-based tourism. Spiritual restoration is manifested through values, morals, ethics, and actions of a visitor, and it is at the core of his/her well-being. These positive changes are described as a “transformative process” by Wolf [ 16 ], which enables a visitor to increase personal awareness, empathy, and develop new values to become “someone” better than they were. Nature-based tourism embodies relevant properties such as efficacy, power, spirit of place, and existential values that foster transformation, and it can lead to moral development. From witnessing natural wonders, visitors may “become humble before forces greater than them or beyond their control” [ 60 ]. Participants of a thematic guided tour in Australian national parks reported a number of behavioral change benefits, including building strong personal relationships, committing to regular exercise, increasing environmental values and stewardship, developing new knowledge and skills, and making physical activity a habit [ 61 ]. Pomfret also describes such changes as personal spiritual journeys that visitors experience while participating in adventure activities during their packaged mountaineering holidays [ 62 ].

4.3.3. Psychosocial Development

Psychosocial restoration is specifically related to an individual’s development in society and the results of interactions with others [ 63 ]. Attention to psychosocial outcomes in tourism literature was given by Shins et al., who studied visitors to forest parks [ 64 ]. They classified the psychological outcomes according to the categories of “learning and self/other relations”, “social and self-development”, and “enjoying nature”. Home and Hunziker explored the relationships between each range of 11 activities and a set of 15 possible psychosocial outcomes by developing 11 linear regression models to examine relationships between expected outcomes and frequency of participation in an activity in a green space [ 65 ]. The order of psychosocial outcomes that were rated as being most important was similar between this study and that of Shin et al. Dryglas et al. also found that visitors visiting a spa resort in Poland had enhanced opportunities for social contact and could relieve individual isolation [ 39 ]. This review suggests that provision of and access to natural environments may ameliorate or even reverse some of these social challenges and ultimately increase social cohesion.

4.3.4. Measures for Restoration through Nature-Based Tourism

Research on restoration through nature often necessitates measurements of recovery. These include explicit measures, such as interviews and questionnaires, and implicit measures, such as psychological monitoring and cognitive tests. Self-report scales are the most common research tool, while most instruments have been developed by researchers that focus on specific restorative properties of a particular environment. Among the nine self-report scales identified in this review ( Table 4 ), Perceived Restorative Scale (PRS) is the most common approach for measuring the restorativeness perceived in nature conducive to visitors [ 34 ]. The long history and wide application of PRS demonstrate its generalizability and sensitivity. It has been developed into several versions that have different subscales, items, languages, targeted users, and even item wordings. Perceived Destination Restorative Quality (PDRQ) was used to expand the proposed structure of PRS and survey actual visitors on their restoration through vacation destinations [ 66 ]. Although the items of PDRQ used vary from study to study, the four dimensions of PRS (i.e., being away, fascination, extent, and compatibility) are present in each. In the Restoration Scale (RS) used by Han and Huang [ 67 ], restoration is demonstrated across emotional, physiological, and cognitive dimensions and generally manifests in behaviors. RS stresses changes in states and capabilities of self-perceived recovery. Restoration Outcome Scale (ROS) includes three dimensions (relaxation and calmness, attention restoration, and cleaning one’s thoughts) or five dimensions (plus subjective vitality and self-confidence). A previous study compared these scales and found that, if restorativeness perceived in nature is conducive to visitors and its mediating effect requires measurement, PRS best fits this approach. However, for measuring the perceived change in psychophysiological and mental restoration, whether as a mediator or an outcome variable, RS is the better choice [ 67 ].

Characteristics of the self-report scales.

4.4. The Effects of Restorative Outcomes on Human–Nature Nexus

Multiple benefits arising from nature-based tourism indicate that a visit to natural areas involves a better, healthier, and more sustainable future for both the visitors and the environment. Sloan et al. examined the restorative power of nature in tree house hotels and showed that the physiological and psychological benefits from forest recreation and sleeping in treetops have a positive influence on repeat and future visits [ 68 ]. Visitors who took part in nature-based recreational activities more frequently can get more health resources than those who are less involved in nature during their free time. Kim et al. showed that low (e.g., relax and get away from routine) and high order restorations (spiritual benefits) interact with each other to promote the sustainable development of visitors [ 69 ]. For example, the positive emotions induced by nature have the potential to strengthen bonds within families and communities through shared park experiences, which in turn builds social capital [ 70 ]. The emotional effect of mastering challenges experienced in natural areas yields important benefits for the individual in terms of reducing self-destructive and anti-social behaviors [ 57 ] and improving self-esteem and self-confidence, which can also influence spiritual health.

Moreover, Puhakka et al. suggest that the restorative benefits are similar during and after the tourist’s visit to the national park, and it is equal to many popular commercial wellness services, but the range of monetary values is much wider [ 63 ]. Accordingly, health and well-being benefits are increasingly used to justify financial and political support for the natural environment and committing to the preservation of biological diversity and ecosystem services [ 66 ]. Lehto et al. conducted a survey to understand the functions of restorative outcomes of nature-based tourism in the Chinese context. The research confirms that restoration has positive effects on environmental sustainability by promoting pro-environmental behavior among visitors [ 33 ].

4.5. Conceptual Framework of Restoration through Nature

The framework of restoration through nature-based tourism developed in this study shows the human–nature inter-relationships in the context of tourism ( Figure 6 ). Many types of natural destinations provide numerous opportunities for visitors to have contact with nature. In contrast, visitors with different demographic characteristics have variable visitor motivations to push them to visit these natural destinations. When visitors reach natural destinations, the human–nature interaction can induce restorative experiences such as direct attention recovery, physical stress relief, and innate emotional affiliation. These experiences are beneficial for the physical, psychological, spiritual, and psychosocial restoration of the visitors. Therefore, the restorative outcomes arising from nature-based tourism encourage visitors to regard nature as a personal health and well-being resource. Furthermore, these restorative outcomes can raise awareness on committees for the preservation of biological diversity and ecosystem services among the visitors. Thus, nature-based tourism can fulfill the mandate of conserving natural areas while contributing to the area’s sustainability. The conceptual framework echoes the finding of Mannell and Iso-Ahola suggesting that restoration is not passively escaping all perceptions; instead, it activates a more primal and natural mode of perception based on effortless fascination, resulting in recovery and rejuvenation [ 71 ].

Framework for the restoration of visitors through nature: from a human–nature interaction perspective.

Most studies to date have only focused on one particular pathway from nature-based tourism to restoration, while few research studies have addressed combinations involving two or more pathways. Our framework synthesizes these studies and conceptualizes the human–nature interaction mechanism to produce restorative outcomes and promote sustainability. In the following sections, we provide a comprehensive review of the empirical research to support this framework.

4.6. Challenges in Conceptual Framework

By synthesizing the concepts presented in the selected articles, the conceptual framework was arrived at, and it sheds light on the restoration of visitors through nature; however, challenges remain. First, the human–nature interaction in the conceptual framework is heavily biased toward affluent earners who visit nature in developed countries. This bias may affect the intensities of different types of restorative outcomes because the distribution of biodiversity is spatially structured and cultural and socioeconomic differences between regions may influence responses to interactions with nature [ 40 ]. Our understanding of the restoration of visitors with different demographic cohorts in various parts of the world is limited because some specific groups are underrepresented. A comparison of restorative outcomes among specific groups is difficult. Thus, research on restoration through nature is still lacking in depth and we should, therefore, aim to determine where results may be translated from one scale to another, as is done in other multidisciplinary studies [ 72 ].

Second, while current theories have made important theoretical contributions, critics have pointed to important limitations in explaining the restorative experience of visitors resulting from nature-based tourism [ 73 ]. These limitations stem from weaknesses and perspectives of each theory discussed in Section 4.3 , suggesting that a more nuanced approach that builds upon existing theories or develops new theories is required [ 74 ]. To summarize:

• 5. These theories, singularly or in combination, do not conceptualize the full range of restorative experience from nature-based tourism.
• 6. They do not fully explicate how nature-based tourism, as a unique concept, supports health and well-being.
• 7. Existing frameworks have largely overlooked the inherently multidimensional, interactive, and multisensorial complexity of the relationship between visitors and nature-based tourism.
• 8. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, traditional theories have focused too strongly on the visual form of nature-based tourism by, for example, focusing on what natural destinations look like in terms of color and shape [ 75 ].

Therefore, the existing theories lack a clear operationalization process for destination management operators.

Third, in spite of the remarkable growth of using self-report scales to measure restoration, these scales require further examination and testing. The restorative outcomes often lack comparison with physiological and cognitive data from individuals, such as perspiration, skin conductance, muscle tension, blood pressure, heart rate, brain waves, regional cerebral blood flow, and cortisol, adrenaline, epinephrine, and standard concentration tests [ 56 ]. Further empirical research is needed to determine whether the recovery reported by visitors is equivalent to their actual restoration. Another challenge posed by the current framework is that most restorative outcomes do not include a control group of individuals with low fatigue for comparison with fatigued individuals. With this paradigm, it becomes impossible to determine whether superior performance after visiting natural areas in fatigued individuals is diagnostic of recovery or whether it signals an entirely different process unrelated to recovery [ 74 ].

Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a calamitous crisis in the tourism industry worldwide, and it has brought nature-based tourism almost to a standstill [ 76 , 77 ]. The spread of stress and depression from the emergence of new infectious diseases has become a growing social problem. In contrast, according to the framework proposed in this study, the restorative outcomes arising from nature-based tourism have positive effects on the development of visitors as well as the natural area’s sustainability. Post-COVID-19, tourism will be different from that before the crisis, and the hope is in tourism developing with a more nature-based focus [ 78 ]. Therefore, research on the restorative process of nature-based tourism in the novel context of COVID-19 will play a critical role in promoting both human and environmental sustainability. What are the short- and long-term consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on the conceptual framework of the restoration of visitors through nature? Will visitors restore their health and well-being through nature-based tourism? If so, what does this mean for the sustainable development of the environment?

5. Conclusions

A visit to natural areas involves a better, healthier, and sustainable future. Most studies to date have focused only on one pathway for nature-based tourism to restoration of visitors, while few studies have paid attention to a general understanding of the restorative mechanism of nature-based tourism visitors. Partial or superficial phenomena prevent people from knowing the positive effects of nature-based tourism on human-environment sustainability. To fill this gap, this review provides a systematic synthesis and assessment of available literature that examined the potential linkages between restoration of visitors and nature-based tourism. By comparing the research backgrounds, themes, methodologies, and frontiers presented in the identified 34 papers, this study links the theoretical foundations, destination types, participant traits, motivations for restorative experience, and outcomes. A framework that synthesizes relevant research and conceptualizes restoration of visitors through nature is proposed from a human–nature interaction perspective. The findings refute previous arguments that suggest nature-based tourism is infrequent for most people and that it cannot be an effective means of restoration. Our study suggests that nature-based tourism can be regarded as a public-wellness product to improve the health and well-being of visitors. The positive relationships between visitors and nature-based tourism can also raise awareness of visitors on the dependence of human well-being on nature’s well-being [ 79 ]. Therefore, they should protect and utilize natural destinations from a sustainability perspective, and thus promote harmony between humans and nature. The challenges presented by the conceptual framework highlight several important future research directions as follows.

First, several general methodological limitations occurred throughout the reviewed literature. Innovative approaches are needed to understand the role and process of nature in promoting human health and well-being [ 1 ]. Interdisciplinary research that integrates social, health, and natural sciences is required. A greater emphasis on longitudinal and experimental design, by making use of mixed methodologies that include measurements of established perception surveys and physiological indicators such as electromyography (EMG), electroencephalogram (EEG), blood volume, pulse, and heart rate should be used to obtain transferable and objective results. Moreover, researchers should be wary of translating the findings of studies that have been conducted in specific settings and for defined indicators and subjects into generalized statements.

Second, since visual sense is relatively well understood as a pathway through which the benefits of experiencing nature are delivered, we suggest exploring a rich auditory, haptic, and visual interaction with the natural environment in restoration research. Based on our results, we hope to shed light on the role of sensory inputs in the restorative process. Moreover, the synthesis of multisensory stimuli in a natural environment is crucial because the monotony of stimulation can be a source of stress, and multisensory inputs can drive affordances, which is important for well-being [ 73 ]. Rather than focusing on various types of destinations, this approach recognizes that a multisensory interaction with nature underpins the important processes that support restoration of visitors.

Third, future research is needed to deepen the conceptual framework in order to understand the restoration of visitors through nature-based tourism in a COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 society [ 15 ]. COVID-19 is the greatest shock to tourism since 1950, but it presents opportunities for the development of nature-based tourism as well [ 76 ]. It is assumed that travel behavior will change after the COVID-19 pandemic. To counter this, a new conceptual framework of restoration of visitors through nature-based tourism must be developed. We expect that the new model will facilitate well-being-oriented design parameters for future destinations, which will promote the restoration of the public and foster sustainability of the environment.

Acknowledgments

We would like to extend our appreciation to the Library of Nanjing University and Griffith University for help during the data collection stage. We would also appreciate the support of the National Park and Protected Area Research Center of Nanjing Forestry University.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, M.Q., J.S. and N.S.; data curation, J.S. and N.S.; formal analysis, M.Q., J.S. and N.S.; funding acquisition, M.Q.; investigation, M.Q. and N.S.; methodology, M.Q.; project administration, M.Q.; software, M.Q.; supervision, N.S.; validation, N.S.; visualization, M.Q.; writing—original draft, M.Q.; writing—review and editing, M.Q., J.S. and N.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant number 41901174 and Social Science Researches in Jiangsu Province, grant number 2019SJA0112.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

• News & Events
• Eastern and Southern Africa
• Eastern Europe and Central Asia
• Mediterranean
• Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean
• North America
• South America
• West and Central Africa
• IUCN Academy
• IUCN Contributions for Nature
• IUCN Library
• IUCN Red List of Threatened Species TM
• IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas
• IUCN World Heritage Outlook
• IUCN Leaders Forum
• Protected Planet
• Union Portal (login required)
• IUCN Engage (login required)
• Commission portal (login required)

Data, analysis, convening and action.

• Open Project Portal
• SCIENCE-LED APPROACH
• INFORMING POLICY
• SUPPORTING CONSERVATION ACTION
• GEF AND GCF IMPLEMENTATION
• IUCN CONVENING
• IUCN ACADEMY

The world’s largest and most diverse environmental network.

CORE COMPONENTS

• Expert Commissions
• Secretariat and Director General
• IUCN Council

• IUCN WORLD CONSERVATION CONGRESS
• CONTRIBUTIONS FOR NATURE
• IUCN ENGAGE (LOGIN REQUIRED)

IUCN tools, publications and other resources.

Get involved

Can tourism be nature-positive?

Wildlife tourism provides essential income to support communities and conservation in many places in the Global South, but mismanaged tourism is also a major cause of nature loss. The tourism sector must reform to protect the unique places people travel to see, and every IUCN Member has a part to play in this transformation - write Cam Do and Olivia Schlaepfer of the Yale Tropical Resources Institute, an IUCN Member organisation.

Originally from Viet Nam, Cam Do graduated from Yale with a Bachelor’s in Global Affairs with Distinction and a Certificate in Data Science. At Yale, Cam was a member of the Dwight Hall Socially Responsible Investment Fund, the nation’s first undergraduate-run fund of its kind. She plans to pursue a career at the intersection of finance and corporate and environmental sustainability.

A Swiss-American senior at Yale University with a passion for conservation, Olivia Schlaepfer has worked with the IUCN WCPA Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group on post-Congress monitoring of Motion 130 on sustainable tourism since 2021. Following graduation from Yale with a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies and a Certificate in Advanced Language Study in French in 2023, she plans on pursuing a Master’s in environmental communications and corporate responsibility.

Cape Town, South Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic drove the global tourism industry to a grinding halt. With would-be travelers stuck at home, many tourist destinations were left deserted. In the Global North, news articles and social media posts led us to believe that wildlife had flourished during our absence. The phrase ‘nature is healing’ became a popular refrain, following reports of decreased pollution and unanticipated animal sightings in urban areas.

But was nature really healing? In reality, the decline in global travel decimated essential income for many protected areas, where biodiversity and local communities need it most. The sudden drop in tourism led to job losses and food insecurity, forcing households to return to wildlife and natural resources to survive. Poaching surged in some places in the Global South.

Before the pandemic, wildlife tourism had been steadily increasing. A 2019 study found that it had grown to have a direct economic value of USD 120 billion annually, providing over USD 344 billion of wider economic benefits and supporting 21.8 million jobs worldwide. With more visitors came more funding; with greater funding, better protection. For example, in the Philippines, Kenya and Zambia, over half of funding for protected areas comes from visitors. In Botswana, it’s more than 80%.

Mismanaged wildlife tourism can do more harm than good. Long before the pandemic, construction of infrastructure for tourists was a major cause of habitat loss.

However, research also shows that mismanaged wildlife tourism can do more harm than good. Long before the pandemic, the construction of large and luxurious accommodation, roads and other infrastructure for tourists was a major cause of habitat fragmentation and loss in popular destinations. Single-use disposables worsened plastic pollution problems. Greenhouse gas emissions from travel intensified climate change, and demand for extravagant food, hot showers and uninterrupted battery charging over-exploited local energy resources in remote areas.

Cozumel, Mexico

Keenly aware of the need for the tourism industry to address its negative impacts while preserving its positive impacts, members of the IUCN WCPA Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group (TAPAS Group) set out to highlight the issue by bringing Motion 130 to the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille. With insights from decades of research, IUCN Member Instituto de Ecología Aplicada (ECOLAP) emerged to sponsor the Motion. ECOLAP works with communities and wildlife reliant on ‘nature-based tourism’ and being based in Ecuador, home to the Galapagos Islands, is all too familiar with the opportunities and challenges tourism entails.

The Motion – now Resolution 130 - received overwhelming support from IUCN Members, who voted to invest more resources and further integrate tourism into the Union’s Programme. Work is ongoing to bring the Resolution to life through new ideas, projects and networks that help ensure nature-based tourism supports conservation and communities. But organisations like ECOLAP, the TAPAS Group and a handful of environmental NGOs cannot do this on their own. Every IUCN Member has a part to play, but ultimately individual tourists and tourism businesses must ensure the unique flora and fauna people travel to see are preserved.

We call on tourism businesses to join the Nature-positive Travel & Tourism Alliance, and demand that airlines and governments reinvest profits back into habitat conservation, communities and carbon mitigation.

Progress was made at last year’s UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15), when the World Travel & Tourism Council, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and numerous travel and tourism industry ‘heavyweights’ came together to make a pact to become guardians, rather than consumers, of nature. As signatories to the Nature-positive Travel & Tourism Alliance, almost 150 businesses have committed to give more importance to biodiversity and ecosystem health in their decision making. This pact helps guarantee that companies will strive to reduce the environmental footprint of tourism operations and value chains; increase their biodiversity impact monitoring; provide more support for Indigenous rights; and promote education for travelers, partners and communities about the need for conservation. It is a monumental step for the industry and an indication that the private sector can help reimagine nature-based tourism. We call on every tourism business to make the same commitment.

Machu Picchu, Peru

T ourists must step up too and make sustainable choices that minimise our individual footprint when travelling.

Individual tourists must step up too. Importantly, as tourists we must be cognisant of our choices and select companies and destinations that are sustainable, equipped to handle the experiences we seek, and able to contribute positively to nature and local communities. When travelling, we must be aware of our individual footprint and aim to minimise it. We must ask for opportunities for ‘voluntourism’ - in which tourists participate in voluntary work - and demand that airlines and governments reinvest profits back into habitat conservation, communities and carbon mitigation. Most of all, we must hold businesses and ourselves to higher standards of sustainable use, for example by maintaining appropriate viewing distances for wildlife; even if that means our vacations are a little less extravagant and our photographs a little ‘less wild'.

Today, the opportunities for sustainable tourism are rich and diverse. Well-managed it can share cultures, connect people with biodiversity, support local economies and provide vital funding for conservation, so long as we take care of the places we visit. Guided by Resolution 130, it’s the responsibility of us all - governments, businesses and individual visitors - to make sure that we do.

The authors would like to thank Dr Yu-Fai Leung, Dr Shane Feyers, Dr Kelly Bricker and Dr Anna Spenceley for their crucial support for Resolution 130 and its implementation.

Disclaimer Opinions expressed in posts featured on any Crossroads or other blogs and in related comments are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of IUCN or a consensus of its Member organisations.

IUCN moderates comments and reserves the right to remove posts that are deemed inappropriate, commercial in nature or unrelated to blog posts.

User Information User name: Sandra Nickel Roles:

Thank you for outlining these important steps to make tourism nature-positive. These are reminders we all need to hear.

Monitoring the resolution

User Information User name: Ron Mader Roles:

Very interesting, and good to see Resolution 130. That said, I don't quite get it. Can someone explain what the resolution calls for? For example, who and how will this resolution be monitored by the IUCN and others? 🌏 https://www.planeta.com/iucn2020-motion130

totally agree! Just happen…

User Information User name: Juan De Dios Morales Roles:

totally agree!

Just happen to be a very fine Line between carrying capacity, Tourism-based development and Market (Price for travelling) and democratization of Tourism. At the end, natural areas should be take care way more than a Urban monument of a City, but how to compete to that kind of cheaper that can also hold larger amount of people. Perhaps, then is when tourism should be redesigned and clients be able to pay higher prices. And, in that way find the correct income threshold.

Nature-Positive Tourism

User Information User name: Paul Rogers Roles:

Hi - a very nice article, although I'm a little surprised it didn't refer directly to the Nature-Positive report recently produced by the World Travel and Tourism Council and specifically the accompanying tool-box to enable companies of all sizes to develop nature-positive action plans? While I've heard some suggest the toolbox is too challenging for businesses to engage with, I'm not convinced this is case and think we need case studies and examples to showcase the successes and challenges...

Questions about the report

Interesting. Downloading the report now - https://action.wttc.org/vision-for-nature-positive-travel-and-tourism - and asking how this vision and toolbox will be used in a practical manner. I will be updating links on Planeta.

Add new comment

Sign up for an IUCN newsletter

• Vacation Rentals
• Restaurants
• Things to do
• Things to Do
• Travel Stories
• Rental Cars
• Add a Place
• Travel Forum
• Travelers' Choice
• Help Center

Best of the Best Destinations

Whether you’re hiking through national parks or watching the sunset on the beach, these are travelers’ favorite places to disconnect in nature. 

The Travelers’ Choice Awards Best of the Best title celebrates the highest level of excellence in travel. It’s awarded to those who receive a high volume of above-and-beyond reviews and opinions from the Tripadvisor community over a 12-month period. Out of our 8 million listings, fewer than 1% achieve this milestone.

Zanzibar Island

Grand Cayman

Kruger National Park

Kochi (Cochin)

Ambergris Caye

Snowdonia-Eryri National Park

• Blacklane Blog

Wander Responsibly: Discovering the World’s Best Ecotourism Destinations

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

Love traveling and want to help the planet? Check out our guide to ecotourism and learn how you can visit stunning natural destinations while supporting conservation and sustainable development.

As more and more travelers seek to reduce their environmental impact, ecotourism has emerged as a popular way to explore nature responsibly. This type of travel prioritizes practices that minimize negative effects on the environment and benefit local communities. In this article, we’ll delve into ecotourism’s main benefits and highlight some of the world’s top places for eco-conscious travelers.

What Is Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of sustainable tourism that promotes responsible travel to nature while minimizing negative impacts on the environment and supporting the well-being of local communities. It is mainly characterized by its focus on conservation, education, and community involvement. Ecotourism activities typically include visiting natural areas such as national parks, wildlife reserves, and forests and can contain activities such as birdwatching, hiking, and wildlife photography. The primary goal of ecotourism is to provide an immersive experience for visitors to appreciate and learn about the natural world, while at the same time contributing to conservation efforts and local economies.

Benefits of Ecotourism

Traditional tourism often prioritizes profit over environmental and cultural sustainability, leading to negative impacts on local communities, ecosystems, and cultural heritage sites. For instance, Bali, Indonesia, has suffered from significant over-tourism in recent years, resulting in environmental degradation, overcrowding, and strain on the island’s infrastructure. Similarly, native Hawaiians have been calling for tourists to respect their culture and the environment by avoiding certain sacred sites, such as the summit of Mauna Kea. Additionally, the high volume of visitors to Machu Picchu in Peru has led to littering, overcrowding, and damage to the ancient ruins, prompting the Peruvian government to limit the number of daily visitors and implement other measures to protect the site.

However, ecotourism offers a more responsible and sustainable alternative that can mitigate these issues. By focusing on reducing pollution and waste, educating travelers about conservation efforts, and supporting local economies, ecotourism not only protects the environment but also fosters a deeper understanding and appreciation of the places being visited.

Another significant benefit of ecotourism is its potential to educate travelers about the importance of preserving nature and protecting wildlife habitats. It allows visitors to learn more about the environment they are visiting while assisting with conservation efforts, like beach cleanups or tree planting initiatives. These educational experiences can also inspire travelers to adopt positive behavior in their everyday lives, such as by making a more conscious effort to assist with conservation and sustainability. 

In addition to environmental benefits, ecotourism can also bring positive impacts to local communities. It can create jobs and income opportunities for people living near tourist destinations, supporting local economies. By participating in ecotourism activities, travelers can also encourage governments, businesses, charitable organizations, and others to take conservation efforts seriously.

Furthermore, ecotourists have the opportunity to learn about a culture’s customs, beliefs, and food habits, which helps to broaden their perspectives and understanding of different ways of life. Also, tourists in areas that have not historically been tourist hotspots can help locals learn new skills, such as hospitality or language skills.

Top Ecotourism Destinations for Responsible Travelers

Now that you know how ecotourism can make a positive impact on the environment and local communities, it’s time to explore some of the world’s most breathtaking and responsible travel destinations.

Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Islands, located off the coast of Ecuador, are a once-in-a-lifetime ecotourism destination. Designated as the first UNESCO World Heritage Site, the islands boast an exceptional ecosystem that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. 

Galapagos is home to a variety of unique species, including giant tortoises, marine iguanas, and blue-footed boobies, among others. Due to their isolated location, the animals have evolved into new species over time, making the Galapagos a living laboratory of evolution. Actually, the flora and fauna found here have played an important role in educating the world about our planet and inspiring Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution. The protected waters surrounding the islands offer visitors the chance to swim with sharks, sea turtles, and sea lions, among other marine life.

Although tourism once threatened the islands, they are no longer listed as ‘in danger’ thanks to strong management and continued stewardship from the government, NGOs, and the local community, who work to build the most sustainable tourism sector that has ever existed. However, all visitors should be aware of the possible by-products of irresponsible tourism, such as contamination from boat oil, the introduction of non-native species, and overconsumption of the freshwater supply, and take measures to ensure they don’t unwittingly harm the land.

If you’re looking for an all-in-one experience that combines lodging and tours, the Galapagos Safari Camp is a great choice. This eco-lodge offers deluxe tented accommodations in the midst of the island’s natural landscapes and also provides a range of guided tours and activities to explore the Galapagos. Another option is the Santa Cruz II , a luxury expedition vessel that provides a comfortable base for exploring the islands with daily guided excursions and activities, including snorkeling and kayaking.

The Amazon rainforest is an ecological marvel that has millions of species of plants and animals, including some that have yet to be discovered. It is a biodiverse wonderland that covers an area of 5.5 million square kilometers and is spread across nine South American countries. The Amazon has been called the lungs of the planet because it produces over 20% of the world’s oxygen. In addition, it acts as a natural carbon sink, helping to regulate the Earth’s climate.

Amazon rainforest

There is something for every type of traveler in the Amazon. Adventure seekers can embark on a jungle trek, canoe down the river, or try their hand at piranha fishing. Wildlife lovers can spot exotic species such as jaguars, pink river dolphins, and giant otters. Cultural enthusiasts can learn about the indigenous tribes that call the Amazon home and their way of life. For those seeking a more relaxed experience, they can take a leisurely boat ride down the river and enjoy the breathtaking views.

Historically, ecotourism in the Amazon was primarily led by indigenous individuals who sought to replace more destructive forms of tourism and educate visitors about local customs and practices. Today ecotourism is a powerful tool in the battle to protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation, illegal logging, and climate change. This sustainable tourism practice can offer a viable source of income for local communities, thereby reducing their dependence on activities like logging and farming that can be detrimental to the forest’s health. Moreover, ecotourism can help to facilitate cultural exchange and understanding by supporting local businesses and employing native guides, which may ultimately help to prevent conflict between indigenous communities and outsiders.

For a truly immersive experience in the Amazon rainforest, consider staying at one of the many eco-lodges in the area. The Napo Wildlife Center , located in the Ecuadorian Amazon, offers comfortable accommodations and guided excursions that allow visitors to explore the surrounding jungle while supporting the local community. Alternatively, the Uakari Lodge in Brazil offers a unique opportunity to see the critically endangered red uakari monkey, while also practicing sustainable tourism. Another option is the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica in Peru, which offers luxury accommodations and various activities such as wildlife watching, rainforest canopy walks, and visits to nearby native communities.

Costa Rica is a well-known ecotourism destination that offers visitors a chance to experience the pure life or “pura vida” lifestyle surrounded by nature. Over 25% of the country is dedicated to national parks, wildlife reserves, and protected lands, showcasing the country’s commitment to conservation. 

Corcovado National Park is an absolute paradise for nature lovers, earning the title of “the most biologically intense place on earth” by National Geographic. This 400 square kilometers park is a treasure trove of biodiversity, boasting 13 different ecosystems within its boundaries, from lowland tropical rainforests to highland cloud forests, mangrove swamps, and sandy beaches. And if that isn’t enough to get you excited, the park is home to a spectacular array of wildlife, including four different monkey species, sloths, anteaters, and collared peccaries. Keep your eyes peeled and you may even spot whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals offshore. Corcovado is also home to endangered species like the Baird’s Tapir, jaguars, and Harpy Eagles, making it an ideal destination for wildlife photographers and environmental explorers.

For those who want to do more than just sightseeing, Costa Rica offers plenty of opportunities to get involved in ecotourism through volunteering. Visitors can volunteer with local coffee farmers and learn about sustainable farming practices, contributing to the country’s efforts toward sustainability. Sea turtle conservation programs are also a popular option for volunteers, where they can participate in the protection and conservation of these majestic creatures. 

Eco travelers can choose from a variety of lodging options, including eco-lodges, boutique hotels, and sustainable resorts. The Pacuare Lodge offers a unique experience with its remote location accessible only by rafting down the Pacuare River, while Lapa Rios Ecolodge provides ocean and rainforest views from its private bungalows. For those seeking a luxurious getaway, the Nayara Resort Spa & Gardens offers a range of amenities such as hot springs, spas, and private villas surrounded by lush gardens.

Kenya is a true gem when it comes to ecotourism in Africa. With its diverse natural landscapes ranging from the famous Masai Mara plains to stunning mountains, pristine beaches, and offshore coral reefs, Kenya offers an unparalleled experience for eco-travelers. The country boasts 54 national parks, which attract over a million tourists every year, making it one of the most popular destinations for ecotourism in Africa.

One of the main attractions for tourists is the opportunity to experience grassland safaris and get up close and personal with some of the world’s most impressive animals such as giraffes, lions, and rhinos. However, with this increase in tourism comes the responsibility to protect the natural environment and the wildlife that inhabits it. The Kenyan government has taken an active role in protecting its natural heritage by stopping illegal poaching, banning single-use plastics, and promoting sustainable tourism practices.

To further promote sustainable tourism, the government has established an organization called “ Ecotourism Kenya .” This organization is dedicated to promoting responsible tourism that conserves Kenya’s natural environment and improves the livelihoods of local communities. By partnering with local communities, the organization ensures that they are involved in the tourism industry and reap the benefits of a thriving tourism sector while also preserving their cultural heritage and natural resources.

In addition to the wildlife and natural landscapes, Kenya’s cultural diversity also makes it a unique ecotourism destination. Visitors can explore and engage with the traditional lifestyle of the Maasai people, learning about their rich history and customs. They can also participate in community-based tourism activities such as beadwork, pottery, and traditional dances.

For travelers on a budget, there are many affordable options, such as camping in public campsites or staying in budget-friendly guesthouses like the Wildebeest Eco Camp or the Karen Camp . Additionally, for those who want a more authentic and immersive experience, there are community-owned lodges like the Maasai Mara Wilderness Conservancy or the Ol Pejeta Conservancy , which feature excellent opportunities to interact with local people, learn about their cultures, and participate in conservation efforts.

Nestled in the majestic Himalayan Mountains and flanked by India and China lies Bhutan, a land steeped in ancient traditions and shrouded in mystery. For centuries, Bhutan had isolated itself from the rest of the world, but today, it is renowned as one of the best examples of ecotourism destinations.

Bhutan’s focus on history and nature allows visitors to experience sacred Buddhist sites and wildlife parks teeming with unique species such as the Himalayan black bear, takin, red panda, and Tibetan wolf. The country’s emphasis on sustainability and preservation of its natural and cultural heritage is a testament to Bhutan’s dedication to environmental conservation.

Since 1991, Bhutan has implemented a daily Sustainable Development Fee for tourists, which was originally 65 USD per day, but has risen to 200 USD per day in 2022. Though the fee may seem steep, the incredible outcomes that it has produced are worth the cost. The money collected from the fee is used for funding projects such as offsetting Bhutan’s carbon footprint from tourism, supporting community education, organic farming, and upskilling workers in the tourism industry.

If you’re planning a trip to Bhutan, you’ll find a range of accommodations to suit your preferences. The Amankora Resorts presents unparalleled Himalayan views and top-notch amenities in a luxury setting. If you’re looking for an eco-friendly and affordable option, Gangtey Lodge is a great choice. This lodge seamlessly blends modern comforts with traditional Bhutanese architecture, all while prioritizing sustainable tourism practices.

A journey to Bhutan may come with a price tag, but the value of experiencing its distinctive environment and culture, all while contributing to its conservation, is truly priceless.

Iceland is a shining example of ecotourism in Northern Europe, with a strong commitment to sustainability and environmental protection. As the cleanest energy consumer in the world, taking 75% of its usage from renewable sources, Iceland is a global leader in environmental policies.

The breathtaking landscapes of Iceland are the main attraction for eco-tourists. This is one of the last untouched destinations on earth, with inspiring scenery at every turn. Between waterfalls, glaciers, dramatic fjords, volcanoes, cracked lava fields, gushing geysers, and geothermal lagoons, Iceland is a country defined by its outdoors. Visitors can enjoy a range of adventurous activities such as white water rafting, horse riding, caving, quad bikes, and glacier climbing, all while maintaining a sustainable and responsible approach.

The tourism industry in Iceland has grown rapidly in recent years. Despite this growth, the industry remains committed to responsible tourism, ensuring that visitors can experience the beauty of the Aurora borealis, Blue Lagoon, and Gulfoss waterfalls without harming the delicate ecological balance.

Aside from its natural wonders, Iceland has a wide selection of lodging options for travelers. The Ion Adventure Hotel with its prime location and contemporary design, guarantees a memorable stay. Alternative accommodations include hostels like Kex Hotel or campsites such as Skjol , which offer a spacious and comfortable atmosphere at a reasonable price.

Norway is a top ecotourism destination that boasts some of the most stunning natural landscapes in the world. From picturesque fjords to snow-capped mountains and endless beaches, Norway’s scenery is truly breathtaking. 

One of the must-visit destinations in Norway is the Geirangerfjord, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed area that features a beautiful blue fjord set against a backdrop of majestic mountains. Here, visitors can witness the true wonder of nature, with diverse wildlife and a series of offshore islands at Lofoten, where eagles, seals, and porpoises can be spotted.

For adventure seekers, Jotunheimen National Park is a haven, with towering peaks, vast glaciers, and pristine lakes, offering the perfect opportunity for activities like hiking, kayaking, skiing, and cruising through the fjords. The park is also home to rare species such as the arctic fox, reindeer, and wolverine, making it an ideal destination for wildlife enthusiasts. 

Norway’s impressive sustainable policies have played a significant role in preserving its natural beauty. The government has implemented strict regulations on hunting, fishing, and oil companies. Furthermore, Norway has become one of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council pilot destinations. Inclusion on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s model list means that Norway has met rigorous sustainability criteria across all aspects of its tourism industry, from environmental protection to community development and cultural preservation.

Norway has a lot to offer in terms of natural beauty, so it’s worth considering extending your stay to make the most of its majestic landscapes and scenery. For sustainable accommodation, we recommend Juvet Landscape Hotel , which is located in the beautiful natural surroundings of Valldal. For a bit of an upscale experience consider staying at the historic Hotel Continental in Oslo, which offers a sophisticated ambiance with state-of-the-art facilities.

Remember to travel far and wide, but to leave behind only footprints and happy memories.

After signing up for the newsletter, you will also receive occasional news stories and promotions from Blacklane via email. We will not sell or distribute your email address to any third party at any time. View our Privacy Policy.

SUGGESTED ARTICLES

A guide to booking sustainable hotels

March 18, 2019.

Eco-friendly travel tips for your next holiday

March 1, 2019.

How Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Go Hand in Hand

April 17, 2023.

• Czech Republic
• Falkland Islands
• Latin America
• New Zealand
• North America
• South Georgia
• Kilimanjaro
• Adventure Travel
• Archaeology
• City Guides
• Itineraries
• Portrait Photography
• Tips and Advice
• Travel Photography
• Travel Stories
• Unhelpful Guides
• Wildlife Photography
• Work With Me

Nature Vacations: 25 Amazing Places For An Outdoors Adventure

Nature vacations are becoming more and more popular – especially since the pandemic, when social distancing and long walks in the countryside became a thing. And with the world’s population now topping a massive EIGHT BILLION people, it’s not surprising more and more of us are looking for a way to get away from the crowds!

Contents (click to view)

Fortunately, the planet is a big place, and there are still plenty of places to go on vacation where you can avoid other people and get back in touch with the natural world. In fact, there are so many opportunities for nature holidays, that choosing where to go can be a bit overwhelming.

Discovering the World’s Best Nature Vacations

To help narrow it down, I asked some top travel experts and travel bloggers to give me their best nature destinations. Then I added some of my own, and ended up with this list of 25 amazing places to take a nature vacation.

And in no particular order, here they are! Hopefully they’ll help inspire your next hiking, swimming, diving, or wildlife-spotting adventure!

If they do, I’ve helpfully popped a link in to take you to TourRadar , which is a great platform that collates some of the best small-group adventure and nature tours in the world, all in one place. TourRadar only works with reputable tour companies and has a 4.5-star rating on TrustPilot, so you know you’re in safe hands when searching for the best trips for outdoor lovers.

1/ Antarctica and South Georgia

There’s a reason why the fabled seventh continent is right at the top of most people’s nature holiday bucket lists. With magical icy landscapes, brilliant blue glaciers the size of cathedrals, snowy hillsides teeming with thousands of Antarctic animals including 8 different species of penguins , dramatic seascapes full of whales and seals, endless wildlife photography opportunities , and the chance to try out adventure activities like sea kayaking or the legendary polar plunge , Antarctica is a nature-lover’s dream destination.

Yes it may be expensive to get there, but it’s worth every penny. You’ll need to book an expedition cruise and cross the dramatic Drake Passage, fabled to be the roughest stretch of sea in the world. But once you’re there, you’ll be able to set foot on the seventh continent – an opportunity few people get.

But if you’re going all that way, don’t stop at just Antarctica. Some expeditions take the long way round and go via the magical island of South Georgia . Lost in the vast Antarctic Ocean, 1000 miles from the nearest land, this incredible island is uninhabited by humans, allowing wildlife to flourish . There’s so much overwhelming biodiversity here that’s it’s known as the Galapagos of the south, and it will absolutely blow you away.

Explore holidays to Antarctica and South Georgia here

Whether summer or winter, Iceland will have you hooked. With towering glaciers , erupting volcanos, majestic waterfalls , steaming hot springs, black sand beaches , and miles upon miles of dramatic coastline, Iceland truly is the place for the nature holiday of a lifetime.

Rent a car and drive the circumference of the ring road, stopping every 5 minutes to marvel at yet another jawdropping vista. Stop to say hello to the Icelandic horses or to photograph yet another sweeping vista, and if you visit in winter there’s a good chance you’ll get to see the Northern Lights too. Meanwhile in summer there are almost endless hours of daylight and dramatic hiking trails to enjoy.

If you’re a nature lover and you haven’t been to Iceland yet, what are you waiting for?!

Start planning your Iceland adventure here

Read more: 25 Spectacular Places To Visit For Travel Photography

3/ Tanzania

No list of nature destinations would be complete without at least one African safari (and actually there are three in here). If you love animals, conservation, and wildlife watching, then a visit to one of Africa’s many safari destinations is a must. After all, what better experience can there be than the chance to witness nature, red in tooth and claw: lions stalking impala across the savanna, hippos wallowing in watering holes, or elephants and giraffes grazing among the trees?

One of the best places to go on safari is Tanzania . It’s home to the world-famous Serengeti national park, where you’ll find lions, leopards, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, antelopes and more, as well as the famous Ngorongoro crater, home to one of the greatest concentrations of African animals anywhere on the continent. But on top of that, Tanzania is also home to world-class hiking opportunities, with the legendary Mount Kilimanjaro , highest peak in Africa, at the top of that list.

Read more: Climbing The 8 Days Lemosho Route On Kilimanjaro

But if that’s not enough, there’s also the volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai , and the flamingo-packed Lake Natron to tempt you. That’s why, when people ask if they should go to Tanzania or Kenya , for many people, Tanzania is the clear winner.

Check out a range of Tanzania adventure packages here

Less celebrated than Tanzania, but no less great for a wildlife vacation, is Uganda. With lush rolling green landscapes and ten national parks, you won’t be short of options for hiking or wildlife-spotting in Uganda . Most famous of all is Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, where you can go trekking to see critically-endangered mountain gorillas . But no less exciting is the chance to visit habituated chimpanzee families in Kibale National Park.

Read more: 28 Brilliant Things To Do In Uganda

Other opportunities to spend time in nature include walking with rhinos at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary , feeding the animals behind the scenes at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre , spotting tree-climbing lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park, or visiting the dramatic Murchison Falls .

For those who prefer adventure, Uganda also offers an excellent choice of outdoor activities, from white-water rafting or kayaking at Jinja , the source of the River Nile, to hiking or rock climbing in the Sipi Falls region.

With so much to see and do, and at prices that are much more affordable than other parts of East Africa, I think Uganda really does offer the best nature getaways for safari or wildlife lovers .

Fancy Uganda? Search for trips and tours here

5/ Guatemala

Guatemala is most well-known for its vibrant and photogenic culture , with pretty colonial architecture, buzzing markets , and kind and friendly people – but alongside all of that, this Central American country also offers plenty of opportunities for an off-the-beaten-track nature vacation.  

The Petén region, in the north of the country, is a vast expanse of tropical jungle, where ancient Maya temples emerge from the dense rainforest, and you’re almost guaranteed to spot wildlife including toucans, monkeys, coatis, and, if you’re lucky, the resplendent quetzal, national bird of Guatemala . There are jaguars here too, but they’re much harder to spot.

Read more: A Perfect Guatemala Itinerary In 10 Days, 2 Weeks Or 3 Weeks

Head west, and you’ll come to Lake Atitlan , famed for its dramatic landscape of vivid blue waters surrounded by three volcanos. There are almost endless outdoors adventures to be found around the lake, and even more around the nearby cities of Antigua Guatemala and Xela , both of which offer easy access to a huge range of hiking trails including the chance to climb an erupting volcano .

Check out some amazing Guatemala packages here

6/ Costa Rica

Costa Rica is probably the most celebrated place to experience nature and wildlife in the whole of Central and South America – and for good reason. Wildlife tourism is a hugely important part of the economy here, and they take conservation extremely seriously. The Costa Rican people really understand the value of protecting their natural resources, not just for financial reasons but also for the good of the planet.

With two coastlines and endless swathes of cloud forest and tropical jungle, Costa Rica is a wildlife lover’s dream. Take a hike in one of the many national parks and you’ll have no trouble spotting spider and howler monkeys, macaws, toucans, parrots, hummingbirds and of course the loveable and iconic sloth. At the right time of year, you may also get the chance to see endangered turtles nesting and breeding.

Read more: A Review of G Adventures’ Costa Rica 16-Day Tour

But animals aren’t the only reason why Costa Rica is brilliant for a nature holiday. The country has miles and miles of beautiful, palm fringed sandy beaches, perfect for strolling, swimming, or just relaxing with a book. They’ve also invested millions in turning the country into a mecca for adrenaline and outdoors adventure lovers, with ziplines, jungle canopy bridges, whitewater rafting, volcano hiking and more.

So whether you’re after wildlife, landscapes, or outdoors thrills, Costa Rica has you covered.

Find your dream Costa Rica trip here

7/ New Zealand

There’s a reason why the country of New Zealand has served as a backdrop for many fantasy films in the last few decades: the country’s breathtaking landscapes all look like they belong in a fairytale.

From golden beaches to glaciers that snake down through rainforests, New Zealand is truly an outdoor-lover’s dream. Hiking, camping, and simply being out in nature is a way of life for many New Zealanders, so it’s no surprise that it’s also a popular spot for tourists who enjoy the same.

While you can’t see everything with  2 weeks in New Zealand , you certainly can tick off some major highlights. 

Starting on the North Island, you can go dolphin-spotting in the Bay of Islands, dig your own hot tub at Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula, hike between volcanoes in Tongariro National Park, walk in a forest of redwood trees in Rotorua, and visit bird sanctuaries to see rare flightless birds like kiwis.

On the even more dramatic South Island, you can go kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park, try heli-hiking on a glacier on the West Coast, spot whales in Kaikoura, brave tandem skydiving or bungee jumping into stunning canyons in Queenstown, and go on a cruise through Milford Sound. There’s no shortage of active vacation ideas in New Zealand!

By Amanda Williams from A Dangerous Business Travel Blog

Search for your bucket list New Zealand holiday here

Namibia is one of the best nature travel destinations for two main reasons.

Firstly, it has a stunning natural landscape, formed by the elements over billions of years. In  two weeks in Namibia , you could explore the graceful dunes of the Namib Desert, thought to be the oldest desert in the world. Here you can climb giant sand dunes, wander the eerie white clay pans of Sossusvlei and drive along the legendary Skeleton Coast. You can also see dramatic canyons, including Fish River Canyon, the largest in Africa, craters, stunning mountains and plains. In the east of Namibia, there are lush wetlands where you might spot hippos and water buffalo.

Which leads on to the second reason Namibia is great for a nature holiday: the wildlife. Namibia is home to all of the ‘Big Five’ animals: elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards and buffalo. The best place to do a wildlife safari is Etosha National Park, which is a huge reserve in the north of the country that allows self-drive safaris. However, you will see wild animals and African birds all over Namibia in your two weeks, even along the roads: it is quite common to see Gemsbok and other antelopes, zebras, wildebeest and baboons inland; and seals along the coast.

By Martha from May Cause Wanderlust

Ready to head to Namibia? Start your journey here!

As such a vast country,  Canada  is easily one of the best places in the world to enjoy a nature-filled holiday. From the powder-capped wilds of the north where polar bears leave footprints in the snow, to the lush green forests and glossy lakes of the south, there’s enough to keep your memories (and your memory cards!) full for two weeks or more.

One of the best ways to spend your time in Canada as a nature lover is by road-tripping the Canadian Rockies . Start in the cosmopolitan city of Calgary before winding your way through the peaks, lakes and national parks towards Vancouver. Stop off at Jasper to enjoy spectacular hikes and trails, taste delicious Canadian wines at Kelowna and marvel at the waterfalls around Golden.

As you drive, keep your eyes peeled for moose, bears and birds of prey who frequent the camps in search of berries and other food. Once you reach Vancouver, join a whale-watching safari to be in with a chance to spot humpback and grey whales, orcas, sea otters and seals. If you’re yet to see bears, head to Vancouver Island to join a bear tour, where you’re almost guaranteed sightings of black bears searching for crabs on the shore. 

Too much of a wildlife fix for you? Head to Canada’a Atlantic coast – where the picturesque provinces of Nova Scotia , New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island will tempt you with glorious landscapes and incredible food. You really can’t beat it.

By Anna from Really Wildlife

Start planning your Canada adventure here

10/ Ireland

If you love unapologetic wildness and lush green landscapes, Ireland would be a wonderful place for a nature vacation. Ireland is an island, so there is coastline in every direction, complete with sandy beaches, dramatic cliffs, and incredible bird life, including the adorable puffin ! Most of the country is very rural, so the best way to explore is to rent a car and drive, first along Ireland’s Ancient East from Dublin to Cork, then along the Wild Atlantic Way from Cork to Donegal. 

You can wild camp throughout Ireland: just ask a local farmer if they know of any spots and they’re usually happy to give advice. Wild swimming is very popular in Ireland, and there are plenty of places that are perfect for a secluded dip in the sea or an alpine lake – just beware of riptides and strong currents. 

There are two main mountain ranges in Ireland, the Wicklow Mountains and the Mountains of Kerry, both of which have hiking trails (the Wicklow Way and the Kerry Way, respectively). Over the course of two weeks, you could complete sections of both hikes, or simply explore the trails and serene wildness of the national parks. Even if you decide to skip the Wicklow Way, dedicate a day of your trip to hiking the Spinc Trail around Glendalough, a stunning glacial lake near a set of monastic ruins.

By Amber from Amber Everywhere

Start exploring Ireland here!

The most popular destination for a holiday in Alaska is Denali National Park. Denali is the largest mountain in North America at 20,310 ft. Explore the park by hiking countless trails among the tundra, animal viewing for bears and caribou, whitewater river rafting down the Nenana River, taking a scenic flight over the mountain with a glacier landing, or even mountaineering up Denali itself.

There are a plethora of mountains at every turn throughout Alaska and a lot of them will have some sort of trail for hiking, whether short day hikes or long multi-day hikes. Hatcher Pass in the Talkeetna Mountains, Crow Pass in the Chugach Mountains, and Harding Icefield (the only land access to Kenai Fjords National Park) are just a fraction of the hiking options.

In Kenai Fjords National Park, nature-watching cruises take off out of Seward to view enchanting blue glaciers calving into the ocean and to watch wildlife like puffins, otters, seals, and whales frolicking in the cold waters.

During the winter, keep your eyes to the skies to spot the Northern Lights dancing amongst the stars. 

By Tabitha from Travel Compositions

Feeling inspired? Search for your dream Alaska trip here!

12/ Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is often a bucket list item and perfect for a nature holiday. Located off of the east coast of Queensland, Australia, the Great Barrier Reef can be visited from as far south as Bundaberg and as far north as Cape York.

With two weeks to explore the Great Barrier Reef, don’t stay in one spot! Spend some time in the Whitsunday Islands enjoying the sugar sand white beaches and crystal clear water. Airlie Beach is the most popular place to stay by the Whitsunday Islands and there are plenty of hikes, waterfalls, and watersports available to add excitement to your nature vacation.

While Cairns or Port Douglas are the closest entrances to The Great Barrier Reef, don’t just stop there!  While there are plenty of  day trips from Cairns , also head north to Daintree and Cape Tribulation to explore the only location on earth where two World Heritage sites (The Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest) meet.

If diving isn’t for you, there are endless nature trips to be had in other parts of Australia.Why not try finding your fortune in the opal fields of Coober Pedy , or visit a pearl farm in the stunning Dampier Peninsula?

By Lanie van der Horst from Make More Adventures

Check out some of the best Australia trips and tours here

13/ Cappadocia, Türkiye

Cappadocia is a region in beautiful Türkiye (formerly known as Turkey). It’s famous for its vast, desert landscape with expansive valleys and impressive rock formations known as fairy chimneys, which were used as homes in the 7th century. 

Because of its arid climate, the people here live in cave dwellings. These are not dark, damp caves with stalagmites and stalactites, but warm, cosy homes made from carving out the porous rocky landscape. This means much of the landscape has been free of construction and development. Outside of the towns, you’ll find endless deserts filled with rocky canyons with unique rock formations and glistening white sand.  Cappadocia is famous for  hot air balloon rides, which take off at sunset and offer incredible views of the valleys below (and hundreds of hot air balloons above). It’s is the perfect nature vacation spot for hikers since there are so many valleys and hiking trails to explore. Some popular valleys to explore are Red and Rose Valley, Love Valley, Pigeon Valley, White Valley, Devrent Valley, and Monks Valley. Each valley has something special and unique to explore, from ancient churches to sunset viewpoints. Perhaps the most fascinating valley of all is Ihlara Valley. Ihlara is a green anomaly to the rest of Cappadocia and is the only place where you’ll find lush green trees, a glistening river, and craggy limestone cliffs. Once you’re there, you won’t believe you’re in a desert.  While you’re in Turkey, don’t miss some of its incredible ancient ruins , like the legendary city of Troy or the UNESCO site of Gordion, the city of King Midas .

By Louisa Smith from The Turkey Traveler

Click here to start your Türkiye nature vacation!

14/ Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

The Galapagos Islands are unmissable for any wildlife photographer or lover. This unique destination, situated in the Pacific Ocean, is one of the most amazing places to go on vacation, home to some of the most diverse and incredible wildlife on Earth.

The islands were famously a source of inspiration for Darwin’s theory of evolution, and visitors can see this for themselves with the plethora of different species of animals found here. From giant tortoises to playful sea lions, there is an abundance of wildlife to be spotted on any tour of the Galapagos Islands .

One of the best ways to experience the natural underwater world of the Galapagos is by diving or snorkeling. The clear waters offer fantastic visibility, meaning you can get up close and personal with the sharks, turtles, sea lions, fishes, and marine iguanas.

For those who prefer to stay on dry land, there are still plenty of opportunities to see the amazing wildlife. A hike to the top of one of the volcanoes will provide stunning views, as well as the chance to spot some of the rarer birds such as the blue-footed booby.

By Giorgy from the G-Extreme Travel Blog

Click here to start planning your dream Galapagos nature vacation!

15/ Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Torres del Paine national park at the southern tip of Chile is one of the most beautiful natural places in the world. A land of epic mountains, sparkling glaciers, and turquoise lakes, it’s the highlight of any trip to Patagonia. With two weeks to work with, start your adventure out in the small town of Puntas Arenas, the gateway to Torres del Paine. From here you’ll take a bus to the park where you’ll be dropped off in a stunning natural landscape.

The “O” Circuit hike takes about 7-10 days and takes you all around the park over the course of 130+ km. It’s much less popular than the 3-day “W” hike, so when you’re beyond the extent of the W hike, the trails will be quiet, and you’ll have the beauty of the Patagonian Andes almost all to yourself.

During the trek, you are required to reserve the campsites ahead of time. There are limited spaces available and they book up about 6 months in advance. So advanced planning is required! If you’re planning the shorter W hike, campsites still need to be booked ahead.

If hiking through the mountains isn’t your thing, there are still plenty of things to do in the park and in Patagonia. Rent a room at Hotel Las Torres Patagonia and just relax while taking in the stunning scenery. Then cross the border into Argentina to check out Fitz Roy and Perito Moreno glacier, with a night or two in El Chalten or El Calafate on the way.

You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to adventure vacation ideas amidst the fabulous natural beauty of Torres del Paine and Patagonia! 

By Chris Heckmann from Around The World With Me

Why wait? Click here to find your perfect Chile trip!

It’s easy to see why Japan is known as a land of contrasts. Visitors don’t need to venture too far from the hustle and bustle of major cities such as Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka to be immersed in the diverse landscapes and nature experiences the country has to offer. Exploring  off the beaten path in Japan  will reward visitors with nature experiences like no other!

Enjoy snorkelling? Head to the pristine waters of tropical Okinawa for sun, sand and sea life. Want to discover ancient temples and shrines nestled deep within forests? Spend a few days in Nikko, Koyasan or the outskirts of Kyoto. Prefer hiking along flowing rivers against a jagged mountain backdrop? Look no further than Kamikochi. Interested in seeing snow monkeys bathing in hot springs? The forests of Nagano have you covered. 

Speaking of hot springs, one of the most popular cultural experiences in Japan is bathing in  onsen . As a landmass formed by volcanic activity, in Japan there is no shortage of natural springs to soak in and relax, making it one of the most beautiful places to go on vacation.

Spending a few days in the Mt Fuji area allows for more chances to see the sacred mountain (and even climb its summit during summer!), see gorgeous UNESCO World Heritage sites such as Shiraito Falls, a cave where locals believe is the residence of Fuji’s goddess, and many lake hikes to catch Mt Fuji’s reflection.

By Alyse from The Invisible Tourist

Life is short. Find your bucket list Japan tour today!

17/ South Africa

South Africa is an incredible country with vast natural beauty, wildlife, and safari opportunities. So if you’re an animal lover looking for a nature vacation, then it’s time to pack your bag for South Africa !

Kruger National Park and Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park are both national parks you will see an amazing variety of wildlife. Both parks are home to many African animals including the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino), cheetah, wild dogs, and a variety of antelope.

You can also stay in a private game reserve, such as Zulu Nyala, Bayete Zulu, and Colin’s Horseback Africa. Activities you will enjoy include game drives, bush walks, camping, and more. Food is provided with accommodation.

Cape Town is one of the best nature places to visit. Take a cable car to the top of Table Mountain to see stunning views of the city and the surrounding coastline. The Boulder Penguin Colony is an excellent place for you to see these adorable birds up close, and you can also go shark diving or visit Cape Good Hope, the southernmost point of Africa.

You will have plenty to do around Johannesburg too. Go hiking or mountain biking in the Magaliesberg, or enjoy a picnic in one of the city’s parks.

By Melodie Rush from Travel Must Do’s

Search for South Africa adventures here!

Norway is a stunning place full of natural wonders that you can visit in any season. Above the Arctic Circle, bask in the midnight sun during the summer months when the sun never sets.

Alternatively, experience the polar night in the winter, when the sun never rises. This is the best time to chase the magical Aurora Borealis. Take a tour with an expert guide who will show you the best spots and give tips on how to photograph the Northern Lights for amazing memories to look back on. Or visit Bergsjøstølen for the spine-tingling Ice Music Festival .

There are plenty of places you can check out the northern lights in Norway – including  the Lofoten Islands , Tromso, and the North Cape.

Norway is also full of majestic fjords, where you can take cruises any time of the year. The breathtaking Geirangerfjord is one of the most famous fjords in the world and has been deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

There are also amazing parks that are the best vacation spots for outdoor activities, such as Jotunheimen or Folgefonna National Parks. Breathe in the fresh air as you traverse the mountains and through the meadows, full of rugged scenery from wildflowers to waterfalls to glaciers.

Some of Norway’s tallest waterfalls to check out include Vettisfossen, Vinnufallet, and the Seven Sisters. The hike to Trolltunga outlook gives you fantastic views of the Ringedalsvatnet lake and Folgefonna glacier.

By Megan Starr

Click here to start planning your perfect Norway vacation

19/ The Philippines

With over 7,600 islands, the Philippines are home to countless idyllic seascapes and landscapes, tropical beaches and amazing wildlife, making these islands one of the most beautiful nature places in the world.

Among the country’s most captivating destinations are Bohol and Cebu. These two island provinces are packed with natural wonders and activities perfect for a two-week vacation.

Be amazed by Bohol’s world-renowned Chocolate Hills and visit the adorable Philippine tarsiers, a tree-dwelling animal and the world’s smallest primate. After that you can have your lunch while cruising the Loboc River one of the cleanest in the country.

Be mesmerised by dolphins not in a dolphin show but in the middle of the ocean, wild and free! To complete your  Bohol itinerary , try snorkelling with sea turtles and a visit to Virgin Island sandbar before getting the ferry to Cebu.

Once in Cebu you can do waterfall chasing and even canyoneering to Kawasan Falls if you’re feeling adventurous. Swimming or snorkelling with millions of sardines during the famous Sardines Run at Panagsama Beach is the experience of a lifetime. Or if you prefer hiking, head to Osmena Peak which is Cebu’s highest.

These are not all, but among the top experiences for anyone looking for great nature places to visit.

By Dea Mariano from Jea Wanders

Search for small-group nature adventures in the Philippines here.

20/ Scottish Highlands & Islands

Scotland is inarguably the wildest place in the British Isles and perfect for a journey to connect with nature. With a low population density and most people living around the large cities in Central Scotland, the northern and western parts of the Highlands and Islands are an adventurer’s playground.

Scotland is home to the UK’s largest national park (the  Cairngorms National Park ) and its highest peaks, and many animals that have long disappeared from the forests and fields of England and Wales can still be found in the remote glens up north.

You can cover a lot of ground on a two-week nature holiday in Scotland. Out west, explore the rugged coastline with its sea lochs, beaches and islands either by boat or kayak, or head east to join a wildlife cruise to see puffins or the world’s largest colony of northern gannets .

For a fully immersive experience, put on a snorkel and discover the underwater world of Argyll, the UK’s first mainland Hop Spot. Don’t leave without hiking among the dramatic mountains of Glencoe, trying to spot the Big 5 of Scottish wildlife, forest bathing in a native Caledonian pine forest and walking up to the sub-Arctic plateau of the Cairngorms mountain range.

By Kathi from Watch Me See

Love Scotland? Find the best Scotland trips and tours for you right here!

21/ New England, USA

New England  in the Northeastern part of the US is such an underrated region for nature lovers, but it has everything, including dramatic coastline cliffs, some of the best beaches in the USA, world-class fall foliage and incredible mountain ranges for hiking. 

One of the top places to visit in New England for nature lovers is Acadia National Park in Maine. With over 60 miles of some of the most jaw-dropping coastline views in the country, it’s home to amazing hiking trails, scenic drives and an iconic lighthouse. 

For those looking to tackle the most thrilling hike in Acadia, add the Beehive Trail to your itinerary. For one of the most stunning sunrises you’ve ever seen, be sure to wake up early and drive the auto road to the Cadillac Mountain summit. 

If it’s gorgeous beaches you’re after, head to Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Home to the Cape Cod National Seashore, it’s here you’ll find impressive sand dunes (some reaching 100 feet tall), as well as Coast Guard Beach, regarded as one of the most beautiful in the U.S. 

A great time to visit New England is the fall season to see the famous fall foliage throughout the region. One of the best places to experience this is in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, which is also an amazing area for hiking.

By Sam of New England Wanderlust

Start planning your New England nature vacation today!

22/ Tasmania, Australia

The island state of Tasmania is a remote destination full of natural beauty and diverse landscapes. A trip to Tasmania is the ultimate escape for those seeking an adventurous getaway surrounded by untouched wilderness. Home to pristine forests, epic mountain ranges, beautiful beaches and unique wildlife, taking a 2 week road trip is the ideal way to see the best of the island.

If hiking is your thing, be sure to spend a few days exploring Cradle Mountain National Park. There are a huge variety of scenic hikes and nature walks offering some of the best views in the state. Binalong Bay, also known as The Bay of Fires is a must-see for beach lovers. Vibrant orange rocks with a backdrop of turquoise water is an incredible sight that can’t be missed on your  Tasmania itinerary . 

A visit to Maria Island off of Tasmania’s east coast will provide the perfect opportunity to meet some of the island’s cutest residents, wombats. Rent a bike and spend a day cycling around this small island to see some of the most beautiful natural scenery and free roaming wombats. 

The long stretch of white sand in Wineglass Bay is like a scene from a postcard and one of the most iconic views in Tasmania. The best way to see this stunning scenery is by hiking to the Mount Amos summit which is located in Freycinet National Park.  

By Ann Kelly from The Road Is Life

Find your dream Tasmania trip by clicking here!

The Hawaiian Islands offer some of the world’s most diverse nature, from active volcanoes to humpback whales and dramatic mountainscapes. While you could spend years exploring Hawaii, two weeks is a good amount of time to dive in and experience two of the islands. For example, consider spending a week in both Maui and the Big Island, respectively. 

If you time your visit in the winter, Maui is one of the best places on the planet to see humpback whales, given that they migrate to the island’s shallow lagoons from their arctic waters to breed and raise their young. Make sure to also carve out some time to drive along the dramatic Road to Hana, a 65-mile road that winds through incredibly lush rainforests, past rushing waterfalls, and along jaw-dropping black sand beaches. 

Your Big Island itinerary can be stuffed with a variety of dynamic outdoor adventures- for example, you can climb the world’s tallest mountain (as measured from the seafloor to its summit) at Mauna Kea, snorkel with manta rays in the town of Kona along its western coastline, and see some of the world’s most active erupting volcanoes spew lava at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. 

By Jessica Schmit of Uprooted Traveler

Click here to start researching your Hawaii vacation today!

24/ Slovenia

For another idyllic and less obvious nature vacations destination, try out the scenic country of Slovenia. Outdoor lovers will find picturesque mountains, crystal clear lakes and rivers, stunning caves, and bucolic valleys.

Start in Ljubljana, the capital city, and make an easy drive to Lake Bohinj. While slightly less known than Lake Bled, Bohinj has fabulous hiking and boating on the lake. Hikes to Savica waterfall or Mostnica gorge are recommended. Or take a cable car up Mount Vogel for outstanding views of Lake Bohinj from the top. 

Triglav National Park in the Julian Alps has the highest peak in Slovenia. The trails here range from nature walks to hut-to-hut routes. The Juliana Trail, a 270 km-long circular long-distance trail with 16 stages, wanders through this spectacular area.

Nearby Bovec has paddling outdoor adventures in the Soca River Valley. Try  whitewater kayaking on the Soca River , regarded as the most beautiful river in Europe. There is also ziplining, canyoneering, and cycling trips in this epicenter of outdoor adventure.

For ocean lovers, Slovenia has a 47 km of coastline on the Adriatic Sea. You will find natural beaches to explore and take a dip. Don’t miss the sunsets.

By Karen Warren from Outdoor Adventure Sampler

Fancy an outdoors adventure in Slovenia? Click here to find out more!

25/ The USA’s Grand Circle

The southwest United States is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places on earth, making it unmissable for nature lovers! The perfect way to explore this region is through a two-week road trip around the ‘grand circle,’ aka the route between Las Vegas, Utah’s five national parks, and the Grand Canyon. That’s a lot of nature packed into one epic trip!

Start driving clockwise from Las Vegas and stop at Zion National Park. Zion has some of the most famous hikes in the world! Don’t miss Angel’s Landing or the Narrows. 

Next, visit Bryce Canyon National Park. The red hoodoos in this park are unlike anywhere else in the world! Watching sunrise over the canyon is an experience to remember.

Capitol Reef National Park is perhaps Utah’s most underrated national park. Spend time off-roading through the Mars-like landscape of the Bentonite Hills.

Canyonlands and Arches National Parks are neighbors, and both are filled with beautiful red rock formations and archways.

On the way to the Grand Canyon, don’t miss Dead Horse Point State Park for a double horseshoe bend-style canyon, or the famous rock formations of Monument Valley!

End your trip at the Grand Canyon. Walking along the southern rim will give you almost painting-like views of this sprawling natural wonder. By the end of your two weeks, you’ll have seen some of the best and most diverse landscapes that the southwest has to offer.

By Jen from Glasses and Boarding Passes

Start planning your epic USA nature vacation here!

Where to next?

If you enjoyed this best nature vacations post, you might like some of these other outdoors articles:

• South Bohemia: The Gorgeous Czech Republic Region You Need To Visit
• Four Days in Valli Giudicarie in Trentino Italy
• Glamping And Hiking In The Beautiful Knuckles Mountain Range, Sri Lanka
• The Thrilling Volcan De Acatenango Hike In Antigua Guatemala
• A Kenya Safari Holiday: How To Plan The Perfect Trip For You

Liked this nature trips post?

Social shares help support my hard work! You can share via the buttons at the bottom, or pin this handy Pinterest Pin. Thank you!

Bella is a multi-award-winning travel writer, wildlife photographer and science and history documentary director from London. Among many awards and nominations she won Blogger of the Year at the British Guild of Travel Writers’ Awards 2023 and Best Photography at the Travel Media Awards 2020. Her work has been published by National Geographic, Wanderlust, and BBC Travel among others. Her films have been shown around the world including on the BBC, Discovery and PBS.

Further Reading...

Doing The Freezing Polar Plunge In Antarctica

Ethical Travel Photography: How To Capture With A Conscience

Cerro Quemado in Guatemala: The Volcano Where People Talk To The Gods

30 beautiful pictures of guatemala and the stories behind them, crater azul: is guatemala's gorgeous blue crater overhyped.

Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that if you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Passport & Pixels is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Get Daily Travel Tips & Deals!

By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .

The 10 Biggest Benefits of Nature Travel

Ed Hewitt started traveling with his family at the age of 10 and has since visited dozens of countries on six continents. He wrote for IndependentTraveler.com for more than 20 years, producing hundreds of columns on travel and offering his expertise on radio and television. He is now a regular contributor to SmarterTravel.

An avid surfer and rower, Ed has written about and photographed rowing competitions around the world, including the last five Olympic Games.

He's passing his love of travel on to the next generation; his 10-year-old son has flown some 200,000 miles already.

Travel Smarter! Sign up for our free newsletter.

We have all felt it: the uncanny sensation of clear-headedness and relief that comes from a long walk in the woods, a climb to a mountain overlook, or a stroll on the beach. Even a quick dive into cool ocean surf can do it; you emerge feeling somehow cleaner despite being covered in salt water and brine. It turns out there is a heap of science behind that sensation, enough to encourage the use of our precious vacation time to immerse ourselves in nature travel for extended periods.

As John Muir said, “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” Below is what the experts have to say on the extensive benefits of getting out into nature in your everyday life, and especially when traveling.

Nature Travel Increases Your Attention Span

The constant barrage of information and images that characterizes modern life is thought by many to have a negative effect on our ability to control our attention—but time in nature has the capacity to correct it, according to this study . It turns out that even viewing photos of nature can have a positive effect; while I’m not much for armchair travel, it actually seems to work when it comes to exposure to nature.

These benefits seem especially important for kids , so get started early on the nature trips and hikes.

Nature Travel Boosts Creativity

Heading out into nature has been found not only to assist attention span, but to boost creativity considerably as well—by up to 50 percent, according to a University of Kansas study . The study emphasizes that these benefits accrue “after living for a few days steeped in nature,” much as you would on a nature trip to the mountains or the woods.

Awe Is Good for You

Looking out over the planet’s most spectacular natural landscapes isn’t just good for your Instagram account; the awe these places inspire is also good for you. A Stanford study linked awe to improved patience, increased interest in helping other people, and greater life satisfaction.

Nature Travel Encourages Mindfulness

The concept of mindfulness may be a bit of a fad at the moment, but the underlying concepts are as old as human history. Deliberately turning your attention to sounds, smells, changing light, and other details of your environment is a favorite type of mindfulness training for many, and is fun and easy—and almost unavoidable—when you travel in nature.

Nature Travel Offers a Reset

One important benefit many of us seek from a trip is a reset, an increase in our enthusiasm and overall liveliness that doesn’t evaporate when we get back to the grind. It turns out that travel in nature offers just this; this study by researchers at the University of Rochester found a direct link between time in nature and increased energy and vitality, even when controlling for the benefits of exercise.

The Air Is Healthier

According to the EPA , Americans spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, where concentrations of some pollutants can be two to five times higher than typical outdoor concentrations. Go deep into a natural landscape, and the relative air quality improves even more.

Sunlight Is Good for You, Too

While it is well known that UV radiation from the sun can cause health problems, it is also essential to good health; in fact, the benefits of UV rays may be much greater than the risks. A study by the World Health Organization found that adequate sunlight exposure lowers the incidence of major musculoskeletal disorders, autoimmune diseases, and some types of cancers.

Take care not to get a sunburn, and the benefits of sunlight are free for the taking on your next nature trip.

Nature Travel Can Help Your Mood

According to the USDA , Duke University researchers found that walking regularly was more effective than Zoloft in reducing depression symptoms. And it’s not just the walking that does it. The Duke study quantified the effects of walking three times per week, which are considerable but significantly amplified when done in nature, according to a study at the University of Rochester .

It’s not just the exercise with your friends that makes you feel “more alive,” as the study notes; it is the immersion in nature. Do this on a weeklong nature trip, and the benefits continue to pile up.

It Can Also Help with Other Difficult Emotional Conditions

Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) appear to be helped by time outdoors and in the wilderness, according to U.S. News & World Report . Experiencing nature helps them recover from their experience and offers a slow and more natural reintegration into civilian life. These findings suggest that anyone with PTSD could benefit from nature travel, whether or not they’ve served in the military.

It’s an Easy Way to Jump-Start a Fitness Routine

In addition to all of the science above, I have found no better way to jump-start a workout regimen than nature travel. A trip that puts you in natural surroundings typically requires walking, climbing, carrying your stuff, and other relatively low-impact but high-payoff activities.

Compared to a half-hour or so in the gym every other day, an entire week of carrying even a 10- to 15-pound backpack all day leads to greater and gentler fitness gains every time, in my experience. Weight loss becomes easier, too; when you are moving around burning calories 12 hours each day, “dieting” becomes less critical to creating the calorie deficit that weight loss requires.

Sure, you can get fit walking around Rome all day long, but the temptation to Uber it home from dinner can be almost irresistible; not so much at the campfire.

More from SmarterTravel:

• Survey Says: Travel Makes Us Happier
• 9 Travel Survival Skills We Hope You Never Need
• 10 Great American Hikes Anyone Can Do

Don't Miss a Trip, Tip, or Deal!

Let us do the legwork! Sign up for our free newsletter now.

Ed Hewitt is a seasoned globetrotter who brings you a biweekly glimpse into the latest travel news, views, and trends—and how they could affect your travel plans.

We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.

Top Fares From

Don't see a fare you like? View all flight deals from your city.

Today's top travel deals.

Brought to you by ShermansTravel

Madrid to Malaga: 8-Nt Southern Spain...

Luxe, 12-Night Spain, France, Monaco &...

Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Ohio: Daily Car Rentals from Cincinnati

Trending on SmarterTravel

The Top 24 Ecotourism Destinations for 2024

By: Author Stefania Guglielmi

Posted on Last updated: February 17, 2024

Categories Green Travel , India , Inspiration , Philippines , Portugal , USA , Vietnam

Meeting the gorillas in Rwanda, an island escape in Panama, climbing glaciers in Chile and much more. Check out 24 top ecotourism destinations to visit in 2024!

I asked 20 of the best travel bloggers out there for their #1 tip for the top ecotourism destinations to visit in 2024, and the best month to visit such destination. Wow, quite some wanderlusting going on here!  Ready to pack your bags?

MEETING THE GORILLAS IN RWANDA

Rwanda’s long dry season (June to September) is the most popular time to visit, but the shorter dry season (December to February) allows you to savor the country’s splendid ecotourism locations and offerings and avoid crowds. The #1 attraction here is the Mountain Gorillas of Volcanoes National Park, which were made famous by late primatologist Dian Fossey. There are 10 habituated gorilla families open to tourist visits, so trekking permits are limited to 80 per day. Being surrounded by mamas, babies, and massive Silverback gorillas is an experience you’ll never forget. But there are many other ecotourism attractions in Rwanda.

From the cultural immersion of Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village (which employs hundreds of former poachers) and the stunning scenic vistas of Lake Kivu to tracking Chimpanzees and monkeys in Nyungwe Forest National Park and wildlife safaris in Akagera National Park, Rwanda has a ton of options for nature and wildlife lovers. “The land of a thousand hills” has come a long way since the 1994 genocide: the benefits of ecotourism include fueling political stabilization, dramatic infrastructure improvements, and impressive economic growth.

Thanks to Bret & Mary from Green Global Travel

A WILD EXPERIENCE IN SABAH, MALAYSIA

Sandakan in Sabah – in the Malaysian part of Borneo – is one of the top eco tourism locations and home to one of National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World, Sukau Rainforest Lodge. This is where you can see how eco-lodges work for real – they make use of everything from rainwater, used cooking oil, to the electric engine for the motorboats – all without sacrificing any comfort for guests. In fact, they have also won 19th Malaysia Tourism Awards 2014/2015 for Best Hotel Services (3 Star & Below). Its location on the bank of Kinabatangan River (at 560km, the second longest river in Malaysia) means relatively easy access to the floras and faunas of Borneo, including the orangutans, Bornean pygmy elephants , proboscis monkeys and rare birds like the hornbills, in their own natural habitat. In fact, you might not have to go far to see a Bornean pygmy elephant as they have a trail inside the compound of the Lodge itself!

The Lodge is open all year round but the best times to visit are anytime between January and October, so if January is too short of a notice for you, you still have 9 months to plan for a trip of a lifetime.

Thanks to RaW from Ramble and Wander

FULL BLOG POST: A Trip to Borneo and Sukau Rainforest Lodge: Orangutans & Other Stories

NEW ZEALAND, ONE OF THE BEST ECOTOURISM DESTINATIONS

February is the best month to visit New Zealand as the weather is going to be warmest and the most settled of the year. New Zealand a.k.a 100% Pure New Zealand is a must visit for millions thanks to the beautiful nature around the activities. If you want an example of ecotourism activities you can do while here, a tour of Fiordland’s Milford Sound, kayaking in Abel Tasman National and Whale Watching in Kaikoura are three of the top highlights of the South Island.

Heading up to the North Island, watching the seals sunbathing by Cape Palliser is fun and you have to visit a kiwi at Zealandia or Kapiti Island. You’re obliged to hike Tongariro National Park a.k.a Mt. Doom and before I carry on too much I’ll finish off with seeing the natural wonders of Wai-O-Tapu. Check out this New Zealand North Island itinerary !

And if you like glamping, check out these 12 luxury treehouse cabins you can sleep in – one of them is in New Zealand!

Thanks to Jub from Tiki Touring Kiwi

COSTA RICA: ECOTOURISM AND ADVENTURE TRAVEL

When considering a destination for an eco-friendly vacation, Costa Rica is a must. Costa Rica is a rugged country known for its beautiful beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity. About a quarter of Costa Rica is protected jungle, alive with wildlife including a variety of monkeys, exotic birds, and frogs. The country offers both cloud forest and rainforest, both interesting and breathtaking.

A deep respect for nature is evident wherever you travel. This respect is evident at hotels and resorts throughout the country, which offer sustainable ecotourism and are rated the ICT’s Certificate of Sustainable Tourism (CST) program. Many hotels and resorts serve organic food; landscape their grounds with lush tropical plants and flowers; and conserve and recycle their resources.Different types of ecotourism options include excursions to one of the country’s volcanos (including Poas and Arenal); daytime and nighttime nature hikes; whitewater rafting; tours of the country’s coffee region;visiting the white-faced Capuchin monkeys; birding; and visits to the thermal hot springs. For the best weather, visit between mid-December and April, Costa Rica’s dry season.

For a different kind of experience, you can also  volunteer  and help with the sea turtle conservation or volunteer with local coffee growers who practice sustainable farming.

Thanks to Amy from A Traveling Broad

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, ECUADOR: EVERY TRAVELER’S DREAM DESTINATION

For us, the absolute best ecotourism destination is the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.  This group of islands is at the top of every traveler’s dream destination list.  Being both geologically unique and geographically remote, these islands have spawned voyages of discovery.  The islands of the Galapagos are so isolated the animals have evolved into whole new species, something Charles Darwin observed on his voyage.  Visitors can retrace his footsteps and check out the amazing wildlife.  One of the best places for ecotourism, the Galapagos archipelago is so unique and surreal that it was recognized as the very first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Thanks to Lance & Laura from Travel Addicts

READ ALSO :  10 Best Remote Places To Visit in 2019 (If You Can Get There!)

ECOTOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN SUMATRA

Situated in the northern region of Sumatra, Indonesia, only a short 1-hour flight from Asia’s hub of Kuala Lumpur, lies one of the most bio-diverse places in the world – The Gunung Leuser National Park. Home to the second largest concentration of orangutan, as well as many other endangered species like the Sumatran tiger and rhinoceros, the Gunung Leuser National Park has become a sanctuary for these creatures, and the people of this region have become their guardians.

Locals practice responsible tourism that aims to protect the forest and its inhabitants. Many of the rainforest regions of Indonesia are destroyed by deforestation and although some are protected from logging under federal law, illegal logging practices still occur. Tourism acts as an alternative income for many people here who have moved away from illegal means of income. By visiting the region and participating in eco-tourism activities such as trekking, tree planting and water rafting you are supporting the guardians of the Gunung Leuser, and you have the chance to get up close with the beautiful orangutans that call this place home.

Thanks to Bianca from The Altruistic Traveller

JAMAICA: SEXY BEACHES AND MUCH MORE

Jamaica is predominately known for its gorgeous turquoise blue water and white sand beaches, however very few people know that Jamaica is one of the top ecotourism destinations in the Caribbean. The amount of things you can do in Jamaica  that don’t cause harm to its ecosystem is endless! You can go bamboo rafting on the gorgeous Martha Brae River, hike the UNESCO World heritage site, Blue Mountains, relax on undeveloped beaches like Winnifred Beach, explore Jamaica’s largest wetland ecosystem at Black River, or discover Jamaica’s diverse plant and species at Cockpit County.

Jamaica is pretty much sexy all year around, however the best time to visit is in April. In April, Jamaica is not overcrowded with tourist, it barely rains, and you can still get the benefit of things costing less than in the high season! The island of no worries and ultimate relaxation is one ecotourism destination you don’t want to miss out on in 2017!

Thanks to Ben & Jazzy from Road Affair

AN ISLAND ESCAPE AT BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA

Bordering Costa Rica, Bocas del Toro, on the northern tip of Panama is one of the top 10 ecotourism destinations in the world. Beautiful islands with gorgeous beaches, sailing, snorkeling and other outdoor pursuits are easy to arrange with many tour operators that offer island tours and other eco adventures. I stayed at the uber cool La Loma Jungle lodge which is an amazing chocolate plantation with wonderful wooden tree houses that exude a total sense of place and eco cool. The farm to table approach and exciting food selections were simply spectacular – worth the experience when visiting this area.

Thanks to Noel Morata from Travel Photo Discovery

SORSOGON, PHILIPPINES: VOLCANOS AND GIANT WHALES

As a favorite “hangout” place of typhoons and other natural calamities, it is quite hard to predict exactly when is the best time to visit the Philippines specifically the Bicol Region. Safe to say though that April and May are the best months to pursue that Bicolandia trip – the official summer season of the country! Sorsogon is where are most ecotourism destinations found in the Bicol region. If you love mountains and courageous enough to climb an active volcano, there’s Mt. Bulusan. Just within the area is the Bulusan Volcano National Park, which is now becoming a favorite destination for foreign travelers due to the fact that’s an eco tourism park and to the number of activities that you can do! You can go kayaking, camping, trekking and even try to learn how to cook local cuisine.

Did you know that the Butanting (Giant Whalesharks) are found in Donsol? They are well taken good care of and an indie film shot ten years ago was the Philippines entry to the Oscars in 2008. Whale shark watching tours are available. Another one of the best eco tourist attractions in Sorsogon is the Buhatan River Cruise. You can also do waterfall hopping!

Thanks to Micaela from Senyorita.net

NICARAGUA: AN UP AND COMING DESTINATION

Nicaragua is an up and coming destination that has been on travelers’ radars for a few years now. It’s even better than more popular ecotourism destinations such as Costa Rica and Panama, as it’s less crowded, rather undiscovered and it’s still much cheaper to travel within this pristine country. One of the best places to take advantage of sustainable activities is in Ometepe, which at first glance can seem too popular. There’s a long list of ecotourism activities available here; grab a kayak and float through the isthmus where you’ll see tons of animals, bugs, and flowers without ever crossing a soul.

Many initiatives are being put into place to make sure the wildlife is protected and I was quite impressed by Nicaragua’s green philosophy, availability of recycling bins, eco-responsible initiatives and the people’s desire to keep their country safe. Although Nicaragua can be enjoyed all year round thanks to changing temperatures in each part of the land, May is a great month to come, as it’s right between the dry and the wet season. You’ll get to see the greenery awakening without the more negative side of having endless rainfalls.

Thanks to Jennifer from Moi Mes Souliers

RAJA AMPAT, INDONESIA: A PRISTINE DESTINATION

Raja Ampat is an archipelago of islands, located just off the tip of Bird’s Head Peninsula in Indonesia’s West Papua province. It is an unmissable ecotourism destination as it is pristine, because it is difficult to get to, but entirely worth the effort. The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International claim that 75% of the world’s marine species live here in the islands. Raja Ampat is one of the most beautiful destinations in Indonesia and one of the greatest ecotourism places in the world. It is very popular with divers and has a lot to offer any traveler wanting to see somewhere that is off the tourist track. Any time of the year is good to visit as the climate is equitable, and while there might be some rain in June, it is short-lived.

Thanks to Paula from Contented Traveller

NO NEED TO GO FAR AWAY: THE UNITED STATES

Ecotourism destinations in the United States are plenty all over the country. Not many people realize indeed that the US is one of the top ecotourism destinations in the world! June is a great month to discover the National Parks or to go on a road trip through the wild spaces of America. It’s not too cold and not too hot, and the most famous places aren’t overcrowded with tourists yet. For a special experience, why don’t you try glamping? It’s a great way to get in touch with nature with all the comforts of a luxury hotel.

READ ALSO : 12 Epic Glamping Destinations in the USA Glamping Southern California: 13 Best Spots for your Bucket List

ICELAND: INSPIRING SCENERY AT EVERY TURN

Iceland is one of the top ecotourism countries in the world, and visiting during July means taking advantage of the midnight sun. With 24 hours of daylight, you can truly make the absolutely most of each and every day!

In terms of ecotourism options, exploring Iceland’s landscapes is the main attraction here. It is one of the last untouched destinations left on earth, and the scenery will take your breath away. Between waterfalls, glaciers, dramatic fjords, volcanoes, cracked lava fields, gushing geysers and geothermal lagoons, Iceland is a country defined by its outdoors, and there is inspiring scenery at every turn. There is naturally a lot of opportunities here for adventure, and you can try your hand at anything from white water rafting, to horse riding, caving, quad bikes, or strapping on crampons and climbing a glacier if that takes your interest.

Thanks to Megan and Mike Jerrard from  Mapping Megan  

FINLAND, WHERE ALL TOURISM IS ECOTOURISM

In Finland, ecotourism isn’t really a thing. That is because all tourism is ecotourism – respect for nature and the environment has been part of people’s minds for decades. Most of my Finnish friends take solace in nature when daily life gets too much – as a result, there’s wonderful nature on every city’s doorstep and plenty of national parks all over the country. The best month to enjoy nature is July, when days are at their longest, the weather is warm and there’s plenty of sun, but winter also has its magic. A wonderful place to enjoy Finnish nature without having to travel too far from the city are the Helsinki islands , there are over 300 to choose from!

Thanks to Margherita from The Crowded Planet

ECUADOR, WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE

Ecuador, one of the smaller yet most diverse countries in South America. The country, located by the Pacific ocean and straddling the equator, boasts a wide range of eco-systems and possibilities for visitors to learn about the environment while at the same time becoming more aware of their impact on it. There are several inspiring ecotourism projects in the country. I have been able to visit Kichwa Ecolodge in Yasuní National Park, the park which is considered to be housing more diversity in flora and fauna than anywhere else on the planet. This is an extremely rewarding experience, as you combine ecotourism and community-based tourism.

Some additional ecotourism options include, but are not limited to, visits to rainforests such as  Casa Divina Lodge in Mindo and visits to some indigenous tribes like with Napo Wildlife Center in Yasuni National Park. Many eco travel companies have had the Smart Voyager sustainable tourism certification for over 10 years. I was lucky enough to work with Metropolitan Touring, a company that is leading the way in the sustainability work. Metropolitan Touring owns and runs Finch Bay Hotel and the yachts La Pinta and Isabela II, all having the Smart Voyager certification and offering wonderful experiences in the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador. Because of its location, Ecuador can be visited all year round. I invite you to discover a mega-diverse country perfect for ecotourism.

Thanks to Cristina from Visit Ecuador and South America

SINGAPORE: A GREEN CITY ESCAPE

Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay has become one of the most talked about man-made garden in the whole of Asia. These 101-hectare gardens consist of the stunning man-made ‘SuperTrees” that not only light up beautifully at night but serve as water catchment points when it rains. Some have equated this garden as ‘Ávatar in real form”, due to the surreal mystical design of the Supertrees and the quirky artsy design of the park with its exotic sculptures and plants. This tourist spot is very popular all year round and hosts tons of concerts and festive activities, but the month of August is a good month, as it is the month Singapore celebrates its independence, so you might just catch some fireworks in the nearby vicinity.

Thanks to Lydia from Lydiascapes Travels

GALICIA, SPAIN: AN OFF THE BEATEN PATH ECO DESTINATION

September is a great month to explore the North West region of Spain. The crowds (that are never too large there, thank god!) are gone and the weather is still awesome due to its location by the Atlantic Ocean and Cantabric Sea. Nice temperatures and lower prices will welcome you in Galicia. But why did I pick this region? Well, Galicia is home. The place where I was born and bred and the one I return to in between my travels around the world. And believe me, I would have definitely changed that should it was not a dream destination.

Lacking the big hotels and tourism complexes other areas in Spain are filled with, the development of tourism is still at a good pace in Galicia. People have finally understood sustainable ecotourism is the way to go and all the efforts entrepreneurs are making go towards an environmentally friendly tourism. The best example is St. James Way, a pilgrimage that comes from the Middle Ages that has been bringing hiking enthusiasts to Galicia ever since. Slow tourism, locally produced food, Galician managed initiatives and a great natural environment make the rest. It’s not a case that a road trip around Galicia is one of the best road trips in Spain ! But hey, it is not just me the one who thinks Galicia is a place that should be topping this list of top ecotourism destinations for 2017. Read what other Galician bloggers have to say about Galicia and its hidden jewels here .

Thanks to Inma & Jose from A World To Travel

MAI CHAU, VIETNAM: AN ENCHANTING VALLEY

Last year I spent an entire month in Vietnam, visiting the whole country from south to north. It wasn’t always easy, but Vietnam is a beautiful country that will reward you with some breathtaking landscapes. One of my favorites ecotourism spots in Vietnam is Mai Chau, a village located 130 km north of Hanoi. This is an enchanting valley made of paddy fields and lush green hills, a world away from the hustle and bustle of the city. And if this wasn’t enough, there’s a reason more to visit Mai Chau. Mai Chau Ecolodge must be the most beautiful ecolodge I’ve ever seen, no kidding. It’s so beautiful it doesn’t even seem real.

September is a great month to visit northern Vietnam; the weather will be nice and cooler than in the middle of the summer. It’s the perfect time for some hiking or biking around Mai Chau and the surrounding valleys.

When in Vietnam, make sure to visit the charming city of Hoi An, it was my other favorite destination: here it’s a full list of the best 15 things to do in Hoi An .

PORTUGAL: A DESTINATION FOR ANYONE

Even if Portugal is good to visit any time of the year, October is one of the best months to do so. Reason number one: almost no tourists! Besides that, the weather in Portugal in early autumn is just perfect for longer hikes as the temperature is very moderate. Let’s not forget that Portugal is famous for its 300 sunny days per year, so odds of getting cloudy or rainy days on your vacation here are pretty low. If you visit Portugal at the very beginning of the month, pack your swimwear, too. The sea and small lakes will be warm enough for a nice dip.

Make sure you also visit Lisbon , it’s a beautiful city that will charm you with its narrow alleys and azulejos.

Thanks to Ivana & Gianni from  Nomad is Beautiful

MAGICAL ENCOUNTERS IN APO ISLAND, PHILIPPINES

Swimming with turtles in Apo Island was one of the best travel experiences in my life, and the highlight of my recent trip to the Philippines. Apo Island is a magical island, one of the top eco tourism places in the country for sure. The coolest thing is, you don’t need to scuba dive in order to meet these magical creatures. Snorkelers will be able to swim and meet the turtles just a few meters away from the shore.

Stay At Atmosphere Resorts, one of the best eco-luxury resorts in the Philippines. The hotel takes great care in protecting the environment and giving back to the local communities, leading the way in the country. Atmosphere Resorts is located in Dauin, Negros Oriental, and organizes day trips to Apo Island several days a week. Apo Island is just 30 minutes away by boat: this is the best and easiest way to get to the island and live one of the most memorable experiences of your life.

DESERT ADVENTURES IN JORDAN

Jordan in November is an excellent month to visit as the scorching summer sun has turned into pleasant fall weather. Jordan’s varied landscapes from pine forest’s in its nature reserves, to desert landscapes in Wadi Rum leave something for everyone. While Petra, the Dead Sea and Jordan’s Roman ruins may be the countries popular draws, it features several ecotourism sites. Fenyan Eco-Lodge should not be missed for the eco-adventurer. Completely solar powered and featuring candle-lit rooms, guests are treated to an amazing meal and spend the evening gazing up at the stars. Fenyan Eco-Lodge is accessible by hiking 16 km through the Dana Biosphere Reserve or by vehicle. Jordan is a top leader in ecotourism in the world and offers programs that benefit the local community and helps to preserve its natural wonders.

Thanks to Lindsay from Carpe Diem Our Way

ST. JOHN, USVI: ECOTOURISM IN THE CARIBBEAN

When I see the term “ECOTOURISM”, my mind is immediately transported to St. John, USVI. 3/5 of the Caribbean island is protected from development (preserved as a National Park) and St. John is the site of the first eco-resort in the world (Maho Bay). Other eco-resorts are now found on St. John and the island remains dedicated to protecting the surrounding reefs and water.

In addition to being a pioneer of ecotourism around the world, St. John is committed to non-commercial tourism; the island has no high rise building, no airport (you must arrive by water), and no large cruise dock. St. John does not have the hustle and bustle of nearby St. Thomas and that is exactly the way the residents, visitors, and I love it. Although St. John can be visited any month of the year, November is ideal because hurricane season is over (although hurricanes usually skip St. John anyway), humidity has decreased, and the island is entering holiday fever phase.

Thanks to Charles from McCool Travel

CHILE, NOT JUST FOR MOUNTAIN LOVERS

December is summer in Chile , a perfect time for those in the northern hemisphere to head south. Chile can be divided into four different ecotourism areas: North and the Atacama Desert, Santiago and the Central Valleys, Lakes and Volcanoes district and Patagonia. In the north, the bohemian San Pedro de Atacama is a perfect jump off point to explore the geysers, salt flats, flamingoes and volcanos of the region. Near Santiago, wine tasting, skiing, and hiking in the Andes are on tap. Heading to the lake district, there are plenty of areas to get off the beaten path including Pucon, the world heritage site of Chiloe, and the azure waters of Chile Chico.

Finally, and probably most famously, is the Chilean Patagonia. Here, you can undertake numerous ecotourism trips including cruises on iceberg busting vessels, galloping through the pampas on horseback or hiking in the Torres del Paine National Park (TDP). In particular, the W-Trek in TDP is an awe-inspiring hike with gorgeous views and accommodation from camping to 5-star luxury ecotourism options. Being one of the best countries for ecotourism in South America, Chile most certainly has something for you.

Thanks to Drew from Passport Chronicles

READ ALSO :  12 Luxury Treehouse Cabins To Add To Your Bucket List

AUROVILLE, INDIA, AN EXPERIMENTAL TOWNSHIP

Image via Flickr by devaiah pa

Not one of the most-known eco tourist destinations, Auroville is however an experimental, very interesting township near Puducherry in Tamil Nadu, India. Popularly known as the City of Dawn, it was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (known as ‘the Mother’) and designed by architect Roger Anger. The ideology behind the creation of Auroville was ‘a universal town where men and women from all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all politics and all nationalities.’ Aurovillians run a huge variety of projects ranging from schools and IT to organic farming, renewable energy, and handicraft production employing nearly 4000-5000 villagers from nearby villages.

It is one of the destinations promoting ecotourism projects like no other in India. The economy is self-sustained and there are a variety of volunteering programs in alternative healthcare, ecological practices, building maintenance, renewable energy, etc which keep on happening in the township. The best time to visit Auroville is in December because of the comfortable weather and to get the chance to welcome the New Year with global citizens united by the common thought of ‘human unity’.

Thanks to Arnav from Eat, Travel, Live and REPEAT

What is your advice for the top ecotourism destination? Let me know in the comments!

Stefania Guglielmi is the founder of Every Steph. Originally from Bologna, Italy, she's been traveling full-time since 2016 and has visited over 50 countries across 6 continents. She believes sustainable travel and luxury travel can go hand in hand and has been advocating for responsible tourism since 2014. Stefania's advice and travel experiences have been featured in important publications such as Business Insider, Refinery29, and Yahoo Money.

Sign me up for the monthly newsletter!

Erin Collard

Monday 23rd of August 2021

What about travel with minimal environmental impact? Can you recommend spots or ways to travel that minimize the harm we are doing to the planet?

Tuesday 24th of August 2021

Hi Erin! I have a few posts about responsible travel on this blog, and I try and add tips in each destination post. However, a new series of posts about responsible and eco travel will come soon. Thanks for the suggestion!

Traveler TIFFANY

Wednesday 18th of November 2020

Those places are so beautiful and amazing. I would love to visit them one day. Thank you for sharing!

Undefined Journey

Sunday 15th of April 2018

Great article, the information in this article is really very useful

Thursday 1st of March 2018

Seems like this post is using a pretty broad definition of ecotourism. I mean, a city park in Singapore is ecotourism? Some resort islands in Panama? (And why is Portugal on this list?)

The term ecotourism is originally used to refer to wilderness experiences that support conservation efforts and sustainable development. It doesn't really mean 'countries with nature in it'. Though this list did point me to a few interesting things.

Tuesday 27th of March 2018

Hello Mark, sorry for the late reply. It is, you are right. This post was made by asking to 24 people what it was the ecotourism destination they had visited and that they prefered, and each person has a different view of what ecotourism means. For some people it might be a green area in a urban city (Singapore is actually very sustainable!), for otehrs it might be a destination where they hiked in the mountains.

Saturday 10th of February 2018

Great article. You must check out the village Tourism also in India by The Folk Tales. There are some very interesting things in Northern Thailand also....

Tourism: Meaning, Types, Nature, Components & Importance

Meaning of tourism.

Tourism refers to social, cultural and economic phenomenon entailing the movement of people to foreign countries or places outside their usual environment for leisure or business motives. It is simply an act of travelling to places away from your hometown or usual area. It is quite interesting and thrilled filled activity that peoples have either done or would love to do it. Tourism is a collection of activities, services and industries that together provides better travel experience to peoples travelling away from their home. It comprises of transportation, eating and drinking establishments, accommodation, entertainment, retail shops and other hospitality services provided either to individuals or group of travellers. 

The World Tourism Organization (WTO) has specially defined tourism as a practice of travelling and staying away from your home or usual environment for 1 year or less in case if it is for leisure purposes, or for 24 hours or less if meant for business/professional purposes. Tourism concept is distinct from travel. In order for tourism to happen, some displacement must be there: a person has to travel using any mode of transportation (person can even travel on foot that is nowadays the case for poorest societies and happens even in more developed countries). Also, not all travels can be considered as tourism.

Types Of Tourism

Tourism is mainly of two types based on the purpose of visit and alternative forms of tourism. It can be categorized as international and domestic tourism. 

International tourism involves people travelling outside the boundary of their home country to some other foreign country. For travelling to foreign country, one need to go through several formalities and require documents such as valid passport, visa, foreign exchange, health documents etc. It is also divided into 2 types: Inbound Tourism and Outbound Tourism. 

Inbound Tourism: Inbound tourism refers to tourist belonging to some outside country entering a particular country. Travelling outside the home country to some another country is categorised as inbound tourism for the country where people are travelling. Like for example, when Indian origin tourists travel to Australia, then it will inbound tourism for Australia as foreign tourists have entered the country. 

Outbound Tourism: This refers to people travelling from their origin country to some different country. When tourists move to some foreign place, then it is categorized as outbound tourism for their own country as they are going outside their home country. For example, when Indian tourists travel to Australia, then it will be outbound tourism for India and inbound tourism for Australia. 

Domestic Tourism refers to tourism activities of people within their home country. When people travel to different parts of their home country, then it is covered under the domestic tourism. Travelling within the home country is easier because it does not need formal travel documents and tedious formalities such as compulsory health check-ups and foreign exchange. People when travelling domestically does not face much language issues or foreign exchange issues unlike in case of foreign travels. 

Nature of Tourism

The nature of tourism is much connected with travelling. It has been the human phenomenon since the beginning of human civilization. This is a sensitive factor for human nature in terms of moving to survive, explore and get to know the unknown things. Humans started travelling as nomads for search of prey and foods, in earlier times. Later on, the agricultural development developed the base for movement of peoples as traveller. After this the industrial revolution made various destinations prominent to travelling. This made the lifestyle of traveller much easier as well as safe to realize their tourism activities. Nature of tourism is further discussed in points below: – 

Tourism and service

Tourism is a service industry comprising of all those sectors of economy that are involved in offering services such as transportation, accommodation, food, beverage, as well as distribution and sales services. The tourism industry has been taken as term of economic growth, productivity, social development, employments income, etc. However, it does not produce any commodity that can be touched or taken home. Therefore, tourism is a hospitality industry and bridge in between peoples. It makes valuable contribution to world’s economy via offering jobs to more and more people than any other industry. 

Tourism is economy contributor

With the help of tourism business, a lot of income is generated within economy in the form of domestic or foreign exchange. A large population gets employed in this industry. Tourism industry is a major contributor to public revenue. Also, nature too can be tapped and friendly relations with other countries can lead to provide benefits for economy. 

Tourism products are highly perishable

The tourism products cannot be transported to customer location. Customers need to move to the products or visit the points of service delivery. For example, hotel rooms, culture, attraction is not possible to be transported from Sri Lanka. ‘Export’ or ‘Export of tourism products’ denote the arrival of tourists or facilities utilized by tourists. 

Tourism assists in educating the mass

Tourism industry plays an effective role in spreading ideas and knowledge among mass population. There is a spontaneous method of learning and exchange of ideas in this industry. Exploration and discovery scope is very high among the adventure tourists. Also, because of tourism, respect for each other’s own life exists. 

Tourism industry is sustainable

There is not any horizon or end to tourism activities. Tourism industry is a long-term industry. It represents non-stop movement of peoples and this incessant move give rise to more and more tourism activities. 

Components of Tourism

Tourism does not operate in isolation, but contains some components without whom it can’t be operated. Tour undertaken by person is affected by distinct elements or components. These components are core parts of tourism and are known as 4 A’s of tourism. 

The four components are: Attraction, Accessibility, Accommodation and Amenities. 

Attraction is considered as the most important component of tourism that creates desire among people to make visits to a specific place or destination. It is anything influencing or inspiring people to make visit/travel. Every country has different type of attraction that attracts in large number of tourists. The lack of attraction cannot pull travellers. Attraction is all those elements, that determines the tourist’s choice to visit one place over others. Peoples can be attracted by different attraction such as trekking, sunrise, waterfall, monument, historical building, cultural sites, national parks, beach resort, flora and fauna, scenic beauty, religious sites etc. The attraction creates flow of tourism to particular area/place and act as magnetic power on pull factor of tourism. 

Attraction can also be classified into two ways: – 

– Core Attraction : Core attraction denotes the basic assets or attributes of particular place/destination. This makes up the main theme of destination. Core attraction may be natural or man-made, cultural recreations, historic or spectator events. 

– Supporting Attraction : It includes the facilities and services that serve the needs of travellers lodging, food service, shopping and local transport, foreign currency exchange and so on. Also, the success of every tourism destination depends not only on its power to attract visitors but also on its ability to hold them. Therefore, a destination must have sufficient attraction such that it is appealing to wider market.

Accessibility

Accessibility is also key component of tourism that denotes reachability to place of destination via distinct modes of transportation. It is simply the way through which tourists can easily reach their destination point. An attraction is not only necessary but it should also be accessible. Tourists reach the place of attraction by using the means of transportation. Therefore, transportation services should be regular, economic, comfortable and safe, as if travel services are better then more will be the tourists coming. Transportation is very crucial and if tourism destination lacks transport facilities, it becomes of little value. 

The passenger transport is categorized into public or private, international air and surface, etc.

– Air Transport : Air transport is the fastest growing means of long-distance tourist transport and served as primary means of transport on many routes. 

– Sea Transport : It plays a major role on short sea routes, waterways and for cruises. 

– Rail Transport : Rail Transport is good for both short and medium distance within the home country or in-between different countries. This assist in reaching destination or for movements at destination. 

More and more tourists will visit a place if it has good modes of transportation available. For example, if we compare rara lake and phewa lake- Rara lake is beautiful destination in western Nepal but only few tourists visit this place due to transportation problem. Whereas, phewa lake is visited by millions of people due to the availability of good transportation.

Accommodation

Accommodation is another component of tourism which is a primary service needed by tourists at the place of destination. It has important role to play in influencing the tourists to choose destination. Accommodation denotes a place where travellers get food and shelter to stay. The tourists can stay in distinct types of accommodation such as staying with relatives, friends, other private accommodation and their own means of accommodation such as tent and caravans. This also include the provision of food and beverages for tourists. 

Tourism arises from the movement of people and stay at the place of destination. Accommodation complements the attraction and every tourist want such accommodation where they can stay comfortably and served good food. They give more priorities to place with good accommodation having all facilities such as hotel, lodges, apartment, bar and restaurant. A huge amount of investments are needed on accommodation that are designed as per the paying capacity of tourists. A well-designed accommodation at nice location with all facilities is also attraction. Tourist must spend at least one night on destination; therefore, accommodation is important. No one is going to visit a place with attraction and accessibility, but no accommodation. 

Amenities are yet another important component of tourism that are extra facilities like service added with attraction, accessibility and accommodation in order to create tourism. They on their own does not generate any tourist flow but their absence may distract the tourists. Amenities are basically the elements which provide pleasure and satisfaction to tourists from destination. Modern amenities are primary elements of tourism and are provided by government, hotel, airlines, travel agencies etc. Different amenities that government provides are visa, entry to archaeological and cultural sites, mountaineering permit, custom facilities etc. The necessary service and facilities for making guest feel comfortable while travelling such as food, rest, sport, communication and entertainment are also included within amenities. For example, sea side resort offer facilities such as swimming, yachting, boating, recreation.

Amenities are both natural and man-made where natural amenities comprise of fishing, trekking, beaches, climbing, viewing, and man-made amenities comprises of cinema, internet, telephone, drama, music, fair and festival, E-mail and fax service.

Importance of Tourism

The tourism industry is important due to the benefits it brings and its role as a commercial activity that creates demand and development for many more industries. Tourism not only contributes towards the economic development, but also generates large number of employment opportunities and revenues. The importance of tourism is well-discussed in points given below: – 

Brings in Influx of Wealth

The biggest advantage tourism provides to every country it that it provides way to economy for receiving influx of wealth. This thing becomes very crucial for nations with newer and weaker economies, and requires the boost. There are numerous countries in Africa that especially need this, and are heavily dependent on tourism sector. Tourists travelling from strong economy countries provide foreign cash that is much stronger than the currency of weak economy countries. This in turn means that tourists are willing to spend more, considering the strength of their money in particular area. Of course, this will bring in more benefits for country. The money spend by tourists not only goes to popular tourist destination and activities, that funds local tour operators and small ventures, but also goes at their general stay.

Large job opportunities

One of the best advantages of tourism industry is that it provides large employment opportunities for locals. Creation of jobs is the most obvious benefit provided to every country. This got spread throughout all industries, from pilots flying the planes for connecting countries to the people washing utensils in restaurant kitchens. Rise of customers during tourist peak season within the wide range of business fields provide enormous benefits. Tourism too creates new jobs for local peoples within the countries, paving the way for opening of new locally run business. More jobs are created from these new businesses both within the travel and tourism sector. 

Building infrastructure

An important benefit of tourism industry is construction and improvement of infrastructural facilities within the country. With the help of wealth inflow from tourists and local communities, large expenses for building up of roads, school, parks, hospital and community areas can be easily afforded. A booming tourism industry won’t be able to survive in country having absence of right infrastructure, as tourists face difficulties in moving around and there won’t be much activities available. For example, if country’s roads are badly damaged and cannot be driven on then tourist won’t be able to move to places where they want to. 

Source of diverse income

Most of the countries are heavily reliant on different industries operating within them, and when these industries fall short then entire economy broke down. Tourism is one of the industries that is much reliable and provides regular flow of income to countries. This means that sometimes the main industry of country can be tourism industry. Tourism remains heavy unlike the other one that changes with seasons. The tourism industry helps in easing the strain caused by suffering industries, and assist in minimizing the massive negative effect this has on overall economy of country. 

Environmental protection

The environmental health is nowadays taken seriously by entire world. Due to this, there is a demand for destinations to be environment friendly. Business involved in tourism activities are taking efforts to make themselves stand out by being more responsible to environment offering eco-tours. These businesses then impact the wellness of environment and improves ways of treating massive habitats. Now, key natural areas remain unharmed and conserved due to their value to tourism industry. Practice of eco-friendly tours and accommodations motivate tourists to respect the untouched sites they are visiting, that helps in keeping these sites and their inhabitants unharmed.

Gender equality

Women fill up the majority of positions in tourism industry among most parts of the world. Unfortunately, they tend to hold more jobs at lower designations and many of them even perform unpaid jobs in their family tourism businesses. That said, the gap in wages is smaller as per the UN Women. Women are earning 14.7% less as compared to men and fill more management roles than in other fields. Tourism industry carries lots of opportunities and strategies that has great potential to further empower women. 

Preserves heritage

Another important advantage of tourism is the preservation of culture and heritage. There are lots of tourist who visit the destination specially to see the local heritage. And due to this, many destinations will take all possible steps to preserve their heritage. This can involve putting restrictions in place or limiting the number of tourists, if necessary. It is also an example of careful planning of tourism and sustainable management of tourism.

Related posts:

• International Business: Nature, Characteristics, Features
• Role and Importance of Transportation in Business
• Compensation Management: Meaning, Components, Objectives and Factors Influencing It
• Scope and Importance of International Business
• Impact of Coronavirus on Indian Economy
• Logistics Management: Meaning, Nature, Scope, Objectives and, Importance

Add CommerceMates to your Homescreen!

Subscribe Now! Get features like

• Latest News
• Entertainment
• Real Estate
• RCB vs LSG Live Score
• Election Schedule 2024
• IPL 2024 Schedule
• IPL Points Table
• IPL Purple Cap
• IPL Orange Cap
• Bihar Board Results
• The Interview
• Web Stories
• Virat Kohli
• Mumbai News
• Bengaluru News
• Daily Digest

Madhya Pradesh travel guide: Discover top destinations for every traveller's bucket list

Explore madhya pradesh's top destinations in our special travel guide. from ancient temples to scenic landscapes, discover the essence of central india's allure.

Madhya Pradesh , a state in central India known as the 'Heart of India', is renowned for its rich traditions, spiritual heritage and culture . The state is home to many wildlife sanctuaries, forts, intricately carved temples and monuments. MP has something to offer everyone, whether you are a foodie, wildlife enthusiast, arts and culture fan or just a nature lover. Madhya Pradesh is a treat for all types of travellers and attracts a considerable number of visitors from both domestic and international locations. From savouring a delightful breakfast of garam poha and chai at the Chappan market of Indore to spending a blissful evening at the sunset point of historical places of Mandu, here is your complete MP travel guide for a memorable trip and a lifetime of experiences. (Also read: Discovering Bandhavgarh National Park: Where roaring wildlife meets whispers of nature )

Top Places to Visit in Madhya Pradesh

For religious travellers:.

Khajuraho: Explore Khajuraho, a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its magnificent collection of Jain and Hindu temples decorated with intricate carvings and sculptures depicting many facets of life and mythology. Admire the temples of Kandariya Mahadeva, Lakshmana and Vishvanatha for their magnificent architecture and profound spiritual significance.

Ujjain: Soak up the heavenly atmosphere of Ujjain, one of India's holiest cities. Pay homage to Lord Shiva at the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga Temple, where you can also witness the magnificent Bhasma Aarti, a ceremony in which ash is offered to the god. Visit other sacred places such as the Harsiddhi, Kal Bhairav temples etc.

Omkareshwar: Another famous destination for pilgrims honouring Lord Shiva is the Omkareshwar temple, located on an island in the Narmada River. Visit the Jyotirlinga shrine to seek blessings and experience the peaceful atmosphere of this sacred place.

For Foodies:

Indore: Explore the gastronomic treasures of Indore, often hailed as the culinary capital of Madhya Pradesh. Explore the vibrant street food market known as Sarafa Bazaar, where hawkers sell a variety of mouth-watering foods such as kebabs, samosas, jalebi and poha.

Malwa Cuisine: Savour the flavours of Malwa cuisine, which is characterised by savoury dishes influenced by Marwari and Rajasthani cooking customs. Try some of the regional specialities like Malpua, Bhutte Ka Kees and Dal Bafla.

For Culture Enthusiasts:

Gwalior: Experience Gwalior's rich cultural heritage - the city is home to exquisite forts, palaces and museums. Take in the breathtaking views of the city from the top of Gwalior Fort, a strong hill fort, the magnificent Man Singh Palace and the Gujari Mahal Archaeological Museum.

Mandu: Step back in time as you explore the ancient ruins of Mandu, a fortified city renowned for its stunning architecture and enchanting mythology. Discover architectural wonders with rich histories and fascinating details such as the Jahaz Mahal, Hindola Mahal and Rupmati's Pavilion.

Bhopal: Explore Bhopal, a centre of culture where modern influences coexist with traditional arts and crafts. Take a tour of the Bharat Bhavan, a multimodal arts complex that features modern Indian theatre, literature, and art. Discover the native artwork and customs of the tribal communities in Madhya Pradesh by exploring the Tribal Museum.

For Nature Lovers:

Pachmarhi: Explore the tranquil charm of Pachmarhi, a hill station in the Satpura range surrounded by lush vegetation and cascading waterfalls. Explore places like Dhoopgarh, the highest point in Madhya Pradesh with breathtaking views of the sunrise and sunset, Bee Falls and Pandava Caves.

National Parks: Some of India's most biodiverse national parks are located in Madhya Pradesh, providing unmatched chances for those who enjoy the outdoors and animals. Every park offers a different ecology that is just waiting to be discovered, from the deep woods of Kanha and Bandhavgarh, which are well-known for their flourishing tiger and other endangered species populations, to the gorgeous vistas of Satpura and Pench, where leopards, wild dogs, and a variety of wildlife walk freely.

For History Buffs:

Orchha: Explore Orchha, a medieval town filled with opulent mansions, temples, and cenotaphs, and immerse yourself in history. Discover architectural wonders that exemplify the grandeur of Bundela architecture, such as the Jahangir Mahal, Raj Mahal, and Chaturbhuj Temple.

Bhimbetka Rock Shelters: Discover the prehistoric artistry of the rock shelters of Bhimbetka, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its Paleolithic cave paintings. Admire the realistic depictions of hunting scenes, daily activities and rituals that give us a glimpse into past human civilisations.

Sanchi: Discover the ancient treasures of Sanchi, which is home to one of India's most significant Buddhist sites. Explore the historic monasteries, stupas, and Ashoka Pillar, which were built in the third century BCE and feature stunning examples of Buddhist art and architecture. Then, lose yourself in the serene atmosphere of this UNESCO World Heritage Site, which provides an insight into the rich cultural history of India and Buddhism.

• Madhya Pradesh
• Tourist Spot
• Tourist Attraction
• Tourist Destination

Join Hindustan Times

Create free account and unlock exciting features like.

• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Weather Today
• HT Newsletters
• Subscription
• Print Ad Rates
• Code of Ethics

• Elections 2024
• India vs England
• T20 World Cup 2024 Schedule
• IPL 2024 Auctions
• T20 World Cup 2024
• Cricket Players
• ICC Rankings
• Cricket Schedule
• Other Cities
• Income Tax Calculator
• Budget 2024
• Petrol Prices
• Diesel Prices
• Silver Rate
• Relationships
• Art and Culture
• Telugu Cinema
• Tamil Cinema
• Exam Results
• Competitive Exams
• Board Exams
• BBA Colleges
• Engineering Colleges
• Medical Colleges
• BCA Colleges
• Medical Exams
• Engineering Exams
• Horoscope 2024
• Festive Calendar 2024
• Compatibility Calculator
• The Economist Articles
• Explainer Video
• On The Record
• Vikram Chandra Daily Wrap
• PBKS vs DC Live Score
• KKR vs SRH Live Score
• EPL 2023-24
• ISL 2023-24
• Asian Games 2023
• Public Health
• Economic Policy
• International Affairs
• Climate Change
• Gender Equality
• future tech
• Daily Sudoku
• Daily Crossword
• Daily Word Jumble
• HT Friday Finance
• Explore Hindustan Times
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Subscription - Terms of Use

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Sweepstakes
• Where to Go in 2024 Overview: Where to Go in 2024

The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2024

• An Insider's Guide to Paris — Luxury Hotels, Vintage Shops, and the City's Best Restaurants Included
• This Southern U.S. City Was Named One of the Best Places to Travel in 2024
• 5 Coastal Towns in Alaska That Are Adorable in Any Weather
• T+L's Review of Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Grandeur
• This Exclusive Helicopter Dining Experience Is the Best Way to See the 'Grand Canyon of Mallorca’
• Where to Go in 2024 The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2024 An Insider's Guide to Paris — Luxury Hotels, Vintage Shops, and the City's Best Restaurants Included This Southern U.S. City Was Named One of the Best Places to Travel in 2024 5 Coastal Towns in Alaska That Are Adorable in Any Weather T+L's Review of Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Grandeur This Exclusive Helicopter Dining Experience Is the Best Way to See the 'Grand Canyon of Mallorca’ CLOSE Part of Where to Go in 2024

Where to go in 2024, according to Travel + Leisure editors — for cultural immersion and major travel bragging rights.

Since 1971, Travel + Leisure editors have followed one mission: to inform, inspire, and guide travelers to have deeper, more meaningful experiences. T+L's editors have traveled to countries all over the world, having flown, sailed, road tripped, and taken the train countless miles. They've visited small towns and big cities, hidden gems and popular destinations, beaches and mountains, and everything in between. With a breadth of knowledge about destinations around the globe, air travel, cruises, hotels, food and drinks, outdoor adventure, and more, they are able to take their real-world experience and provide readers with tried-and-tested trip ideas, in-depth intel, and inspiration at every point of a journey.

Well, you knew it was coming. This year, more than 20 Travel + Leisure staffers weighed in to create this hand-picked list of the places that thoughtful, curious travelers should consider in 2024.

These are the destinations that have captured our imaginations, the spots where T+L editors want to spend their own time in the year ahead. Among the picks are Canada's Métis Crossing, which headlined our October 2023 issue ; Istanbul, for which our editor in chief makes a compelling case ; and Paris, because there's a little thing called Les Jeux Olympiques coming up.

Other, lesser-known places are on the rise. Consider the small towns of Sonoma County, where new businesses are doing big things ; a remote corner of Australia, where expedition ships are the way in; a Himalayan hideaway where visitors are left breathless and not just because of the altitude.

We hope this list inspires you to see the world in a new way in the coming year. We'll see you out there.

— Edited by Paul Brady and Maya Kachroo-Levine  

Travel + Leisure

Destination by Category

For cultural immersion, ålborg, denmark.

Alexander Farnsworth/Getty Images

It rates as Denmark’s fourth-largest city, with around 120,000 residents, but out-of-the-way Ålborg might seem an unlikely international-travel hub. That's not stopping Scandinavian Airlines, which is betting on the compact, alluring city with newly launched flights from Newark Liberty International, which will run three times a week from April through October. The cobbled streets of Ålborg’s old town are lined with half-timbered houses and pastel exteriors; the attractively refurbished waterfront — where you’ll find the newly renovated Pier 5 Hotel — is another walkable district. The city’s rich cultural scene includes a modern art museum , an architecture center, and, a short drive away, Regan Vest , a Cold War museum that opened in a former bunker in February 2023. Indeed, Ålborg is a gateway to the wider region of North Jutland, with its dramatic coastline around the town of Skagen, long a draw to Danish artists; windswept dunes of Thy National Park ; and 2,000-year-old Viking ring fortresses which have, at long last, been collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site . — Peter Terzian

Cartagena, Colombia

Sofia Jaramillo

A perennially hot destination, Colombia is coming into its own as a luxury escape these days, thanks to a ton of excitement in and around Cartagena, on the country’s Caribbean coast. In 2023, the city welcomed Casa Pestagua , a 16-room boutique hotel within a restored 17th-century building, in the historic center. Now, the same owners are working to open bungalows on Isla Barú, a popular day-trip spot, before the end of 2023. Sustainability minded travelers can find their fit at Blue Apple Beach , an eco-hotel on Tierra Bomba Island, just off the coast, that’s B Corp certified and generates half its power from solar, as T+L recently reported . In 2024, Disney's “Encanto”-themed tour of Colombia will debut, shining more light on Cartagena, one of the many stops on the itinerary. And there’s even more growth in the pipeline: Delta Air Lines is adding new nonstop flights to Cartagena from Atlanta in December 2023, a Four Seasons hotel is on the horizon, and the nation is investing in an airport expansion that will serve an ever-increasing number of visitors. — Susmita Baral

Eastern & Oriental Express, a Belmond Train

Courtesy of Belmond

After a four-year pause, this luxury train that crisscrosses Southeast Asia will ride again in February. Several new itineraries will be available on the revamped Express, which has 15 cherry wood–clad cabins and vibrant Malay-inspired decor. The Essence of Malaysia journey, for example, takes travelers from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, with side trips to Langkawi, for snorkeling in Pulau Payar Marine Park, and Penang, among the greatest food cities on the planet. Alternatively, a Wild Malaysia option includes a stop at Taman Negara National Park, where visitors might spot a Sumatran rhino or tiger. “These ‘slow travel’ journeys give our guests the opportunity to rest their mind, rekindle, and reconnect,” said Dan Ruff, the CEO of Belmond. Much like a storied ocean liner, the majestic Eastern & Oriental Express is a destination unto itself, with a sultry piano bar car; an open-air lounge with wicker furniture where passengers can watch the Malaysian jungle rush by; and two restaurant carriages serving Peranakan food. You may not have had "eating laksa on a luxury train" on your 2024 bingo card, but you really should. — Maya Kachroo-Levine

Christian Kain

For one month between June and July, soccer — or should we say fußball — will take over Germany, as the nation hosts the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship. Held every four years, the tournament for men’s national teams will take place in 10 cities across Germany, including Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich. “This will be an incredible, not-to-be-missed moment,” said Sofia Markovich , a travel advisor on T+L's A-List who specializes in Austria and Germany. “I expect interest to go through the roof as this is a major sports event — second only to the World Cup.” Even casual fans should find the atmosphere thrilling, Markovich said, particularly those who happen to pass through game-day destinations while cruising the country’s rivers . One host city deserves a particular spotlight thanks to the new Rosewood Munich , which opened in October. Set across two buildings (one, formerly the headquarters of the State Bank of Bavaria, the other, a Baroque residence), the 132-key property is steps from the charms of Old Town, including the leafy Maximiliansplatz, and walkable to one of Europe’s most surprising surf spots: the rapids of the Isar River . — Liz Cantrell

Métis Crossing, Alberta

Amber Bracken

“This is not a place where you look at old things behind glass,” said Juanita Marois, the CEO of Métis Crossing, one of Canada’s most compelling Indigenous tourism projects. “This is an immersive destination where you experience the culture and the warmth of the Métis people through our land, water, skies, buildings, food, and programs.” The 688-acre retreat, which writer Carleigh Baker detailed in T+L’s October 2023 issue , is today home to a 40-room lodge, a cultural center, and campgrounds. Depending on the season, visitors can learn about traditional crafts, enjoy festivals held on-site, or head out for bird-watching, canoeing, or snowshoeing. A new addition to Métis Crossing is a collection of eight Sky Watching Domes , luxe stand-alone suites with panoramic skylight windows. From the Domes, Marois explained, “guests can listen to Indigenous stories of the night skies, see the stars, and view the aurora borealis." — Jalyn Robinson

Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, Georgia

Getty Images

It’s not every day the U.S. gets a new national park, but 2024 could see this central Georgia destination enter the fold. Presently managed as a national historical park, Ocmulgee is home to large earthen mounds, including temple complexes, created by numerous Native American peoples over thousands of years. Should Congress approve the new designation in 2024, Ocmulgee will become the first national park in the state and the first in the U.S. to be co-managed by a nation whose ancestors were removed from the area: the Muscogee (Creek) were forcibly relocated from central Georgia as a result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. “We now have an opportunity to come back and not feel like we are visiting, but to feel like we are coming home,” said Tracie Revis, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the director of advocacy for the Ocmulgee National Park & Preserve Initiative, a community group. The gateway to the park is the city of Macon, where the Muscogee (Creek) Nation flag flies alongside the Stars and Stripes, and the street signs are being replaced with ones written in both Muscogee and English. A particularly opportune time to visit will be in September, for the town’s annual Indigenous film festival . — Liz Cantrell  

Rajasthan, India

Aparna Jayakumar

India’s northwestern state of Rajasthan, with its wealth of iconic hotels and cultural attractions, is one of the best-known among U.S. travelers. It also promises new delights in the coming year, with several new addresses in Jaipur worth planning a trip around. There's Villa Palladio , a delightful nine-room hotel on the outskirts of town created by the Swiss-Dutch team behind Bar Palladio , an Instagram favorite in the city center. The Johri is a beautifully designed five-room property with a chic cocktail bar and organic vegetarian restaurant on the ground level, tucked away in a heritage townhouse in Jaipur's Old Town. Meanwhile, the Anantara hospitality group is set to launch its first-ever property in India next year. The 150-room, new-build Anantara Jaipur Hotel is designed with India's ballooning market for destination weddings in mind: it will have event facilities that can accommodate as many as 2,500 guests. In the meantime, the city and wider region are becoming more accessible than ever, thanks to a new six-lane expressway that connects Jaipur to New Delhi, a major hub for international flights. — Flora Stubbs

Shinta Mani Mustang, Nepal

Courtesy of Shinta Mani Mustang

A once-forbidden kingdom is now home to some truly palatial digs. Nepal’s Mustang district, which opened to outsiders in 1992 , is a place to watch in 2024 thanks to this stunning, 29-suite hotel, which welcomed its first guests in August. Shinta Mani Mustang, the latest property from the Bensley Collection, delivers the luxurious wellness experiences and thoughtful design that devotees of the brand have come to expect. Guests can spend their days trekking the surrounding Annapurna and Dhaulagiri mountain ranges, searching for rare wildlife like the Pallas’s cat and Tibetan wolf, horseback riding, and visiting local villages. “What caught my attention was that the outstanding aesthetics and architecture are in sync with sustainable and responsible tourism,” said Carole Cambata, an advisor on T+L's A-List and expert in Himalayan travel. “They sourced local building materials and used Indigenous construction methods.” The noteworthy opening comes at a time of positive change: in April, the Nepal Mountaineering Academy and the Nepal Tourism Board partnered on a program to educate the country’s first-ever class of LGBTQ+ trekking guides, CNN reported , in an effort to make Nepal’s hiking and climbing industries more inclusive. “Nepal is one of Asia’s most progressive countries for LGBTQ+ people due to laws that forbid gender identity discrimination,” said John Clifford , another A-List advisor. “Visitors to the country can even select ‘other’ as an option for gender identification on their visas.” — Samantha Falewée

Tallinn, Estonia

Nina Ruggiero/Travel + Leisure

This country’s literacy and secondary education rates consistently rank near the top in Europe, especially among women, so it should come as no surprise that Tartu, the university city to the southeast of Tallinn, has been designated Europe’s Capital of Culture for 2024 . Still, for first-timers to the Baltics, there’s no better place to get schooled than the country’s capital city, Tallinn: its walled Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved examples of Medieval architecture in the world. PoCo Art Museum , which opened in May with pop art by Andy Warhol, Banksy, David Hockney, and Jeff Koons, is now one of nearly 50 art institutions in the city, joining Fotografiska (world-renowned photography), Kumu Art Museum (contemporary Estonian art), and Kadriorg Art Museum (early European and Russian art). After soaking in the culture, head for the Noblessner district , an industrial shipyard area turned seafront hot spot that’s now bursting with stylish cafes, shops, and Estonia’s first restaurant with two Michelin stars, 180° by Matthias Diethe . (You might also try a “ smoke sauna ” at Scandi-chic Iglupark .) As for where to stay, the new Nunne Boutique Hotel has views over Old Town’s Towers Square . —  Nina Ruggiero

Warsaw, Poland

Christopher Larson/Travel + Leisure

The thriving contemporary art scene in Warsaw, which is home to art-circuit stalwarts like the Foksal Gallery Foundation and Raster Gallery , will get a big boost in 2024, when the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw finally moves into its own headquarters. Founded in 2005, the museum has burnished the city’s art reputation for two decades, with its holdings of both foreign and Polish work, despite operating out of temporary spaces. The new HQ will be part of a 22-acre arts district centered on the existing Palace of Culture and Science, a Stalinist skyscraper that towers over the city. The museum, along with a new 800-seat TR Warszaw Theater nearby, was designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners , the architecture firm behind other notable institutions, including the Glenstone Museum in Maryland and portions of New York’s Corning Museum of Glass . — Denny Lee

For the Food and Drinks

The austrian countryside.

Journey south of Vienna and you’ll find two of the regions that give the countryside of Austria its fairy-tale quality. Styria has rolling hills and hiking trails, with the medieval city of Graz at its heart. Mellow, rural Burgenland is home to Lake Neusiedl, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Both regions have a long, rich history of winemaking, and in recent years, have become the site of a burgeoning natural wine scene. Cult producers such as Winery Maria and Sepp Muster and Alice & Roland Tauss should be at the top of any visitor’s list, as should Burgenland’s beloved vintners Gut Oggau and Meinklang . Then, round out a visit to the country with a stay at Rosewood Schloss Fuschl , a meticulously restored 15th-century castle opening on the shores of a small lake near Salzburg in spring 2024. — Peter Terzian

Mérida, Mexico

Itzel Garrido/Travel + Leisure

The capital of Yucatán, this city has long been popular with Mexican travelers drawn to its Maya ruins, cerulean-blue cenotes, restored haciendas, and incredible food . But it has a growing acclaim among international visitors — especially LGBTQ+ travelers, who often describe Yucatán as very gay friendly . Mérida’s historic beauty and laid-back cantina culture might explain why LGBTQ+ retirees have embraced the city in recent years, buying homes and bringing their friends along. Those not ready to make a full-on move will find lots of designer hotels carved out of stately mansions, not to mention wonderful shopping and plenty of food tours, both in the city and in the surrounding countryside, which is punctuated by haciendas, many of which host pop-up events or even overnight guests. Plans for a sprawling new “ Yucatán Central Park ,” with a food market and amphitheater, remain hazy, as does an exact timeline for the arrival of the ballyhooed Maya Train , which is nearing completion and should make it easier to hop between Mérida and popular seaside spots such as Cancún and Tulum. — Denny Lee

Sonoma County, California

Gentl & Hyers

More than double the size of Napa, Sonoma might offer twice as much to do. It’s not just about the wine — though with the addition of a new American Viticultural Area (AVA) called West Sonoma Coast last year, Sonoma County now has 19 AVAs slinging chardonnay, pinot noir, and zinfandel at established wineries, such as Flowers and Scribe , and new ones, including Vérité Wines . There’s also a long coastline to explore, from Bodega Bay up to Sea Ranch, where the dreamy, cliff-top Sea Ranch Lodge is newly renovated . Inland, the opening of Dawn Ranch shines a spotlight on Guerneville , a crunchy town along the Russian River known for its LGBTQ+ scene and proximity to the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. Tear yourself from the 22-acre haven, with tree house–like cabins, creekside glamping tents, and alfresco redwood tubs at the idyllic spa, to bike into town where the reimagined Piknik Market serves one of Oprah’s favorite biscuits . The changes coming to Sonoma County in 2024 are largely shaped by the area’s most famous chefs: in Healdsburg, California, Noma alum Stu Stalker debuted the plant-based restaurant Second Story, above Little Saint and down the street from Michelin three-starred SingleThread and chef Dustin Valette’s The Matheson . Restaurant powerhouse Charlie Palmer plans to launch his hotel brand, Appellation , in Healdsburg by the end of next year. — Maya Kachroo-Levine

For Big-city Thrills

Tessa Desjardins/Travel + Leisure

“It’s a classic Asian megacity: frenetic, neon-lit, and overwhelming to the senses,” said Jack Tydeman , a Southeast Asia specialist at Audley Travel and member of T+L's A-List. But change is coming to Bangkok, in the form of many megaprojects, including Dusit Central Park, which is slated to open in 2024, with the 259-room Dusit Thani Bangkok Hotel and a multi-terraced roof park. Also coming soon will be King Rama IX Memorial Park, a park that honors the sustainability initiatives of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Meanwhile, Lumpini Park , Bangkok’s original public green space, is getting a massive refresh next year that will add a new food hall, a vegetable farm, and a sports club ahead of its centennial. Even while sprinting to finish these new developments, Bangkok is finding time to slow down and prioritize wellness. Luxury travel network Virtuoso recently named Thailand as just one of five “emerging self-care destinations” worldwide, noting that “travelers are seeking a more spiritual journey, turning to Thailand for more than the traditional Thai massage.” The forthcoming Aman Nai Lert Bangkok , slated for 2024, is sure to deliver, with 52 spacious suites overlooking Nai Lert Park and a multifloor wellness sanctuary. — Susmita Baral

Courtesy of Cleveland Museum of Natural History

The year ahead has the Land set to shine, thanks to national and international events, world-class cultural expansions, and the rebirth of historic hotels. It all starts in April, when the NCAA Women’s Final Four comes to the state-of-the-art Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and a total solar eclipse sweeps over the city on April 8, 2024. Cleveland will see even more action when the Pan-American Masters Games crisscross the city July 12-21. And in November, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which was held in Brooklyn in 2023, will return home. Meanwhile, many institutions are in the midst of revitalization. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is nearing completion of its multiyear $150-million expansion, with updated exhibits and new public spaces in University Circle. Karamu House , the nation’s oldest Black producing theater, will debut a new restaurant, outdoor stage, and an additional venue in the Fairfax neighborhood. The city’s oldest hotel will reopen in 2024 after extensive renovations as a Marriott Autograph Collection called Hotel Cleveland. Also coming is the Fidelity Hotel, a new boutique property with a speakeasy that's slated to launch in a landmark building downtown. There’s development along the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie, too, where paved hiking and biking trails are livening up a waterfront that has, for many decades, been underutilized. — Jennifer Salerno Yong

Fort Worth, Texas

Mariah Tyler

Offering classic Western experiences like bull riding, cattle drives, and stock shows, Fort Worth, Texas, is booming, bringing in $3 billion in tourism revenue last year alone. With all of the renewed interest in the city, luxury hotels are flocking to Cowtown’s Cultural District. The Crescent Hotel, Fort Worth opened in November, home to the first-ever wellness club by Canyon Ranch and a Mediterranean restaurant by Food Network chef Preston Paine. Bowie House, Auberge Resorts Collection , is slated to open its doors December 2023, with a tree-lined pool terrace, chic spa, and upscale chophouse called Bricks and Horses. Walking distance from both hotels is The National Cowgirl Museum , which will run a 2024 exhibit honoring the Mexican female horseback riding tradition of escaramuza charra . Looking ahead, the National Juneteenth Museum is scheduled to open in the city’s Historic Southside neighborhood in 2025. — Mariah Tyler

Turkey’s style capital is seeing a resurgence of life along the Bosphorus, thanks in part to the Galataport, the world’s first underground cruise ship terminal with a pedestrian promenade and the Renzo Piano–designed Istanbul Museum of Modern Art just above. Another neighborhood anchor is the 177-room Peninsula Hotel , spread out over four buildings, three of which date to the early 1900s. Highlights include a glittering pool facing the Hagia Sophia; a sprawling, subterranean spa; and Gallada, a rooftop restaurant from whiz kid chef Fatih Tutak, whose eponymous restaurant is Turkey’s first to earn two Michelin stars. The hotel staff wears posh uniforms courtesy of Arzu Kaprol, a designer who has a boutique in the nearby Paket Postanesi, a historic post office turned chic shopping mall. Also on the waterfront, in Beşiktaş, the lavish Çırağan Palace Kempinski has been reimagined by local interior designer Serdar Gülgün, with rooms that lean into Ottoman-era grandeur (think tulip-pattern motifs and mother-of-pearl furniture). Finally, don’t miss The Basilica Cistern, open again after a five-year closure, and now hosting contemporary art exhibits amid the ancient columns. — Jacqui Gifford

Kansas City, Missouri

Jonathan Tasler/Courtesy of Visit KC

World famous for barbecue and jazz, KC is now staking a claim as a global leader in sports and entertainment — and not just because of Taylor and Travis . In March, the Kansas City Current, of the National Women's Soccer League, will open the first-ever purpose-built stadium for women’s pro sports. “It will be a destination for sports lovers and will inspire generations of girls to follow their dreams,” said Katie Mabry van Dieren, CEO and curator of The Strawberry Swing , a brand that organizes events and pop-ups in the city, as well as Shop Local KC , a string of boutiques. The stadium’s construction has spurred other developments around the city, including the forthcoming Origen Hotel KC , a 118-room boutique property; the massive Berkley Beer Garden; and an extension of the free KC Streetcar that will serve the Berkley Riverfront area. Also coming soon is the country’s first entertainment district of its kind, the Rock Island Bridge , a reclaimed rail crossing over the Kansas River. “Visitors will be able to enjoy two levels of entertainment with food from two restaurants and three bars, plus a covered event space with a dance floor and open veranda seating overlooking the river and city,” a source told T+L of the High Line–inspired project that will connect Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas. — Jalyn Robinson

Raf Willems/Getty Images

Just when you think Sin City can’t get any bigger, louder, or glitzier, Las Vegas turns it up another notch. On the heels of blockbuster residencies from Adele , Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga, U2 kicked off their inaugural stint at the long-anticipated Sphere this fall. Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky’s immersive sci-fi production “Postcard from Earth” will also show off the new arena’s 16K LED display, beginning this fall and continuing through 2024. Formula 1 and Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive captured a growing American audience for the international racing circuit, and the Las Vegas Grand Prix will hit The Strip Nov. 16-18, 2023, and again Nov. 21-23, 2024. It won’t be the only megaevent on the sports calendar: Las Vegas will host Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, 2024, at Allegiant Stadium, marking the first time the game will take place in Nevada. Still not enough? The 67-story Fontainebleau Las Vegas will open in December with 3,700 rooms and a ton of buzzy restaurants, including a Casa Dragones Tasting Room and a Chinese noodle den from the restaurateur behind Wagamama and Hakkasan. — Elizabeth Rhodes

Louisville, Kentucky

Nick Simonite/Courtesy of Hotel Genevieve

The Kentucky Derby will celebrate its 150th anniversary on May 4, 2024, as well as the debut of the redesigned Churchill Downs Paddock, which is coming off a multiyear, $200-million renovation. Those that can’t make race day can brush up on the event’s history and culture year-round at the Kentucky Derby Museum , which has interactive exhibits on subjects like Black horsemen’s contributions to racing . Continue on theme at Derby City Hotel, a Canopy by Hilton property, which will open in downtown Louisville this summer with 168 rooms plus a rooftop pool and bar, or opt for another new property, such as The Myriad Hotel, Common Bond Hotel Collection , or the trendy Hotel Genevieve by Bunkhouse Group. Also coming in 2024 is “Ali,” a musical about the Louisville icon, which opens at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in the fall. There’s news on the spirits scene, too, including the launch of Bourbon and Belonging – Kentucky’s Queer Bourbon Week, a statewide celebration running Oct. 3-6, 2024, that will have events in Louisville and beyond. — Elizabeth Rhodes

Alessandra Amodio/Travel + Leisure

As close as you can get to Europe without the transatlantic flight, this island city of nearly 2 million is newly relevant in the year ahead, thanks to forward-thinking infrastructure that’s made it one of the greenest and most visitor-friendly spots in North America. The Réseau Express Métropolitain, or REM, is a new automated light rail system that Canada’s Globe and Mail calls “ Montreal’s biggest public transit project in more than half a century ,” with a growing number of stations coming online in the years ahead. (All of them are or will be “ universally accessible .”) The Grand Quay, the city-center pier that many cruise ships use, has a new attraction in the form of the Port of Montreal Tower , a blocky observation spire that echoes the look of the famed Habitat 67 nearby. Meanwhile, the city’s bike-sharing program, Bixi, which launched back in 2009, is still going strong and now offers an all-you-can-bike monthly pass for just $14 that makes using the system a no brainer; the city’s 560 miles of bike lanes help, too. The recently renovated Vogue Hotel Montreal Downtown, Curio Collection by Hilton , and the new-in-2023 Honeyrose Hotel, Montreal, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel , join the four-year-old Four Seasons in adding a touch of luxury that had, perhaps, been missing in the heart of the city. That said, Montreal has more than 24,000 hotel rooms — and plenty of Airbnbs — across the metro area, which will make it an ideal last-minute destination for eclipse watchers who want to be in the path of totality on April 8. — Paul Brady

When Paris hosts 329 distinct sporting events next summer, the whole city will be on display: the first-ever Olympic Games breakdancing competition will be at Place de la Concorde; beach volleyball courts will skirt the Eiffel Tower; and the opening ceremony’s Parade of Nations will sail down the Seine River. The host city of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games (July 26-August 11) and Paralympic Games (August 28-September 8) will welcome visitors with a flurry of new hotels and restaurants. Chateau des Fleurs is an extravagant new stay in the eighth arrondissement with 19th-century style and an haute Korean restaurant. Celebrated hotel designer Martin Brudnizki just unveiled two projects : the 50-room Grand Mazarin , in the Marais, and La Fantaisie in the ninth. And the hoteliers behind the Hôtel Dame Des Arts , which appeared on T+L’s 2023 It List , unveiled their train-themed Hôtel des Grand Voyageurs in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in October. The legacy establishments have new life, too: Hotel Plaza Athénée , named the best hotel in Paris by T+L readers, has a French restaurant, Jean Imbert au Plaza Athénée, which recently scored two Michelin stars, to say nothing of the property’s brand-new Dior Spa. And the sumptuous La Tour d’Argent restaurant just got a sensational facelift. Meanwhile, “numerous museums and institutions will host sports-related exhibitions, films, performances, workshops, and kids’ programming throughout the summer,” writer Lindsey Tramuta reported in T+L’s November 2023 issue. For those in need of a sports break, La Galerie Dior and Fragonard Musée du Parfum are two new additions to the scene worth checking out. — Maya Kachroo-Levine

For Moments on the Water

Coastal alaska.

Cruising is back in a big way, and Alaska's Inside Passage is leading the charge. In 2023, the state saw ships including Regent’s Seven Seas Explorer and Carnival’s Luminosa for the first time, while Royal Caribbean recently sent Brilliance of the Seas north for the first time in years. The new Klawock port, on Prince of Wales Island, is poised to welcome large ships in the 2024 season with food and retail outposts, exhibits detailing Indigenous culture and history, and nature trails. Skagway, a well-known port that’s home to Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park and the scenic White Pass and Yukon Route Railway, is getting a 550-foot floating pier, which will allow the port to host two megaships simultaneously beginning in the 2024 season. Lately, that season has been getting longer: most companies run trips May to September, but Norwegian Cruise Line had October sailings in 2023, which gave passengers a look at Alaskan life during a quieter season. Considering Alaska is projected to notch 1.65 million cruise travelers on around 700 voyages this year, opting for a shoulder season trip in 2024 might not be a bad idea. —  Nina Ruggiero

Coastal Norway

Sebastian Lamberg Torjusen/Courtesy of Salmon Eye

Long known for its cutting-edge design and architectural marvels like the Oslo Opera House, Norway has lately doubled down on building big. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen a surge in new attractions,” confirmed Katrine Mosfjeld, the chief marketing officer for Visit Norway. In seaside Oslo, the new luxury hotel Sommero is a study in adaptive reuse, inside a landmark building from 1930 originally designed by famed Norwegian architects Andreas Bjercke and Georg Eliassen. Four hours southwest, in Kristiansand, the Kunstsilo , or Art Silo, is another repurposed wonder: the one-time industrial complex will reemerge in 2024 as a museum devoted to Nordic modernist art. Up the coast, in Bergen, Iris Expedition Dining is a new tasting-menu destination located in Hardangerfjord, inside a floating sculpture known as the Salmon Eye. North of the Arctic Circle, the long-awaited Six Senses Svart promises to be one of the hottest openings anywhere when it finally debuts. The ring-shaped resort, at the base of the Svartisen glacier, aims to be off-grid, carbon-neutral, and emissions-free, with a zero-waste dining program and a “design lab,” as the hotel calls it, meant to foster further innovation. — Taylor McIntyre

Douro River, Portugal

Courtesy of Tauck

As recently as a decade ago, almost nobody was talking about wine tourism in Portugal. These days, “you have to see the Douro River,” said Sheree M. Mitchell , a T+L A-List advisor based in the country and the president of Immersa Global. “It’s non-negotiable.” Mitchell’s preferred way to do it is on a yacht charter, which gives guests the chance to spend a few hours or days hitting quintas , or wine estates, and dining at Michelin Guide–approved restaurants like Castas e Pratos . Cruises are a more affordable option, and lines are expanding their presence on the river, which cuts across Spain and Northern Portugal before reaching the Atlantic in the city of Porto. Tauck , a favorite among T+L readers, unveiled the Andorinha in 2021, which will sail 33 wine-country itineraries in 2024. Another T+L reader favorite, Viking, will have four ships on the Douro in the year ahead, visiting towns such as Peso da Régua and Pinhão, in the heart of port country. And AmaWaterways recently announced a special November 2024 departure that will “explore the history of the Black and African diaspora in Lisbon and along Portugal's stunning Douro River,” according to the brand. — Maya Kachroo-Levine

Faroe Islands

This remote, starkly beautiful archipelago in the North Atlantic just got way more accessible. Summer 2023 saw Atlantic Airways launch nonstop flights from New York Stewart International, 70 miles north of New York City, to Vágar Airport, in the islands. “This direct flight is not only about easier transport to our great ocean nation, but a means of creating a bridge between two worlds,” Jóhanna á Bergi, CEO of Atlantic Airways, told T+L. The news seems to have been warmly received by U.S. travelers. Melissa Lee , a Northern Europe specialist on T+L’s A-List said she has seen an uptick in interest in the Faroes. "Previously, you could only get there from Copenhagen, or Reykjavik, Iceland.” Once there, a world of adventure awaits, with activities including cold-water surfing , traditional knitting , and hiking to places such as Sørvágsvatn, the so-called lake above the ocean . Then there’s the top-flight dining: the restaurant Roks in Tórshavn, the Faroe Islands’ capital, is an offshoot of Koks, the Michelin two-starred restaurant in Greenland which is presently on hiatus. — Liz Cantrell

Kimberley, Australia

Bruno Cazarini/Courtesy of Silversea Cruises

This destination in northwest Australia, also called The Kimberleys, is home to ancient wonders: dinosaur tracks; striated geological formations, some 350 million years old, known as Bungle Bungles; waterfalls and reefs that seem unmoored from time; and Aboriginal history from what some call the world’s oldest continuous culture . Lately, though, some of the world’s top cruise lines have caught on to all the upside and are racing to offer thrilling expedition-style itineraries that combine all this history with modern-day adventures, such as sightseeing flights by helicopter, paddling, Zodiac tours, scuba diving, and cultural excursions. Silversea will have its Silver Cloud in the region from May through September, doing 10- to 17-day trips, with a maximum of 200 passengers. Seabourn is also bullish on the destination, and its newest expedition ship, the 132-suite Seabourn Pursuit , will spend June, July, and August cruising the region. (Both lines are perennial favorites among T+L readers .) Also operating on this remarkable stretch of coast are several Australian companies , including Coral Expeditions and True North Adventure Cruises , as well as private yacht charters like those organized by Yotspace . — Paul Brady

The Mississippi River

Courtesy of Viking

New ships are bringing fresh interest to one of America’s most storied waterways, meaning now’s the time to consider river cruising closer to home. “The Mississippi River is such an important part of American history,” said Adam Peakes, president of Hornblower Group, the parent company of American Queen Voyages. The line will have two ships on the Mississippi in 2024, both of which are already booking up for summer. “Many of our cabin categories are nearly at capacity almost a year in advance,” Peakes added. Other brands are also betting on the river: the Viking Mississippi launched in 2022, with 193 Scandi-chic suites, all with private verandas; American Cruise Lines has launched three new ships on the Mississippi in the past three years. There are new draws on land, too. In Memphis, the newly completed riverfront Tom Lee Park has an installation by artist Theaster Gates and a pavilion named for Tyre Nichols; the expansive riverfront attraction — a collaborative effort from Studio Gang, Scape Studio, and numerous other architectural and design firms — sits just south of Beale Street and is connected to the city via the River Line, a walking and cycling path. Meanwhile Natchez, Mississippi, is these days “filled with surprises, thanks in large part to a cohort of young natives who wandered away and then returned home with new ideas,” according to Southern Living ; come December, the town hosts holiday markets akin to those in Central Europe, as T+L recently reported . In St. Louis, the newest 21c Museum Hotel recently opened in a renovated, century-old YMCA building, with numerous permanent art installations as well as rotating shows and a beautiful, all-day cafe. And, of course, there’s always New Orleans . — Paul Brady

Courtesy of Cunard

Few voyages are as iconic as a transatlantic crossing aboard a Cunard ocean liner. So when the new Queen Anne departs Southampton, England, in May 2024, expectations will be sky-high for the first new Cunard ship to launch since the Queen Elizabeth in 2010. The 1,498-cabin vessel is slated to sail to Lisbon and will then spend its first summer in the Mediterranean. It will also represent an evolution for the 183-year-old brand: Queen Anne will have four new restaurants, including an omakase venue and an Indian dining room, alongside more familiar options such as the Princess Grill and Queens Grill, all overseen in partnership with U.K. chef Michel Roux, Jr. A top-deck wellness studio, with yoga and other fitness classes, will be another noteworthy addition to the ship. A third distinction: Queen Anne will be captained by Inger Klein Thorhauge, the first woman to hold that rank for Cunard. For all the new, some familiar traditions will remain, including proper high tea service and, naturally, an outpost of the Golden Lion pub pouring Cunard’s own microbrews. — Paul Brady

Seven Seas Grandeur

Courtesy of Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Slated to launch in November 2023, Seven Seas Grandeur will be the sixth ship from Regent Seven Seas Cruises, a luxury line that T+L readers consistently say is one of their absolute favorites thanks to no-nonsense, all-inclusive pricing and fabulous suites. The newcomer will feature fresh takes on the elevated dining, shore excursions, and entertainment already found on ships such as Seven Seas Splendor and Seven Seas Explorer , said Andrea DeMarco, the brand’s president. “ Grandeur is inspired by our rich heritage, but we’re reimagining signature restaurants and offering 15 exceptional suite categories to only 746 guests,” she explained. Among the no-expense-spared features of the new ship will be a multimillion-dollar, 1,600-piece art collection that counts among its trophies a handful of Picassos and a custom Fabergé Egg. (Fittingly, the ship’s godmother is Sarah Fabergé, the director of special projects for the jewelry house.) Grandeur ’s inaugural season will be in the Caribbean, but it will head for the Mediterranean in April before returning to the U.S. in August. — Elizabeth Rhodes

For Nature Lovers

Amboseli national park, kenya.

Courtesy of Angama

This 151-square-mile expanse, close to the border with Tanzania, is famed among safari insiders for its big-time wildlife: Amboseli has a well-earned reputation for elephant spotting, with massive herds roaming the dusty plains, along with all sorts of other charismatic creatures including cheetah, giraffe, and zebra. Camps and lodges surrounding the park tend to be basic, which is one reason the fall 2023 opening of the richly appointed Angama Amboseli is so exciting. The second? The 10-suite lodge is the first spinoff of the Angama Mara , a destination hotel that's among the best safari lodges in the world, according to T+L readers . The new property, located about 45 minutes driving from Amboseli National Park, on a private wildlife conservancy, will offer game drives as well as cultural experiences organized in partnership with local communities. Another draw: Angama Amboseli will have unparalleled views of the peak of nearby Mount Kilimanjaro, including from private patios attached to every suite. — Paul Brady

Aspen Mountain, Colorado

Jesse Hoffman/Courtesy of Aspen Snowmass

The legendary ski destination is getting its biggest makeover in four decades this season, with the opening of a new lift, a high-speed quad known as Hero’s that will make accessible a fresh 153 acres of fluffy powder. The project will increase the mountain’s skiable terrain by some 20 percent, adding more than a dozen new chutes, glades, and trails for intermediate and expert skiers. “The quad is a game-changer for Aspen,” said Maureen Poschman, a spokesperson for the Aspen Chamber Resort Association. “The new terrain is a big area, it’s high-altitude skiing, and it’s a bit of a hedge against climate change,” she noted. Not that you have to be a pro skier to find something to love in ever-evolving Aspen, which experienced an influx of residents the past few years . The cultural calendar is as packed as ever; Balenciaga and Hermès now have shops in the heart of town; and scene-y restaurants, including a Sant Ambroeus coffee bar, keep popping up. Where to stay? Mollie Aspen is the newest luxury hotel in town, slated to open in December with 68 rooms designed by Post Company, plus a rooftop plunge pool and terrace, right in the middle of it all. — Denny Lee

Big Sky, Montana

Mark Hartman

Just an hour from Yellowstone National Park, this wild, wide-open area offers heart-pumping activities such as fly fishing, hiking, horseback riding, and skiing at every turn. So, thankfully, a new retreat from hospitality brand One&Only is slated to bring some rest and relaxation to Big Sky in 2024. Situated between Lone Mountain and the Spanish Peaks, the 73-room Moonlight Basin will provide convenient access to 5,850 skiable acres, with a dedicated gondola connecting guests to Big Sky’s terrain, plus a private ski lodge and a Chenot spa. (The resort will also have 19 villas and 62 private residences.) The first U.S. outpost of One&Only, Moonlight Basin arrives a few years after another five-star resort, Montage Big Sky , which opened in 2021, with 139 rooms, six dining venues, a bowling alley, a huge spa, and, naturally, ski-in, ski-out access. — Alisha Prakash

Hokkaido, Japan

Courtesy of Club Med

Travelers are flocking back to Japan , but in the year ahead, they should look beyond Tokyo and Kyoto. Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s main islands, has a sterling reputation for food — its biggest city, Sapporo, is famous for miso ramen — and its Shiretoko National Park is a natural wonder with excellent hiking and photogenic waterfalls. Hokkaido is also, insiders know, one of the world’s premier ski destinations thanks to simply phenomenal snow . The center of the action is the village of Niseko, which has plenty of hotels, homestays, and resorts — but has gotten a touch easier to visit thanks to the 2022 opening of Club Med Kiroro. The something-for-everyone property has two distinctive concepts, Club Med Kiroro Peak , for guests age 12 and older, and the new-in-2023 Club Med Kiroro Grand , a family-friendly alternative. These all-inclusives are helping to eliminate the intimidation factor when booking a Japanese ski week, by rolling up everything from accommodations and equipment rentals to off-the-mountain entertainment and kids' clubs. Another perk? Club Med Kiroro Grand will also have the brand’s first-ever Japanese onsen alongside other wellness facilities including soaking tubs and saunas. — Danielle Pointdujour

KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Sven Musica/Courtesy of Madwaleni River Lodge - Babanango Game Reserve

This out-of-the-way South African province, sometimes shortened to KZN and located on the country’s eastern coast, is moving into the spotlight. “KwaZulu-Natal has two World Heritage Sites — the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the majestic uKhahlamba Drakensberg National Park — and is popular for its beaches, safari parks, green hills, and temperate weather,” said Julian Harrison , a safari expert and longtime member of T+L’s A-List. It’s also home to an ambitious rewilding project backed by the Emcakwini Community Trust , which began reintroducing once-endemic species including black rhino, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, and lion in 2018; today, it’s known as Babanango Game Reserve . Harrison also points to other conservation efforts, such as those underway at andBeyond Phinda Private Game Reserve , which is monitoring critically endangered Temminck’s ground pangolins. The newly opened Madwaleni River Lodge is the place to stay, said Raza Visram , another A-List expert. “The intimate lodge has 12 beautifully designed tents that overlook the White Umfolozi River,” he explained. There’s also Sala Beach House , an oceanfront escape on Thompson’s Bay that writer Heather Richardson detailed in T+L’s September 2023 issue . Coming soon in KZN will be The Homestead , a 12-suite eco-lodge in the province’s western Nambiti Game Reserve. — Samantha Falewée

Mababe, Botswana

Dana Allen/Courtesy of Wilderness

Long considered one of Africa’s most exclusive safari destinations, Botswana has a huge array of five-star lodges, operated by the likes of African Bush Camps, andBeyond, and Great Plains Conservation. But the most compelling new place to stay isn’t one with high thread count sheets or over-the-top amenities: Mokete, a new safari lodge from Wilderness , is worth the trip because it will only exist until 2026, when the operator pulls down the tents and carries away any sign the nine-suite escape was ever there. The temporary enclave will be situated east of the famed Okavango Delta, in the heart of a 124,000-acre tract known as the Mababe Concession, which has considerable populations of lion, elephant, and buffalo, plus a huge variety of birds. Wildlife watching is the thing here, with all-day game drives and guided nature walks. Mokete is all about an elemental connection with the outdoors, down to the design of the guest quarters: each tent will have a retractable roof so guests can stargaze from bed — and hear the calls of hyenas from the surrounding bush. — Paul Brady

New Zealand

It’s time to take it off your once-in-a-lifetime list and just go : earlier this year, Delta launched service from Los Angeles to Auckland, and United Airlines plans to start a San Francisco to Christchurch route in December. That’s on top of an existing Air New Zealand nonstop between Auckland and New York City that launched in 2022 . “Any time of year is a great time to visit,” said Sarah Farag , a member of T+L’s A-List and the Auckland-based owner and director of Southern Crossings , a luxury travel firm. “Our summer months are always popular,” Farag said of the December to March period, “but those who come at other times are well-rewarded with captivating colors during autumn harvest season, snow-capped adventures and spectacular stargazing in the winter, and fabulous fishing and hiking in spring.” There’s a growing number of enticing stays, including the new exclusive-use villas at Flockhill Lodge , set on a working sheep station, and the Clifftops at Anderson Cove , a tented camp above the Northland coast. Christchurch has recently seen the opening of two new boutique properties, the sleek, modern Mayfair and the artsy Observatory Hotel ; meanwhile the beloved Huka Lodge in Taupo is getting a makeover. If the outdoors are a priority, turn an eye to the North Island’s Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve , the country’s second, which was certified earlier this year, or the new Tom Doak–designed golf course which just opened at Te Arai Links . — Peter Terzian

For Beach Vibes

Anna maria island, florida.

Flavio Vallenari/Getty Images

Compared to some brand-name Florida destinations, this island south of Tampa Bay is way under the radar. But it's cultivated a loyal following, thanks to its no-high-rises shoreline, incredible sunsets, and small-town feel. Case in point: Anna Maria Island is a place where most people tool around by golf cart or beach cruiser, and almost all the sherbet-hued clapboard homes are vacation rentals. In an effort to keep things copacetic, the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, which works on the island, inked a partnership with Leave No Trace this summer, making Anna Maria the first destination in Florida to work with the nonprofit. Meanwhile, new developments fit right in with the vibe: Mello on the Beach , a hotel that opened in July, offers vibrant retro-style apartments on the Gulf of Mexico, while the villas of Joie Inn , which opened in 2021, still feel super-fresh. On the dining scene, the cocktail bar Doctor’s Office recently added a “dining room” to its string-lit outdoor garden, and coming soon to the island is Bohemian, a restaurant from repeat James Beard semifinalist Jeannie Pierola. Getting there has gotten easier thanks to growth at Sarasota-Bradenton International, which added nonstops to four new domestic destinations in 2023. A planned terminal expansion looks to be right-sized, too: the airport aims to add five gates next year. — Jennifer Salerno Yong

Coastal Campania, Italy

Courtesy of Hotel La Palma

It’s no wonder Campania — the southern Italian region that’s home to Amalfi, Capri, Positano, and Sorrento — is having a bit of a hotel boom: visitors have been flocking to this splashy coastal destination over the past few years. The renaissance kicked off with Il Capri Hotel , which opened on the island last spring, offering travelers a boutique option inside a neo-Gothic villa reminiscent of a Venetian palazzo. Next, Oetker Collection, the luxury hotel brand behind the celeb-loved Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France, debuted its first Italian hotel in June: the glamorous, 50-room Hotel La Palma is a fresh take on a property that originally opened in 1822. Then there’s the new Convento di Amalfi , a 52-room Anantara with a cliffside pool, set in a 13th-century Capuchin convent. Airlines have also taken note of the increased demand: American Airlines and Delta are both launching new routes to Naples next year, the former from Philadelphia, the latter from New York City. Lindblad Expeditions, meanwhile, will have its new Sea Cloud II in southern Italy this coming May, for an 11-day itinerary that will take guests to the ancient ruins of Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast’s most beautiful seaside villages, with a focus on Italian food and wine. —  Nina Ruggiero

Taylor McIntyre/Travel + Leisure

The land of pura vida just keeps getting better, which is why Costa Rica was just named T+L’s 2024 Destination of the Year . Surfers can find their bliss at the new, boho-chic Sendero hotel, which opened in February in oceanside Nosara, on the Nicoya Peninsula. A few hours north, the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo has added the new Virador Beach Club, updated its golf course (while cutting water usage), and opened Wellness Shala, a spa that offers healing treatments with local ingredients like cacao, coconut, and volcanic mud. Nearby, the community of Las Catalinas has announced a new mixed-use space, La Rambla, which will promote spending time outside and car-free living. Forward-thinking tour operator Intrepid Travel has launched new trips that shine a light on the Terraba community, one of Costa Rica’s eight Indigenous groups. Meanwhile local outfitters such as UrriTrek are now offering guided hiking trips on the 174-mile Camino de Costa Rica , a trail connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. — Samantha Falewée

The self-declared Nature Island, Dominica has been voted the best island in the Caribbean for the past two years in T+L’s World’s Best Awards , thanks in part to its serene tropical rain forests, enticing hot springs, and gushing waterfalls. There’s also an ever-growing number of resorts and hotels, such as the InterContinental Dominica Cabrits Resort & Spa , which opened this year, and the forthcoming Anichi Resort & Spa, Autograph Collection , and Tranquility Beach Resort — Curio — a Collection by Hilton . Also of note is the new 32-nautical-mile Waitukubuli Sea Trail, which takes sea-kayakers along the island's western coast from Scott’s Head to Capuchin; Soufrière Outdoor Centre can supply equipment, an itinerary, and a guide. And there’s another element to Dominica’s story that’s capturing the attention of travelers who care about sustainability. The volcanically active country plans to commission its first geothermal power plant in 2024, and in the meantime gets about a quarter of its overall power from hydroelectric sources. It’s also home to what T+L has called one of the world’s most eco-friendly resorts, Coulibri Ridge . — Annie Archer

Hawai’i Island

Courtesy of Rosewood Resorts

“We welcome mindful visitors to Hawai‘i Island,” said Ilihia Gionson, the public affairs officer of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, in an interview with T+L. Commonly known as the Big Island, the destination is planning for a meaningful 2024, with the help of returning visitors. “Travelers have the opportunity to help mālama , or care for, our natural resources and support our community to ensure a regenerative model of tourism that is sustained for generations,” Gionson said. The theme of mālama is more significant than ever this year following the devastating fires that impacted both Hawai’i Island and Maui in 2023. Those looking to support relief efforts have many choices, including the Hawaii Red Cross, the Lāhainā Restoration Foundation, and more . Travelers ready to return might consider Kona Village, an iconic hotel that reopened in 2023 as a Rosewood Resort following its closure in 2011. “Each villa feels like your own little beach house,” Nicole Hollis, the interior designer of Kona Village, told T+L . Various events are on the island’s cultural calendar in the year ahead, including the Kona Brewers Festival in March and the Big Island Chocolate Festival in April. — Christine Burroni

Los Cabos, Mexico

Mariah Tyler/Travel + Leisure

With its rugged desert-meets-ocean landscape, 350 days a year of sun, and stunning five-star resorts, Los Cabos isn’t exactly an unexpected choice for a dreamy vacation. But 2024 promises to be a big year for the Baja California destination, thanks to all the new resorts coming to Cabo del Sol, the 1,800-acre community just east of Cabo San Lucas with two miles of beach and two 18-hole golf courses. Four Seasons Resort Cabo San Lucas at Cabo Del Sol and Soho House Beach Club are expected to open in the first part of 2024; Park Hyatt Los Cabos at Cabo Del Sol will join them by the end of the year. On the southern shore of the peninsula — and not far from the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal , a T+L reader fave — there’s even more happening: the resort community of Quivira Los Cabos will welcome the 120-room St. Regis Los Cabos at Quivira by late 2024, with access to 2.5 miles of beach and its own Jack Nicklaus golf course. — Danielle Pointdujour

Mallorca, Spain

Lara D'Agostino/Travel + Leisure

The sparkling waters, delicious food, and laid-back atmosphere are all still here — and Americans are loving United’s summertime nonstop service from Newark Liberty International. In the year ahead, though, they’ll be visiting for the booming luxury hotel scene, which is poised to help this island steal the spotlight from its western neighbor, Ibiza. One must-see is Son Bunyola , a Virgin Limited Edition retreat on Mallorca’s northwest coast, with three miles of beautiful coastline backed by olive groves. Sir Richard Branson first purchased the property in 1994, as T+L recently reported , but it only opened to guests this summer, with 26 rooms and suites, plus three villas. Nearby is The Lodge Mallorca , a Small Luxury Hotels of the World retreat that opened in May, which has wood-fired dining and extensive wellness programming. Then there’s the first hotel from 22-time Grand Slam champion and Majorcan Rafael Nadal, whose new Zel lifestyle brand has opened — what else? — Zel Mallorca , an approachable, beachy hotel in partnership with Meliá, the Spanish operator. Coming soon, said Clare Watkins, an expert in the Balearic Islands at Red Savannah , are more exciting properties: Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at Formentor will be a top-to-bottom refresh of a century-old hotel, while Mandarin Oriental Punta Negra, Mallorca, will have 131 rooms, plus 44 suites and nine bungalows, overlooking the sea just outside Palma. — Danielle Pointdujour

For Adventurous Travelers 

Alula, saudi arabia.

Didier Marti/Getty Images

Of all the ambitious tourism developments in Saudi Arabia, AlUla may be the most enchanting, which may explain why Qatar Airways recently launched new flights to the destination from its Doha hub. This huge sweep of red rocks and desert in the country’s northwest is home to Hegra, a 2,000-year-old archeological site filled with soaring tombs carved by the Nabataean civilization, the same one that built Petra, in modern-day Jordan. After touring ancient history, visitors can retreat to decadent contemporary hotels, including a forthcoming 36-room luxury resort at Hegra that will sensitively incorporate parts of an old railway station and fort. A short drive away, in AlUla’s Old Town, the contrast of old and new continues; the new 30-room eco-hotel Dar Tantora , for example, eschews electricity in favor of candlelight. In the year ahead, more fresh thinking will touch down in AlUla, courtesy of Wadi AlFann, or Valley of the Arts, a permanent showcase of works from big-name international artists. The best way to see it might be from on high, duringca April’s “AlUla Skies” festival, when helicopters and hot air balloons will soar above Instagram-worthy monuments. —  Jacqui Gifford

Bahia, Brazil

Marta Tucci

This coastal state, situated between the Amazon and Rio de Janeiro, is the sort of place most Americans never quite get to — and that’s a shame. Its coastline offers some of the most mythical surf-and-sand spots in the world, including Itacaré, which is home to the community-minded Barracuda Hotel & Villas , and the boho-chic enclave of Trancoso, a place that “first captured the imagination of the international creative set back in the 1980s,” as T+L reported in the September 2023 issue . “The beaches are some of the most picturesque in Brazil,” said Paul Irvine , an expert in the country and member of T+L’s A-List. But, he added, there’s more to Bahia than the coast. “We’ve started sending our more adventurous clients to the Chapada Diamantina National Park ,” he said, “which has its own vibrant, off-grid hippy culture.” While high-end hotels in the area are in short supply, more villa accommodations are popping up all the time. One thing to keep in mind for 2024: Brazil stopped requiring a visa for U.S. citizens back in 2019, but the country’s tourism officials have said that the mandate will return on Jan. 10, though further details on how to apply and any fees have yet to be announced. — Paul Brady

Northern Pakistan

Courtesy of Intrepid Travel

The northern reaches of this South Asian nation have a growing profile in the adventure-travel world, thanks to striking topography, high-elevation lakes, and precipitous peaks. Consider that, in 2023, Intrepid Travel launched a 12-day women-only expedition to the region, a first for the tour operator, which has similar trips in places such as Jordan, India, and Morocco. Intrepid will return in 2024 — with departures in May, September, and October — taking women to ancient villages, alpine lakes, and historic forts; travelers will have ample opportunity to meet with locals in areas that would be off-limits if men were part of the group, according to Intrepid. Other outfitters are heading to Northern Pakistan as well. Wild Frontiers will debut a brand-new, 14-day walking adventure that will no doubt challenge the bodies and minds of those who are up for it, with several full-day hikes, some above 4,000 meters (13,123 feet). The payoff comes in the form of staggeringly beautiful landscapes — not to mention the chance to make connections with people you meet along the way and see historic gems in Islamabad, the trip’s jumping off point. — Alisha Prakash

Peru's Trekking Routes

In a country where all roads seemingly lead to spectacular scenery and historic finds, there’s much more to explore beyond majestic Machu Picchu. These days, travelers have more options for getting off familiar routes thanks to the efforts of companies such as Alpaca Expeditions , an Indigenous-owned outfitter that will lead its first-ever, all-women hiking trip on the Salkantay Trail in 2024. Operated by women — including guides, porters, drivers, chefs, and other staff — for women, the seven-day adventure will include stays high in the Andes and cultural experiences such as cooking classes and farm visits that aren’t typical on more popular Inca Trail trips. Meanwhile the tour operator Intrepid Travel debuted in 2023 a 12-day expedition on the Great Inca Road in northern Peru. Starting in Huaraz and culminating at the Inca site of Huanuco Pampa, the trek will immerse hikers in this less-visited region’s nature and culture, including plentiful archeological sites. — Alisha Prakash

South Australia

ROBERT LANG/Courtesy of South Australia Tourism Commission

Visitors to this low-key state may feel like they’re in on a big-time secret with all that’s happening lately. The biggest news may be Australia’s new national park, Nilpe­na Ediacara , which opened in April and gives travelers a look at the oldest known fossils on the planet. “They’re about 550 million years old,” Mary L. Droser, an American paleontologist, explained in a recent interview with T+L . Across South Australia’s wine country, meanwhile, hotels such as Le Mas Barossa , Sequoia Lodge , and The Vineyard McLaren Vale are gateways to the hundreds of vineyards and cellar doors just outside of Adelaide, the state capital. “South Australia is known as the wine state for a reason,” said Tim Duval, the winemaker at John Duval Wines . Travelers can learn about small-batch wineries (including Duval’s) at Artisans of Barossa ; sample eco-conscious shiraz at Bird in Hand ; and enjoy a tasting in The Cube, a five-story structure fashioned after an unfinished Rubik’s Cube, at d’Arenberg . Another notable stay can be found on Kangaroo Island, where the famed Southern Ocean Lodge is slated to reopen in December after the disastrous bushfires of 2020. — Samantha Lauriello

Tatiana Kashko/Getty Images

This small South Asian island nation has big things on offer. “You can cover a lot of ground in two weeks, with loads of variety in the landscapes, from gorgeous beaches to lush jungles to high mountains to historic cities,” said Catherine Heald, co-founder and CEO of Remote Lands, a luxury travel firm. This year, the tea company Dilmah opened two boutique stays under its Reverie brand, Kayaam House and Ahu Bay ; Sri Lankan–owned hotel group Uga is debuting Uga Riva in Negombo this November; and for foodies, Red Savannah recently rolled out a culinary tour of Sri Lanka. Political unrest in 2022 took the destination off the table for many travelers, acknowledged Rachel Cooper , a South Asia travel expert at Red Savannah. But, she added, "the new government has introduced measures to protect and encourage a positive traveler experience throughout the country.” — Susmita Baral

Where to Go in 2024

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• My Account Login
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• Open access
• Published: 30 June 2023

The conceptualization of smart tourism service platforms on tourist value co-creation behaviours: an integrative perspective of smart tourism services

• Chung-Ming Chuang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6076-8316 1  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  10 , Article number:  367 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

3700 Accesses

6 Citations

1 Altmetric

Metrics details

• Business and management
• Information systems and information technology

The question remains how to integrate the core service proposals within a smart tourism platform setting for further facilitating tourist value co-creation behaviours in sustainable ways. This paper investigates the paradigm of smart tourism service (STS) platforms within the context of an ecosystem space. It conceptualizes concepts by laying a reasonable theoretical foundation (service-dominant logic) and proposing a scale for smart services. Applying sequential mixed methods to an exploratory research design, with seven interlocking stages and data from Fuzzy Delphi experts and tourist surveys in Taipei City, a smart city in Taiwan, this paper proposes a second-order scale with six dimensions, comprising smart services of attractions, transportation, accommodation, diet, purchase, and payment. The final 32-item STS scale is thoroughly developed and subsequently validated in different contexts (i.e. travellers in different phases of travel, pre-travel and during the trip, respectively). The scale significantly reveals the tourist-operated technologies for the provision of STS, determining the development of conceptual STS platforms in this paper. Next, the platforms disclose the locus between ICT functions, information-related services, tourist applications and behaviours, and sustainable value co-creation. The potential path of “STS → behaviour → sustainable value co-creation” explored herein is helpful for illustrating the conceptualization of STS platforms. Moreover, predictions from the platforms of tourists’ smart behaviours make it practically relevant in assessing demands about smart services for tourism. In the end, this paper describes the theoretical implications and managerial implications for tourism practitioners.

Similar content being viewed by others

Impact of ecological presence in virtual reality tourism on enhancing tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior

Zhen Su, Biman Lei, … Xijing Zhang

The impact of push-pull motives on internal tourists’ visit and revisit intentions to Egyptian domestic destinations: the mediating role of country image

Doaa Ayoub & Dina Nasser Hassan Sayed Mohamed

Family tourism development in the new era of tourism: Korean tourists’ domestic trip preferences for accommodation, travel duration, destination, and natural environment

Soyeun (Olivia) Lee, JooHyang Kim & Heesup Han

Introduction

Smart tourism service (hereinafter referred to as STS) derives from “smart system” initiatives with specific applications focusing on the tourism sector or destinations (Xiang et al., 2021 ). The goal of an STS system is to integrate convenience with accuracy, through an easy-to-access platform in the context of technological advancement (Gretzel et al., 2015b ). Thus, an STS platform (e.g., smart travel mobile APPs or websites) has been used to describe a software platform that allows tourists to integrate service proposals in a unified smart environment , with an improved user experience thanks to travel information in relation to routes and their status (Choe and Fesenmaier, 2017 ). The platform has made it easier for tourists to plan their trips as decision support, and for practitioners, it is extensible to manage additional rental and booking services relevant to tourism. In other words, such a platform combines tourist-oriented services and management, emphasizing the importance of providing information to tourists through a technological application (Li et al., 2017 ).

A smart system emphasizes the contributions to connect a series of online reservations and preferential services in a destination among sectors such as attractions (Wang et al., 2016 ), transportation (Gonzalez et al., 2020 ; Naik et al., 2019 ), accommodation (Stankova et al., 2019 ), diet (Okumus et al., 2016 , 2018 ), and purchase (Flavián et al., 2020 ). In this regard, an STS platform dedicates to developing interactive services which help to interconnect local organizations as well as tourists for access to quick service delivery. The platform should satisfy the personalized needs of tourists through a synergy of tourism administration representatives and service providers (Gretzel et al., 2015c ). Tourists can therefore experience a new way of information-searching and enjoy visitor services, and they can even have opportunities to exhibit their value co-creation behaviours through the process of interaction with other stakeholders (i.e. firms, governments, and intermediaries) in the context of a smart tourism ecosystem. During the process, tourists actively participate with service providers and cooperate in co-creating their own involvements and sharing experiences, which directly leads to innovation (Gretzel et al., 2015b ). While the sustainability in technology-denominated services has become crucial in tourism research (Wang et al., 2020 ), emphases on the tourist value co-creation process and behaviours, in terms of economic, sociocultural and environmental sustainability, have also increased (Bhuiyan et al., 2022 ).

To date, few studies have systematically explored the exact framework of an STS platform, leading its precise composition unclear (Ye et al., 2020 ). Some studies explain that the delivery of technology-denominated services in an efficient manner can be ensured by creating a chain in the tourism industry (e.g. Bhuiyan et al., 2022 ; Boes et al., 2016 ; Gretzel et al., 2015b ). However, such specific sector studies cannot be used for an aggregate perspective. Particularly, STS is attributed to the aggregate service from the tourism sector in the groundwork for the integration of information service and technology (Li et al., 2017 ). The tourism sector studied without comprehensiveness results in the limited proposed measures of STS. Moreover, the feedback relationship between tourist value co-creation behaviours and service providers needs to be further explained. A smart ecosystem is an environment of smart platforms that together achieve a single purpose: to deliver smart service, leading to tourism experience and value co-creation (Gretzel et al., 2015a ). Therefore, how to integrate the core service measures so that tourists can realize the functionality and convenience of STS is quite important within a smart tourism platform setting (Choe and Fesenmaier, 2017 ).

To that end, one needs to recognize the fundamental sectors involved in a smart tourism ecosystem, and a need also exists to unveil the key services of smart tourism through exploring the tourism elements-based measures, before promoting the conceptualization of STS platforms. This paper aims to develop the conceptual framework of an STS platform within an ecosystem by proposing an STS scale from an integrative perspective to holistically measure individual sector settings. The STS scale herein may be unique, due to the scale explored for outlining tourist demands by examining smart service measures across the phase of travel. Based on service-dominant (S-D) logic, a functioning service ecosystem is seen as a major prerequisite for enabling the co-creation of customer experiences (Anttiroiko et al., 2014 ; Vargo and Lusch, 2016 ). Thus, tourist value co-creation behaviours can also be observed from service measures applied in the ecosystem.

In this paper, a conceptual framework of an STS platform is developed through exploring emergent and potential smart service measures. Therefore, it is an exploratory attempt to integrate a range of smart service providers and constitute a smart tourism ecosystem. The locus of value co-creation between tourists and service providers is formed based on tourist behaviours in the application of smart services (Edeh et al., 2022 ). In a literature review, this paper first illustrates the nature of STS and the relationship among S-D logic, a smart tourism ecosystem, and tourist value co-creation behaviours. Secondly, the fundamental service elements of smart tourism are provided through a holistic view of sectors in an ecosystem, and then the conceptual base of an STS platform is proposed. As to the research methods, this paper reports a series of studies to explore the STS scale and assess the new scale’s reliability and validity. In terms of discussions, the conceptual framework of an STS platform is logically deducted from the scale that highly correlates with key technological-based characteristics. The sustainable value co-creation from tourist behaviours is also identified. Finally, in the conclusion section, both theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

The nature of smart tourism services

Smart tourism refers to the provision of STS for tourists through Internet devices on mobile devices combined with the evolution of information and communication technologies (ICTs), as well as timely access to tourism information and the convenient use of various travel methods (Xiao et al., 2019 ). Focusing on the individual personal experiences of tourists, smart tourism attempts to integrate high-quality services at the industry level and meets the growth of tourists’ needs (Gretzel et al., 2015c ). The tourism ecosystem will be able to obtain and use relevant tourist information in a timely manner to realize intelligent service and business management. Therefore, STS is empowered through the connection of smart technology, smart tourism experiences, and smart business ecosystems (Gretzel et al., 2015b ). Objectives include consumers (tourists), industry (tourism service providers), and the government (local public tourism agencies).

On one hand, STS refers to Smart Technology , which is a kind of ICT-supported integration of multiple tourism factors through intelligent connectivity (Jovicic, 2019 ). Within a smart tourism setting, such technologies provide tourists and service providers with actionable data, improved support for decision-makers, and increased mobility, all leading to more enjoyable tourism experiences (Cimbaljević et al., 2019 ). Moreover, sensors and mobile devices, the core technologies of smart tourism, establish environments full of real-time data that help to anticipate tourists’ needs in ways that enhance their tourism experiences (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015 ; Gretzel et al., 2015a ).

A Smart Tourism Experience specifically emphasizes a technology-mediated experience that requires service providers to personalize services by integrating context-awareness data from real-time monitoring (Femenia-Serra and Neuhofer, 2018 ). Thus, technology is an effective instrument to create and reinforce the tourism experience by providing services of information collection, ubiquitous connectedness, and real-time synchronization to facilitate interaction with the environment (Neuhofer et al., 2015 ). Smart tourists use technologies, such as wearable sensors to help them self-manage their experiences in an active and engaged way that includes both receiving updates and contributing through self-creation (e.g. uploading pictures) (Femenia-Serra and Neuhofer, 2018 ).

A Smart Business Ecosystem applies ICT with access to communication networks so as to deliver smart services. The business ecosystem of smart tourism consists of a network of interlinked stakeholders that dynamically interact with each other in a destination. Advancement in technology have digitalized the core business process to help the public and the private sectors to compete and collaborate on available resources, co-create, and jointly adapt to external disruptions (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015 ; Dong et al., 2020 ). In tourism, the smart business ecosystem creates value through the co-creation process by applying smart tourism tools, such as online platforms, devices, and social media (Bhuiyan et al., 2022 ; Gretzel et al., 2015b ). Artificial intelligence acts as a disruptive technology that service providers cannot ignore. As a result, the smart tourism ecosystem needs to connect with the smart applications of tourism, technology, and destination (Gretzel et al., 2015c ).

Thus, STS relies on three phases in processing information and resources: collection, exchange, integration and intelligent use (Neuhofer et al., 2015 ). Taking advantage of technology, this kind of service creates an interaction field for tourists to obtain information value by experiencing the smart destination (Ingram et al., 2017 ). In this way, tourist experience customized services can be provided through the ubiquitous flow of information. Value co-creation can also be possible when direct interaction happens between the service provider and the tourist (Zine et al., 2014 ).

The relationship among service-dominant (S-D) logic, smart tourism ecosystem, and tourist value co-creation behaviours

S-D logic can serve as the theoretical underpinnings for smart tourism firms to develop and manage business models that obtain a competitive advantage over time (Schmidt-Rauch and Schwabe, 2014 ). Smart tourism’s emphasis on co-creation fits well into S-D logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2017 ). First, S-D logic proposes that service provision, value co-creation and value realization take place within networks of actors, representing service-for-service exchange and dynamic processes. Second, the connections of network actors help build service provisions while also boosting resource integration. Finally, consumers experience individual well-being through collaborative activities that lead to value co-creation.

Service ecosystem thinking thus implies a firm’s S-D logic. The service ecosystem is made up of systems of resources that integrate actors through institutions and technologies, co-producing and exchanging service offerings and resources and then co-creating value (Vargo and Lusch, 2016 ). This corresponds to the notion of dynamically interconnected stakeholders in a smart tourism ecosystem (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015 ). The interconnection is formed for producing tourism experience through human organizations, technology, shared information and services and resources exchange, on the basis of pre-delivery, delivery and post-delivery experiences. Tourism firms have to collaborate with stakeholders beyond their organizational borders in order to source and exchange resources for value co-creation. Moreover, smart technologies and devices enable firms to develop such dynamic connections and networks with others. Firms can open up communication channels for tourism activities and tourists through mobile technology for mutual value creation and network relationship value (Schmidt-Rauch and Schwabe, 2014 ).

In this vein, a smart tourism ecosystem is a platform for creating, managing and delivering touristic services via technological advancement which leads to information sharing and value creation (Gretzel et al., 2015b ). Firms can co-create value and network relationship value through interaction and reciprocity with tourists through tourism activities, thereby forming a cycle of high-quality tourism. Tourists’ value creation process can be ensured through the formation of a smart tourism ecosystem, in which they can have technology-mediated tourism experiences of personalization, context awareness, and real-time monitoring before, during, and after a trip (Bhuiyan et al., 2022 ; Neuhofer et al., 2015 ). Further, sustainability can be created in the value co-creation process (Wang et al., 2020 ), while focusing on technology-denominated services (Dong et al., 2020 ). Tourist value co-creation behaviours involve three aspects of advantages of sustainability: economy, socio-culture, and the environment. Therefore, a prerequisite to value co-created behaviours is a functioning smart tourism ecosystem (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015 ), and firms and tourists equally play their roles in the creation of sustainable value (Bhuiyan et al., 2022 ). In Fig. 1 , this paper proposes how STS fits into the broader conceptual domains of the relationship among S-D logic, smart tourism ecosystems, and tourist value co-creation behaviours.

The S-D logic perspective can be applied to illustrate how the service principle is focused on the smart tourism ecosystem. The ecosystem is constituted of six tourism service elements: attraction, transportation, accommodation, diet, and purchase. Based on the collaboration and resource exchange among tourism service providers, they can enhance tourists’ value co-creation behaviours and then sustainability.

Fundamental service elements in a smart tourism ecosystem

The prime service elements of an ecosystem are service providers and the technologies, platforms, NGOs, and companies from other industries that support the services (Gretzel et al., 2015b ). In a smart tourism ecosystem, firms provide smart services by adopting open information systems and technological platforms, as they enable firms to manage their business models in a dynamic way. Therefore, the firms seeking to provide tourists with all-rounded innovative service options have to consider the use of intangible resources (data, technology, infrastructure) in a smart tourism environment (Barile et al., 2017 ), so as to optimize tourist experiences in the travel process. As Fig. 1 shows, to meet the needs of tourists, the prime service elements of smart tourism comprise attraction, transportation, accommodation, and diet and purchase in firm collaboration, and can serve as the potential dimensions of an STS scale (see Table 1 ).

Smart attraction services imply the interconnections between attractions and multiple stakeholders through dynamic platforms with information-intensive communication flows. These dynamic connections associated with tourism information realize instant services of free information, tour guide, transport, and transactions, and create an actual tourism experience while improving tourism resource management, thus contributing to the decision support system of the stakeholders (Jovicic, 2019 ; Wang et al., 2016 ). To that end, the ICTs are integrated into physical infrastructure, thereby deriving environmental conditions such as technological competence, eco-efficiency, and innovation for smart attraction services (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015 ).

The essence of smart transportation services lies in an integrated application of technology and management in transportation systems. The integration is meant to enable tourists to be better informed and use the transport network in a safer and “smarter” way (Lin et al., 2019 ). The establishment of smart transportation serves as real-time location-based information, seamless public transport, and the provision of navigation and parking. Tourists can easily acquire route plans, means of transportation, safety, parking, traffic data and fuel consumption (Siuhi and Mwakalonge, 2016 ), relying on the intelligent transportation network in a city (Gonzalez et al., 2020 ; Naik et al., 2019 ).

ICT applications in smart accommodation services (Stankova et al., 2019 ) enable hotels to (1) possess a set of well-established intelligent systems, which can realize the informatization of hotel management through digitalization and networking; (2) satisfy tourists’ demands, optimize hotel management, and innovate service; (3) materialize the sharing and effective use of the hotels and social resources. ICT will contribute to creating environments where hotels can interact with guests, such as social network reviews (Xiang et al., 2017 ), communications (Kamboj and Gupta, 2020 ), and transactions (Neuhofer et al., 2015 ), and optimize the control of room service (Stankova et al., 2019 ). It has become a new business opportunity derived from the intellectualization of hotels to make use of smart services to increase sales (Buhalis and Leung, 2018 ).

Smart diet services also derive from a high-end system design that incorporates ICT and restaurant management to provide automatic operation for catering organizations. Smart diet services provide tourists with timely, correct and valuable information through mobile technologies (Okumus et al., 2018 ), which help them make more sensible decisions when ordering food. This also has a positive impact on their ordering behaviours (Sarcona et al., 2017 ). Moreover, low labor status can be achieved in the process of diet services through smart systems, thereby slashing the labor cost and improving the efficiency of meal delivery while saving customers’ dining time (Okumus et al., 2016 ).

The backdrop of smart purchase services is related to the consumption environment of e-commerce and extended to that of m-commerce credited to ICT development (Alqatan et al., 2011 ). Due to their use of mobile devices, consumers can place orders instantly; what they have to think about is whether and what to buy and how to pay instead of when and where to buy (Flavián et al., 2020 ). Tourists are provided with asynchronous or one-to-many information exchange platforms which influence their purchase decisions (Xiang et al., 2017 ). To put it in another way, ICT realizes more frequent interactions between tourists and social networks, which not only facilitates information searching but also changes tourists’ buying habits.

The conceptual base of smart tourism service platforms

A smart tourism ecosystem helps to build a platform that provides service data and infrastructure to tourists (Gretzel et al., 2015a ). The platform, therefore, must be able to cater to functions not only for tourists but also for managers, in order to provide extensive and customizable tourism services while management efficiency is increased. The STS platform in the ecosystem is ICT-integrated, with the Internet of Things (IoT) running on cloud computing services employing artificial intelligence all working together to forecast demand, increase efficiency, implement process automation, and improve value co-creation (Cimbaljević et al., 2019 ; Jovicic, 2019 ).

With a focus on tourists as the users of an STS platform, the platform aims to support tourists by (1) collecting and anticipating tourist demands, and making recommendations toward travel consumption decisions (Choe and Fesenmaier, 2017 ); (2) formulating tourists’ on-site experiences by integrating technological and information resources to offer real-time data for context awareness and personalization (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015 ; Neuhofer et al., 2015 ); (3) offering accurate information to conveniently grasp and process and accessing service plans (Li et al., 2017 ); (4) co-creating the value of smartness by delivering intelligent touristic services through smart technology interactions and a wider smart ecosystem (Gretzel et al., 2015c ).

As a result, STS platforms emphasize meeting tourist needs through inclusive information that is promptly and conveniently collected and processed (Gretzel et al., 2015c ). Tourists can access tourism information through the platform and promptly arrange and adjust their travel plans. Moreover, this enables tourists to upload feedback to the system and share their travel experiences (Choe and Fesenmaier, 2017 ). Thus, the span of online information services is across the phases of before, during, and after the travel (Li et al., 2017 ).

Tourists can apply a full range of information services to conduct the reservation and transaction of tourist elements as well as other sales options, all of which have played prominent roles in the safety, convenience and mobile search of tourism (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015 ). The STS platform integrates a wide range of tourist-operated technologies and systems that create augmented realities in direct support of tourism so that it helps tourists in their decision-making behaviours (Lamsfus et al., 2014 ). In this respect, this paper proposes that a meaningful platform is seen as information delivered, function catered, context applied, and tourist behaviour supported (Fig. 2 ).

A meaningful smart service platform must support tourists firstly through information collection and delivery. Subsequently, functions catered by the platform can offer tourists to have customized services, and tourists can experience and apply the service contexts created. Finally, the platform can help tourists in their decision-making behaviours.

Research design

Based on the purpose of this paper, it was necessary to go through the processes of developing a new validated scale before constructing the conceptual framework of an STS platform. Thus, an exploratory sequential mixed-method design was employed to develop and validate a survey instrument. This paper employed a multi-stage recursive psychometric process with three studies made up of seven stages.

Study 1—qualitative study

Stage 1: Item generation

The established scale development procedures included item generation, adjustment, and purification (Table 2 ). The generation of items followed two steps, reviewing literature and qualitative data collection and analysis. Saturation was reached, with data from two sources repeating previous data.

Systematic literature review

A review of related studies formed a collection of possible items. This data collection was repeated twice to assure any related smart tourism published papers were included. First, this paper collected peer-reviewed articles in Scopus, EBSCOhost, and Web of Science. This determined three search criteria common to the topic that was next used to search for relevant items. First, the term “smart service” was combined with “technology,” “tourism,” “tourist,” “travel,” “transportation,” “hotel,” “restaurant,” “purchase” to formulate keywords. Second, published manuscripts included in the search were determined by review of the title, abstract, or executive summary. Published papers were from the time frame of 2000–2020. Third, this paper included only English full-length papers appearing in the Science Citation or Social Science Citation Indexes.

Next, the collection results and applied the same criteria within the mentioned smart tourism distribution journals in Mehraliyev, Choi, and Köseoglu ( 2019 ) and Ye et al. ( 2020 ) to check for missing articles. Researchers reviewed the articles independently and then together with the exclusion of duplicate articles or papers not directly related to STS.

Expert qualitative interviews

The Fuzzy Delphi Method for expert-based data collection was adapted to guide the measurement of item identification. The expert comments came from a two-round Delphi questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed semi-structurally and it asked experts to subjectively assess the items according to the foregoing tourist elements. The first round of questionnaire design was made up of two sections. Section A addressed the smart service items in each tourist element. Section B addressed questions about the demographic characteristics of the experts (i.e. gender, age, education, institution, title, and seniority). The questionnaire’s content validity was reviewed by two additional faculty members with expertise in qualitative research.

At the end of each item in section A, the experts were given space to make supplementary explanations or add new items, expecting to make up for the incompleteness of the initial item list. Particularly, each item was followed by noun explanations and case references to ensure the consistency of meanings of all experts to each item, thereby obtaining the most appropriate results. Each item was assessed on its importance on a five-point Likert-type scale with anchors that ranged from 1 (not very important) to 5 (very important). The second round of questionnaire design was similar with the prior one, but it included the first-round statistical analyses for the experts’ reference in order to converge the still divergent views.

A purposive sampling of two groups (i.e. 11 tourist experts and 6 Internet and e-commerce experts) provided opinions related to the topic. Respondents’ verbal consent was sought for scheduled interviews. The interviews were mostly held online, lasting from 30 to 50 min. Respondent demographics can be seen in Table 3 .

Stage 2: Item purification

This stage comprised expert review and exploratory factor analysis of the measurement items to purify the pool of questions. The details of expert reviews are explained in this section.

Expert review

Experts in the field reviewed the draft items, checking content validity. The items were rated by clarity, readability, redundancy, representativeness, and suitability. The items were next compared to and combined with other items derived earlier in the first round. A consensus was reached among the experts.

Study 2—Quantitative study

Stage 3: Dimensionality determination of the scale

Data collection instruments and procedures

The survey data was collected to explore the dimensional structure of the STS scale. Taipei City, an internationally awarded smart city, has taken the lead among other major cities in the Asia-Pacific region. Given that smart tourism and smart city complement each other (Hunter et al., 2015 ), Taipei City was selected as the survey site of smart-city destination in this paper, with the subjects being the tourists in various tourist attractions of Taipei.

The survey was structured into six sections. Sections A–E contained views on elements of STS in attractions, transportation, accommodation, diet, and purchase. These sections sought to measure the tourists’ demands on each element of smart services on a Likert’s 5-point scale, where 1 meant not agree at all and 5 represented very agree. As to specific services, respondents were asked to rate their demands using the measurement items drawn from Study 1. Section F measured the respondents’ socio-demographic and travel characteristics.

In this pre-test of the survey questionnaire, 90 tourists to Taipei took part. Useful data were collected, using the convenience sampling technique. The respondents were approached conveniently at the visitor recreation areas of the most visited attractions. For those who visited the attractions in groups, two people on average were chosen to participate in the study. This approach guarded against potential group bias. To ensure the respondents fill in information accurately, the research assistants checked the returned questionnaires on-site for sample validity, and this resulted in the collection of 379 valid questionnaires. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was then conducted via SPSS 22.0 to explore the dimensional structure of the measure and to remove poorly fitted items.

Study 3—Quantitative study

Stage 4: Scale validation

Data collection

The second set of 815 completed questionnaires was used to confirm and refine the structural validity of the six-factor solution extracted in the EFA, using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in AMOS. The data collection procedure in this stage was similar to that for Stage 2 described earlier, except that the data were disproportionately collected from Taipei City and online. This means that a pre-traveller sample was included in this stage.

Collecting part of the validation data was meant to minimize the biases that characterize data from the same destination. Moreover, pre-traveller data was included in order to lower bias from respondents who were already travelling. The sample frame of pre-travellers is an unclear population that is challenging to recruit. Thus, snowball sampling was used. Travel agencies assisted in distributing the survey invitation with a link to the online questionnaire to clients who were planning their trips for the year (in Taipei). These contacts were then asked to forward invitations to their friends and relatives.

The observations randomly comprised two sample groups: calibration ( n  = 410) and validation sample ( n  = 405). As a rule of thumb, at the very least, an item should correspond to 10 sample cases. Thus, for a minimum response requested for 32 items based on EFA, the respondents in each group were a satisfactorily conservative sample size for the analysis. The characteristics of the sample in this stage were compared with those of Study 2 (Table 6 ).

Stage 5: Common method biases

Both pre and post-techniques were employed to minimize and check the presence of common method biases in the models. Experts reviewed potential items. Harman’s single-factor test was next used with items constrained to loading one factor at a time across EFA and CFA stages.

Stage 6: Model invariance test

A test of measurement model invariance was used in testing six dimensions of the STS scale in different phases of travel, pre-travel and during the trip. This was to assess the representativeness and generalizability of the scale across various travel phases.

Stage 7: Nomological and construct validity

Testing nomological and construct validity, a second-order structural equation was used. This approach tested the predictive power of the STS scale dimensions.

Study 1—Qualitative study

Systematic literature reviews

83 STS articles were confirmed (Table 4 ). Relevant items were collected in a Microsoft Excel sheet with a pool of 68.

Ultimately, the consensus of the expert group on the dimensions of STS was reached, including the fitness assessment between dimensions and items and the representativeness of items for dimensions.

In the first round, this paper used geometric mean ( G ) and quartile deviation ( Q ) to determine the consensus of expert opinions on the initial 68 items, as well as the overall assessment of the importance of the items. The results were adopted to determine which items should be investigated again in the next round. This resulted in 8 items reaching a high consensus ( Q  ≤ 0.5) with 60 remaining items to proceed to the second-round expert reviews.

In the second round, a failure to meet the standard of “important” occurred when (1) the G value was lower than the threshold value of S  = 3.5 ( G  < 3.5) and (2) if first quartile (Q1) < 3 and third quartile (Q3) < 4, the item was removed. Additionally, Kruskal–Wallis Chi-Square Tests were carried out via SPSS 22.0 to test the importance of the remaining items. The significant level of the item test suggested to reject H , indicating a wide gap in the cognitive outcomes of the two groups of experts for the item. Then, such an item was removed. The results of this round came with the consensus of all experts, which means that there is no need to carry out the third round, and 10 items were removed from the second analysis.

Expert reviews

According to the review results, 10 items were removed, and 12 items were combined into 6 due to similarities. Furthermore, 2 items were added. By doing so, 54 items were identified. The items were then re-worded with the help of topic words/phrases (Table 5 ) to match the context of STS. According to the two-round Fuzzy Delphi, the initial pool of 68 items was trimmed to 44 and they were retained for questionnaire design in the quantitative stage.

Data analysis

In the pre-test phase, Chrobach’s α values (internal consistency criterion) of all items were >0.9. However, one item’s critical ratio value (reliability analysis) was not significant, and the values for corrected item-to-total correlations of 4 items were <0.3. Therefore, 5 items must be deleted, and 39 items were retained for the formal test stage.

Detailed characteristics of the 379 respondents are found in Table 6 . The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO = 0.95) measure of sampling adequacy (≥ 0.80) and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity ( χ 2  = 8692.21; P  < 0.001) showed that the 379 observations were suitable for EFA. The principal components analysis was adopted to calculate the communalities of the items, and the rotation method used was varimax employing the orthogonal rotation. Eigenvalue >1 was the criteria used for determining the number of factors extracted. The additional rule was that each dimension must have at least three items. Finally, 7 items were dropped for having item-to-dimension loadings <0.50 and inter-dimension cross-loading >0.5.

In all, six unique dimensions with 32 well-fitted underlying items were extracted from the EFA, which explained approximately 70 percent of the variance in STS. The Cronbach’s alpha score for each factor was higher than 0.70, suggesting a satisfactory inter-item-dimension convergent validity. Given each dimension’s item content, they were labelled smart attraction services, smart transportation services, smart accommodation services, smart diet services, smart purchase services, and smart payment services (a new dimension extracted). Details of the percentage of variance explained by each dimension and corresponding Eigenvalue are presented in Table 7 .

Results from CFA showed all items exhibited statistically significant ( p  < 0.001) coefficients for calibration and validation models, exhibiting unidimensionality across all dimensions. Composite reliability scores exceeded 0.80 for all dimensions, evidencing good internal consistency (Table 8 ). The overall model fits indices for both the calibration ( \(\chi ^{{{\mathrm{2}}}}/{\rm {d}}f\) = 2.67, CFI = 0.92, TLI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.05) and validation models ( \(\chi ^{{{\mathrm{2}}}}/{\rm {d}}f\) =2.97, CFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.07, SRMR = 0.05) indicated that they were optimally fitted. Moreover, both second-order models have proved to well-replace the first-order models ( \(\chi _{{{\mathrm{1}}}}^{{{\mathrm{2}}}}/\chi _2^2\)  = 0.97; 0.96) as the framework for the STS scale (Table 9 ). Table 10 shows good discriminant validity with each latent dimension sharing more variance with its observed items than with other dimensions.

Results showed any single factor did not well capture the covariance of the items. The percentage of variance explained was 44% and 43%, respectively. Thus, method bias was determined to be minimal and would not risk the conclusions drawn from the study.

Table 11 shows that both constrained and unconstrained models for the two phases of travel do not significantly vary. This result supports model validity to assess tourists’ demands of STS, and the phase of the trip made no difference.

All indices exhibited second-order factor structure with the data fitting the model well, see Table 8 . The dimensions demonstrate the structural validity of the hierarchical CFA. Squared multiple correlations revealing each dimension explained nearly more than 50 percent of the variance, see Fig. 3 . Results suggest all dimensions are indeed important to tourists.

CFA validates that the STS scale is a second-order factor structure, and squared multiple correlations reveal each dimension explained nearly more than 50 percent of the variance.

The seven stages conducted converge with evidence of a six-dimensional STS scale, suggesting that these dimensions are the core of the STS that tourists experience. The tourism sectors represented here are attractions, transportation, accommodation, diet and retail, and the service providers include travel agents and tour operators, hotels, restaurants, local communities and organizations, and the government agencies that cooperate with these sectors. The service providers in the constituted smart tourism ecosystem can benefit themselves and each other with economic, socio-cultural, and environmental sustainability through the process of co-creating value of experience with tourists (Bhuiyan et al., 2022 ). The STS scale provides the applications of smart service measures that will influence tourists’ behaviours in each stage of travel (before, during, and after a trip), which is conducive to sustainable value co-creation. The findings of tourist value co-creation behaviours respond to Bhuiyan et al.’s ( 2022 ) exposition on sustainability. In addition, the STS scale constructs a more comprehensive smart tourism ecosystem and more specific, relevant measures. It provides a well underpinning for the establishment of the conceptual framework of the STS platform. The platform can therefore propose the locus of the value co-creation process between tourists and service providers. The findings from the STS scale are discussed as the followings.

The first dimension, smart attraction services, verify that intelligent service perspectives are applicable across all phases of travel (Xiang et al., 2015 ). It proves that ICTs combined with the infrastructure (software and hardware) of scenic spots are conducive to creating and meeting tourists’ needs for tourism experiences, as well as linking with the service environment of other tourism elements. (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015 ). Specifically, before a trip real-time information access means that tourists would like to use free attraction information to identify problems and develop potential solutions to address them (Jovicic 2019 ), mainly involving reservations, the weather, tourist flows, and queuing time. During trips, an effective smart guide system is required and location-based services (e.g. near-field communications, beacons or augmented reality) are helpful for providing dynamic guidance of attractions. Moreover, tourists expect to establish a personalized itinerary planning system based on tourism information databases, and they share their plans via mobile devices for others to download them. Interactive multimedia systems (e.g. augmented/virtual reality somatosensory facilities) are also mentioned as useful for creating smart experiences that tourists would like to share after the trip.

The second dimension, smart transportation services, denotes two situations of tourists’ demands to find necessary transportation services and/or related information. For self-transport travel, three measurement items support Lin et al.’s ( 2019 ) findings that a location-based service scheme should include navigation systems and real-time information on traffic and parking. For non-self-transport travel, two items also reflect the necessity of public transport information and intelligent transport scheduling systems (e.g. shuttle buses, electric scooters). Intelligent transportation systems (e.g. telematics) can help tourists make better use of the transportation network. However, the items also reinforce Gonzalez et al. ( 2020 ) and Naik et al.’s ( 2019 ) argument that access to smart transportation remains a significant challenge with regard to infrastructure in a city.

Both the third and fourth dimensions, smart accommodation and diet services, are associated with a perceived service of hospitality during a trip, with a focus on intelligent management. The findings support Cimbaljević et al.’s ( 2019 ) assertion that businesses must respond to the respondents’ request to establish an automatic operation system to substantially improve operational efficiency and reduce mistakes. First, self-service counters for instant registration and self-service ordering systems are applied as an integrated tools for practitioners’ marketing and operation. Second, mobile booking and ordering systems emphasize mobility and convenience. Tourists can make room/meal reservations that match the arrival time and location through the systems in advance.

Third, smart room access control and cabinet systems are installed to satisfy tourists’ safety demands. Guest room privacy and security is a long-standing issue but more palpable today, which calls for the active practitioner-tourist co-creation of solutions for tourists (Stankova et al., 2019 ). Four, the practitioners may provide and optimize the entire service process to meeting tourists’ meal demands. Such include efficient tourist guidance, pre-order and queue services before arrival, service request systems during dining, and cloud service systems (platforms/software/infrastructure/technologies) for tourists to share their opinions after their meals. The measurement items herein prompt practitioners to connect with smart tourism networks, sensors and extractors in the smart hospitality ecosystem, in order to collect and analyse the big data from tourist reservation information and thereby enhancing revenue management performances (Buhalis and Leung, 2018 ).

While the above four dimensions of the scale are conceptually unique, the facets of the smart purchase and payment service dimensions share some commonalities with the general m-commerce-related concepts (i.e. electron, convenience, and mobility) facilitating tourists to choose tourism services (Alqatan et al., 2011 ). Despite that, the differences in the measurement items between these two dimensions can still be clearly identified. The items of smart purchase services are measured from a utility perspective, while those of smart payment services are mainly based on the payment method.

Seven measurement items of smart purchase services involve tourist engagement in information gathering, planning, comparison, and purchase experiences. From a utility perspective, tourists are willing to invest time and effort in searching for and using promotion-related information to save costs. Tourists emphasize smart and transactional value because they can achieve time and/or effort savings by conveniently using online systems, or because they feel pleasure that they are making the right purchases (Flavián et al., 2020 ). Therefore, the findings comply with those of Xiang et al. ( 2017 ) who believe that tourists would like to engage in smart purchases only when the products purchased on the Internet can match their demands and provide good value for the money spent.

Smart payment systems are those that allow consumers to pay their bills via smart platforms rather than cash, check, or debit card. With this technology, payment services operating under financial regulations are performed via mobile devices, and the type of payment includes mobile wallets, credit cards, carrier billing, etc. (Banerjee and Wigginton, 2015 ). Tourists can therefore enjoy the benefits of convenience, lower payments, and safe and secure payments. However, the current literature provides few explanations for smart payment services by tourists. Four measurement items of smart payment services preliminarily respond to Gretzel et al.’s ( 2015b ) findings that tourists can pay for a range of services using smart devices as a viable payment option.

Essentially, the proposed STS scale integrates the fundamental tourism elements in a smart tourism ecosystem, lays a reasonable theoretical foundation (S-D logic), and provides a practical assessment tool for smart services. Moreover, the measurement items have explained the sustainability for tourists in terms of economy (i.e., reducing travelling costs, increasing decision-making efficiency, and avoiding unnecessary time wasting), socio-culture (i.e., instant access to information and public facilities, comfort in travelling, and memorable experiences), and the environment (i.e., reducing energy consumption, receiving proper guidance of environmental challenges, and receiving information about the destination’s ecology). The findings imply how tourists create sustainable value-co-created behaviours by experiencing smart service measures.

On the other hand, the scale highlights the complete experience of travel processes, resulting in findings that have relevance for tourism practitioners on several functions regarding smart tourism services. These functions include a collection of tourist demands, pre-travel planning programs, experience creation, convenience and access plans, and value enhancement strategies. By logical deduction, a conceptual framework of the STS platform is constructed (Fig. 4 ). The broad nature of the platform not only calls for the co-creation of tourist experiences but also represents a comprehensive assessment tool for practitioners in assessing demands about smart tourism services.

On the supply side, a comprehensive structure is represented for practitioners in meeting demands about STS, including the connection of tourist-operated technologies, functions revealed by the ecosystem integrated supply, and information services generated. On the demand side, tourists can create sustainable value-co-created behaviours by experiencing smart service measures. The STS platform discloses the locus of “STS → behaviour → sustainable value co-creation”.

Based on the cooperation between ICTs, the technological-based characteristics of smart service platforms, such as connection between tourism and ICT (Choe and Fesenmaier, 2017 ), tandem and co-marketing of the tourism industry chain (Li et al., 2017 ), and tourist data collection and analysis (Gretzel et al., 2015c ) will lead a constructed STS platform to create a holistic smart tourism ecosystem. The ecosystem reveals the progress and functions of ICT, which not only strengthens the service capability of information generation but also highlights the service process of information transmission and processing (Gretzel et al., 2015a ). The ways of information service systems can better facilitate tourists to apply the STS.

From the system, tourists learn and apply information including weather, queuing time, tourist flow, traffic, parking lots, public transportation, e-maps, hotels, catering and purchase prices. As a result, itinerary planning, reservation, purchasing, payment, and experience sharing will obviously change along with tourist behaviours across the stages of travel. Based on the functions of ICT in STS platforms, the locus between services and behaviours is consistent with Li and Zhang’s ( 2022 ) system layers; that is, services, applications, and then users. When customers’ skills and behaviours are transformed into the company’s value creation, the mechanism of co-creation is formulated (Wang et al., 2016 ). Thus, tourist behaviours can be seen as a supplementary resource to the service provider’s internal value-creating procedures. Tourist-service provider interactions have thus become the locus of value creation (Edeh et al., 2022 ).

Moreover, with the help of tourist-operated technologies, service providers can obtain and use the information on tourist behaviours, which will support their sustainability in a smart tourism ecosystem. For example, in terms of finances, firms can decrease overlapping tasks, lower marketing costs, and disperse information. In the socio-cultural aspect, they will be able to gain instant access to tourist information and maintain long-lasting customer relationships. As to the environment, firms can save energy and receive proper guidance and information against environmental challenges. In this regard, as active actors of the ecosystem, tourist behaviours contribute to sustainable value co-creation. Finally, the findings respond to Xiang et al.’s ( 2015 ) service perspectives that tourist behaviours in the role of creating sustainable value co-creation come across three phases of travel, i.e., pre, during, and post-trips, in particular technology-denominated services.

Academia representatives said that the construction of the STS platform not only has to focus on the investment of information network technology and infrastructure but also needs to consider tourists’ needs from the perspective of tourists and constantly innovate the provision of STS (Li and Zhang, 2022 ). In this respect, this paper investigates the paradigm of STS platforms within the context of an ecosystem. It conceptualizes the concept by laying a reasonable theoretical foundation (service-dominant logic) and proposes a scale for STS. The scale explores a system’s functional framework in a smart tourism ecosystem for fundamental sectors such as attractions, transportation, accommodation, diet, purchase, and payment. Each of the sectors includes smart service measures preferred by tourists to meet their needs. Based on the scale, the STS platform conceptualized here illustrates how to integrate the core service measures so that tourists can realize the functionality and convenience of STS. Moreover, it explains the value of co-creation feedback to service providers from tourist behviours after applying STS measures and then resulting in sustainability for tourists and service providers. In the end, this paper describes the theoretical implications as well as the managerial implications for tourism practitioners.

Theoretical implications and contributions

More systematic research is still absent from the framework development of STS platforms for smart cities (Ye et al., 2020 ). This paper bridges the gap by proposing the STS scale from an integrative perspective and further presents the relationship between sustainable value co-creation between tourists and tourism firms. To that end, this paper conducts exploratory sequential mixed methods that include a multi-stage recursive psychometric process with three studies. The findings, from the perspectives of both experts and tourists toward Taipei City, validate the STS scale and realize the contextualization of illustrating the STS platforms. Consequently, this study proposes the theoretical implications and contributions on three aspects of scale construction, sustainable value co-creation, and platform frameworks.

First, the STS scale summarizes the ecosystem of smart tourism in six elements of the industrial chain and also integrates various STS measures, which provided specific theoretical support and scientific basis for the overall development of smart tourism. It is a comprehensive scale proposed for measuring tourists’ demands for smart services in the travel processes, which hitherto was not available in the smart tourism literature. Six tourism elements are revealed which manifest in the form of attractions, transport, housing, food and consumption about travel outcomes, information access, and feeling about service experiences. A series of studies suggests that the scale exhibits satisfactory measurement quality in terms of reliability, construct and nomological validity, and hierarchical factor structure. The primary contribution of the scale lies in an initial attempt to develop an integrative multidimensional hierarchical scale, which is either psychometric, experiential, or combined and should be studied as such. It fills an important gap in the existing literature related to an STS platform.

Second, the provision of STS emphasizes the connection between tourists and service providers and the co-creation of tourist experiences in the smart tourism ecosystem (Gretzel et al., 2015b ). Past studies have contributed to the foundation of smart tourism tools used for the connectivity of different tourism stakeholders. This study further provides an overview of STS measures and tourist behaviours in the smart tourism ecosystem and how that facilitates the sustainable co-creation of value. In other words, this study offers insights into the corresponding service items that influence tourist behaviours when the value is co-created, and somehow enhances sustainability for stakeholders. The findings contribute to the integrative approach of sustainable value co-creation through tourist behaviours in different phases of travel. Particularly, the potential path of “STS → behaviour → sustainable value co-creation” explored herein will help researchers and practitioners understand the conceptualization of the STS platform.

Third, the STS platform conceptualized by this paper reliably predicts tourists’ smart service applications of specific sectors and reflects their common behaviours in travel processes. Findings imply that increased demand for smart service is associated with under-experience. This reinforces earlier conclusions that need significantly predict applications and behaviours toward smart tourism. Therefore, the STS platform could be used as an effective medium for identifying inexperienced tourists and their underlying demands. This paper suggests that the STS platform concept has the advantage of being applicable to a wide range of travel-related typologies. Such an approach to STS can better help in identifying tourism antecedents, moderators, and implications.

Managerial implications

This paper proposes an empirical exploration of service platforms for smart tourism that has been usually overlooked. As Fig. 4 shown, the STS platform has a technological base in that firms in a tourism service ecosystem are collaborated through information aggregation, ubiquitous connectedness and real-time synchronization (Neuhofer et al., 2015 ). Given the functions of this platform, several practical lessons are learned. First, strategies for satisfying needs quantified by the STS scale are more useful if they have a wide scope and cover the six elements, which is useful for tourists to adopt smart tourism behaviours. The practitioners should develop a dedicated smart system, potentially similar to the STS platform, for continuous collection of tourists’ smart service demands for swift satisfaction given that preferences change with time.

Second, the STS platform provides managers with institute-tailored travel planning for tourists during pre-travel consultations. The platforms for tourist preference, accessible, and transparent travel-based information on service designs could be useful in minimizing the gap between expectations and experiences. The demands have to be surrounded with the appropriate tourism information, in support of STS. Ubiquitous web channels, including practitioner’s official or government websites, tourism comparison websites and travel social media, could be leveraged for mass campaigns. The establishment of the STS platform capitalizing on web channels’ ubiquity could be useful in listening to and tactically satisfying tourist demands.

Third, mobility and convenience are positively related to smart service experiences, which denotes that those two are significant incentives for those experiences among the majority of tourists (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015 ). Tourists can rely on the STS platform to solve the concerns that often occur in the travel process, such as difficulty in itinerary planning, lack of local guides, incorrect tourism information, difficulty in booking hotels and restaurants, inconvenience in purchasing and payment, etc. The information service and the mobile reservation and payment via the STS platform that enables tourists to appreciate the necessary service could increase their perceived convenience and stimulate experience before, during and after the travel.

In addition, the STS of the platform should be offered for free (e.g. information sharing) or at discounted rates (e.g. booking fees). Discounted services could be a determinant of smart tourism engagement for tourists as they are often constrained by personal budgets. Travellers like backpackers, for example, place a strong emphasis on travel budgets. For such travellers, reduced costs are very useful. Tourism managers can educate tourists and encourage an emphasis on smart services as one of the components of their travel budgets.

Although tourists may perceive time loss in accessing services, opportunities are provided for recasting the re(design) of practical situations, service processes, and experience creation (Pearce, 2020 ). These concerns can be thought of by practitioners to manage tourists’ frustration that it is time-wasting to access STS. Applying ICTs to assist practitioners in rapid service integration and innovation and providing joint business consulting and big data analysis would be useful.

Fourth, access services that consumers are unaware they may want, can be communicated through smart service finder pop-ups (or shortcuts). These can direct tourists to appropriate locations. Such a system would enable tourists to explore and identify practitioners that provide all needed services and compare prices for the best deals. More importantly, STS is readily available and accessible in the platforms by improving the forecasting accuracy of services’ demand and supply to minimize or, at best, eliminate errors (Anttiroiko et al., 2014 ). For example, hotels through their booking data could help travel agencies plan their itineraries by signaling how many travellers from each originating region are likely to be served and for which demands.

Fifth, the more tourists believe that the products, services and information provided by ICTs are reliable and trustworthy, the more value they will create through interactions and service experiences with a destination (Ingram et al., 2017 ). The strategic implications can be employed by tourism practitioners to enhance service values as those being reliable for tourists to access STS and create their experiences. The STS platform could be useful to introduce managers whose smart services are embraced by tourists and can aid them in selecting tourists to facilitate sustainable value co-creation behaviours. For instance, managers may use the platforms for market segmentation and tourist profiling to gain useful information for maximizing value co-creation behaviours. Tourism practitioners thus are kindly reminded to install and provide focused services by developing cloud technologies, networks, and various tourism application service systems in the current smart tourism trend.

Finally, smart tourism technology is the key factor affecting tourists’ experiences, satisfaction, and revisit intentions (Jeong and Shin, 2020 ), affecting the development of the tourism economy and society. A real-time tourism service of STS platforms and tourists’ responsiveness to the same give opportunities to tourists to influence other tourists and potential tourists, especially through social connections in an online setting. Tourism practitioners can provide venues for “tourists to share views, preferences, and experiences with others,” as well as allowing for eWOM activity among tourists. Experienced tourists are a more credible voice of the STS. They not only help other tourists recognize their underlying needs but also make others see how the STS can meet those needs, thus blurring the boundaries between a service provider’s role and a tourist’s role.

Limitations and directions for future research

Some limitations are worth acknowledging and should motivate future research into these issues. Though the study took into consideration matters toward a wide range of specific tourism elements, its attempt to propose a generic scale for gauging STS could be an over-universalization of reality. Further smart-service-specific studies are required to validate various aspects of the scale, given that perceptions vary significantly with different smart cities and respondents’ characteristics (Ye et al., 2020 ).

Future research could also explore the utility of the STS platform among different typologies of tourists, such as backpackers, volunteer tourists, or other tourist groups. This will shape further insights into the antecedents of the platform and especially how it relates to group normative. The platform could also be investigated by utilizing different smart technologies, such as smartphones or other mobile device applications while seeking to identify its moderators (i.e. smart experiences, information exposure, and smart tourism literacy) and outcomes. Besides, it is essential to study how to facilitate sustainable value co-creative services and behaviours through increased interactions between tourists and the STS platform by further utilizing innovative smart technologies. Exploring how the platforms play out during the construction of a smart city, especially its implication for the reception of a potential STS among tourists, would be another exciting avenue of research.

It is essential to note that the stage of travel will likely change tourists’ service demands. Especially, the COVID-19 pandemic-induced health threats have changed tourist behaviour (Abdullah et al., 2020 ). Future research into the competing STS alternatives to different stages of travel for tourists could provide insights into the potential cross-sectorial integration of STS.

Data availability

The datasets analysed during the current study are available in the Dataverse repository: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/JHJQJD .

Abdullah M, Dias C, Muley D, Shahin M (2020) Exploring the impacts of COVID-19 on travel behavior and mode preferences. Transp Res Interdiscip Perspect 8:100255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100255

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Alqatan S, Singh D, Ahmad K (2011) A theoretic discussion of tourism m-commerce. Res J Appl Sci 6(6):366–372. https://doi.org/10.3923/rjasci.2011.366.372

Article   Google Scholar  

Anttiroiko AV, Valkama P, Bailey SJ (2014) Smart cities in the new service economy: building platforms for smart services. AI Soc 29(3):323–334. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-013-0464-0

Banerjee P, Wigginton C (2015) Smart device, smart pay: taking mobile payments from coffee shops to retail stores. Deloitte University Press

Barile S, Ciasullo MV, Troisi O, Sarno D (2017) The role of technology and institutions in tourism service ecosystems: findings from a case study. TQM J 29(6):811–833. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-06-2017-0068

Bhuiyan KH, Jahan I, Zayed NM, Islam KMA, Suyaiya S, Tkachenko O, Nitsenko V (2022) Smart tourism ecosystem: a new dimension toward sustainable value co-creation. Sustain 14(22):1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215043

Boes K, Buhalis D, Inversini A (2016) Smart tourism destinations: ecosystems for tourism destination competitiveness. Int J Tour Cities 2:108–124. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-12-2015-0032

Buhalis D, Amaranggana A (2015) Smart tourism destinations enhancing tourism experience through personalization of services. In: Tussyadiah I, Inversini A (eds) Information and communication technologies in tourism 2015. Springer, Cham, pp. 377–389

Buhalis D, Foerste M (2015) SoCoMo marketing for travel and tourism: empowering co-creation of value. J Destin Mark Manage 4(3):151–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2015.04.001

Buhalis D, Amaranggana A (2014) Smart tourism destinations. In: Xiang Z, Tussyadiah I (eds) Information and communication technologies in tourism 2014. Springer, Heidelberg, pp. 553–564

Buhalis D, Leung R (2018) Smart hospitality interconnectivity and interoperability towards an ecosystem. Int J Hosp Manag 71:41–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.11.011

Choe Y, Fesenmaier DR (2017) The quantified traveler: Implications for smart tourism development. In: Xiang Z, Fesenmaier DR (eds) Analytics in smart tourism design, tourism on the verge. Spring International Publishing, Switzerland, pp. 65–77

Cimbaljević M, Stankov U, Pavluković V (2019) Going beyond the traditional destination competitiveness—reflections on a smart destination in the current research. Curr Issues Tour 22(20):2472–2477. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2018.1529149

Dong X, Liu S, Li H, Yang Z, Liang S, Deng N (2020) Love of nature as a mediator between connectedness to nature and sustainable consumption behavior. J Clean Prod 242:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118451

Edeh FO, Zayed NM, Perevozova I, Kryshtal H, Nitsenko V (2022) Talent management in the hospitality sector: predicting discretionary work behaviour. Adm Sci 12(4):122. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci12040122

Femenia-Serra F, Neuhofer B (2018) Smart tourism experiences: conceptualisation, key dimensions and research agenda. J Reg Res 42:129–150. https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:invreg:0386

Google Scholar  

Flavián C, Gurrea R, Orús C (2020) Combining channels to make smart purchases: the role of webrooming and showrooming. J Retail Consum Serv 52:101923. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.101923

Gonzalez RA, Ferro RE, Liberona D (2020) Government and governance in intelligent cities, smart transportation study case in Bogotá Colombia. Ain Shams Eng J 11(1):25–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2019.05.002

Gretzel U, Koo C, Sigala M, Xiang Z (2015a) Special issue on smart tourism: convergence of information technologies, experiences, and theories. Electron Mark 25(3):175–177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-015-0194-x

Gretzel U, Sigala M, Xiang Z, Koo C (2015b) Smart tourism: foundations and developments. Electron Mark 25:179–188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8

Gretzel U, Werthner H, Koo C, Lamsfus C (2015c) Conceptual foundations for understanding smart tourism ecosystems. Comput Hum Behav 50:558–563. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.03.043

Ho CI, Lin YC, Yuan YL, Chen MC (2016) Pre-trip tourism information search by smartphones and use of alternative information channels: a conceptual model. Cogent Soc Sci 2(1):1136100. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2015.1136100

Hunter WC, Chung N, Gretzel U, Koo C (2015) Constructivist research in smart tourism. Asia Pac J Inf Syst 25(1):105–120. https://doi.org/10.14329/apjis.2015.25.1.105

Ingram C, Caruana R, McCabe S (2017) PARTicipative inquiry for tourist experience. Ann Tour Res 65:13–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2017.04.008

Jeong M, Shin HH (2020) Tourists’ experiences with smart tourism technology at smart destinations and their behavior intentions. J Travel Res 59(8):1464–1477. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287519883034

Jovicic DZ (2019) From the traditional understanding of tourism destination to the smart tourism destination. Curr Issues Tour 22(3):276–282. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2017.1313203

Kamboj S, Gupta S (2020) Use of smart phone apps in co-creative hotel service innovation: an evidence from India. Curr Issues Tour 23(3):323–344. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2018.1513459

Kwok LC, Yu B (2013) Spreading social media messages on Facebook: an analysis of restaurant business-to-consumer communications. Cornell Hosp Q 54(1): 84–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965512458360

Lamsfus C, Wang D, Alzua-Sorzabal A, Xiang Z (2014) Going mobile defining context for on-the-go travelers. J Travel Res 54(6):691–701. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287514538839

Li Q, Zhang Y (2022) Design and implementation of smart tourism service platform from the perspective of artificial intelligence. Wirel Commun Mob Comput 2022(20):3501003. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3501003

Li Y, Hu C, Huang C, Duan L (2017) The concept of smart tourism in the context of tourism information services. Tour Manag 58:293–300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.014

Lin J, Niu J, Li H, Atiquzzaman M (2019) A secure and efficient location-based service scheme for smart transportation. Future Gener Comput Syst 92:694–704. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2017.11.030

Mehraliyev F, Choi Y, Köseoglu MA (2019) Progress on smart tourism research. J Hosp Tour Technol 10(4):522–538. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-08-2018-0076

Melián-González S, Bulchand-Gidumal J, López-Valcárcel BG (2013) Online customer reviews of hotels: as participation increases, better evaluation is obtained. Cornell Hosp Q 54(3):274–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965513481498

Naik MB, Kumar P, Majhi S (2019) Smart public transportation network expansion and its interaction with the grid. Int J Electr Power Energy Syst 105:365–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2018.08.009

Neuhofer B, Buhalis D, Ladkin A (2015) Smart technologies for personalized experiences: a case study in the hospitality domain. Electron Mark 25(3):243–254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-015-0182-1

Okumus B, Ali F, Bilgihan A, Ozturk AB (2016) Factors affecting the acceptance of smartphone diet applications. J Hosp Mark Manag 25(6):726–747. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2016.1082454

Okumus B, Ali F, Bilgihan A, Ozturk AB (2018) Psychological factors influencing customers’ acceptance of smartphone diet apps when ordering food at restaurant. Int J Hosp Manag 72:67–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.01.001

Pearce PL (2020) Tourists’ perception of time: directions for design. Ann Tour Res 83:102932. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.102932

Sarcona A, Kovacs L, Wright J, Williams C (2017) Differences in eating behavior, physical activity, and health-related lifestyle choices between users and nonusers of mobile health apps. Am J Health Educ 48(5):298–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2017.1335630

Schmidt-Rauch S, Schwabe G (2014) Designing for mobile value co-creation—the case of travel counselling. Electron Mark 24(1):5–17

Sarmah B, Kamboj S, Rahman Z (2017) Co-creation in hotel service innovation using smart phone apps: an empirical study. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 29(10):2647–2667. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-12-2015-0681

Siuhi S, Mwakalonge J (2016) Opportunities and challenges of smart mobile applications in transportation. J Traffic Transp Eng 3(6):582–592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.11.001

Stankova U, Filimonaub V, Slivarc I (2019) Calm ICT design in hotels: a critical review of applications and implications. Int J Hosp Manag 82:298–307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.10.012

Vargo SL, Lusch RF (2016) Institutions and axioms: an extension and update of service-dominant logic. J Acad Mark Sci 44(1):5–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-015-0456-3

Vargo SL, Lusch RF (2017) Service-dominant logic 2025. Int J Res Mark 34(1):46–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2016.11.001

Wang S, Wang J, Li J, Yang F (2020) Do motivations contribute to local residents’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviors? Resident-destination relationship and pro-environmental climate perspective. J Sustain Tour 28:834–852. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2019.1707215

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Wang Y, Li H, Li C, Zhang D (2016) Factors affecting hotels’ adoption of mobile reservation systems: a technology-organization environment framework. Tour Manag 53:163–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.09.021

Wang X, Li X, Zhen F, Zhang J (2016) How smart is your tourist attraction?: measuring tourist preferences of smart tourism attractions via a FCEM-AHP and IPA approach. Tour Manag 54:309–320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.12.003

Xiang Z, Du Q, Ma Y, Fan W (2017) A comparative analysis of major online review platforms: implications for social media analytics in hospitality and tourism. Tour Manag 58:51–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.10.001

Xiang Z, Stienmetz J, Fesenmaier DR (2021) Smart tourism design: Launching the annals of tourism research curated collection on designing tourism places. Ann Tour Res 86:103154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2021.103154

Xiang Z, Wang D, O’Leary J, Fesenmaier D (2015) Adapting to the Internet: trends in travelers’ use of the Web for trip planning. J Travel Res 54(4):511–527. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287514522883

Xiao G, Cheng Q, Zhang C(2019) Detecting travel modes using rule-based classification system and Gaussian process classifier IEEE Access 7:116741–116752. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2936443

Ye BH, Ye H, Law R (2020) Systematic review of smart tourism research. Sustain 12(8):3401. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12083401

Zine P, Kulkarni M, Chawla R, Ray AA (2014) Framework for value co-creation through customization and personalization in the context of machine tool PSS. Procedia CIRP 16:32–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2014.01.005

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council under Grant NSTC 109-2410-H-153-031-SSS.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Leisure Management, College of Management, National Pingtung University, Pingtung, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Chung-Ming Chuang

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

C-MC is the single author of this research. He has made substantial contributions to all the works in the research.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chung-Ming Chuang .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The author declares no competing interests.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

Additional information.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Chuang, CM. The conceptualization of smart tourism service platforms on tourist value co-creation behaviours: an integrative perspective of smart tourism services. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 10 , 367 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01867-9

Download citation

Received : 26 December 2022

Accepted : 14 June 2023

Published : 30 June 2023

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01867-9

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

Explored Planet

20 Cities That Make The Perfect Travel Destination For Nature Lovers

Posted: February 28, 2024 | Last updated: February 29, 2024

While some may look for a getaway to a bustling city there are plenty of others who prefer the great outdoors. There are certain qualities to look for in a pleasant nature spot such as air quality, access to recreational activities, and the overall landscape.

Beautiful nature can be found almost anywhere, but there are some cities that need to be seen in person. So whether you want a relaxing stay at the beach, a cozy trip to the mountains, or a sun-filled desert adventure, these are the best cities for nature lovers.

Boulder, Colorado Brings The Sunshine

The high altitude city of Boulder, Colorado is surrounded by wondrous mountain peaks and sandstone slabs called Flatirons. Many outdoor enthusiasts come to Boulder to take in the view and participate in various recreational activities such as cycling, hiking, and rock climbing.

The landscape is picturesque during all months of the year with over 300 days of sunshine. Even during the snowy months, it's common for the day to become warmer, so hikers can climb atop the trails of the snow-capped mountains. There are also over 60 parks and 151 public trails, so people can see nature at all angles.

See Nature In Seattle, Washington In An Unexpected Way

There's a reason why Seattle was nicknamed the Emerald City. It's because they are able to have fresh greenery all year-round. Even though Seattle, Washington is one of the most populous cities in the United States it manages to have a lot of nature.

One of the most popular places to take in the outside world is the 534-acre Discovery Park. It's filled with fresh wilderness, meadows, beaches, bluffs, mountain views, gigantic trees, and more. Those who prefer to see nature in a unique way may want to take a hot air balloon or helicopter tour of the city.

Portland, Oregon Has One Of The Largest Urban Parks

There are several areas to explore nature in Portland, Oregon. It's situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade Mountains, which makes for numerous outdoor options. Forest Park happens to be one of the largest urban forests in the United States and includes over 80 miles of hiking trails with greenery and river views.

Portland has about 40 other state parks and eight beaches all wrapped up into only 5,100 acres, so there is plenty of space to view nature and not feel surrounded by other people.

Explore The Many Landscapes Of Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand was rated one of the top three most livable cities in the world and that may be due to it's superb natural landscape. The city is a perfect balance of urban and country with everything being a short distance from beaches, islands, hiking trails, and more.

It's easy to find lush rainforests, black-sand coves, vineyards, deep green forests, and sparkling bays. Many travel experts recommend going to Waiheke Island, Mount Eden, Rangitoto Island, and the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. Movie fans may also want to check out the Hobbiton Movie Set where The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies were filmed.

Enjoy These Seasonal Activities In Provo, Utah

One of the most scenic cities in Utah is Provo. It's situated between the Wasatch Mountains and Utah Lake, which makes for an abundance of outdoor recreational activities. People can go biking and hiking during the spring and summer and downhill and cross-country skiing during the winter.

Provo Canyon has top-rated nature and parks according to Trip Advisor because it offers plenty of room for people to fish, raft, practice archery, go on picnics, and more all while taking in the waterfalls and tall mountain ranges. There are about eight state parks and four beaches to soak up some sun as well.

Don't Miss This Famous Event In Albuquerque, New Mexico

The weather in Albuquerque, New Mexico is usually pretty comfortable in the spring, fall, and winter, but summers can be hot and dry. Those who are there during the autumn get to see the coveted Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta where hundreds of hot-air balloons are flown over the Rio Grande Valley.

Similar to Boulder, Colorado, Albuquerque also experiences around 300 sunny days per year, which provides outdoor enthusiasts with ample opportunities to spend their days in the sun. Some of the best places in Albuquerque to explore nature include the La Luz Trail, ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden, and Elena Gallegos Park.

How To Get Some Solitude In San Francisco, California

On average San Francisco, California gets 15 million visitors a year. They aren't only there to check out the city views, but also to explore the numerous natural areas including the San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Glen Canyon Park. Since the city is overcrowded these spots are able to create the illusion of some solitude.

A trip to San Francisco wouldn't be complete without visiting Golden Gate Park. It is one of the largest urban parks in the world and is 20 percent bigger than Central Park and filled with lush green trees and adventurous hiking trails.

Spot Some Bald Eagles In Vancouver, Canada

Colossal mountain ranges and clear blue water can be found in any direction you look in Vancouver, Canada. Both the mountains and the beaches are only a half-hour away from the downtown area, which makes it easy to get the best of the city and great outdoors.

Vancouver has a ton of public city, regional, and provincial parks to get people closer to nature. For example, Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park is the best place to spot bald eagles during the winter and Kitsilano Park comes with sandy beaches, grassy fields, an outdoor swimming pool, and basketball and tennis courts.

Alexandria, Virginia Has A Ton Of History

According to Choice Hotels, Alexandria, Virginia is one of the most walkable cities in America. It makes up part of the Washington D.C. area along the Potomac River and is filled with tons of historic sites including the 17-mile Mount Vernon Trail that ends at George Washington's house (pictured).

There is a total of 940 acres of parks and recreation areas with about 20 state parks and 19 nearby beaches. Nature lovers should also check out the Dora Kelley Nature Park where they can explore the preserve by going on the trails, visiting animals, or taking environmental classes.

Dive Right Into Jacksonville, Florida

Those who come to Jacksonville, Florida should expect to be spending a lot of their time at the beach. Of course, Jacksonville is also home to the largest urban park system in the United States with over 450 separate parks for people to enjoy.

Some popular outdoor activities include camping, fishing, surfing, and paddleboarding. This Florida city offers plenty of wildlife at the beaches, marshes, waterways, and woodlands. One spot that will get the attention of any adventure seeker is Timuncuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. It has over 46,000 acres where people can learn about 6,000 years of human history and see the salt marshes, coastal dunes, and more.

How Madison, Wisconsin Was Formed

Madison, Wisconsin sits on an isthmus, which means it's completely surrounded by water. No matter where someone is in the city they will almost always have a clear view of the gorgeous blue water. The ancient landscape in Madison was actually formed by glaciers many years ago.

Travel experts urge visitors to come in the warmer seasons because the winters are usually cold and harsh. During those spring and summer months, people can go swimming at the lakes, take a stroll through the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, hit the trail at Cherokee Marsh, or gander at the "prairie-style" architecture.

The Must-See Wonders Of Reykjavik, Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland almost looks as if it came out of a storybook. The landscape is unlike most places around the world because of the deep canyons, mighty glaciers, volcanoes, lava fields, waterfalls, and more. One of the most thrilling sights is the Northern Lights.

These are the results of solar particles entering the earth's magnetic field at high atmosphere. The lights usually appear as green, but can also change to purple, blue, orange, red, and pink. Those wanting to see them in person should visit Iceland from September to March because the nights are longer.

Minneapolis, Minnesota Has The Best Public Park System

The City of Minneapolis states that people are never further than six blocks from a park, which is something that can be difficult in urban areas. Minneapolis isn't short of waterfalls, lakes, and trails that are in place to keep people active and healthy all year long.

The Trust for Public Land mentioned that Minneapolis also has the best public park system in the country. There are also plenty of opportunities for people to educate themselves on the natural wildlife at places such as the Minnesota Zoo or the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory.

Manchester, New Hampshire Came A Long Way From Its Beginnings

According to The Crazy Tourist, Manchester, New Hampshire is the 23rd best city to live in America. It centered in the middle of the New England area and began as a small mill town. When people spend their time outdoors in Manchester they usually choose to go to the lakes and rivers.

Lake Massabesic is one of the most beautiful lakes in New Hampshire and a fun spot for water activities such as kayaking, fishing, and paddleboarding. There are also several hiking trails where people can stretch their legs and look for some rare birds.

The Many Places To Explore In Reno, Nevada

While Reno, Nevada may be famous for having multiple casinos and hotels, it actually is surrounded by a lot of nature. It makes up part of Lake Tahoe where people often go to ski during the colder months and participate in water activities during the warmer months.

Those who love animals may want to see the almost 20,000 wild mustangs and donkeys that live along the highways. If you've ever wanted to go to the moon, the Lunar Crater Volcanic Field resembles meteors with 20 inactive volcanoes. Also, be sure to check out the Sand Mountain Recreation Area where massive sand dunes were formed during the last ice age.

People From All Over Come To Willemstad, Curaçao

Willemstad, Curaçao is a Dutch Caribbean island known for its pastel-colored colonial architecture and 38 crystal-clear beaches. Visitors from all over the world come to snorkel and dive into the water to see the diverse marine life. The majority of Willemstad is actually undeveloped, which means there are plenty of outdoor areas where you won't be crowded by others.

Not only do they have some secluded beaches, but their national parks are also worth seeing. Christoffel Park is the largest national park and wildlife preserve in Curaçao and has tons of cacti, rocky terrain, and dramatic cliffs.

Discover What The Desert Has To Offer In Phoenix, Arizona

When in Phoenix, Arizona it's almost impossible not to notice the towering cacti. The hot, dry climate mixed with the Southwestern landscape makes for a nature-friendly area for everyone to explore. One of the first places to go is the Phoenix Sonoran Preserve, which has tons of desert wildlife and hiking and biking trails.

More experienced hikers may want to go to Camelback Mountain at the Echo Canyon Recreation Area. The trails are made of sandstone and hikers often see tons of animals such as rabbits, snakes, lizards, birds, antelopes, and squirrels.

John Muir Loved This Part Of Juneau, Alaska

Juneau is the capital of Alaska and is known for its grand mountainous views that stretch around the entire city. It's mostly become a port city for cruise ships but features many famous attractions and recreational areas. Fishing fanatics will love the Auke Bay Recreational Area equipped with great water spots, covered picnic areas, and a sloping gravel beach.

Those who want to see a real Alaskan glacier should head over to the Mendenhall Glacier in Tongass National Forest. It dates back 3,000 years ago during the Little Ice Age and was a favorite spot for John Muir.

Kauai, Hawaii Was Formed Over 70 Million Years Ago

It's a little tricky to see the Na Pali Coast in Kauai, Hawaii in person, but it can be done. The coastline is tucked away and can only be reached by helicopter, catamaran boat, or a vigorous hike through the lush green cliffs. Na Pali Coast was formed by volcanic eruptions over 70 million years ago.

The tropical landscape on Kauai sets itself apart because of the vibrant flora and fauna surrounding the island. After the Na Pali Coast, the white-sand beaches of Poipu and the deep valleys of Waimea Canyon are perfect places to see what nature has to offer.

Singapore, Malaysia Is The Greenest City In Asia

According to the Environmental Performance Index, Singapore, Malaysia is the greenest city in Asia. Singapore is an island surrounded by rich greenery and makes an effort to be environmentally conscious, especially due to its high population density.

People who want to see some nature don't even need to leave the bustling city because there are numerous green buildings. For example, the Gardens by the Bay and the Jewel Changi Airport have vertical gardens that are almost 200-feet tall. Also, the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is one of the few forests left in Singapore with over 840 different plants and over 500 animal species.

More for You

New York judge says FDNY booing of Letitia James, pro-Trump chants not about politics, 'has to do with race'

Arby’s Is Giving Away Free Sandwiches All Month Long

Eight passengers stranded on African island after Norwegian cruise ship left without them

Moment huge explosion rips through Russian ammo factory after drone smashes into it

Forbes’ rich list gains $2 trillion as Taylor Swift and Sam Altman become billionaires

The Exact Time to Quit Your Job, According to Chief HR Officer

Tyrann Mathieu eager to reunite with Willie Gay: 'The city is going to love him'

Taylor Swift wins artist of the year at iHeartRadio Awards: 'To the fans, it's completely up to you'

Carnival Cruise Line makes controversial boarding policy clear

Supreme Court Justice Faces Lawsuit for Ethic Violations and Avoiding Tax Laws

Janet Jackson Returns to Japan for Triumphant Together Again Tour Chronicling Legendary Career

Most Valuable Vinyl Records Worth Money

Why Do Dogs Lick Their Paws? 8 Common Reasons and How to Stop It

Peanuts by Charles Schulz

Vladimir Putin humiliated as Russian air force accidentally reveal location of fighter jets

A startup's solar-powered backyard tiny home can help power the main house — see inside its first 100 prefab ADUs starting at $279,000

Steelers' quarterback situation reportedly led to Diontae Johnson's trade request

People Are Going Wild For Aldi's $20 Raised Garden Beds

36-year-old brought in $77,000 in passive income from Etsy in 2023—she spends 5-10 minutes per day on it

Report: Bronny James decides to enter NCAA transfer portal