Analysis of Tourist Preferences for Ecotourism Attractions in North Sumatera

Onan Marakali Siregar; Selwendri Selwendri

doi:10.54518/rh.4.3.2024.1-12

Authors

Onan Marakali Siregar Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, North Sumatera 20222, Indonesia
Selwendri Selwendri Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, North Sumatera 20222, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54518/rh.4.3.2024.1-12

Keywords:

Tourism, Ecotourism Facilities, Tourist Preferences, Ecotourism Development Concepts, Ecotourism Management, Marketing

Abstract

In Indonesia, ecotourism is an important part of the tourism industry where Indonesia is included in the list of the best ecotourism destinations in the world. The most important thing about ecotourism is efforts towards maintaining the preservation of the natural and cultural environment. This requires good and professional management of ecotourism attractions by the character of each tourist destination area. This research aims to group tourists based on psychographic segments towards ecotourism destinations in North Sumatra, determine the combination of product attributes at ecotourism destinations in North Sumatra that fulfill the desires of tourists per segment, and determine the preferences of tourists in each segment regarding their level. This research uses cluster and conjoint analysis methods which aim to group tourists into two groups based on tourism motivation, namely soft ecotourists and hard ecotourists along with the types of characteristics in each group. The analytical method used is a descriptive survey. Primary data was obtained from a questionnaire with a total of 120 respondents in 4 regions, namely Medan City, Langkat Regency, Karo Regency, and Toba Samosir Regency. The results of the research show that the average assessment of soft ecotourists shows that the comfort (accommodation) measure reaches the highest value, namely F-count accommodation = 81,656 and (p-value = 0.000), while hard ecotourists show the highest measure of commitment to environmental issues. On the other hand, the instruments that do not have differences between the two clusters are the commitment, duration, and interaction instruments.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abdurahman, A. Z. A., Ali, J. K., Khedif, L. Y. B., Bohari, Z., Ahmad, J. A., & Kibat, S. A. (2016). Ecotourism product attributes and tourist attractions: UiTM undergraduate studies. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 224, 360-367.

Adedoyin, F. F., Erum, N., & Bekun, F. V. (2022). How does institutional quality moderates the impact of tourism on economic growth? Startling evidence from high earners and tourism-dependent economies. Tourism Economics, 28(5), 1311-1332.

Chiu, H. Y., Chan, C. S., & Marafa, L. M. (2016). Local perception and preferences in nature tourism in Hong Kong. Tourism Management Perspectives, 20, 87-97.

Choi, G., Kim, J., Sawitri, M. Y., & Lee, S. K. (2020). Ecotourism market segmentation in Bali, Indonesia: Opportunities for implementing REDD+. Land, 9(6), 186.

Cobbinah, P. B. (2015). Contextualising the meaning of ecotourism. Tourism Management Perspectives, 16, 179-189.

Dogru, T., & Bulut, U. (2018). Is tourism an engine for economic recovery? Theory and empirical evidence. Tourism Management, 67, 425-434.

Handayani, S., Wahyudin, N., & Khairiyansyah, K. (2019). Fasilitas, Aksesibilitas Dan Daya Tarik Wisata Terhadap Kepuasan Wisatawan. Jurnal Ilmiah Manajemen Dan Bisnis, 20(2), 123-133.

Huang, C. C., Li, S. P., Chan, Y. K., Hsieh, M. Y., & Lai, J. C. M. (2023). Empirical research on the sustainable development of ecotourism with environmental education concepts. Sustainability, 15(13), 10307.

Jaya, P. H. I, Izudin, A., & Aditya, R. (2024). The role of ecotourism in developing local communities in Indonesia. Journal of Ecotourism, 23(1), 20-37.

Ketut, I. S., & Widyatmaja, I. G. N. (2017). Pengetahuan Dasar Ilmu Pariwisata. Denpasar: Pustaka Larasan.

Khanra, S., Dhir, A., Kaur, P., & Mäntymäki, M. (2021). Bibliometric analysis and literature review of ecotourism: Toward sustainable development. Tourism Management Perspectives, 37, 100777.

Kronenberg, K., & Fuchs, M. (2021). Aligning tourism's socio-economic impact with the United Nations' sustainable development goals. Tourism Management Perspectives, 39, 100831.

Kunjuraman, V. (2022). Local community participation challenges in community-based ecotourism development in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Community Development Journal, 57(3), 487-508.

Lee, T. H., & Jan, F. H. (2019). Can community-based tourism contribute to sustainable development? Evidence from residents’ perceptions of the sustainability. Tourism Management, 70, 368-380.

Li, K. X., Jin, M., & Shi, W. (2018). Tourism as an important impetus to promoting economic growth: A critical review. Tourism management perspectives, 26, 135-142.

Phoek, I. C. A., Tjilen, A. P., & Cahyono, E. (2021). Analysis of ecotourism, culture and local community empowerment: Case study of Wasur National Park-Indonesia. Macro Management & Public Policies, 3(2), 7-13.

Sadq, Z. M., Othman, B., & Khorsheed, R. K. (2019). The impact of tourism marketing in enhancing competitive capabilities. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 8(5), 1-11.

Setiyorini, H. P. D. (2017). Konvergensi Media dan Teknologi: Implikasinya terhadap Komunikasi Pemasaran Pariwisata. THE Journal: Tourism and Hospitality Essentials Journal, 7(1), 47-52.

Stamatiou, C., Liampas, S. A. G., & Drosos, V. C. (2020). Determining ecotourism strategies: the case study of Greek forestvillages.

Sukirno, Z. L., & Irfan, E. (2019). Teknologi Komunikasi Informasi dan Dekonstruksi Tren Pariwisata. Journal of Tourism and Creativity, 3(2), 179-192.

Tseng, M. L., Lin, C., Lin, C. W. R., Wu, K. J., & Sriphon, T. (2019). Ecotourism development in Thailand: Community participation leads to the value of attractions using linguistic preferences. Journal of cleaner production, 231, 1319-1329.

Wardle, C., Buckley, R., Shakeela, A., & Castley, J. G. (2021). Ecotourism’s contributions to conservation: Analysing patterns in published studies. Journal of Ecotourism, 20(2), 99-129.

Yanti, R., & Febrisa, Y. (2015). Strategi Promosi Penyelenggaraan Wisata Outbound Dalam Meningkatkan Kunjungan Di Taman Agro Wisata Bukit Naang Kabupaten Kampar. Jurnal Daya Saing, 1(2), 188-194.

Zabihi, H., Alizadeh, M., Wolf, I. D., Karami, M., Ahmad, A., & Salamian, H. (2020). A GIS-based fuzzy-analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) for ecotourism suitability decision making: A case study of Babol in Iran. Tourism Management Perspectives, 36, 100726.

Zhang, H., & Lei, S. L. (2012). A structural model of residents’ intention to participate in ecotourism: The case of a wetland community. Tourism management, 33(4), 916-925.

Zong, C., Cheng, K., Lee, C. H., & Hsu, N. L. (2017). Capturing tourists’ preferences for the management of community-based ecotourism in a forest park. Sustainability, 9(9), 1673.