Tropical forest recreation : Visitors' experience and satisfaction in Kinabalu Park, Sabah

The use of tropical forest parks as recreation resource is rece1v1ng increasing response from the public. Although its contribution as a recreational resource is apparent, more in-depth information on how it relates to and benefits the users are still unclear. The purpose of this study is to underst...

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Main Author:	Hamimah Talib
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English English
Published:	2011
Subjects:	G149-180 Travel Voyages and travels (General)
Online Access:	https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/38152/1/24%20PAGES.pdf https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/38152/2/FULLTEXT.pdf
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id	my-ums-ep.38152
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	my-ums-ep.381522024-02-08T07:05:39Z Tropical forest recreation : Visitors' experience and satisfaction in Kinabalu Park, Sabah 2011 Hamimah Talib G149-180 Travel. Voyages and travels (General) The use of tropical forest parks as recreation resource is rece1v1ng increasing response from the public. Although its contribution as a recreational resource is apparent, more in-depth information on how it relates to and benefits the users are still unclear. The purpose of this study is to understand the recreation experience and satisfaction of visitors in a tropical forest park setting with the use of mixed method approach ( quantitative and qualitative techniques) incorporating two models/theories as the research framework. Six hundred and nine questionnaire surveys and forty-two interviews were conducted with purposively sampled visitors in two specific sites and activities in Kinabalu Park: 1) Mt. Kinabalu (MK) climbing in Kinabalu Park headquarters area, and 2) Canopy Walkway (CW) visit in Poring HotSpring Station. The Recreation Experience Preference (REP) scale was used to elicit visitors' experience types gained through participation, and in-depth interview analysis based on Motivation-Hygiene Theory was conducted to understand their experience and satisfaction. This study found that the experience for MK ranges from "Achievement-Stimulation" (highest mean score) to ''Security-Comfort zone' (lowest mean score), and experience for CW ranges from "Enjoy Nature-Learning" (highest mean score) to "Socialization" (lowest mean score). In-depth interview analysis findings lend credence to the Motivation-Hygiene Theory, where visitors' satisfying experience involved attributes originated from personal psychological needs to grow, intrinsic and intangible in nature (motivation factors). Meanwhile, visitors' dissatisfaction involved attributes originated from physical conditions, extrinsic, and tangible in nature (hygiene factors). This study contributes to the understanding of visitors' recreational experience and satisfaction in tropical forest parks context, especially how the experiences satisfy personal psychological needs, which highlights the values and importance of this resource. This study however limits itself to focus on the interrelationship between recreation experience and satisfaction, thus did not look in detail into the phenomenological elements of recreation experience. Recommendations for park management and avenues for future studies were identified and discussed. 2011 Thesis https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/38152/ https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/38152/1/24%20PAGES.pdf text en public https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/38152/2/FULLTEXT.pdf text en validuser dphil doctoral Universiti Malaysia Sabah Sekolah Perhutanan Tropika Antarabangsa
institution	Universiti Malaysia Sabah
collection	UMS Institutional Repository
language	English English
topic	G149-180 Travel Voyages and travels (General)
spellingShingle	G149-180 Travel Voyages and travels (General) Hamimah Talib Tropical forest recreation : Visitors' experience and satisfaction in Kinabalu Park, Sabah
description	The use of tropical forest parks as recreation resource is rece1v1ng increasing response from the public. Although its contribution as a recreational resource is apparent, more in-depth information on how it relates to and benefits the users are still unclear. The purpose of this study is to understand the recreation experience and satisfaction of visitors in a tropical forest park setting with the use of mixed method approach ( quantitative and qualitative techniques) incorporating two models/theories as the research framework. Six hundred and nine questionnaire surveys and forty-two interviews were conducted with purposively sampled visitors in two specific sites and activities in Kinabalu Park: 1) Mt. Kinabalu (MK) climbing in Kinabalu Park headquarters area, and 2) Canopy Walkway (CW) visit in Poring HotSpring Station. The Recreation Experience Preference (REP) scale was used to elicit visitors' experience types gained through participation, and in-depth interview analysis based on Motivation-Hygiene Theory was conducted to understand their experience and satisfaction. This study found that the experience for MK ranges from "Achievement-Stimulation" (highest mean score) to ''Security-Comfort zone' (lowest mean score), and experience for CW ranges from "Enjoy Nature-Learning" (highest mean score) to "Socialization" (lowest mean score). In-depth interview analysis findings lend credence to the Motivation-Hygiene Theory, where visitors' satisfying experience involved attributes originated from personal psychological needs to grow, intrinsic and intangible in nature (motivation factors). Meanwhile, visitors' dissatisfaction involved attributes originated from physical conditions, extrinsic, and tangible in nature (hygiene factors). This study contributes to the understanding of visitors' recreational experience and satisfaction in tropical forest parks context, especially how the experiences satisfy personal psychological needs, which highlights the values and importance of this resource. This study however limits itself to focus on the interrelationship between recreation experience and satisfaction, thus did not look in detail into the phenomenological elements of recreation experience. Recommendations for park management and avenues for future studies were identified and discussed.
format	Thesis
qualification_name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.)
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Hamimah Talib
author_facet	Hamimah Talib
author_sort	Hamimah Talib
title	Tropical forest recreation : Visitors' experience and satisfaction in Kinabalu Park, Sabah
title_short	Tropical forest recreation : Visitors' experience and satisfaction in Kinabalu Park, Sabah
title_full	Tropical forest recreation : Visitors' experience and satisfaction in Kinabalu Park, Sabah
title_fullStr	Tropical forest recreation : Visitors' experience and satisfaction in Kinabalu Park, Sabah
title_full_unstemmed	Tropical forest recreation : Visitors' experience and satisfaction in Kinabalu Park, Sabah
title_sort	tropical forest recreation : visitors' experience and satisfaction in kinabalu park, sabah
granting_institution	Universiti Malaysia Sabah
granting_department	Sekolah Perhutanan Tropika Antarabangsa
publishDate	2011
url	https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/38152/1/24%20PAGES.pdf https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/38152/2/FULLTEXT.pdf
_version_	1794022707006799872

Tropical forest recreation : Visitors' experience and satisfaction in Kinabalu Park, Sabah

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