Importance-performance analysis of residents' and tourists’ preferences for water-based recreation in the Southeastern United States

Increasing demand for water-based recreation comes with the need for recreation site managers to consider how to best satisfy different stakeholder groups. However, much of the previous water-based recreation literature has treated resident users and tourist users as one homogeneous group despite differences in frequency of use, proximity to site, and economic importance of visitation to the local economy. Hence, this study segmented residents from tourists and conducted separate importance performance analyses (IPA) to see if these two distinct groups have different preferences for and perceptions of stream-access sites in southeast Appalachia. Data were collected using an intercept survey method across ten different Tennessee Valley Authority stream-access sites in north Georgia and western North Carolina. Independent samples t-tests reveal significant differences between residents and tourists on 10 of the 23 importance attributes and performance attributes. The IPAs reveal different quadrant placements for 9 of the 23 attributes. Specifically, tourists expressed greater dissatisfaction with information accessibility such as online information and river maps, and residents tended to place higher importance on the boating aspects of stream-access sites with higher levels of importance placed on attributes such as ramps, put in and take out sites, and room to maneuver trailers, illustrating the efficacy of segmenting residents and tourists within the context of IPA. Implications include management aims addressing both residents' and tourists’ preferences for stream-access sites to simultaneously enhance regional tourism for its economic benefits while enriching the experiences of residents.