Exploring Birdwatchers’ Experiences through an Analysis of Online Narratives.

Abstract

<title>Abstract</title> This chapter explores the concept of visitor experiences of birdwatchers as a nature-based tourism activity, focusing on the types of visitor experiences (e.g. restorative, cognitive, emotional, transformative, etc.) that are offered within birdwatching tourism. Online narratives of travellers that addressed visitor experiences were included in this study. The traveller reviews address four different destinations, namely The Gambia (n=375), Sayulita, Mexico (n=20), Malaysia (n=119) and Melbourne, Australia (n=148). The focus of the analysis was on the relationship between behaviour patterns of tourists and their post-trip experiences. Management implications deriving from the study results related to birdwatching experiences are presented and discussed.