FACTORS INFLUENCING PERCEIVED ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE ECOTOURISM CITY

Abstract

The study examines factors effecting tourists' preferences in selecting city ecotourism to be visited. This study combines qualitative and quantitative  approaches. Qualitative approach was used to identify variables and quantitative approach was used to group the variables into factors. 55 variables were drawn from In-depth interview to 11 respondents, followed by survey of 195 tourists. Exploratory factor analysis with principal factor extraction revealed 4 main factors of attractiveness with 22 remains significant variables. These factors were: distinctive local features, knowledge & service of the tourism operator, infrastructure  & supporting facilities, and cultural attributes. The highest variance that explains the tourism attractiveness is distinctive local features while the least variance is cultural attributes.