Ezebilo, Eugene Ejike
- Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Although ecotourism is fast growing industry information on travels to different ecotourism destinations are often not easily accessible. This paper reports reviews of literature on eco-tourists behaviour regarding choice of destination for ecotourism and factors influencing the choice. The importance of information in marketing of ecotourism and eco-tourists' satisfaction are discussed. The eco-tourists who are visiting a destination for the first time go through all stages in the decision-making process and extensive information search before choosing the destination to visit. Eco-tourists who have visited the destination in the past go through only some of the stages and limited information search. Eco-tourists' choice of an ecotourism destination are influenced by factors such as, the family, friends, societal values, preferences, safety and promotions related to the destination. Decision regarding re-visiting an ecotourism destination depends on the level of satisfaction that the eco-tourist experienced during his or her first time visit to the destination. Eco-tourists who are satisfied with the ecotourism destination during their first time visit are likely to re-visit the destination but those who are not satisfied are not likely to re-visit. For ecotourism managers to sustain the inflow of eco-tourists to different ecotourism destinations and revenue in the ecotourism industry it is important for the managers to strive towards meeting expectations of eco-tourists and make information regarding the destinations more accessible.
Keywords
consumer behaviour; choice; ecotourism; eco-tourists; decision-making; information search
Published in
Asian Social Science
2014, volume: 10, number: 2, pages: 10-17
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Applied Psychology
Environmental Sciences
Sociology (excluding Social work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v10n2p10
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/61257