Tourism as a Tool in Nature-Based Mental Health: Progress and Prospects Post-Pandemic.

The healthcare sector recognises the role of nature in mental health. The tourism sector is equipped to take people to national parks. The conservation sector gains support from visitors. Theoretical frameworks for mental health benefits from nature tourism include: tourism destinations and activities; tourist personalities and life histories; sensory and emotional components of tourist experiences; and intensity and duration of memories. Mental health deteriorated worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recovery of global economic productivity requires immediate, accessible, affordable mental health measures at national scales, and nature-based approaches provide the best option. Different countries have adopted a variety of public, private, or voluntary mechanisms. Some focus on design of activities, others on provision of facilities. Costs and implementation depend on key research questions: marginal benefits of nature tour guides or psychologists compared to self-guided nature experiences; comparisons between repeated brief visits and one-off nature holidays; effects of biodiversity, flagship species, and scenic or wilderness quality; and differences between individuals, depending on personalities, life histories, and mental health status and symptoms.

Ten steps for specifying saturation in qualitative research.

Saturation is critical to reliability of qualitative social sciences, but methods descriptions differ greatly in the degree of detail provided. Rigour could be improved by routinely following a ten-step methodological protocol. 1. Define the underlying disciplinary framework. 2. Specify the target class precisely. 3. Show how participants or cases were selected or excluded. 4. Describe techniques to minimise inadvertent or indirect selection bias. 5. Report homogeneity or heterogeneity of cases, relative to the focus of analysis. 6. Report processes for elicitation or extraction of information content. 7. Select code, meaning or model saturation. 8. Specify code and concept fineness or granularity. 9. Report order and randomisation of cases. 10. Define the level of precision in post facto tests of saturation.

Stakeholder controls and conflicts in research funding and publication.

Academics are required by their university employers both to raise research funding and to publish research findings, but conditions imposed by research funders may conflict with the requirements of research publishers. These conflicts create risks, with potentially severe consequences, that differ between research fields and funders, and must be navigated by individual academics. I propose that universities report cases of conflict, including causes and resolutions, to national registries accessible to all research organisations. These could serve both as a warning to grant applicants, and a deterrent to future interference by funders.

Mental health key to tourism infrastructure in China's new megapark.

The global economic value of parks through improved mental health of tourists has been estimated at about ten times greater than direct park tourism expenditure. The Chinese term for this health services value is jing hua xin ling, psychological destressing. Here we present the first case where optimal tourist infrastructure is influenced by including mental health. Using a multi-stage, cross-lingual, differential stakeholder method, we analyse conflicts between road- and roadless-access tourism in the very large new Sanjiangyuan National Park, Qinghai, which offers jing hua xin ling to domestic tourists from eastern-seaboard cities. This provides a powerful tourism attraction, and hence economic opportunity, for the region around the park. If these mental health aspects are included, together with their direct and indirect consequences for tourism, then roadlessness is preferable to new roads. Similar infrastructure conflicts occur for park tourism worldwide, and jing hua xin ling can provide a global theoretical framework.

Understanding and managing the interactions of impacts from nature-based recreation and climate change.

Disturbance to ecosystems in parks and protected areas from nature-based tourism and recreation is increasing in scale and severity, as are the impacts of climate change-but there is limited research examining the degree to which these anthropogenic disturbances interact. In this perspective paper, we draw on the available literature to expose complex recreation and climate interactions that may alter ecosystems of high conservation value such that important species and processes no longer persist. Our emphasis is on ecosystems in high demand for tourism and recreation that also are increasingly experiencing stress from climate change. We discuss the importance of developing predictive models of direct and indirect effects, including threshold and legacy effects at different levels of biological organization. We present a conceptual model of these interactions to initiate a dialog among researchers and managers so that new research approaches and managerial frameworks are advanced to address this emerging issue.

Mental health rescue effects of women's outdoor tourism: A role in COVID-19 recovery.

Mental and social health outcomes from a portfolio of women's outdoor tourism products, with ~100,000 clients, are analysed using a catalysed netnography of >1000 social media posts. Entirely novel outcomes include: psychological rescue; recognition of a previously missing life component, and flow-on effects to family members. Outcomes reported previously for extreme sports, but not previously for hiking in nature, include psychological transformation. Outcomes also identified previously include: happiness, gratitude, relaxation, clarity and insights, nature appreciation, challenge and capability, and companionship and community effects. Commercial outdoor tourism enterprises can contribute powerfully to the wellbeing of women and families. This will be especially valuable for mental health recovery, following deterioration during COVID-19 coronavirus lockdowns worldwide.

Author Correction: Economic value of protected areas via visitor mental health.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Economic value of protected areas via visitor mental health.

We evaluate methods to calculate the economic value of protected areas derived from the improved mental health of visitors. A conservative global estimate using quality-adjusted life years, a standard measure in health economics, is US$6 trillion p.a. This is an order of magnitude greater than the global value of protected area tourism, and two to three orders greater than global aggregate protected area management agency budgets. Future research should: refine this estimate using more precise methods; consider interactions between health and conservation policies and budgets at national scales; and examine links between personalities and protected area experiences at individual scale.