Understanding Recreational Experience Preferences : Application at Fulufjallet National Park, Sweden

• This paper investigates the recreational experience preferences (REP) of visitors to Fulufjallet National Park, Sweden. Data were derived from a pilot study conducted in the summer of 2005 by Colorado State University on behalf of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the European Tourism Research Institute. A total of 107 Swedish and international visitors were surveyed on-site. Analysis included reliability and exploratory factor analyses to investigate the motivational aspects of visitors to Fulufjallet National Park. Aims were to examine motivations of visitors in a Northern European national park using REP items from a North American context and to examine REP's potential for cross-cultural use. Four primary REP dimensions were identified including self-discovery, experience of places, seeking solitude and challenging self. Implications for management and the Scandinavian context are given along with the cultural context of allemansratten and friluftsliv.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Wilderness experience; recreational motivations; REP scales; tourism

friluftsliv; allemansrätten; turism

Business and economics

Ekonomi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)