Abstract
This research examines whether the tourists’ culture affects their motivation and satisfaction when visiting nature-based tourism (NBT) destinations in Japan. An analysis was conducted in order to examine the mediating effect of motivation on the correlation between tourist group (domestic and international tourists) and their satisfaction from a nature-based tourism experience in Japan. Data from 181 domestic and 177 international tourists was collected via a questionnaire survey in two locations: Kayabuki no Sato in Miyama, and Ogimachi in Shirakawa-go. While domestic travelers are Japanese, international travelers are a varied group from over twenty countries, mostly from the East Asian region. The participants filled a motivation as well as a satisfaction questionnaire and sample was done randomly. Results verify the hypothesis that motivation highly influences the satisfaction from the visit, and it fully mediates the correlation between the tourist group and satisfaction, when Japanese tourists show lower satisfaction and motivation compared to international tourists. A further analysis of the results highlights the differences in the push factors between the domestic and international tourists, as well as the high number of elder domestic tourists. Proposals for better tourist retention strategies for local authorities and stakeholders were presented based on the findings.
Highlights
This research examines whether the tourists’ culture affects their motivation and satisfaction when visiting nature-based tourism (NBT) destinations in Japan
An analysis was conducted in order to examine the mediating effect of motivation on the correlation between tourist group and their satisfaction from a nature-based tourism experience in Japan
Results verify the hypothesis that motivation highly influences the satisfaction from the visit, and it fully mediates the correlation between the tourist group and satisfaction, when Japanese tourists show lower satisfaction and motivation compared to international tourists
Summary
This research examines whether the tourists’ culture affects their motivation and satisfaction when visiting nature-based tourism (NBT) destinations in Japan. While previous studies found that satisfaction is created, to some extent, by motivation (Ross & Iso-Ahola, 1991; Meng, Tepanon, & Uysal, 2008; Oh & Lee, 2017), did not investigate the cultural formation of drives that influence tourists to participate NBT, this research aims to clearly portray the international and domestic tourists’ perspectives while participating in an NBT experience in Japan, examine the differences in satisfaction level between them, and inspect the motivation as a mediator between the tourist group and the satisfaction These measurements should be beneficial for policy makers and tourism managements institutions to make better strategies for destination promotion. While culture is undoubtedly a fundamental element in tourists’ motivation and satisfaction generation, looking into these elements’ formation process will provide more comprehensive insights to understand tourists’ NBT evaluation
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