Membership motivations for natural conservation tourist attractions

ABSTRACT

Tourism-related non-profit organizations rely on donations and financial support from private individuals, frequently through membership subscription schemes. This research investigates what motivates membership in a tourism-based conservation context to examine the transferability of existing research in the arts and cultural context. A post-positivist quantitative online survey with qualitative elements was distributed to members of Zealandia, an urban eco-sanctuary in New Zealand. Results identify membership motivation as a multi-dimensional construct, with altruistic motivations related to the cause at its core and inextricably linked with hedonic motivations representing positive on-site experiences. Egoistic motivations were identified as a supplementary factor only in that free entry as a demonstrable benefit allows access to the experience. The organization itself provided a link between cause and those who value it, positioning itself as a point of belonging and connection that mediates the otherwise intangible connection between people and environment. Through this, members receive a variety of emotional, familial and demonstrable benefits in relation to nature itself, a sense of belonging and contribution, and access to observe the impact of their membership. In doing so, this research illustrates the relevance of organization and cause in encouraging local membership behaviour and continuing support for natural conservation tourist attractions.

KEYWORDS:

• Natural conservation
• membership
• motivations
• benefits
• values
• tourist attractions

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Zealandia and especially Anastasia Turnbull for their support, passion, and contribution to funding. Thank you to Taran Jørgensen for her assistance with data collection, and Dr Lisa Wood and Professor Urs Daellenbach for their quantitative data analysis support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Zealandia.

Notes on contributors

Ina Reichenberger

Ina Reichenberger is a Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her research focuses on tourist behaviour with particular interests in value co-creation, popular culture and charitable behaviour in tourism.