A Study on Tourist Satisfaction towards Ecotourism with Special Reference to Ooty

Abstract

Ecotourism is the rapidly developing proportion of tourism industry with a growing attention on natural environment. It has the potential to attract domestic and international tourists to various tourist destinations. With a focus on environmental protection, the concept of eco-tourism is gaining momentum. The growth in population and increasing movement of people towards tourist destinations to relax themselves necessitates the maintenance of protective environment for healthy tourism. In this regard, the present research aims to measure the tourists’ satisfaction and also problems faced by the tourists towards eco-tourism in Ooty. The study uses primary data collected from 130 conveniently chosen tourists through a structured questionnaire survey. Simple percentage analysis, one-way ANOVA and Z-test are used to know the level of satisfaction towards ecotourism. Henry Garrett Ranking method is applied to rank the problems faced by the tourists towards eco-tourism. The result shows that there is no significant difference in the satisfaction among the respondent groups of socio-economic variables and the major problem of tourists towards eco-tourism at Ooty, Tamil Nadu is overcrowding. The suggestions given to the government and management of tourist destinations will help to keep the nature safe and perform eco-tourism methods in a better way for improvement of tourism at Ooty.