Are you an awkward tourist? Keys to enhance the cohesion between tourists and local residents from the viewpoint of leisure literacy and recreationist-environment fit

Abstract The study intends to explore the mechanism of the cohesion between tourists and local residents from the viewpoint of leisure literacy and recreationist-environment fit, as well as the moderating effects of tourists’ self-image congruity in the said mechanism. The research focused on nature-oriented eco-tourism activities. Convenience sampling is adopted and subjects selected by the study are the visitors of 5 eco-tourism destinations in Taiwan. A total of 1507 questionnaires were returned, of which 76 were invalid and 1431 were valid for a valid return rate of 78.20%. The variables of this research are analyzed with SPSS 22.0. Furthermore, self-image congruity moderates the relationship between leisure literacy and recreationist-environment fit. The findings of the study will help understand the influential elements of the cohesion between tourists and local residents. Further discussion and suggestions both for tourism management and future research are proposed in the end of the study.