Abstract (150 Words)
The research looked into the rural tourism development through drive tourism by examining both the industry stakeholders and drive tourists perspectives. Specifically, the research explored the constraints and barriers that prevent drive tourists from visiting rural areas along the travel route, and provided insights of drive tourist’ behavior and intention to visit a bypass or “stop- over” rural destination based on a short image formation process. Mixed method was employed, which included focus groups of tourism industry stakeholders and self-administered surveys for drive tourists. Recommendations were made to tourism stakeholders in rural areas as to how they can attract drive tourists.
Drive Tourism in Rural Destination Development: Dual Perspectives from Industry Stakeholders and Potential Visitors
The research looked into the rural tourism development through drive tourism by examining both the industry stakeholders and drive tourists perspectives. Specifically, the research explored the constraints and barriers that prevent drive tourists from visiting rural areas along the travel route, and provided insights of drive tourist’ behavior and intention to visit a bypass or “stop- over” rural destination based on a short image formation process. Mixed method was employed, which included focus groups of tourism industry stakeholders and self-administered surveys for drive tourists. Recommendations were made to tourism stakeholders in rural areas as to how they can attract drive tourists.
