대중관광객과의 비교를 통한 생태관광객의 차별적 특성 규명 : 여행 동기 및 태도를 중심으로 = Identification of Ecotourists' Distinctive Characteristics by Comparing with Mass tourists : Focusing on Travel Motivations and Attitudes

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purposes of this study were to investigate the recognition level and the potential demand for ecotourism of 1,000 residents in 5 metropolitan cities and to identify differential characteristics of ecotourism by comparing socioeconomic and travel characteristics and travel motivations and attitudes between ecotourists and mass tourists and analyzing on-site survey. Regarding the recognition level, residents who have never heard of ecotourism accounted for 50.2% of the total population in metropolitan cities, but potential demand for ecotourism was higher at 75.1%. Compared with mass tourists, ecotourists are composed of relatively higher proportion of female, unmarried, high income people and college graduates, and people with specialized jobs. Ecotourists had various travel experiences and preferred travelling alone or with a few companions. Ecotourists put more emphasis on experiencing active life and improving self-dependency through understanding and learning from nature than on improving physical health and relationships with family or colleagues. Ecotourists were more positive toward collecting information on travel destination before traveling, experiencing and learning from nature and culture of the destination, communicating with communities and respecting their culture while traveling than mass tourists. Travel motivations and attitudes of ecotourists showed that ecotourism had the potential to become sustainable tourism to harmonize ecosystem conservation with use.