İzmir’de Doğa Temelli Turizm Faaliyetlerine Katılan Yerli Turistlerin Motivasyonları ve Turist Profilleri Üzerine Bir İnceleme
Çağlar Kıvanç Kaymazİnsanların doğal alanlara olan ilgilerinin her geçen gün artması ve turizm endüstrisi içerisinde doğa temelli turizm sektörünün hızlı bir şekilde büyümesi üzerinde bu sektörde yaşanan yeni gelişmelerin rolü oldukça fazladır. Doğa temelli turizme yönelik seyahat planları yapan doğa turistlerinin turist profilleri ve seyahat motivasyonları diğer turist özelliklerine göre farklılık göstermektedir. Bu çalışmada, İzmir ilinde yaşayan ve doğa temelli turizm faaliyetleri kapsamında seyahat eden turistlerin seyahat motivasyonlarının ve turist profillerinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Çalışmada nicel araştırma yöntemi kullanılmış olup, İzmir’de doğa temelli turizm faaliyetlerine katılan yaklaşık 4000 kişi olduğu tahmin edilmekte olup, bunlardan 357 kişiye anket uygulanmıştır. Elde edilen veriler R-Project programı ve SPSS-26 paket programı kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Analiz sürecinde tanımlayıcı istatistiklerin yanı sıra, Cronbach Alfa güvenilirlik analizi, Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi (DFA), ölçeğin normal dağılım göstermemesi nedeniyle parametrik olmayan testler için Mann Whitney-U ve Kruskall Wallis-H testi analizleri kullanılmıştır. Analizlerin sonucunda İzmir’de yaşayan ve doğa temelli turizm faaliyetleriyle ilgilenen turistlerin demografik değişkenleri ile ölçeğin dört alt boyutu arasında anlamlı farklılıklar olduğu tespit edilmiştir.
Determining the Motivations and Tourist Profiles of Domestic Tourists Involved in Nature-Based Tourism Activities in Izmir
Çağlar Kıvanç KaymazThe daily increase in people’s interest in natural areas and the rapid growth of the nature-based tourism sector within the tourism industry are remarkable in terms of tourism. The demographic and travel characteristics, travel motivations, and general tourist profiles of nature tourists who make travel plans to natural areas differ according to other tourists’ characteristics. This study aims to determine the travel motivations and tourist profiles of tourists living in Izmir traveling within the scope of nature-based tourism activities. The study uses the quantitative research method and applies a nature tourism scale to 357 people participating in nature tourism activities. The obtained data have been analyzed using the program R-Project and the package program SPSS26. The analyses used the Cronbach’s alpha reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and Mann Whitney-U and Kruskall Wallis-H tests for nonparametric tests in addition to descriptive statistics due to the scale not showing normal distribution. As a result of the analyses, demographic variables (i.e., age, gender, education, income status) and the scale’s sub-dimensions (i.e., motivation, preference of areas that come to the fore in terms of natural environment features, nature-based tourism activity preferences) were determined to have reveal significant differences between the factors that are effective in choosing the destination.
The role of nature-based tourism in the tourism industry grows daily. A high level of environmental quality, an environmentally conscious group of nature tourists, and sensitivity in commercial nature-based tourism enterprises and other stakeholders are undoubtedly greatly needed for successful nature-based tourism. In order to plan the nature-based tourism market correctly, many issues such as tourist profiles, travel characteristics, natural area preferences, travel motivations, and nature-based tourism activities should be investigated very well and their reasons revealed. This study attempts to determine the demographic and some travel characteristics and nature tourist profiles of nature tourists living in Izmir who travel within the scope of nature-based tourism activities according to the Nature Tourism Scale. Bu ölçeğin hazırlanmasında faydalanılan bazı çalışmalar bulunmaktadır. Nature tourists in Izmir were specifically classified after the four basic nature tourist types used by Ziffer (1989) and Laarman and Durst (1987) to classify tourists participating in nature-based tourism events: “determined nature tourist,” “dedicated nature tourist,” “nature tourist following a certain current,” and “random nature tourist” (Lindberg, 1991, p. 3). On the other hand, the two main criteria used in the studies by Weaver (2005, 2001, p.2) and Page and Drowling (2002) to divide nature-based tourists into hard (active) nature tourists and soft (passive) nature tourists were used in the typological classification of nature tourists. The questions presented in the second and fourth sections to identify Natural Area Preferences and motivations were generated using the scale developed by Eagles (1992) to examine the travel motivations of Canadian ecotourists. In addition, the author prepared some other questions related to the scale.
In addition, the study examines the relationships certain demographic variables have with motivation (a sub-dimension of the scale), the features sought in a natural touristic destination, the preferred natural area, and the preferred nature-based tourism activity preference. The study used the quantitative research method to apply nature tourism scale to 357 people participating in nature tourism activities. When considering that the population consists of approximately 4,000 people, the study determined that selecting 286 people would provide a 95% confidence interval with a 0.05 tolerance amount according to the simple random sampling method (Çıngı, 1994). The obtained data were analyzed using the program R-Project and the package program SPSS-26. In addition to descriptive statistics, the data analyses also involved Cronbach’s alpha of reliability analysis, CFA, and the Mann Whitney-U and Kruskall Wallis-H tests as nonparametric tests due to the data from the scale not being normal distributed.
Cronbach’s alpha for the overall scale and its sub-dimensions are 0.936, 0.820, 0.841, 0.843, and 0.924, respectively. According to the findings, the χ² / df = 3.116, which is within acceptable limits due to being between 2 and 5, and the AGFI is greater than 0.875. In addition, RMSEA was calculated between 0.08 and 0.10, which is also within the limits of moderate agreement. When examining the other fit indices, the values for GFI, AGFI, and TLI are all quite close to 0.9. Meanwhile, the CFA statistics show that all sub-items from the Nature Tourism Scale to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). According to the graphical structure obtained as a result of the CFA, the standardized load values for all items are seen to be greater than 0.38. Meanwhile, a p > 0.05 on the Nature Tourism Scale, is understood to not show normal distribution. Therefore, the Mann-Whitney-U test and Kruskall Wallis-H test were applied in the analyses.
This study has attempted to determine the tourist profiles and travel motivations of nature tourists living in İzmir within the scope of nature-based tourism, and its most important result is that interest in nature gains more importance in line with tourists’ ages, regardless of gender. In particular, the participation rate for the 25-year-old and younger group in nature-based tourism activities was seen to be lower. Due to a significant part of the tourists being in the middle-income level, tourism expenditures were seen to be 2,000 TL and below. Some activities required extra expenditures, which was effective in making these activities less preferred. Meanwhile, the education and cultural levels of nature tourists are understood to be quite high, with these tourists being conscientious nature tourists. Based on the scale’s results, nature tourists in Izmir were determined to generally make travel plans with their friends and families freely without engaging in certain patterns rather than purchase the package tour services tour companies offer. Therefore, more than half the nature tourists use private vehicles for their travels. However, the fact that tents came to the fore with regard to nature tourists’ accommodation preferences is the most important indicator that these tourists want to spend more time in nature. In addition, nature tourists were determined to stay an average of three days, based on the type of activity in the natural destinations being visited. Among the travel characteristics, while a significant number of the nature tourists in İzmir see themselves as soft nature tourists, more than half of them see themselves as close to the nature tourist class who are passionate and devoted toward nature. However, some nature tourists This study has attempted to determine the tourist profiles and travel motivations of nature tourists living in İzmir within the scope of nature-based tourism, and its most important result is that interest in nature gains more importance in line with tourists’ ages, regardless of gender. In particular, the participation rate for the 25-year-old and younger group in nature-based tourism activities was seen to be lower. Due to a significant part of the tourists being in the middle-income level, tourism expenditures were seen to be 2,000 TL and below. Some activities required extra expenditures, which was effective in making these activities less preferred. Meanwhile, the education and cultural levels of nature tourists are understood to be quite high, with these tourists being conscientious nature tourists. Based on the scale’s results, nature tourists in Izmir were determined to generally make travel plans with their friends and families freely without engaging in certain patterns rather than purchase the package tour services tour companies offer. Therefore, more than half the nature tourists use private vehicles for their travels. However, the fact that tents came to the fore with regard to nature tourists’ accommodation preferences is the most important indicator that these tourists want to spend more time in nature. In addition, nature tourists were determined to stay an average of three days, based on the type of activity in the natural destinations being visited. Among the travel characteristics, while a significant number of the nature tourists in İzmir see themselves as soft nature tourists, more than half of them see themselves as close to the nature tourist class who are passionate and devoted toward nature. However, some nature tourists
According to the analyses made on the demographic variables and the sub-dimensions of the scale, significant differences were determined to exist for age with nature-based tourism activity preferences and the features sought in a natural touristic destination, for marital status and nature-based tourism activity, for gender and the characteristics sought in a natural touristic destination, and for the nature tourist’s income level with natural site preferences and motivation (p < 0.05).
Developing and ensuring the sustainability of nature-based tourism, especially in an area, are constantly criticized due to the negative effects of tourism. Therefore, if nature-based tourism is to be developed in natural areas, tourism types need to be developed that are compatible and complementary with that society’s resource values. Thus, protecting fragile nature systems and their surrounding society become possible in parallel with the development of sustainable tourism. In this context, tourism investments in areas that are the scene of nature-based tourism and the development of tourism activities and their diversity have great importance in investigating the relations enterprises in the tourism sector have with nature tourism marketing strategies and the attitudes of the local society, in addition to examining the preferences, profile characteristics, attitudes, behaviors, and motivations that push or attract these tourists to travel to natural areas. In this way, nature-based tourism in natural areas will have the opportunity to develop in harmony with the environment and society.
