The effect of services and facilities on visitors’ experiences : Focused on first-time and repeat visitors to 17 national parks in Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Koran national park visitation has been on the rise during the last decade. Understanding the differences in individual needs and characteristics of park visitors has been investigated extensively in the literature, but a scant amount of research has focused on Korean national park visitors. This article contributes to the literature on parks and protected areas by examining peoples’ use of leisure services (visitation of national parks) in Korean national parks based on frequency of visitation. The results showed that 12.1% of the visitors were first-time visitors, while 87.9% were repeat visitors. In addition, the results identified 11 variables that discriminated between the first-time and repeat visitor groups, eight visitor characteristics (i.e., age, gender, income, education, group type, length of visit, proximity, number of people in group) and three attributes (i.e., environmental pollution, public etiquette, cultural commercialization). As Korean national parks continue to see increase usage, concerns over use, maintenance, user education, and conservation have become increasingly critical for managers. Future research is suggested to learn more about the effects of services and facilities on visitors’ experiences, visitors’ characteristics, park attributes, and preferences of Korean national park visitors to meet current and future users’ needs.

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