Place attachment as a mediator of the relationship between nature-based recreation benefits and future visit intentions

This study examined the theoretical relationships between consumers' perceived benefits, place attachment and future visit intentions (FVI) at nature-based recreation and tourism areas, utilizing importance and performance concepts. The desired benefits and perceived attained benefits of consumers were treated as an antecedent to place attachment and FVI in structural models. Results of two separate structural models tests using responses from 934 visitors at the Ocala National Forest in Florida, USA, confirmed that place attachment fully mediates the relationship between benefits desired and FVI, while place attachment partially mediates the relationship between benefits attained and FVI. The former verifies the significant role of place attachment, and the latter validates the importance of place attachment as well as recreation benefit attainment in predicting visitors' FVI. These findings suggest that both benefits desired and benefits attained are important predictors of place attachment and behavioral intentions. Accordingly, tourism and recreation planners and managers need to provide visitors with recreation opportunities, which maximize visitors' ability to attain recreation benefits, such as nature exploration, physical fitness and escape. These managerial initiatives would result in increasing visitors' emotional attachments and intentions to revisit.