DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL-FRIENDLY RAFT TOURISM ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/jesm.2026.6Keywords:
Raft tourism, Sustainable tourism, Assessment criteria, Environmentally friendly tourism, ReliabilityAbstract
This research aimed to analyze and synthesize the components of environmentally friendly raft tourism criteria, develop and validate the assessment criteria, and support sustainable tourism management while minimizing environmental impacts. A research and development approach was employed through the analysis and synthesis of sustainable tourism concepts, field-based information, and relevant literature. The developed criteria were evaluated using the Index of Item-Objective Congruence (IOC) and reliability assessment instruments.
The results identified 25 preliminary indicators covering four dimensions: environmental, socio-cultural, economic, and safety and management. Content validity was assessed by three experts, and the average IOC values of the four dimensions were 0.90, 1.00, 0.83, and 0.97, respectively. Based on expert recommendations, three additional indicators were incorporated, resulting in a total of 28 indicators. Reliability testing was subsequently conducted with 30 stakeholders, including raft tourism operators, tourists, academics, and relevant local agencies. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the environmental, socio-cultural, economic, and safety and management dimensions were 0.942, 0.649, 0.384, and 0.887, respectively.
The findings suggest that the developed criteria can serve as a preliminary framework for assessing and enhancing environmentally friendly raft tourism. However, the socio-cultural and economic dimensions require further refinement to improve indicator coverage and reliability before the criteria can be widely implemented as a standardized assessment tool in future applications.
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