Tors, moors and ponies: a case study of stakeholders’ perspectives on mindfulness and sustainability at a nature-based tourism destination in the UK Open Access

Tourism has been called a “sword with two sharp edges” as it brings economic opportunities to destinations but also challenges related to sustainability (Magnusson et al., 2024). Nature-based tourism is growing, and at the same time, pressures on natural areas remain acute (Donici and Dumitras, 2024). The necessity of actions oriented towards more sustainable tourism has been more visible for policymakers, businesses, academia and the public in the last few decades. And while there has been wide attention to sustainability in tourism literature, there is still a need to further understand the complexity of the topic (Niewiadomski and Brouder, 2024).

How can stakeholders at nature-based tourism destinations, including both public and private organisations and individuals, promote sustainable practices? Here this question is approached by exploring the perspectives of various stakeholders in Dartmoor National Park (DNP), a nature-based tourism site in the South West of the UK, through the application of mindfulness theory. As stated by Räikkönen et al. (2021), national park cases are important in terms of their contributions to conservation, the well-being of local communities and efforts to make visitors behave responsibly. This case study thus provides a valuable contribution to the literature by examining how nature-based tourism can successfully move towards more sustainable practices in the case of DNP.

The underlying framework is based on the socio-cognitive mindfulness theory originally developed in the field of psychology by Langer (1989 and 1997), which defines mindfulness in terms of openness to novelty, alertness to distinction, sensitivity to different contexts, awareness of multiple perspectives and orientation in the present. Building on the work of Moscardo (1992 and 1999), who adapted socio-cognitive mindfulness to the domain of tourism studies with a focus on heritage sites, this article brings the mindfulness model to bear on a nature-based tourism site, DNP, in line with other research by the author (Vozar, 2024) and explores the implications for sustainable practices at such sites.

The present study investigates, in particular, the ways in which stakeholders communicate with visitors and contribute to their learning. Moscardo (2006) affirmed that encouraging visitors’ state of mindfulness benefitted service providers because mindful visitors tend to respond to conservation messages, which is in the interest of service providers. For this reason, it is important to understand how stakeholders encourage their visitors to engage in more active processing of the information provided or to become more mindful, which can thereby promote more sustainable practices. Bertella (2016) argued that tourists experience a place through environmental and social encounters that stimulate both cognitive and emotional responses. Therefore, as service providers and authorities have the power to affect visitors’ level of mindfulness via their nature-based services, in distinction to previous studies, this research attempts to understand the supply side and their offerings to visitors that can raise visitors’ awareness towards conservation. In this sense, undertaking this case study was also essential as it shows how the dual purposes of national parks (conservation and recreation) can be enhanced via mindful services and approaches provided by various stakeholders to serve these dual goals. Cheng et al. (2022) mentioned the importance of enhancing visitor experience without compromising ecological protection. In a similar vein, Bushell and McCool (2007) stated that when people enjoy natural settings, they respect and value them, and this can contribute to shaping their environmental awareness and conservation ethics. However, how these experiences can be enhanced to serve these dual purposes by stakeholders of national parks was not clear. This study fills the gap by examining the stakeholders’ perspectives and considering how the stakeholders work with the special qualities of the case area to serve this purpose. In addition, this study shows how the connections of DNP stakeholders with each other contribute to their business development and local development.

This case study of Dartmoor proceeds via analysis of stakeholder interviews based on the setting factors outlined in Moscardo’s (1996) model that lead to the development of mindfulness, including variety/change, multisensory media, novelty, use of questions, visitor control/interactive exhibits, connection to visitors and physical/cognitive orientation. The results demonstrate some of the ways in which stakeholders make use of these setting factors to promote both local development and conservation. Furthermore, this study fills a gap in the literature by exploring the practical application of the communication factors in the mindfulness model in the case of DNP.

Previous studies related to mindfulness in the tourism literature have mostly used quantitative methods as a way of measuring visitor experience (Frauman and Norman, 2004; Ganesan et al., 2014; Moscardo, 2006; Moscardo and Pearce, 1986; Van Winkle and Backman, 2008; Woods and Moscardo, 2003). On the other hand, few studies used qualitative methods to discover the relationships between mindfulness and visitor satisfaction (Ling et al., 2019; Walker and Moscardo, 2016). Dutt and Ninov’s study (2016) included interviews with tourism business managers, but it did not address the communication or setting factors provided by the businesses. In this article, different educational and recreational tools from various stakeholders perspectives were explored to consider how these contribute to visitors’ experience.

Recently, Iacob et al. (2024) provided a very useful overview of tourism studies which used mindfulness theory to understand its impact on visitor experience. They analysed 25 mindfulness studies, which included both socio-cognitive and meditative mindfulness. In terms of meditative mindfulness, some recent studies showed that mindfulness-based approaches are vital tools to reduce the negative impacts of situations like pandemics on people’s well-being (Stankov and Filimonau, 2021; Stankov et al., 2022). In a similar vein, meditative mindfulness was used as an approach to understand the employees’ well-being and effectiveness at work (Ayazlar and Ayazlar, 2024; Dsouza et al., 2023). The study of Kaya et al. (2024) also acknowledged the importance of sociocognitive mindfulness. However, the focus of their study was meditative mindfulness and its impact on the well-being of tourists.

There have been a few important studies conducted whose main concerns were socio-cognitive mindfulness in recent years. Chan (2019) demonstrated that making visitors mindful via audio tours increased their awareness about sustainability. Dharmesti et al. (2020) analysed mindfulness and its relevance to tourists’ pro-environmental behaviours (PEB). They discussed how mindfulness raises the awareness of an individual about the environment, and as a result, they tend to have higher PEBs. Another study, Prentice et al. (2021), showed the impact of mindfulness on service quality. An et al. (2024) applied mindfulness theory to tourist experience and destination loyalty. However, it remains to be explored how setting factors (variety, visitor control, novelty and multi-sensory components) are used by various stakeholders as a prerequisite of mindfulness and for their business development.

There are some alternative concepts in the literature that could be used to explain how experiences can contribute to visitors’ behaviour. Two examples might be the concept of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999) and the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991). However, mindfulness theory has offered a productive approach for studies of how visitors process new information in their surroundings that coheres with the aims of the present study. Langer (1989) and Moscardo (1996) have shown that mindful visitors tend to consider the particular qualities of a situation instead of being affected by old routines and relying on past behaviour. This might be useful in the context of this research, as mindful visitors may be more open to what is presented to them in natural environments. Mindful individuals constantly build their knowledge base by incorporating novel and different information, which can allow them to more easily process information about environmental impacts; similarly, as mindful individuals can view situations from multiple and innovative perspectives and respond to new contexts more quickly and more appropriately (Barber and Deale, 2014; Langer and Moldoveanu, 2000), they can understand better how they might appreciate and protect the environment. As a result, it may be the case that mindful visitors are more likely to look for choices that do less harm to the natural environment (such as paying more attention to the signs, not feeding the ponies, etc.). Compared with other approaches used in previous studies, using mindfulness theory for this study may therefore provide important insights into how to encourage more pro-environment behaviour (PEB).

The choice of a national park as a case study is valuable since the designation of national park status establishes an official concern in protecting that environment for future generations. Devon, which is located in the South West of England, is one of the most significant destinations for domestic tourists. DNP was awarded national park status in 1951, and landscape and wildlife in the area have been protected since that time (Dartmoor National Park, 2004). It is internationally important owing to the fact that Dartmoor’s landscape is amongst the richest in Western Europe in terms of its unique wildlife heritage and its archaeological remains (Dartmoor National Park Authority, 2018).

This study uses a qualitative exploratory research design to examine stakeholders’ perceptions of the special qualities of Dartmoor and how they utilise these special qualities in their interactions with visitors and for their business development. The semi-structured interview technique is a useful way of accessing interviewees’ perceptions and thoughts concerning relevant issues and concepts (Veal, 2006).

The method of interviewing allowed access to the opinions and perceptions of relevant stakeholders and thus enabled the fulfilment of these objectives. Before designing the interview schedule, several trips were made to DNP in order both to achieve some familiarity with the research area and to develop connections with some key stakeholders. The interview questions were adapted according to the respondents' areas of expertise. Interviews ranged from as short as 30 min to as long as 60 min. The semi-structured interviews with stakeholders consisted of two steps: pilot interviews and then the main interviews. Since pre-testing of the research is an important first step, two pilot interviews were conducted to practice and improve the clarity of the interview questions; these were also useful in determining the approximate length of the interview. After the pilot interviews, some of the questions were clarified, and additional components were added.

Purposive sampling was decided on initially. For purposive sampling, participants should be carefully selected based on the purpose of the research and the research questions. There is no standard to specify the numbers involved in sampling (Dwyer et al., 2012; Ritchie et al., 2004). Before conducting the interviews, contact was made with people met during earlier visits to the research area. In addition, in order to reach more participants, various businesses, charities, authorities and other stakeholders were contacted by email and by phone. Their contact details were obtained from the Visit Dartmoor website. Emails were sent and calls were made explaining the current research and its aims and asking for participants. However, only a few people responded. Hence, after a few interviews were conducted, the sampling strategy was changed to snowball sampling. Two of the participants were asked to identify further participants. New cases were asked to identify additional cases. Participants suggested others in their networks that were related to the focus of this research, and contact was made with them to ask whether they were willing to be interviewed. There are some concerns about snowball sampling in terms of generalising and external validity (Bryman and Bell, 2015). But for this study, rather than generalising, gaining different opinions from different businesses and organisations about the relevant themes, such as mindfulness and special qualities, was considered more important. Getting the insights of particular groups of people and hearing their points of view was more crucial than quantifying the answers for this stage of this research. Interviews were conducted with different stakeholders from DNP who were selected specifically because of their important role in the policymaking process, as in the case of authorities, or their economic importance, as in the case of accommodation and food services, which constitute the largest sector in DNP (Devon City Council, 2016).

Interviews (n = 14) were conducted between May and June 2019. This was initially thought to be as many interviews as could be managed; it has been argued that interviews should continue until there are no new cases or the sample is as large as manageable (Saunders et al., 2016). Later, however, during analysis of the qualitative data, it was found that more information was required, in particular from the perspective of the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA), so it was decided that several more interviews would be conducted. Therefore, contact was made with potential additional participants from the DNPA in January 2020. Five more interviews were conducted between February and March 2020. Of these additional interviewees, three held different positions in the DNPA, while two represented significant DNP landowners. As little new data was appearing in the research, after the last five interviews, the qualitative data collection was concluded. As was argued by Koerber and McMichael (2008), when the data collected seems redundant and all of the data collected are full enough to provide adequate information for the research, this signifies that it has reached the data saturation point.

Semi-structured interviews were recorded and then transcribed. Notes written during the interviews by the researcher were also considered as these recorded additional information. This data was analysed using NVivo. The first step was to manage to reduce the amount of raw information by identifying significant patterns and constructing a framework for communicating the essence of what is shown in the data. In this respect, a thematic analysis approach, commonly used in qualitative research to focus on examining the themes in data, was used in the analysis of the qualitative data (Silverman, 2005). The process of thematic analysis started with coding, which enabled the identification and grouping of relevant extracts from various sources. This process (involving data coding, familiarisation, revisions, and theme development) encourages the researcher to see across the data in order to understand the broader themes and issues emerging (Richards, 2014).

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 DNP stakeholders, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as other key organisations such as charities and the DNPA. Most of the interviews were conducted face-to face. The rest were conducted by phone or online using a video call service. Interviewees’ length of service in DNP ranged from 1 year to 39 years. Participants held managerial or other positions in tourism businesses, charities and administrative bodies in DNP, as can be seen in Table 1.

Moscardo’s (1992, 1996) setting factors were created for heritage settings rather than a national park like Dartmoor. Themes from the interviews were therefore created with consideration of both the research objectives and the setting factors from the model, as these factors induce visitors’ mindfulness. After transcripts were imported into the NVivo software, the coding process was started. Interview transcripts were imported into the Internals folder and grouped under the Interviews folder. Analysis of this data began with dividing the text into small sentences, assigning a code to each unit, and then grouping the codes into themes. Rapley’s (2011, cited in Harding (2018), p. 83) steps were considered during the coding process:

• (1)

  Identifying initial categories based on the reading of the transcripts;

• (2)

  Writing codes alongside the transcripts;

• (3)

  Reviewing the list of codes, revising the list of categories and deciding which codes appear in which category;

• (4)

  Looking for themes and findings in each category.

A process of iteration resulted in the set of themes and subthemes listed in Table 2.

Uniqueness. Frauman (2010) asserted that communication factors should be introduced and changed to attract participants’ attention. Similarly, Ling et al. (2019) argued that when settings have the feature of uniqueness, they are likely to be more effective at attracting visitors’ attention by making them excited or surprised. For instance, when visitors experience things that are different from their past experiences in the visited area, it might be more effective in terms of their learning.

A word frequency count test was conducted using the software package NVivo 12 to visualise the words used by the participants while they were talking about the uniqueness of DNP. These were summarised in a word cloud. It can be seen from the word cloud that the most used words are associated with the landscape, wildlife and history of Dartmoor. The results of this word frequency count test suggest what the participants considered to be some of the most representative words to describe DNP special qualities, as can be seen in Figure 1.

Communicating with visitors can help them to learn about and conduct appropriate behaviour (Moscardo, 1999). Offering visitors an opportunity to participate directly is not only a way to provide variety but also an important method for encouraging mindfulness (Orams, 1997). The use of volunteers was one of the examples of how special qualities were used to allow visitors to participate in protecting DNP. Interviewee 16 remarked on DNP’s use of volunteers, including voluntary wardens who help the rangers specifically, and noted how one volunteer group on Haytor undertook various activities such as clearing gorse, planting trees and creating a disabled route into the iconic Haytor Quarry for accessibility. These provide examples of activities in which visitors can feel involved in a place with a sense of care for it.

Participants also talked about other opportunities for visitor involvement in conservation. Interviewees 3, 12, 14 and 18 mentioned the importance of school groups and how it was helpful to raise visitors’ awareness and give them some degree of control over the interpretation. Interviewee 12, for example, talked about attracting students’ attention.

Variety can include the use of different media and the development of new activities, which may be different for different settings. For example, a space centre as a visitor attraction might provide a range of interpretive activities from guided tours to interactive displays (Moscardo and Ballantyne, 2008). DNP, which is different from many other settings in that it has a conservational purpose and variety in communication processes aims to help visitors to connect emotionally with the setting via its special qualities. Interviewees provided different kinds of variety, such as Hound of Baskervilles tours (Interviewee 1), free guided tours near Postbridge (Interviewee 4) or a lichen identification course as a way of demonstrating the biodiversity of DNP (Interviewee 14).

Instead of traditional communication techniques, Interviewee 14’s interpretive techniques for visitors made use of a variety of different activities to be effective in creating more mindful visitors:

The opinions of interviewees mentioned above accord with the view of Moscardo (1996) that if the setting factors become too common and/or are used in a repetitive way, it is likely that they will lose their power to generate visitor mindfulness.

Participants were benefitting from the special qualities of DNP, especially landscape and wildlife, in developing their businesses. Interviewee 9 mentioned that images of Dartmoor tors were used on the menus at their business. Similarly, Interviewee 4 mentioned that special qualities were used in their social media accounts to advertise their place and the activities they were providing, all of which were supported by pictures taken at honeypot sites in DNP.

Hospitality-related businesses, especially Interviewees 5 and 8, stated how being located in DNP helped them upsell and gave them a competitive advantage against similar businesses in other locations. Many businesses providing food, accommodation or leisure activities in national park areas are SMEs and, as such, are constrained by limited financial and human resources (Gilmore and Simmons, 2007). Local collaboration is therefore crucial, as this can support and promote tourism and increase tourist spending across the area as a whole. This is true for businesses in the case of DNP, as noted by Interviewee 8:

Some food providers emphasise the local provenance of their produce, particularly cattle and sheep raised and grown in DNP. An example of this can be seen in Figure 2, which shows a food provider’s menu prominently advertising its supply of “Dartmoor beef, pork, and lamb”. The value of businesses trading locally, for instance, buying ingredients from or referring customers to one another, lies not only in the recirculation of money in the local economy but also in giving visitors another reason to visit when they see relations built on trust and personal contact. Local food, too, as in the case of the DNP area, can be a powerful way to forge connections to landscape and nature in the setting (Willis, 2012).

Visitor control. A key principle with regard to understanding how visitors respond to setting factors is visitor control, which refers to providing opportunities for visitors to have good physical orientation and a sense of control over their experiences (Ballantyne and Packer, 2005). Visitors should be able to easily access orientation systems, such as clear signage that allows them to navigate a space easily, if service providers or site managers want to ensure that visitors have effective use of the services offered. Good orientation can have a positive impact on visitors’ learning as they do not need to use their concentration on finding their way around (Moscardo, 1999). Interview participants generally believed that in terms of leaflets, interpretation boards and other tools to help visitors navigate Dartmoor, there were enough materials provided by businesses, organisations and the DNPA. However, in terms of signs, although some participants (for instance, Interviewees 3, 4 and 17) argued that there should be more signs in DNP, especially to minimise visitors’ negative impacts such as littering and feeding the ponies, others (Interviewee 1, 6, 15 and 18) advocated more limited signage and information so as to respect the landscape.

Novelty. If visitors are looking for new information or an educational element during their visit, it is expected that greater focus should be placed on communication and interpretation as integral parts of the visitor experience (Moscardo, 1999). Although education is one of the major components of the experience offered in many tourism and recreation settings, several interviewees indicated that some visitors are not motivated by learning new information. Hence the setting factor of novelty would seem to be closely related to whether or not visitors have a learning motive.

Interviewee 3 and 5 expressed that domestic visitors were more interested in having fun, while international visitors had more interest in learning. For this reason, novel information might be more effective in capturing international visitors’ attention. As Langer (1997) mentioned, learning a subject with an openness to novelty and actively noticing the contexts enables visitors to be receptive to changes in a present situation. Interviewee 1 remarked on his international guests’ desire for guides or tours.

Connection to visitors. If there is a personal connection to visitors, it will be easier to convey key messages or interpretations to visitors. Hence, facts become more meaningful to visitors if they are related to a concept that they can connect to themselves (Markwell and Weiler, 1998; Moscardo, 1999). Interview participants explained how they are making their visitors feel connected to DNP. Various examples in Table 3 show that interviewees mostly benefitted from the iconic features of DNP. Stories and local culture were passed to the visitors, and they were introduced to local people who live in DNP. In addition, some of the participants built rapport with visitors by introducing them to locally produced food and drinks or by telling them about the value of the farmers and residents of DNP.

The presentation of diverse activities by service providers in natural settings can include using multisensory and participatory options as well as the use of stories and narratives (Moscardo, 2008). Ogden et al. (1993), for instance, found that adding natural sounds to zoo displays increased visitors’ awareness about the natural environment and learning about animal–environment relations. In this respect, having multi-sensory components and stories in their communications with visitors was presented by interview participants as an important approach for making connections with visitors.

As can be seen from the opinions of Interviewee 1 about using multisensory components and stories related to DNP, it can be said that not only was visitors’ experience enhanced by the variety of activities but also that the active participation of visitors was enabled to the extent that Interviewee 1 could make them react to new information. The examples offered by Interviewee 1 indicate some of the ways that visitors can be engaged by the use of various senses in DNP:

Local development and cooperation. As the communities in national parks are an important element of the characteristics of the national parks, considering and protecting the economic and social benefits of the communities of national parks is a duty of NPAs. In the instance of DNP, it was found not only that the DNPA has this responsibility as a duty, but also that the businesses, charities and other organisations in DNP all make an effort to contribute to local development for the sake of these communities. As Mose and Mehnen (2020) stated, supporting the development of the local area in national parks contributes to their dual statutory purpose of promoting both conservation and recreation. Hence, National Park Authorities, businesses and other stakeholders (such as nature conservation organisations and tourism businesses) strive to work together by enhancing the information provided and the activities offered to contribute to the development and well-being of the local communities in the surrounding area. For this purpose, they have close relations with each other and especially with charities to support both communities and wildlife in DNP.

Table 4 indicates some common views from stakeholder groups, showing how businesses support local communities by using local ingredients and donating some of their income to charities that support wildlife in the area. Participants from the DNPA talked about how they help promote local businesses via partnerships. Businesses, in turn, were helping the DNPA distribute the annual free DNP magazine “Enjoy Dartmoor”. Hence, it can be said that the various stakeholder groups are working together to promote the area and to manage it. Charities, similarly, are working with the local people, such as guides and volunteers, both to make the local communities involved in what they are doing and to promote DNP as a destination.

Interviewee 19, a major landowning estate, stated that they were working with many local partners from the farming side to wildlife organisations. Businesses and authorities work especially closely with the Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust. The Dartmoor pony is the emblem of DNP, and interviewees wanted to help this charity to promote and support the preservation of rare breed Dartmoor ponies.

Challenges. Mindlessness, as opposed to mindfulness, makes it difficult to attend to new signals and rely on information without an active awareness and single perspective (Langer, 1997). Habit or the tendency to continue with behaviour that has been repeated over time, naturally implies mindlessness (Langer, 1989). The consequences of mindlessness vary from the trivial to the serious. The interviews revealed that visitors’ mindlessness was one of the biggest problems that participants were facing.

Pony feeding was one of the problems interviewees mentioned most frequently. They believed that visitors either ignored signs about feeding ponies or that they were not aware of the dangers. Interviewee 4 explained that the main issue they were facing with visitors was lack of knowledge:

The DNPA has tried to raise visitors’ awareness via interpretation channels such as campaigns, magazines and volunteer groups. In doing so, they have aimed to minimise negative impacts on the natural setting. They explain the reasons why visitors should not do certain actions that cause harm. As can be seen from Interviewee 15’s explanation, it was clear that the DNPA used some of the factors in the mindfulness model to provide effective interpretation to their visitors to increase their level of mindfulness. For instance, they were providing opportunities for visitors to participate, designing variety into the interpretation in terms of different media and changing presentation styles:

In terms of solving the problem of lack of knowledge, Interviewee 3 and Interviewee 16 shared the same opinion, which is that visitors should be informed about the consequences of their actions. For instance, according to Interviewee 3, if visitors knew that feeding the ponies on the edge of the road means that the ponies get hit by cars, visitors might be less likely to feed them. This accords with the observation of Ballantyne and Packer (2005) that informing visitors of the consequences of their actions can encourage more responsible behaviour. Hence, it was believed by Interviewee 3 that there should be signs with the explanation of the possible causes of visitors’ mindlessness. For similar reasons, Interviewee 16 stated that the DNPA was going to rebrand the signs that they had at the Visitor Centre car parks and other key car parks.

Interviewees presented the special qualities as contributing to visitors’ sense of caring of place in various ways, and to accomplish this, they found different ideas for engaging with their visitors. Stakeholders were using setting factors to make visitors more mindful and more connected to the environment of DNP. They provided the variety and participation opportunities for visitors to make personal connections.

Moscardo (2008) studied a cruise tour operator who improved his business by using the mindfulness principle: he gave tasks to his customers, such as handling the boat and helping identify birds using kits provided by the local park service, and added multi-sensory components by collecting specimens of the plants for visitors to touch and smell. Similarly, DNP interviewees provided visitors with various activities such as feeding chickens, collecting eggs and feeding deer while talking about DNP geography.

Likewise, when visitors attended a falconry display, they were encouraged to use multiple senses, while at the same time they learnt about local wildlife. Participants’ comments suggested that when visitors had more interaction and connection with nature, stakeholders received more positive feedback, and the information that they provided made more sense to visitors. Rather than a series of unconnected facts, engaging visitors’ senses and providing them with stories can give visitors more interest in learning and make their experiences more memorable (Bramwell and Lane, 1993; Carter, 1997).

For cultural settings, zoos or theme parks, it might be easier to provide more orientation, but in a national park this should be carefully considered, as it is important to maintain the naturalness of the setting as far as possible. Interviewees observed that Visitor Centres supplied sufficient information for the visitors. Hence, it was not necessary to add extra information and signage, as if too much were added, this might detract from the uniqueness of the wild moorland landscape. This suggests that there is a delicate balance to be maintained so that sufficient orientation is provided, but at the same time it does not distract visitors to the extent that they cannot connect with DNP and form a sense of caring for the place. In a similar vein to the interview participants for this study, Bramwell and Lane (1993) noted the necessity of providing good orientation, including signposts and recognisable landmarks, to help visitors to understand the places that they visit, especially for visitors who are less interested, while emphasising the simplicity of such orientation and information.

According to the results of the study of Kim et al. (2011), exposure to Visitor Centres led to visitors having a higher level of awareness, concern and support for management policies regarding responsible behaviour towards the environment within the natural setting that was visited. Hence, regardless of the purpose of visitors’ visitation or the benefits that visitors are looking for, exposure to Visitor Centres can help them to obtain an enhanced perspective (Moscardo, 2006). Stakeholders in this study largely confirmed the usefulness of DNP Visitor Centres in this regard, though they questioned whether these were relevant for visitors who lack an educational or learning motive.

Interviewees stated that although some people do not change their behaviour, it was witnessed that campaigns and interpretation services were effective in terms of learning for some other visitors. As was stated by Moscardo (2017), generally visitors show some changes in what they know about interpreted topics. The opinions of interviewees accord with this view, as they believed that the more visitor learning is engaged via their campaigns, the more visitors appreciate what they do and understand how they need to behave to support the protection of the area.

As one of the participants stated previously, ponies are “as important to Dartmoor as giraffes are to Africa”. The main idea behind the cooperative efforts and connections of interview participants with one another, interlinking the various stakeholders, was to try to ensure that revenue generated by DNP goes back into looking after the landscape and the local communities.

Setting factors in the mindfulness model are not only important for contributing to visitors’ level of mindfulness. They can also, in turn, result in more responsible visitor behaviour towards the natural environment, minimising visitors’ negative effects in the area where they visit and leading to more involvement in wildlife conservation, including advocating conservation, passing messages related to conservation to others and applying increased political pressure on governments to achieve conservation objectives and protection of local communities (Higginbottom et al., 2001). Hence, as the interview participants in this study are all associated with providing these setting factors to visitors, their perceptions were analysed under the special themes.

This study not only applied the setting or communication factors in the mindfulness model but also explored these factors’ connections to DNP stakeholders and their businesses/organisations. This approach was required by the case study area itself, since stakeholders in a national park share numerous connections and since the communication factors contribute significantly to local development.

First, it was found that participants use the special qualities of Dartmoor to provide their visitors variety (activities related to contributing to visitors’ learning) both to develop their businesses and to increase visitors’ support for conservation. When it came to visitor control, it was understood that participants enabled their visitors to have control over their experiences. Visitors were provided materials such as leaflets, interpretation boards and other tools to help them navigate Dartmoor. It was understood that businesses, organisations and the DNPA generally provide sufficient materials. This is important because if the setting does not have good orientation for visitors to navigate themselves, then visitors in new and unfamiliar settings would spend a lot of energy on getting oriented, and this situation might lead to visitors becoming less aware of their environment and to less learning occurring (Moscardo, 1999).

In terms of providing new information to the visitors, the novelty component was also important. As a result of the interviews, it was found that the novelty component is closely related to whether visitors have a learning motive or not. Although education is one of the major components of the experience offered in many tourism and recreation settings, several interviewees indicated that some DNP visitors are not seeking educational elements, or in other words, that they are not motivated by learning new information during their visit to DNP. In addition, participants were making their visitors feel connected to Dartmoor via the special qualities and iconic features of DNP. When visitors have an experience that features direct contact with nature, it is more likely to deliver educational messages to them. Hence, it was said that direct experiences can enhance visitors’ emotional attachment towards nature, which in turn increases visitors’ mindfulness. As a result, visitors exhibited interest in conservation or nature-protective behaviour (Ballantyne et al., 2011).

In the case of DNP, in distinction to some other settings, it was noticed that all the stakeholders make an effort to contribute to local development in the area to promote the local communities. Charities, businesses, administrative bodies and other organisations work closely with each other to protect not only the wildlife and landscape of DNP but also local communities in the area. The biggest challenge that stakeholders were facing in relation to visitors’ attitudes towards conservation was visitors’ lack of knowledge, which could be explained by mindlessness. Mindlessness, which is characterised by old routines and automatic behaviours, makes it difficult to attend to new signals and rely on information without an active awareness and single perspective (Langer, 1997). As revealed by the interviews, visitors’ mindlessness was the reason for some of their actions that led to negative impacts on DNP.

In sum, the analysis of the interviews offers important insights into best practices for the ways in which stakeholders at nature-based tourism sites can promote mindfulness and, in turn, sustainable practices in visitors, with benefits for conservation efforts and business development alike as well as some of the challenges involved.

Moscardo (2017) stated that giving visitors meaningful and memorable experiences is the prerequisite of changing visitors’ attitudes towards being more sustainable. Changing visitors’ attitudes should be considered under three subheadings: what visitors know or believe, what they value and what they do. Learning can help in changing attitudes (Langer, 1992). Hence, communication factors provided by service providers have vital importance. This study has shown that these factors should be considered all together. Moscardo (2008) also indicated that novel or unfamiliar places can be a factor that stimulates visitors’ level of mindfulness. However, in some cases there can be little capacity to pay attention due to other factors such as lack of security and safety or bad orientation, either because of poor signage or it being hard to find one’s way around mentally or physically. In these cases, the novelty of the setting or new information alone will not be enough to make visitors mindful.

Barber and Deale (2014) have revealed that hotel guests who are highly mindful are more open to messages about sustainable practices encountered in the hotels where they stayed, thus showing that they were more influenced by the idea of responsible tourism. Raising visitors’ awareness through setting factors, including interpretation at natural settings, can later contribute to their engagement in more sustainable lifestyles even after their actual experiences, i.e. after they return home (Moscardo and Ballantyne, 2008). As was found as a result of the interviews, participants observed that repeat visitors learn more and more each time. Gradually, as the message gets across, they tend to appreciate it more. They see people engaging and coming back and changing the way they act.

The valuable findings from this case study of DNP not only contribute to research in a developing area (mindfulness in tourism studies) but can additionally provide inspiration for other nature-based settings, including national parks. Although the results cannot be generalized because of the qualitative and exploratory nature of this case study, which is based on a single case area, they can nevertheless still be used by park authorities to develop engagement ideas for visitors. This might be useful for improving sustainable tourism in natural settings like UK National Parks and for promoting conservation efforts.

Future studies can replicate the model of this study in other unique destinations and settings in order to extend the line of inquiry. Issues of negative environmental impact can be considered in future studies as well. No matter how mindful visitors are, they cannot always be completely aware of their impacts on natural settings. There were many examples of such behaviour noted in this study: Interviewee 14, for instance, stated that tourists who swam in the river were not aware of the pollution caused by their sunscreen washing off in the water. Future research could be conducted with this specific topic in mind. The results of future studies could then be compared with the results of this study.