ScholarWorks@성균관대학교

초록

Nature tourism provides travellers with an escape from daily routines and supports their well being through immersion in natural surroundings. However, existing research provides limited insight into which motivations drive sustained satisfaction and repeat visits, thereby restricting the ability to design experiences that deliver lasting benefits. This study aims to address this gap by examining how distinct intrinsic and extrinsic motivations influence the impact of nature tourism experiences on tourists' travel satisfaction, life satisfaction, and willingness to revisit. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, incorporating qualitative insights of 35 nature tourists and quantitative time-lagged data from 439 nature tourists. The results indicate that, among intrinsic travel motives, the pursuit of nature enhances travel satisfaction, whereas health and existential fulfillment motives lack empirical support. Among extrinsic travel motives, destination attractiveness enhances travel satisfaction, while destination interactions have no significant impact. In turn, this heightened travel satisfaction raises life satisfaction and strengthens tourists' intentions to revisit nature-based destinations. These insights suggest that direct engagement with natural settings and destination attractiveness should be prioritised over less impactful motives, and more importantly, that enhancing travel satisfaction in this way leverages the power of nature tourism to improve life satisfaction and strengthen tourist loyalty to nature-based destinations.

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