La percezione dei parchi nazionali italiani : un'analisi netografica sul Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso

The primary objective of this study is to propose an innovative methodological approach to investigate the relations among National Parks and tourists. The literature about the relationship among tourists’ perception, involvement, place attachment and satisfaction in national parks is still scarce: the few available studies provide only a mere description of the numbers of visits in protected areas, sometimes comparing the development over the years. As a result, it became necessary investigate the relationship between parks and tourists and analyze tourists’ attitudes in a different way, in a dynamic way. To fill the gap, this study aims to analyze the personal experiences of individuals through netnography, investigating the case of the Gran Paradiso National Park. The decision to use netnography is justified by the fact that travel and tourism destinations are increasingly subject of discussions on online community, where visitors share their own experiences. The proposed methodological approach integrates netnography with techniques of text mining. The results showed an interesting variety of opinions. In particular, the nature and landscapes of the Park are appreciated, but the offer of the Park, in terms of type and number of possible excursions but also museums, is not perceived by the visitor in a complete way. Finally, cluster analysis showed the presence of three different types of visitors: nature, recreation and sports. The knowledge of their characteristics combined with findings from the analysis of word associations provides interesting suggestions for management.