| Greenway is a type of linear open space along natural or artificial corridor,such as river fronts,streams,ridgelines,abandoned railroads,canals,or scenic roads,with ecological,recreational,social and cultural multiple functions.Since 1990 s,the greenway movement which originated in the USA has become an international movement.Domestic greenways,mainly are recreational,first began in 2008 in Guangzhou.So far,Guangzhou Greenway has accumulated more than 3 000 km,forming a greenway network which is widely distributed in the central city with a large number of scenic spots and complete supporting facilities.Despite the domestic and foreign scholars have been done much empirical researches on greenway user,there is little theoretical literature.Furthermore,whereas empirical studies have primarily focused on urban greenways in developed countries,little work has done on other types of greenways,nor on greenways in developing countries.Additionally,previous studies have paid much attention on regional greenways rather than multiple segments of a greenway,and have compared multiple greenways of the same type rather than multiple types of greenways.This study selected nine segments of three types of greenways in Guangzhou(named urban greenway,UG,rural greenway,RG,natural greenway,NG)to conduct field investigation and questionnaire survey(n =1817),and then analyzed the greenway users' behavioral characteristics and experience satisfaction.Finaly,some suggestions were brought forward on greenway ecotourism service fuction improvement in Guangzhou.The main findings of this study concluded as follows.1.Greenway user's behavioral characteristicsGreenways were mainly serving for neighborhood residents.The location of the greenway,in particular the distance between the greenway and the urban area,determined the geographical distribution of greenway users.In general,the greenway users investigated in this study were of relatively high educational status,the majority of which were students,company employees and freelancers.And low-income and no-income users(such as students,housewives)accounted for a large proportion.Recreation followed by physical activity and fitness,social interaction and commuting were the main purposes of greenway users.Walking was the prior use pattern of greenway users,followed by cycling and playing on the greenway nearby.Most users were traveling with family members,relatives,friends or classmates,staying 1-3 hours,and spending their money primarily in dining,bike rent and public transportation.Based on the further data analysis,some conclusions were made as follow:(1)Greenway users' demographic characteristics had more or less influence on their use behavior including visiting frequency,accompany,consumption cost,distance to greenway,use time and travel mode.(2)For different types of greenway segments,their recreational function had different ways of showing.The use pattern was largely influenced by the use purpose for Guangzhou greenway users.(3)The greenway users could be clarified into three typical categories which named the recreation tourist,the community resident and the passer-by.Community residents offen used greenway for the purpose of physical activity or commute,usually staying in a short time for a recreational break,or just passing by.Recreation tourists offen used greenway for the purpose of recreation or social interaction,usually was one-day-tour(mainly household tour using private automobile),and most of them would like to play on nearby greenway.Passer-by peoples offen used the regional greenway or went to the destination nearby the greenway,they just pass through the segment for a supplying break.(4)There was a positive significant correlation between the previous use experiences and revisiting frequency,distance to greenway,use time,sum of consumption.The Pearson correlation coefficients of the consumption cost and distance to greenway,use time,was significantly positive,which illustrated that the increase of use time and distance could lead to the increase of consumption observably.There was a negative significant correlation between the revisiting frequency and distance to greenway,use time,consumption cost.As a result,owing to the increase of distance to greenway,the revisiting frequency was to be lower,and users who come to the greenway fewer tended to stay on greenway for a longer time and spend more money.2.Comparison of use behavior in three-type greenway segmentsThere were visible differences among the three-type greenway segments regarding the behavior of users.The UG user's use frequency was relatively high,but the users who come to greenway firstly occupied a large proportion on the RG and NG.RG and NG users got information of the greenway mainly through interpersonal channels,and close to home was the first way for the UG users.As for the UG,the close-to-home users occupied a more large proportion than RG and NG.With the increase of the distance to greenway,the number of greenway users tend to follow the classic Kuznets curve,but not distance-decay regularity.The location of maximum depended much on the distance from greenway to urban areas(user's main source region).About the travel mode to greenway,more UG users chose walking,however,more RG users were much more likely to drive a car to get to the greenway,and more NG users chose public transportation.About the use pattern,most UG users made a choice to walking,while cycling was the primary mode for the NG users,and more playing on nearby greenway for the RG users.Short-time-staying users occupied the largest proportion on the UG.In contrast,RG users always stayed on the greenway for a longer time,some of them even needed to find lodgings.Most UG users tended to use the greenway alone or with their house pet.However,more RG users were with family/relatives,and more NG users were with friends/classmates.In contrast,consumption cost was the lowest for the UG users,it was highest for RG users.The cost of public transportation was the largest for UG users,the cost of bike rent was the largest for NG users.But as for RG users,more money were spent on the petrol/parking,shopping and lodging.3.Analysis of the experience satisfaction of greenway usersThe overall experience satisfaction of greenway user was relatively high in this study.Five variables including the ecological environment,surface,signage system,access to public transportation,service point had a positive significant effect on the overall satisfaction.However,the above-mentioned five variables only explained 11.2% variance of the attributive variable,which proved that the influencing factors of experience satisfaction were multiple and complicated,and not limited by the greenway's planning and use environment.In contrast,the UG's use condition was the best on the basis of the use experience.Sanitation and safeguard were the key negative factors no matter what type of greenway was.The lack of recreational amenity was the key weak point on the RG and NG.The author proposed a conceptual model of greenway use pattern and experience.The model was made up of four parts involving greenway user,decision making of user,use behavior and experience satisfaction,a feedback loop was also involved.It explained how the user's behavior and experience come into being,and how many influencing factors were involved in this course.4.Strategy for greenway ecotourism service fuction improvementEcotourism was the core content in recreational greenway industries.Support factors of greenway ecotourism service fuctions were as follows:(1)to meet greenway user's multi-purpose tourism demands.(2)prefect management and maintainance;(3)complying with standards of greenway planning and construction.(4)support and participation of the local communities.(5)long-term tourism appeal.(6)having a positive effect on the ecological,economical and socio-cultural environment.(7)perfect trousim service system.Based on anylisis of negative factors,some suggestions on Guangzhou greenway ecotourism service fuction improvement were proposed as follows:(1)to build the Production-Living-Ecological Greenway for serving the slow life demands of citizens.(2)to build Extension Greenway for strengthening the tractive force of rural greenway.(3)to build the Ecoligical Greenway by improving the greenway ecological service funtions comprehensively.(4)to build the Safe Greenway for providing safeguard for ecotourismdevelopment.(5)to build the Smart Greenway by implementing the Internet+Greenway project.(6)to build the Cutural Greenway by developing the eco-cultural tourism with regional characteristics.(7)to build the Propaganda & Education Greenway for developing and propagating greenway cultures. |
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