Motivations of Ecotourists and Their Relationship with Sociodemographic Aspects, Satisfaction, and Loyalty: Puntilla de Santa Elena Marine Fauna Production Reserve, Ecuador

Mauricio Carvache-Franco, Orly Carvache-Franco, José Borja-Morán, Silvia Bustamante-Ruiz, Amalia Aguay-Tomalá and Wilmer Carvache-Franco ()
Additional contact information
Mauricio Carvache-Franco: Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador, Durán 092405, Ecuador
Orly Carvache-Franco: Universidad Espíritu Santo, Km. 2.5 Vía a Samborondón, Samborondón 092301, Ecuador
José Borja-Morán: Facultat de Turisme i Geografia, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43480 Tarragona, Spain
Silvia Bustamante-Ruiz: Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador, Durán 092405, Ecuador
Amalia Aguay-Tomalá: Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador, Durán 092405, Ecuador
Wilmer Carvache-Franco: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanísticas, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Guayaquil 090902, Ecuador

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the demand for ecotourism in marine protected areas by (a) identifying motivations specific to marine protected areas, (b) establishing the relationship between social and demographic variables and motivations, and (c) determining the relationship between social and demographic characteristics, satisfaction, and loyalty variables. The study was conducted in Santa Elena Province at the reserve called “Puntilla”, which is a coastal marine and fauna production reserve in Ecuador, a country renowned for its biodiversity. The sample comprised 369 on-site surveys. Factor analysis and stepwise multiple regression methods were used for data analysis. The results revealed associations between social and demographic variables and tourist motivations. Specifically, lower-income tourists were most motivated by “escape and ego-defensive function motivation” and reported higher satisfaction levels. Conversely, tourists who visited the destination less frequently displayed stronger motivations related to nature and showed high satisfaction. Furthermore, visitors who spent less at the destination demonstrated a greater intention to return and recommend the area to others. These findings hold significant implications for protected areas management and contribute to the scientific literature on ecotourism in similar protected areas.

Keywords: ecotourism; marine protected areas; social and demographic variables; motivation; satisfaction; loyalty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/20/8843/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/20/8843/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:20:p:8843-:d:1497320

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().