Abstract
To encourage the sustainability of rural tourism and to achieve success in the tourist industry, an understanding of the factors by which tourists are motivated to visit rural areas is required. This study aims to measure factors affecting rural tourists’ satisfaction in relation to different aspects of a destination and to increase the likelihood of revisitation and recommendation. This study also attempts to examine differences in relation to satisfaction depending on the information source preference. Overall satisfaction was influenced by physical infrastructure, service quality and satisfaction level with tour programs. However, the quality of services was more related to tourists’ intentions to revisit and recommend, suggesting that its qualitative improvement can contribute to vitalizing stagnant domestic tourism. The findings revealed that tourists’ satisfaction was high when people mainly gained tourist information through formal government sources, word-of-mouth and Internet advertising, suggesting that the positive correlation between tourists’ satisfaction and information sources reflects the reliability and credibility of those sources.
Highlights
Sustainable tourism focusing on rural areas is recognized as a tool for rejuvenating traditional industries and creating income in rural and isolated areas
Korean tourists’ demand for rural tourism facilities has been increasing due to higher disposable incomes, changing tastes and preferences and increased leisure time resulting from the introduction of the five-day working week in Korea [6]
A questionnaire with four sections was designed as follows: Section I consisted of a few miscellaneous questions that aimed to elicit respondents’ travel choices on rural tourism; that is, types of travel companions, purpose and method, length of stay, frequency and revisitation
Summary
Sustainable tourism focusing on rural areas is recognized as a tool for rejuvenating traditional industries and creating income in rural and isolated areas. Korean tourists’ demand for rural tourism facilities has been increasing due to higher disposable incomes, changing tastes and preferences and increased leisure time resulting from the introduction of the five-day working week in Korea [6]. With demand for higher service quality and tourists becoming more information-driven, the numbers of travel or tourism industry providers that utilize local ecological and cultural resources have been increasing. Despite the expectation of generating increased gross regional domestic product (GRDP) and new jobs, the growth has not been strong enough to stimulate the stagnant economy, especially in rural areas. Most Korean tourists in rural areas are short-term visitors with a 25.8% overnight stay rate and a 27.3% revisitation rate [11]
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