Volume: 6  Number: 2  Page: 111–126  doi:10.2167/joe168.0

Nature-Based Tourism: A Contrast to Everyday Life

Mehmet Mehmetoglu Finnmark University College, Department of Tourism, Alta, Norway

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between trip motives and the importance placed on nature when choosing a destination. More specifically, it investigates how much importance tourists, motivated by their ‘everyday lives’, attach to nature in their decision to travel to their current destination. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicate that two trip motives, ‘novelty and learning’ and ‘everyday life’, significantly influence the importance attributed to nature. The more any of these motives is considered to be important, the more salient a role nature plays in such a decision. However, the results of the subsequent multiple logistic regression analysis show that it is the trip motive ‘a contrast to everyday life’ that significantly distinguishes between ‘genuine’ nature-based tourists (i.e. travelling primarily for nature) and ‘mixed’ nature-based tourists (i.e. travelling for various reasons including nature). Several theoretical and practical implications of the study are also provided.

Keywords: nature, nature-based tourism, ecotourism, everyday life, destination choice

© 2007 M. Mehmetoglu

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