Experiencing Nature: Physical Activity, Beauty and Tension in Tatra National Park—Analysis of TripAdvisor Reviews

Agnieszka Niezgoda and Marek Nowacki
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Agnieszka Niezgoda: Department of International Economics, Poznań University of Economics and Business, aleja Niepodległości 10, 61-875 Poznań, Poland
Marek Nowacki: Department of Socio-Economics, WSB University in Poznań, Powstańców Wielkopolskich 5, 61-874 Poznań, Poland

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyse the experiences gained by tourists visiting one of the most visited protected areas in Poland—the Tatra National Park (TNP). The authors focused on the following question: does the natural heritage of the national park affect visitors’ unique experiences or is environmentally valuable area not important for their experiences? This article uses mixed quantitative (Text Mining, co-occurrence network analysis) and qualitative (narratives research) methods. Data for analysis—revives posted by users between April 2011 and September 2019—were downloaded from TripAdvisor.co.uk. Reviews on TripAdvisor indicate that the most important for visiting tourists were the experiences of physical activity. This confirms the trend of maintaining health and the desire to regenerate physical strength. The group of reviews related to connection to nature experiences is extremely small, which indicates that tourists probably did not come to TNP as a result of a preference for experiences related to ecological awareness. Some tourists felt tension, which indicates that the carrying capacity was exceeded. There is a doubt as to whether tourists who want to engage in physical activity must necessarily visit the area with the highest degree of nature protection.

Keywords: tourist experiences; ecological awareness; protected areas; Tatra National Park; TripAdvisor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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