The Connection Between College Students' Tourism Preferences and Their Childhood Nature-contacted Experiences

Abundant research in environmental science, psychology and other related fields has shown that adults with different nature-contacted experiences in childhood often show certain differences in cognition and behavior. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to research on children's nature-contacted experiences in the field of tourism. In this study, a questionnaire survey was administered among 304 college students in Beijing to investigate the connection between tourism preferences in adulthood and nature-contacted experiences in childhood. The study investigated the implications of urban or rural growth background and the frequency, mode, environment, intensity, and feeling of nature-contacted experiences in childhood for tourism preferences in adulthood as it relates to cognition, emotion, and intention. The results of questionnaire surveys revealed that: ① the mode, environment, intensity, and feeling of nature-contacted experiences in childhood all appear to have certain influences on tourism preference in adulthood; ② neither growth background nor the frequency of nature-contacted experience shows a significant relationship with tourism preference in adulthood. Based on the results, this article puts forward some targeted suggestions on children's nature education and college students' tourism market development: ① children's nature education should be carried out in a real wild natural environment with moderate intensity, adults should guide children to have positive feelings towards nature; ② tourism marketing development should pay attention to how college students' demands for natural tourism products relate to their nature-contacted experiences in childhood.