The future of ecotourism - comparative analysis in case of students in Gyöngyös from environmental consciousness aspect

Abstract

Eco-tourists are environment conscious people who typically love to travel far away from cities, spending time in nature, exploring the classic countryside, discovering and protecting nature's wonders, getting to know local customs and people. Typically, these tourists try to minimize negative impact on the environment while protecting their clarity, their untouchedness, conscious of the choice of accommodation and the way to travel. The new generation of young people have different level of knowledge about environmental awareness and environmentally friendly behaviour. The online space can be one of the most valuable keys among others which can help to spread this kind of behaviour even more (Begley, 2008). In this study, secondary school students’ awareness of environmental issues and the level of their active participation in this activities have been identified in the online space like how the social media can help in the environmental awareness by the help of smartphone applications. The study was carried out in Gyöngyös city by conducting a survey on students in high school and university. The name of the high school is Berze Nagy János Gimnázium where a total amount of 493 students were asked but only 465 questionnaires were evaluated because 28 students were not present or they filled it out badly. In the Eszterházy Károly University a total amount of 147 students were asked. The results of the study showed a high level of environmental awareness among participant students. Students also gain experiences in the field of environment from mass media, social media (Kovács, 2010).