Place of Biocultural Heritage in Post Covid-19 Tourism Destination Choice

Abstract

Rural space, protected areas, and nature in general become so-called “hot spots” in the tourist perspective in the last two years. The covid-19 outbreak caused growing commercial tourism to have a tendency to transform and go a step far from sustainability to regenerative directions. These changes consider “to rebuild”, “renew”, and “getting back to tradition and roots” where ecosystem services and wild plants in focused. In recent times, several studies of tourists’ behaviors and attitudes towards utilization and interest in wild edible plants have been conducted. This study represents the results of research conducted on 53 tourists and 20 local touristic households in the Biosphere “Golija-Studenica” to explore relationships between wild edible plants utilization/collection and the tourism experience. According to the results, there is an increased interest or demand for wild edible plants by tourists and local people. On the one hand, these demands are the result of long traditions and on the other hand the increased desire for healthy food. Different socio-demographic backgrounds of tourists impact their environmental awareness, knowledge and education on goods and services from nature. This study highlights the need to fulfil ecological responsibility when tourism occurs in ecologically worth areas to achieve bicultural conservation and regenerative approach