Abstract
The aim of this article is to analyse the experiences gained by tourists visiting one of the most visited protected areas in Poland—the Tatra National Park (TNP). The authors focused on the following question: does the natural heritage of the national park affect visitors’ unique experiences or is environmentally valuable area not important for their experiences? This article uses mixed quantitative (Text Mining, co-occurrence network analysis) and qualitative (narratives research) methods. Data for analysis—revives posted by users between April 2011 and September 2019—were downloaded from TripAdvisor.co.uk. Reviews on TripAdvisor indicate that the most important for visiting tourists were the experiences of physical activity. This confirms the trend of maintaining health and the desire to regenerate physical strength. The group of reviews related to connection to nature experiences is extremely small, which indicates that tourists probably did not come to TNP as a result of a preference for experiences related to ecological awareness. Some tourists felt tension, which indicates that the carrying capacity was exceeded. There is a doubt as to whether tourists who want to engage in physical activity must necessarily visit the area with the highest degree of nature protection.
Highlights
The decision-making process in tourism is complex and includes choices regarding both travel destination, services and attractions [1]
The aim of this article was to analyse the experiences gained by tourists visiting one of the most visited protected areas in Poland—the Tatra National Park (TNP)
The analysis made it possible to identify the main topics of opinions about Tatra National Park in TripAdvisor reviews and experiences associated with communing with nature
Summary
The decision-making process in tourism is complex and includes choices regarding both travel destination, services and attractions [1] (pp. 53–54). Along with the increase in purchasing funds, the scope of consumer decisions is expanding, and psychological and social factors have a greater impact on decisions [2,3]. These factors include experience preferences, including those related to relaxation in natural areas. The fact that participation in tourism is no longer reserved for privileged social classes means that some tourists no longer want to participate in ready-made tours and take advantage of banal offers They want to give meaning to their travels and are looking for elite forms of rest in which experience can play a distinctive role. Experiences can be the basis for creating a product regardless of the restrictions of mass tourism [9] (p. 10)
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