Tourist satisfaction with forest recreation experience: a segment-based approach

The purposes of this study are to identify the underlying dimensions of Chinese mainland tourists' satisfaction, to classify Chinese mainland tourists into distinct segments, and to examine the differences in socio-demographic and travelling characteristics among the segments of Chinese mainland tourists in the context of forest recreation tourism. It is concluded that the tourist satisfaction with forest recreation tourism experience is determined by three aspects of a destination: “information services”, “recreation facilities”, and “safety and sustainability”. A segmentation procedure based on these three attribute-level satisfaction factors produces three clusters: “Higher-Satisfied”, “In-Betweeners”, and “Lower-Satisfied”. Socio-demographic characteristics such as age, educational level, and monthly income are found of important value in profiling the three satisfaction segments. The practical implications of this study are discussed.