Turning National Parks into Tourist Attractions: Nature Orientation and Quest for Facilities

This paper presents an exploratory analysis of foreign tourists' quests for facilities in Norwegian national parks, related to their expressed nature orientation. The analysis was based on a survey among German, Dutch and Danish tourists during the summer season of 2008. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to identify underlying dimensions from indicator questions related to nature orientations and to quest for facilities inside and outside the national parks. The indicator questions were primarily inspired by Nils Uddenberg's classification of modern Swedes' nature orientations. We found a significant, although fairly weak, relationship between nature orientation and quest for facilities, applying multivariate regression modelling. The strongest relationship was found for the quest for larger management measures - oInfrastructure serviceso - supported by nature orientations labelled Challenge or Sightseeing, while these were disapproved of by the traditional outdoor Recreation orientation. The wish for oTracks and signpostso was also upheld by nature orientations Challenge and Sightseeing. A segment of the tourists, based on cluster analysis, indicated that one third requested development of oInfrastructure serviceso, but this segment demanded all kinds of facility developments. The results indicate national park development potentials, clarifying which developments are contended, and diversifying the demand from three major nationalities visiting Norway.