생태관광에 대한 인식과 방문 전 태도에 관한 연구

Abstract

People's desire to travel in order to find something different from their tedious daily lives creates a demand for tourism. This in turn enables the diversification of tourism forms, forming the fundamentals for new tourism products. In particular, interest in eco-tourism, which minimizes environmental damage, is increasing recently. In other words, the complex relationship between environmental preservation and tourism resource development is emerging as a topic of interest in the tourism industry and the academia. As the interest in the environment rapidly increases in Korea, the number of tourists visiting natural areas with high preservation value is increasing every year. In order to meet such demand of ecotourism, the government and local governments are supporting ecotourism businesses. However, while most tourists go on ecotourism, they do not know the concept or purpose of ecotourism, resulting in the destruction of ecological resources that should be protected, theoretically bringing confusion about ecotourism. It is considered that studies on the characteristics of ecotourism are critical and are urgent in order to establish necessary policies for ecotourism and to develop, operate, manage and develop ecotourism sites so that such ecotourism can be established in a correct manner. The purpose of this study is to study the characteristics of ecotourism by analyzing the relationship between ecotourism awareness and ecotourism behavior. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, literature reviews and empirical analysis were simultaneously carried out. For literature review, theoretical background of the concept of ecotourism and its characteristics, ecotourism awareness, ecotourism behavior were explored using domestic and foreign books, articles, and other publications. For empirical analysis, a hypothesis related to ecotourism recognition and behavior was established and a survey was done for hypothesis testing. Frequency Analysis was used as a data analysis method to explore tourism behavior. T-test and ANOVA was used to explore the effects of tourism behavior by type on ecotourism recognition and ecotourism behavior. In addition, multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between ecotourism awareness and ecotourism behavior. A total of 245 questionnaires were distributed and collected, and 208 valid samples were analyzed. As a result of the empirical analysis, Hypothesis 1 that there will be a difference in eco-tourism awareness according to tourism behavior type was partially adopted because travel type, internet information acquisition and age showed statistical significant difference on ecotourism awareness. Also, Hypothesis 2 that there will be a difference in ecotourism behavior according to tourism behavior was partially adopted as vacation period and age showed statistical significant difference on ecotourism behavior. Analysis results of hypothesis 3 that ecotourism behavior will affect ecotourism behavior showed that risk perception awareness and quality awareness in ecotourism awareness have positive effects on ecotourism behavioral factors. As a result, the hypothesis that ecotourism behavior will affect ecotourism behavior was not rejected. Nevertheless, it was analyzed that ecotourism the value for money awareness on ecotourism did not have a significant effect on ecotourism behavior. Therefore, proactive marketing on risk perception and quality on ecotourism may be utilized as a good means in order to induce ecotourism behavior. However as price does not affect ecotourism behavior, this implies that rather than low-price ecotourism marketing, marketing needs to be done with a high quality, low risk, and high price strategy. In conclusion, the following are the results from the empirical analysis of this research. First, in developing ecotourism programs or studying marketing strategies, it is necessary to target tourists who are free travelling rather than tourists who are using tourism packages. Price increase in order to reduce risk involved with ecotourism and to increase the quality of the product may be more effective. Second, as a marketing means for ecotourism, social marketing using internet or mobile is more effective than mass media such as TV or radio. There is a need to understand and promote the fact that tourists who perceive information through such social marketing channels are not greatly impacted by duration time or costs for ecotourism packages. Third, in developing programs or selecting the marketing directions, it is more effective to target the younger generation as the main target. Ecotourism packages with the younger generation as the target showed the need for a program that emphasizes the increase in the quality of life, or resting with nature without being bound to price. Fourth, the research showed the need for developing an ecotourism program that enables the participation of long term travelers rather than short-term tourists. When developing programs for long term travelers, it implies that it can have a positive impact including active environmentally friendly education such as activities and challenges. Fifth, the research showed the promising potential for programs that emphasizes the increase in quality of life or resting with nature when looking at the convenience of using tourism packages when experiencing ecotourism. In particular, the research showed potential that active environmentally friendly education programs such as activities and challenges may be more effective when advertised with the contents of experiential value of ecotourism in order to show the uniqueness of ecotourism. The following are the implications of the results and the effective marketing strategies for ecotourism. First, when developing ecotourism products, convenience that can resolve risk perception such as reservation and information acquisition should be considered as well as satisfaction and quality increase such as uniqueness. Price increase due to such factors do not have to be greatly considered. Second, there is the need to develop quality focused products as tourists are positive towards high priced products if quality increases or risk perception can be lowered with regards to the cost and time that is needed for ecotourism. Third, the younger generation have the most proactive and friendly attitude towards ecotourism, and social marketing means using the internet or mobile is the most effective. Though there is insufficient preceding research on ecotourism making it difficult for comparative research, this research has implications carries significance in that it has laid out the definition and consisting factors of ecotourism awareness and behavior. This study has brought implications for effective marketing strategies for sustainable ecotourism in that it has showed quality increase and risk perception elimination are more effective marketing strategies than low-cost strategies.