A STUDY ON TOURIST PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPACITY OF THEME PARKS AND ITS INFLUENCING FACTORS——A Case Study of Happy Valley in Shenzhen
LIANG Zeng-xian1, DONG Guan-zhi2
1. Center for Tourism Planning & Research, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China;
2. Shenzhen Tourism Colleage of Ji Nan University, Shenzhen 518053, China
Abstract Tourism carrying capacity (TCC) is one of core issues in tourism geography, and tourist psychological capacity (TPC) is an important but a relatively poorly developed issue in TCC because of its complicated influencing factors and shortage of data. With the absence of empirical studies, the curve of TPC is widely considered as monotone linear in academia according to few studies or simple inference. However, in the practice of theme park management, too large or too small tourist capacity which could influence tourist satisfaction at the same scale. The monotone curve of TPC is not accepted by managers of theme park. Based on this issue, this paper firstly examines some theories of TPC and its influencing factors, such as seasons and tourist population structure which may have more significant influence on TPC of theme park theoretically. The method of satisfaction is adopted in this research. This paper provide a case study of Shenzhen Happy Valley since its relatively regular tour route and fixed entertainment facilities make the data collection easily. The result shows that (1) the curve of TPC in Shenzhen Happy Valley shows non-monotone linear. Too large or too small tourist capacity will lead to tourist's satisfaction decline. (2) TPC is notably the highest in peak season than any other seasons, while the lowest in off-season. That may depend on tourist expectations before visiting. (3) Teenagers and adults have no much difference in TPC, but the seniors present a relatively lower TPC than other groups and are sensitive to the large tourist capacity. (4) Female shows lower TPC than male. Moreover, female's satisfaction is more influenced by visitor number increasing than male's satisfaction. That may be responsible for feminine subtlety. (5) TPC plays negative correlation with the level of education. The higher education, the greater freedom of access to space needed, but the smaller TPC.
2011, Vol. 26 
