Liking of and Willingness to Coexist with Animals among Residents near Nature-Based Destinations

The support of local stakeholders is crucial for the sustainable tourism management of nature-based destinations (NBDs). Local people near NBDs may have more interaction with wildlife; however, research on local people’s attitudes towards wildlife is surprisingly limited. To explore their liking and willingness to coexist with different wild animals, and the associated influencing factors, we conducted a survey of residents living near Tanjung Piai National Park (TPNP), Johor, Malaysia. Most of the residents had experienced numerous direct encounters with bats and snakes inside TPNP, as well as with wild boar and macaque monkeys outside of the park. The local people showed a high level of liking for animals but a relatively low level of willingness to coexist with them. The results of the statistical models suggest that the liking of animals is significantly influenced by childhood nature experiences and sociodemographic characteristics including sex, education, and the presence of children. Education was an effective factor shaping the preferences of favorable, fairly favorable, and unfavorable animal groups. On the other hand, willingness to coexist with animals was significantly influenced by childhood nature experiences, age, and sex. Age was an effective factor shaping willingness to coexist with favorable, fairly favorable, and unfavorable animal groups; specifically, elderly people showed a low level of willingness to coexist with animals compared to young people. Therefore, we conclude that in addition to providing educational programs for shaping preferences regarding wildlife, careful support and considerable efforts aimed at elderly people are essential to increasing residents’ willingness to coexist with animals to obtain wider support for NBD management.