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| MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONNOTATION AND ANTECEDENTS OF TOURIST CROWDING PERCEPTIONS: A CASE STUDY IN MOUNT SANQINGSHAN |
| LI Li, YAN Bing-jin, ZHANG Hong-lei, ZHANG Jie, NIAN Si-feng |
| School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China |
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Abstract Plenty of work has been done to explore the explanation to tourist perception of crowding. Crowding is not only a direct function of physical density, but the arousal depending largely on the person's needs. From this perspective, crowding is a multidimensional concept. This research attempt to identify the multidimensional connotation and the antecedents of crowding perceptions. Crowding can be considered in terms of the construct of thwarting, which implies the arousal of frustration in a person is resulting from the interference in his activities or motives. Research conducted in non-recreational settings also suggests that the feeling of crowdedness is influenced by a variety of types of variables. A case study of world heritage Mount Sanqingshan is taken during June 2013. The measurement indicators for both dimensions are proposed and testified. The influence of personal characteristics and characteristics of those encountered are tested. The main conclusions are as following:Crowding perceived by tourist of mountain resorts fills into two dimensions:physical crowding and social crowding. Whereas in physical crowding a violation of spatial expectations relates primarily to the physical dimensions of the environment which manifests as thwarting use of tourism resources or public facilities; social crowding thwarts expectations concerning the adequacy of the social environment which mostly appears when the present of other tourist causes conflicts or unpleasant experience. The effects of the factors on crowding perceptions are quite different. While encountering with other tourists' misbehaviors is the most important factor that effects both dimensions of crowding perception, the influence mainly effects on social dimension of tourist crowding perceptions in general.
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Received: 22 December 2014
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2016, Vol. 31 
