Reconstructing a visitor typology based on recreation experiences
Nyckelord:
tourists, typologies, recreation, experiences, the NetherlandsAbstract
This paper 'reconstructs' Cottrell et al.'s (2005) typology of day-use outdoor recreation experience in a Dutch forest preserve using 25-items representing five experience modes: amusement, change, interest, rapture, and dedication. The aim was to apply a cluster analysis (K-means and ipsative) to segment visitors based on their recreation experiences as a visitor typology versus a group allocation technique. Similar to the original study, change was the most represented followed by rapture. An ipsative cluster solution showed a greater diversity of experience preference groups than the K-means and the group allocation procedure. Differences among modal types on experience parameters showed rapture-change and rapture-physical challenge visitors stayed in the forest preserve the longest and tended to stay on a specific trail. Change-amusement came to hike, walk the dog and visit the pancake house the most. Dedication was most satisfied with the area and came to the preserve most often. The Duivelsberg as a forest preserve offers some of the more physically challenging terrain in Holland, as well as a temporal change in a daily context as an escape within nature.
