The effect of perceived environment restorative qualities on Chinese visitors’ satisfaction in rural destination

Abstract

With rapid economy development and increasing social competition, the majority of Chinese people living in the city is suffering from daily work and life stress. Due to the inflexible holiday system, Chinese city people prefer visiting a rural destination around the place where they live, which is identified as restorative environment, with the demand of rest and mental replenishment. In order to investigate how perceived rural destination environment qualities influence visitor's satisfaction, this empirical study conducted a survey on 258 visitors in two rural destinations in Zhejiang province, China. SEM was utilized to analyze the relationship between variables in the proposed conceptual model and bootstrap estimation was conducted to assess the mediation effect of mental recovery between PDRQs and visitors' satisfaction in rural destinations. The results indicate: Chinese visitors' perception of compatibility and fascination significantly and directly influence their satisfaction and the perception of compatibility, mentally away and fascination have indirect influence on visitors' satisfaction with mediation of mental recovery in rural destinations.

The role of perceived restorative capacity and crowding on satisfaction: a study in different tourist spaces (El papel de la capacidad restauradora percibida y el hacinamiento sobre la satisfacción: un estudio en diferentes espacios turísticos)

“…In the three tourist spaces analysed, when the visitors rate the space as highly restorative, they report higher levels of satisfaction on these three indicators, and as perceived restorative capacity decreases, so does satisfaction. These results support the second hypothesis and align with those found in previous studies (Cho & Lee, 2016;Kim et al, 2014;Lehto, 2013;Lehto et al, 2017;Lu & Amponstira, 2020). These differences were more pronounced in the coastal urban boardwalk, a tourist space that has more urban elements that can lower the impact of the natural elements compared to the other two places, as natural elements tend to possess the restorative qualities of being away, fascination, compatibility and extent to a higher degree (Berto, 2014;Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989).…”

“…En los tres espacios turísticos analizados, cuando los visitantes valoran el espacio como muy restaurador reportan mayores niveles de satisfacción en sus tres indicadores, y a medida que decrece la capacidad restauradora percibida disminuye la satisfacción. Estos resultados apoyan la segunda hipótesis y van en la línea de los obtenidos en investigaciones previas (Cho & Lee, 2016;Kim et al, 2014;Lehto, 2013;Lehto et al, 2017;Lu & Amponstira, 2020). Estas diferencias fueron más acusadas en el paseo urbano costero, un espacio turístico que, frente a los otros dos lugares analizados, presenta más elementos urbanos que pueden reducir el impacto de los elementos naturales, que suelen poseer en mayor medida las cualidades restauradoras de evasión, fascinación, compatibilidad y extensión (Berto, 2014;Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989).…”

“…También Cho y Lee (2016) encuentran que percibir en el lugar las dimensiones Fascinación, Extensión y Compatibilidad de capacidad restauradora contribuyen a explicar la satisfacción con visitas turísticas culturales. Lu y Amponstira (2020) obtienen relación entre la satisfacción con la visita a entornos rurales y las cualidades restauradoras percibidas de los espacios, compatibilidad y fascinación. Estos resultados proporcionan evidencia previa de la existencia de relación entre actividad turística, capacidad restauradora percibida y satisfacción o bienestar.…”

“…Likewise, Cho and Lee (2016) found that perceiving the dimensions fascination, extent and compatibility of restorative capacity in the place contributes to explaining tourists’ satisfaction with cultural visits. Lu and Amponstira (2020) found a relationship between satisfaction with visits to rural settings and the perceived restorative qualities of the spaces, compatibility and fascination. These results provide prior evidence of the existence of a relationship between tourist activity, perceived restorative capacity and satisfaction or well-being.…”

Multisensory Stimuli, Restorative Effect, and Satisfaction of Visits to Forest Recreation Destinations: A Case Study of the Jhihben National Forest Recreation Area in Taiwan

“…Fascination and compatibility can predict satisfaction and behavioral intention after visiting forest resorts. According to a survey of Chinese visitors visiting Thailand, Lu and Ampostira [68] found that mental getaways, compatibility, and fascination assessed based on the PDRQs scale have a significant effect on satisfaction. Based on the abovementioned research, this study proposed the following hypothesis: H3 .…”