• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.50-63
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• 2014

Eco-tourism has been recognized as a form of sustainable development that simultaneously satisfies the need for environmental preservation and the activation of local economies. Although some research findings relating to its positive environmental and social effects have been published, there is still controversy regarding its pros and cons in terms of its actual economic benefits, and little research about how they can be increased. Thus, the following research analyzes how the tour activities, attitudes and satisfaction of 314 actual visitors was related with their consumption behaviors, by surveying tourists to Suncheon Bay, a highly popular destination with a large number of visitors. The results are as follows. First, if the tourists were involved in a link-up tour, had prior eco-tourism experience, or had researched information on SunCheon bay eco-tourism before their visit, these were all positively correlated with consumption behaviors, and increased the amount of money they spent. In particular, among tour spending activities, accommodation cost is shown to be highly correlated with tour activities. Second, Free Independent Tourist(FIT) tended to show more positive tour attitudes than package tourists, spending more on accommodation and experience programs. The visitors to SunCheon Bay showed strong environmental attitudes, followed by social and cultural attitudes, and economic attitudes, in that order, and tourists with positive attitudes had a high rate of participation in experience programs. In addition, program participants showed a willingness to donate, and high satisfaction. Therefore, the following thesis proposes that Free Independent Tourist(FIT) should be induced to increase their contribution to the local eco-tourism economy, and highlights the need to develop various experience programs, aggressive advertisements and educational activities.