Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°2, 346-351
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.247 346
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIOR FEATURES OF AGRITAINMENT
CONSUMERS: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY
Xiangli Ni*, Wanqing Lv
Abstract
With the rapid economic growth, tourism becomes increasingly affordable in China. Agritainment, an emerging model of tourism, is immensely popular among the Chinese people. Starting with the consumption model of agritainment, this paper studies the demographic, psychological and behavioral features of agritainment consumers, in the light of psychological theory. To collect the relevant data, a questionnaire survey was carried out in an agritainment base of Shaoguan, China, using stratified sampling and random sampling. Based on the survey data, the author analyzed the status quo and existing problems of agritainment in the study area. The results show that agritainment consumers mostly aged between 18 and 45, holding college degree or above; the consumers acquire agritainment information through a single channel, mainly based on the comments of friends and relatives; the main travel purpose of agritainment consumers is to relax and enjoy the scenery. This paper provides the empirical model and reference data for the study of psychological behavior of agritainment consumers.
Key words: Agritainment, Consumer Psychology, Consumer Behavior, Questionnaire Survey. Received: 18-02-19 | Accepted: 15-10-19
INTRODUCTION
With the rapid development of socialist economy, people are no longer satisfied with material culture needs for food and clothing, but more for spiritual satisfaction and development (Pham, 2013). The consumption of the tertiary industry is an important way to meet people's growing spiritual culture needs, especially the consumption of tourism. Among them, Farmer Household Tourism has gradually become a new mode of people's tourism consumption (Cohen & Bernard, 2013). In rural tourism, Farmer Household Tourism is a new tourism consumption pattern emerging in recent years, an eco-tourism model based on the unique village landscape, idyllic scenery, life landscape, agricultural industrial activities, homestay culture and natural resources (Thorn, 2003).
Business and Tourism Management School, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China.
E-Mail: nixiangli@126.com
Relying on the original natural scenery and traditional history and culture of the countryside, the Farmer Household Tourism is a rural leisure and entertainment base suitable for public consumption and a holiday base for experiencing traditional farming culture, and together with the continuous improvement of people's awareness of protecting ecology and returning to nature, the Farmer Household Tourism has become increasingly popular in tourism (de Sousa & Kastenholz, 2015).
In the 1990s, rural tourism, as a modern tourism industry, was rapidly developed under the guidance of the world rural tourism market and relevant national policies and systems, and was generally welcomed by tourists. Changsha city was once called the most popular city of Farmer Household Tourism in China. Workers from China National Tourism Administration pointed out that the Farmer Household Tourism was originated in Chengdu and developed in Changsha" (Katona, 1967). According to the survey data of relevant tourism departments, the number of rural tourists in China exceeded 400
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million in June 2010, the income of Farmer Household Tourism exceeded 60 billion yuan, and rural tourism promoted farmers' employment in their hometowns, building and serving their hometowns. On the one hand, farmers' income has increased greatly, and on the other hand, it has greatly promoted the development of rural economy and is an important way to build a new countryside (Tasaki, 1992). With regard to rural tourism, some scholars believe that Farmer Household Tourism is a consumption hotspot based on rural natural scenery and traditional cultural customs, and targets at urban residents and office workers. Farmer Household Tourism is an emerging tourism development model that mainly satisfies the needs of group for entertainment vacation, returning to nature, relaxing and the like (Lane & Kastenholz, 2015). The Farmer Household Tourism embodies the unique geographical environment, life style, humanistic relationship, cultural connotation and natural living form of the countryside, which attract a large number of tourists from domestic cities and from abroad (Mittelstaedt, 1990). Developing rural tourism is the sustainable development of rural areas, attracting promising young people to return to build their hometowns, and developing rural areas into an integration of cultural landscape, ecological construction and traditional and excellent folk culture, and tourist, natural and cultural sites integrating sightseeing, learning, entertainment, vacation, shopping and others (Cohen & Chakravarti, 2003). In the analysis of rural tourism policy plan, some scholars have sum up different types of rural tourism, activities, special products, consumption motives of tourists and others, emphasizing that agricultural and rural social environmental resources as well as rural natural ecological resources are the main components of rural tourism (Maheswaran & Shavitt, 2000). On the basis of China's rural regional characteristics, market status, and resource richness, some scholars explored the development model of Farmer Household Tourism (Jacoby, 1975).
In terms of the development mechanism of rural tourism, scholars refer to the five models of rural tourism, namely, the entrepreneurial model operated by individual farmer households, the cooperative development model of village committee and other enterprises, the cooperative form of tourism companies and local villagers, the sole investment model dominated by government and coordinated by tourism companies and the collective public ownership model developed with government fund. The rural tourism consumption
obviously promotes the rural environmental benefits, social benefits and economic benefits. Many scholars pay more and more attention to the rural tourism, and study the related tourism models of Farmer Household Tourism both theoretically and practically.
With a focus on the consumption model of Farmer Household Tourism, this paper studies the demographic, psychological and behavioral characteristics of the consumers in the tourism base of Farmer Household Tourism in Shaoguan by stratified sampling and random sampling. Based on this, this paper analyzes the current situation and existing problems of rural tourism in Shaoguan, and provides reference data, experience model and corresponding development ideas for rural tourism development planning.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF FARMER HOUSEHOLD TOURISM CONSUMERS
According to the geographical distribution and economic development of a Farmer Household Tourism in Shaoguan, this study adopts simple random sampling and stratified sampling of respondents. Of the 500 questionnaires, 480 are collected, with a collection rate of 96%, of which 460 are valid.
According to the survey data, most of the consumers in the Farmer Household Tourism in Shaoguan came from cities, accounting for 78% of the total number of respondents, among which 20% from Guangdong Province and only 2% from other provinces. The sex proportion of tourism consumers is relatively balanced, with 45% of female tourists and 55% of male tourists. Regardless of men, women, the old or the young, tourism consumers have a strong interest in Farmer Household Tourism, but on the whole, the 18-45-year-old young and middle-aged groups account for 70%; among the tourism consumers, 88% of the total respondents are students with college or above educational background, which is high on the whole; tourism consumers with the total income of less than 1,000 yuan are mainly college students, accounting for 10% of the total; those with the income of the average income standard basically are office workers, accounting for 78%, and the rest are some retirees; among surveyed tourism consumers, the types of occupation are diversified, covering a wide range, mainly including college students, civil servants, business managers, business workers and others. The demographic characteristics of the respondents are shown in Table 1.
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIOR FEATURES OF AGRITAINMENT CONSUMERS: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY 348
Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of consumers in rural tourism
Demographic characteristics and Classification of tourists Number of persons Proportion (%)
Tourist source
Shaoguan City 390 78
Other cities in Guangdong Province 100 20
Outside Guangdong Province 10 2
Gender of tourists Male 275 55
Female 225 45
Tourist education
Senior high school and below 110 22
Junior college 150 30
Bachelor degree or above 290 58
Monthly income of tourists
Less than 1000 yuan 50 10
1000-3500 yuan 390 78
More than 3500 yuan 60 12
Tourist occupation
Students 150 30
Civil servants 75 15
Enterprise manager 50 10
Enterprise staff 100 20
Freelance 25 5
Service provider 75 15
Other occupations 25 5
Tourist age
18-26 years old 150 30
27-45 years old 200 40
45-68 years old 100 20
Other age groups 50 10
BEHAVIOR TREND OF FARMER HOUSEHOLD TOURISM CONSUMERS
Information sources of tourism consumers
As shown in Figure 1, the data of the questionnaire shows that 48% of tourism consumers get tourist information about the Farmer Household Tourism in Shaoguan from friends, which means that most tourists get the tourism information through the word-of-mouth of relatives and friends; 15% of the tourism consumers get the tourism information through checking related newspaper or magazines by themselves, which shows that the effectiveness of the media communication information cannot be ignored; with the development of information technology, 32% of the tourism consumers get the tourism information through the Internet, and the network means is the best way for the tourists to get the information quickly; 5% get information from other means, accounting for relatively small proportion.
From the data results, it can be seen that the channels for the tourism consumers to obtain the tourism information of the Farmer Household Tourism are relatively single, mainly based on the word-of-mouth publicity of relatives and friends, which reflects to a certain extent that the rural tourism publicity mode is relatively blank and the publicity intensity is insufficient. We should make full use of network media and information
technology to expand the coverage of rural tourism information.
Figure 1.
Tourism consumers’ information
sources
Travel mode of tourism consumers
As shown in Figure 2, 85% of tourism consumers prefer to travel with their families or get together with friends. As a hot consumption project for urban residents, the Farmer Household Tourism mainly benefits from the fact that the Farmer Household Tourism can let people to release the stressful life and work pressure in cities as well as enjoy a good time with friends and family members so as to
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promote emotional communication, increase the understanding of the countryside and get close to nature.
Figure 2.
Travel modes of tourism
consumers
Travel means of transportation for tourism consumers
Figure 3 shows the proportion of the travel means of transportation for tourists. In the survey of the travel means of transportation to travel destination, 35% and 36% of the tourists choose to travel by bus and private car, respectively, accounted for 71% of the total. Most of the tourists choose to travel by bus mainly because the bus route of Shaoguan can lead to most of the countryside, and the tourists choose private car to travel mainly because of the small traffic pressure and smooth travel of private car in Shaoguan, a fifth-tier city.
Figure 3
.
Tourist consumers’ means of travel
transportation
9% tourists choose taxi to travel and this group mainly are office workers, with certain economic ability; the remaining 20% of tourists choose other modes of travel, such as bicycle and hitchhiking, and they are mainly students and freelancers. It can be seen that the convenience of the traffic and roads to rural tourist attractions directly affects the travel mode of tourists.
Consumption items of Farmer Household Tourism
As shown in Figure 4, in terms of the consumption items of Farmer Household Tourism, 45% of the tourists think that the tickets account for the majority of the costs, and the tickets mainly include the fees for various recreational activities and facilities of Farmer Household Tourism; 35% of tourists believe that food and beverage is the main part; 15% of tourists think that accommodation accounts for a higher proportion of the costs in rural tourism; 5% of tourists think that other expenses, such as transportation expenses and group tourism expenses, account for the main part. In fact, different economic capacities, within the city, within the province, other province, and other factors will affect the expenditure proportion of tourist consumption items. Therefore, the reasonable allocation of expenditure for tickets, accommodation, entertainment and other resources for rural tourism can promote the rationalization of tourist consumption structure, attract more tourists, better promote the development of rural tourism, and thus promote the development of rural economy.
Figure 4
.
Tourism
consumers’ consumption
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIOR FEATURES OF AGRITAINMENT CONSUMERS: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY 350
PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
FARMER HOUSEHOLD TOURISM CONSUMERS
Travel motivation of tourism consumers
Travel motivation determines the choice of travel destination, travel form, travel time and travel route and is the main reason why tourism consumers choose rural travel. Figure 5 shows that 56% of tourists travel to relax and relieve the pressure of life and work; 34% of tourists are to return to nature and enjoy the idyllic scenery; 6% of tourist consumers are rushing to the local food in the countryside; 3% of tourists because of the need for work; the rest of the tourists have their unique reasons. In short, tourists mainly travel to relax and appreciate the idyllic scenery, and a small number of tourists travel because of work needs, which reminds the government, farmers and enterprises to develop rural tourism models according to the needs of tourists.
Figure 5
.
Travel motivation of tourism
consumers
Analysis of factors influencing tourists' travel
Figure 6 shows the proportion of the factors influencing the travel of tourists. Attraction of tourist attractions accounts for 35%; travel time for 15%; distance factor for 15%; expenses for 20%; weather conditions for 10%; other unpredictable factors for 5%.
Compared with traditional tourism, the the impact of expenses on rural tourism items on travel decreases, the attraction of tourist attractions has become the most important factor for tourists to choose whether or not to travel. With the rapid development of socialist economy, people's material life and economic ability have been greatly improved, which changes people's traditional consumption concept and puts higher requirements to some
extent for the above-mentioned factors that need to be considered in tourism.
Figure 6
.
Influencing factors of Tourism
consumers' Travel
Present issues about Farmer Household Tourism
As shown in Figure 7, the Farmer Household Tourism in Shaoguan attracts a lot of tourists, but when asked about its shortcomings, 35% of tourists believe that it lacks features and innovation in terms of entertainment form and the items of Farmer Household Tourism in different areas are too similar; 5% of the tourists think the fee of the park is unreasonable; 36% of tourists believe that the infrastructure of Farmer Household Tourism is outdated; 14% tourists think that the service level is poor; 10% of the tourists are dissatisfied with the backward management of Farmer Household Tourism, the poor quality of the service staff, the sanitary environment and other aspects.
Rural tourist destinations are generally located in remote areas, where transportation facilities, sanitation environment and other infrastructure are relatively backward; rural tourism management mainly depends on local villagers, so the level of management is also relatively low; in addition, rural tourism planning is relatively simple, mainly based on local materials, and although to a certain extent it brings tourists real experience, it also will cause a lot of inconvenience. The government, the tourism companies and the management of Farmer Household Tourism should fully consider how to plan Farmer Household Tourism to meet the needs of the consumers, especially the features, infrastructure equipment, catering service level, environmental sanitation, consumption prices and
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other key aspects, so as to attract more tourists and drive the development of the rural economy.
Figure 7
.
The dissatisfaction of tourism
consumers with rural tourism
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the basic principles of psychological theory and stratified sampling method and random sampling method, this paper studies the psychological and behavioral characteristics of Farmer Household Tourism consumers by taking the consumption model of Farmer Household Tourism as the starting point. The conclusions of the research on Farmer Household Tourism is as follows:
(1) Demographic characteristics of Farmer Household Tourism consumers; tourists of Farmer Household Tourism in Shaoguan mainly come from cities, and most are the 18 - 45 -year-old youth groups; most of the tourists have college degree or above, with a high educational level on the whole. The types of occupation are diversified with a wide coverage.
(2) The trend of tourism consumers' behavior: The tourism consumers have a single channel of access to the tourism information on Farmer Household Tourism, mainly based on the word-of-mouth publicity of their relatives and friends, which reflects to a certain extent the lack of rural tourism publicity methods and insufficient publicity strength. Most of tourists prefer to travel with family members, friends or classmates; most of tourists choose to travel by bus or private car.
(3) The psychological characteristics of tourism consumers of Farmer Household Tourism: Most of the tourism consumers are to relax and enjoy the idyllic scenery, and a small number of tourists travel
because of work needs, food, and personal factors. Compared with traditional tourism, the impact of tourism expense on tourists' travel has decreased, and the attraction of tourist attractions has become the most important factor for tourists to choose whether to travel or not. Due to rural tourism in remote areas, transportation facilities, sanitation environment and other infrastructure and service management level are generally low.
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