Developing beach resorts: Opportunities for coastal recreation and tourism in Taiwan, Republic of China

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among visitors' demographic characteristics and their setting preferences and needs for coastal recreation in order to assess and facilitate the development of beach resorts in Taiwan, Republic of China.; A one-way analysis of variance was conducted to examine the relationships among various factors (demographic variables and items that help determine visitors' setting preferences and needs). The results indicated that age, gender, marital status, educational level, and monthly income were significantly related to motivations (i.e., why visitors go on beach vacations), environmental settings, and recreation experience preferences. Principle component factor analyses were used to group the 32 items that pertained to motivation from the Recreation Experience Preference (REP) scales into six major categories, and to group the 25 setting attributes into five major categories. The results indicated that the most strongly preferred recreation experience was a desire to experience nature. Specifically, the results showed that beach vacationers with higher educational levels had significantly higher motivation for going on beach vacations than those with lower educational levels. Correlation between beach vacationers' motivations and the attributes of beach resort sites resulted in a positive and significant association. Additionally, the results showed that vacationers' participation in some activities can be characterized by their gender, age, and occupation.; Chi-square analysis revealed that only age and occupation had a significant relationship to visitors' previous visits to the beach resort area in Kenting National Park. The significant Chi-square values were then further explored using Goodman's Multiple Comparison Tests to "ransack" the cross classified data. No significant 2 x 2 interaction was found in groups of different ages and occupations between previous visits to Kenting National Park.; Data from this study showed a significant relationship between beach vacationers' motivation and behavior and the physical settings of beaches. Higher setting preferences were associated with the availability of site facilities, accessibility, and the desire to experience nature. Vacationers strongly desired "environmental" settings such as clean and unpolluted sea water and favorable weather.