Context Of Nature-based Tourism Research Articles

STUDY ON THE NEXUS OF CSR AND SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT ON TOURIST DESTINATION LOYALTY IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NATURE-BASED TOURISM

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and destination brand loyalty and social media engagement, which is not well understood. This particularly occurs in the sustainable development context of nature-based tourism in managing the negative impact on the environment, which is rather challenging. Moreover, the current research aims to develop a simple model for investigating the interrelationship of CSR as well as destination loyalty by incorporating social media engagement as a moderating variable. This is to investigate the impact mechanism of CSR activities of tourists towards tourists' destination brand loyalty in the context of nature-based tourism. The data for this study were obtained from 285 tourists who visited a popular marine park site in Malaysia. The researchers used the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique to analyze the collected data. The findings revealed that both CSR and social media engagement had an impact on destination brand loyalty. These findings have important implications for destination operators, suggesting that incorporating CSR activities into their strategies can be a strategic approach for achieving sustainable success.

Impacts of environmental communication on pro-environmental intentions and behaviours: a systematic review on nature-based tourism context

Environmental communication interventions are employed in nature-based tourism settings to achieve environmental protection. However, much still needs to be studied to understand what interventions work, how and why. This review summarises the research design and outcomes of 54 empirical studies, published in English-language peer-reviewed journals where communications were used to foster visitors’ pro-environmental intentions or actual behaviours. Our analysis suggests that environmental communication can be a useful tool although mixed results were often observed. Personal interpretation interventions were slightly more common than non-personal communications, and produced a higher portion of positive changes in pro-environmental behaviors and intentions. The use of Theory of Planned Behaviour was most commonly observed. Research on the efficacy of environmental communications is increasing; we suggest priorities to guide this accelerating research activity. Under-researched communications approaches include visual communications and digital tools. Increased comparison of content and delivery modes within the same study and in different nature-tourism contexts is needed, especially with diverse populations (e.g. cultural) and distinct sub-groups (e.g. pro- vs. non-environmental market segments). We advocate for increased diversity of research methods (e.g. qualitative) and robust design (e.g. longitudinal) to better understand visitors’ behaviours, with reduced use of attitudes, knowledge and intentions as dependent variables.

A critical review and assessment of the last 15 years of experience design research in a nature-based tourism context

ABSTRACT This paper delivers a critical review and assessment of the last 15 years of experience design research in an NBT context. We employed a systematic approach to review the literature and identified 99 relevant out of 1378 studies published in selected databases. The analysis has demonstrated that research on NBT experience design is cross-disciplinary and faces increasing interest. Despite significant progress, the concept of the NBT visitor experiences is still vague and lacks systematic understanding. Destination managers must focus on structuring visitor opportunities in line with market requirements and consistent with their legal and organizational mandates. This requires understanding the linkages between visitor participation, expectation, and outcomes from NBT activities to influence settings and co-design memorable experiences, reduce hassles, and promote proenvironmental behaviour and visitor commitment. Monitoring visitor experiences remained poorly defined, with few advances to its definition and measurement. Major lessons learned and new avenues for research are discussed.

Augmented reality and the enhancement of memorable tourism experiences at heritage sites

ABSTRACT Augmented reality (AR) has revolutionized the tourist experience, presenting an opportunity to generate meaningful engagement with unique culture and heritage. Despite the potential, a limited empirical inquiry has assessed the efficacy of AR for the creation of memorable heritage tourism experiences (MTEs). Consequently, this research aims to examine the efficacy of AR for enhancing the memorability of tourism experiences (MTE) at heritage sites, the such as Great Wall of China, using a smartphone app, equipped with four interrelated AR heritage tourism experiences, used by visitors. Applying one-group pre–post quasi-experimental design (n = 275), respondents’ MTEs were examined, compared and contrasted with and without the AR experience. Results demonstrate that virtual AR heritage tourism experiences enhance the MTE of a visit to the heritage tourism site, with differences in experience intensity found across the MTE parameters. Furthermore, this empirical research probed into impacts of AR experiences on the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of tourists visiting an outdoor heritage site, and it addressed MTE is a mediator of the relationship between tourist attitude to AR experience and behavioural intention. The paper contributes new understandings and insights to the on-going application and advancement of AR technology in a nature-based tourism context.

Understanding Millennials’ nature-based tourism experience through their perceptions of technology use and travel constraints

ABSTRACT This study aims to understand millennials’ nature-based tourism experience through their perceptions towards technology use and travel constraints in a nature-based tourism context by drawing upon technology escape and digital-free travel conceptualizations and leisure constraints theory. Data were collected using surveys from 276 millennials and nature-based tourism providers, and two focus groups consisting of 21 providers and 13 millennials. The findings revealed that millennials perceived laptops with WI-FI access, virtual/ augmented reality, digital cameras, and WI-FI access at campsites to be significantly less enhancing of the nature-based tourism experience compared to the providers’ perceptions. An exploratory factor analysis identified four dimensions of travel constraints among millennials, including intrapersonal, interpersonal, time, and destination attributes. The findings highlight millennials’ conflicting need to escape from day-to-day technology use while remaining connected to basic technology services. Both the theoretical contributions of these findings and practical implications are discussed.

Comparison between millennials’ and providers’ perceptions of technology use in a nature-based tourism context

ABSTRACT This mixed-methods study examined millennials’ and nature-based tourism providers’ perceptions of the use of technology in a nature-based tourism context. The data were collected through surveys and focus groups of millennials and nature-based tourism providers. Survey findings revealed that millennials perceived a number of technologies more negatively than providers, challenging common stereotypes. Focus group responses further demonstrated providers’ assumptions regarding millennials’ dependence on technology as well as millennials’ conflicting needs to escape from ordinary technology use during nature-based tourism activities while remaining connected to essential technology services. The implications of catering to millennials’ nature-based tourism needs are discussed.

The role of aesthetic experiential qualities for tourist satisfaction and loyalty

PurposeThe aim of this study is to examine the role of aesthetic experiential qualities for tourist overall satisfaction and three types of loyalty.Design/methodology/approachA national tourist route in Norway was chosen as an empirical context for this study. Totally, the role of five aesthetic experiential qualities were examined, namely, scenery, cleanliness harmony, art/architecture and genuineness.FindingsThe findings reveal that the three aesthetic experiential qualities, scenery, harmony and genuineness, were all positively related to tourist overall satisfaction with the tourist road. Moreover, tourist overall satisfaction had a direct influence on three types of loyalty, referring to tourists’ intentions to recommend the tourist road to other, to revisit same tourist road and to visit similar tourist roads in the future. However, the findings reveal that only two aesthetic qualities, cleanliness and genuineness, had a direct effect on intention to revisit the same tourist road, and thus indicates a more complex explanatory pattern concerning tourist loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited to five aesthetic experiential qualities in a specific nature-based tourist context. The results open up some of the areas for future research on the role of aesthetics in man-made environments (in addition to the natural environment) in nature-based tourism. When most of the other variables are similar, aesthetic experiential qualities may make a difference to a nature-based product’s performance, and thus provide the competitive edge.Practical implicationsDestination managers and marketers should focus on aesthetic experiential qualities to increase tourist satisfaction and loyalty, and thereby strengthen a destination competitiveness and value creation.Originality/valueResponding to the need to focus on aesthetic experiential qualities in a nature-based tourism context, this study measures the effects of the aesthetic experiential qualities for tourist satisfaction and loyalty in an original destination setting.

Perceived value and flow experience: Application in a nature-based tourism context

Abstract This study measured environmentally responsible behaviors and destination loyalty of international tourists who participated in an ecotourism tour package at Jeju Island, South Korea. A conceptual model was formulated and empirically tested to examine how tourists perceived values (i.e. quality, emotional, price, and social), flow experience, and satisfaction influence environmentally responsible behavior and destination loyalty. Three hundred responses to a survey of international tourists were collected and the resulting data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings indicated that perceived quality, emotional, and social values significantly affected flow experience and satisfaction. Further, flow experience was significantly and positively related to satisfaction, environmentally responsible behaviors, and destination loyalty. Tourist satisfaction only had positive effects on environmentally responsible behaviors and destination loyalty. Thus, enhancement of international tourists’ value perceptions about eco-travel packages is the first step that will strengthen environmentally responsible behaviors and destination loyalty via increase in tourists’ flow experience and satisfaction levels.

Experiential dimensions and their influence on behavioral intentions within the context of nature-based tourism

Purpose – This paper aims at investigating the customers’ experience in nature-based attractions and its influence on post consumption behavior. Design – The study uses two theoretical frameworks (experience economy and behavioural intentions) to investigate the determining dimensions of the wildlife experience to customer satisfaction, and the relationships between the wildlife experience and the behavioural intentions. Approach – The research develops an explanatory framework of consumer experience that measures the four dimensions and their relative influence on satisfaction, perceived service quality and behavioral intentions. Methodology – The proposed research framework was empirically tested by implying a quantitative research and the technique of convenience sampling to customers of Game Reserves in Republic of South Africa. Findings – The results indicate that the experience framework constitutes a valid tool for the study of wildlife experiences. In the context of nature-based tourism the experiential dimensions which influence the perceived service quality and customers’ satisfaction are escapism and esthetics. There is also a strong correlation between wildlife experience and post consumption behavioural intentions, especially for word-of-mouth and repurchase intention. Originality – The research extends existing theory by incorporating new elements and empirically investigating them within a new context. It is the first empirical study that investigates the experiential dimensions within the context of nature-based tourism and customers’ behavioural intentions. It develops an explanatory framework of customer experience that measures the four dimensions, their relationship with experience outcomes (satisfaction and perceived service quality) and their relative influence on behavioural intentions.

Primates on display: Potential disease consequences beyond bushmeat

Human interactions with nonhuman primates vary tremendously, from daily cultural engagements and food commodities, to pet ownership and tourist encounters. These interactions provide opportunities for the exchange of pathogenic organisms (both zoonoses and anthroponoses). As exposures are not limited to areas where bushmeat usage continues to be a major problem, we must work to understand better our motivations for engaging in activities like owning primates as pets and having direct physical contact with wild primates within the context of nature-based tourism. These topics, and the theoretical potential for pathogen transmission, are reviewed in the present manuscript. This is followed by a case study utilizing 3845 survey responses collected from four international locations known for primate-based tourism, with results indicating that while a majority of people understand that they can give/get diseases to/from wild primates, a surprising percentage would still touch or feed these animals if given the opportunity. Many people still choose to touch and/or own primates, as their drive to bond with animals outweighs some basic health behaviors. Desires to tame, control, or otherwise establish emotional connections with other species, combined with the central role of touch for exploring our environment, necessitate the development of better communication and educational campaigns to minimize risks of emerging infectious diseases.

Tourists’ Environmentally Responsible Behavior in Response to Climate Change and Tourist Experiences in Nature-Based Tourism

Nature-based tourism destinations—locations in which economic viability and environmental responsibility are sought—are sensitive to climate change and its effects on important environmental components of the tourism areas. To meet the dual roles, it is important for destination marketers and resources managers to provide quality experiences for tourists and to induce tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior in such destinations. This study documents the importance of perceptions toward climate change and tourist experiences in determining tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior while enjoying holidays at nature-based tourism destinations in Jeju Island, South Korea. Two hundred and eleven Korean and 204 Chinese tourists marked dominant tourist arrivals to the island, and responded to the survey questionnaire. Results showed that perceptions toward climate change and tourist experiences affect Korean tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior intentions, whereas tourist experiences—not perceptions toward climate change—only significantly affect Chinese tourists’ behavior intention. In a nature-based tourism context under the pressure of climate change and adverse environmental effects as consequences of tourism activities, resources managers and destination marketers need to develop environmental campaigns or informative tourist programs to formulate environmentally responsible behavior as well as to increase tourist quality experiences among domestic and international tourists.

Authenticity: The Link Between Destination Image and Place Attachment

ABSTRACTThis study explores the relationships between destination image, existential authenticity, and different dimensions of place attachment in the nature-based tourism context. A visitor-centric model is proposed in which existential authenticity is the principal mechanism that links destination image to different dimensions of place attachment. Data was collected in a survey of international visitors to two popular nature-based tourism destinations in Australia. The results indicate (a) a positive and significant effect of destination image on existential authenticity; (b) a positive and significant effect of existential authenticity on place dependence, place identity, place affect, and place social bonding; and (c) a significant mediating effect of existential authenticity in the relationship between destination image and each of the four dimensions of place attachment. The implications of this study for academics, tourism authorities, and destination marketing managers are discussed.

How to deal with heterogeneity among tourism constructs?

•Analyzing the effects of unobserved heterogeneity in Structural Equation Modeling.•Uncovering unobserved heterogeneity and segments by a finite-mixture approach.•Examining how environmental attitudes influence the preference for outdoor activity.•Model estimation in a nature-based tourism context using PLS Path Modeling.

Exploring aesthetic dimensions in a nature-based tourism context

Given the historical relationship between viewing or ‘gazing’ and tourism, it is rather incongruous that the concept of aesthetics has received little attention in tourism marketing and nature-based tourism research. Although a substantial body of literature exists on aesthetic notions with regard to landscape preferences and the establishment of national parks, the literature is limited on the concept as it relates to man-made environments in nature-based tourism. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to add to the understanding of the concept of aesthetics in the context of nature-based tourism. This study’s main results from qualitative interviews with key informants reveal five aesthetic dimensions that may influence the tourists’ satisfaction in a nature-based tourism context: ‘harmony’, ‘variation/contrast’, ‘scenery/viewing’, ‘genuineness’, and ‘art/architecture’. The study closes with suggestions for further research.

Testing a Constraints Model within the Context of Nature-Based Tourism

This study focused on pleasure travelers’ perceived constraints to nature-based tourism. Eleven constraint statements were identified through a literature review and were chosen a priori to represent three types of constraint as outlined by Crawford, Jackson, and Godbey. The purpose of the study was to determine whether the three types of constraints (intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural) existed in the context of nature-based tourism. A confirmatory factor analysis using the EQS program was used to “confirm” that the data fit the three-constraint model. MANOVA was then employed to identify whether respondents differed in their perception of constraints based on demographic variables. The findings indicated that differences existed with regards to age and family life cycle stage.