A Study on the Relationships among Visitors’ Traveling Motivation, Satisfaction for Interpretive Servivces, and Loyalty for Whale Watching

• Main Authors: LI, YIA FENG, 李雅鳳
• Other Authors: Hormer C. Wu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/79215650554547575948

碩士 === 國立臺中教育大學 === 環境教育研究所 === 95 === The purpose of this research was to establish a conceptual model of whale-watching tourists integrating traveling motivation, satisfaction and loyalty. The specific objectives were as follows: 1. to understand whale-watching tourists’ traveling motivation, satisfaction for interpretative service and loyalty for whale-watching; 2. to explore the relationships among whale-watching tourists’ socio-demographic characters, traveling motivation, satisfaction for interpretative service and loyalty for whale-watching; 3. to construct and validate the structural model among traveling motivation, satisfaction and loyalty; and 4.to examine the causal relationships among traveling motivation, satisfaction and loyalty. A total of 414 valid questionnaires were collected through face-to-face survey from whale-watching tourists at the Wu-Shi Port of I-Lan. Establishing from the previous literature, we tested the conceptual model and found that traveling motivation and satisfaction for interpretative service are antecedents of loyalty for whale-watching. Based on the research findings, there were significant differences among whale-watching tourists’ social-demographic characteristics, traveling motivation, satisfaction for interpretative service and loyalty for whale-watching. The overall modified model was fair fit the data (GFI=0.98, SRMR=0.023, RMSEA=0.030, CFI=1.00). After conducting the Structural Equation Modeling, the results showed that the whale-watching tourists’ traveling motivation and satisfaction for interpretative service positively and significantly influenced loyalty for whale-watching (γ=0.47, β=0.45); their traveling motivation also positively and significantly influenced satisfaction for interpretative (γ=0.34). According to above results, this study proposed some managerial suggestions for whale-watching operators, such as to promotin whale-watching tourists’ traveling motivation and satisfaction for interpretative service by improving the marine environment, increasing the novel sense of whale watching, and educating and training interpreters in order to enhence their loyalty for whale-watching. Finally, the recommendations for future research were also discussed.