Exploring visitors' desired benefits in Paklenica National Park, Croatia: Development, validation and management implications of measurement instrument

التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
العنوان: Exploring visitors' desired benefits in Paklenica National Park, Croatia: Development, validation and management implications of measurement instrument
المؤلفون: Barić, Demir, Anić, Petra, Tončić, Marko, Bedoya, Ana Macías
المصدر: Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism; December 2015, Vol. 12 Issue: 1 p59-63, 5p
مستخلص: For protected area managers, understanding visitors' desired benefits are a key priority. However, because of financial restrictions and insufficient capacity, Park managers often are not capable of developing appropriate and reliable measurement instruments for tracking visitor's needs. The main purpose of this study was to develop a simple and cost-effective measurement instrument to monitor visitors' desired benefits in Paklenica National Park in Croatia. We used a literature-driven approach to test the relevancy of five hypothesized benefit dimensions, composed of 18 recreational experiences items on a general visitor sample (n=342). These dimensions were: Enjoy nature, Novelty and learning, Socializing, Escape and solitude, and Personal achievement. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) process proceeded through two distinct phases. In the first phase, we tested the data fit for two competing models: orthogonal and correlated. In the second phase, we assessed the reliability and convergent validity of the measurement instrument. The results revealed that the model with correlated benefit dimensions reproduced the data better than the orthogonal model. Inter-correlations between latent benefit dimensions were statistically significant and positive. Reliability and convergent validity indicated a reasonable consistency of the measurement instrument. Further research should focus on continuous improvement of the measurement instrument and its application, according to different management demands.
قاعدة البيانات: Supplemental Index
الوصف
تدمد:22130780
DOI:10.1016/j.jort.2015.11.013