Factors affecting beach walkability- Tourists' perception study at selected beaches of West Bengal, India. (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Das, Subhajit; Bhattacharya, Shamayeta
• Is Part Of: Journal of outdoor recreation and tourism. Volume 35(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: Beach tourism -- Beach recreation -- Walkability -- Beach precinct -- Beach scenery -- Beach walkability; Outdoor recreation -- Periodicals; Tourism -- Periodicals; Outdoor recreation; Tourism; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 338.47796505
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jort.2021.100423
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2213-0799

Abstract

Abstract: Walkability studies dominated the urban and transportation literature for long. Such studies advented tourism literature recently and specifically the beach walkability is an under-explored domain. Based on tourists' perception, this paper proposes major factors that significantly improve walkability on the beach. Exploratory sequential mixed methodological approach is adopted to find the factors affecting beach walkability. Tourists' perception data was collected in two phases. The first phase involved interviewing the experienced tourists' ex-situ to understand the key issues impacting beach walkability in West Bengal. This was followed by an in-situ semi-structured survey of first-time visitors in the selected beaches of Digha, Shankarpur, Tajpur, Mandarmani in West Bengal, India. Findings show that four key factors regulate beach walkability in West Bengal, viz. beach safety, beach scenery, beach amenities and beach typology. However, t-statistics proves that in Indian context, some other walkability indicators could be important at the beaches, preferences for which are found to vary significantly among the different gender groups like male and female. Theoretically, this research is a novel addition to the existing walkability-literature which lacks specific focus on beach area of a beach destination for in-depth analysis. It also widens up future research scopes on 'place-attachment' considering walking as an intrinsic practice of tourists on the beach. With the exploration of major factors of beach-walkability, the study practically works as a ready reference for the tourism practitioners and policy makers to utilize the beach area for promotion of walkable beach as a new tourism product at a beach destination. Management implications: The present study reveals the significant factors enhancing walkability, mainly at the beach areas instead of the whole beach precinct. Moreover, while analyzing the tourists' perception-based responses, this research unveils that the beach areas of extensive Indian coastline might promote the 'walkable beach' as an outdoor recreation option and potentially a new tourism product. However, for the successful promotion of beach walkability, the following recommendations are to be taken care of: - Consider beach walkability as an effective add-on to the tourism product development at beach precincts. - Develop a continuous monitoring system to ensure the natural scenery of the beach areas is intact. - Prioritize the safety and security of the tourists walking along the beaches. - Strengthen walkability by introducing the infrastructure of the way-side amenities for tourists. - Delve more into the tourists' walkability preferences and support future researches on additional recreation facilities for the walking tourists.