Travel Motivation Factors to Protected Areas
摘要
Protected areas worldwide help conserve biodiversity while offering opportunities for outdoor recreation and tourism. This chapter presents a recent study conducted in South Africa that explored travel motivation (push and pull) factors for tourists visiting protected areas. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from randomly selected 435 tourists surveyed at various key tourist sites within the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park. The findings show that “relaxation” and “family togetherness” are essential tourist push factors, while the key tourist pull factors identified are “natural resources, destination resources, learning experience, history, and culture.” Based on these findings, it is recommended that park management promote and sustain activities that address the identified key push and pull motivation drivers. Other recommendations aimed at policy formulation were organized into themes (marketing and promotion of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park and enhancing visitor expectations). The management focus on protected areas should be more than just transactional and selling nature. More can be done to contribute to global agreements and frameworks, such as the Sustainable Development 2030 Agenda.