Previsitation and Posttour Awareness and Ratings of Tourism Attractions of Yankari and Cross River National Parks

Abstract

Tourism visits to national parks tend to be motivated by certain attractions or expectations, often conceived in a hierarchical order, which inform tourism to the particular destination. Meeting such expectations is critical to visitor satisfaction. Sometimes, however, tourists might experience a shift of interest from the key attractions that informed the tour to new or underrated features in the course of the tour—a situation that might lead to reordering of attractions after the tour. The present study sought to find out the attractions that inform tourism to Yankari National Park (YNP) and Cross River National Park (CRNP) and their ratings before and after visitation by tourists. The populations for the study comprised 720 tourists in YNP and 130 in CRNP. Samples of 90 tourists in YNP and 60 in CRNP were used. Wildlife and rainforest experience, respectively, were the key attractions to the parks. Reordering in ratings of attractions by tourists occurred in YNP after visitation, but was not so pronounced in CRNP. Difficulty in sighting key wildlife that informed travel to YNP was thought to account for this occurrence. Tourists knew of the existence of the upper limit of three attractions in each park prior to visitation, but came to discover an additional 7 out of 10 attractions eventually enjoyed in YNP, and 9 out of 12 in CRNP while touring. Low awareness of the attractions by potential tourists was implied. Publicity of the tourism attractions of the parks was recommended for optimizing tourism use of the destinations.