Recreational scuba diving as a special form of tourism: lessons from Taiwan

Purpose Recreational scuba diving is one of the fastest growing tourism industries around the world and has become a popular activity in Taiwan. Few studies focus on enduring involvement with a high risk or difficult activity specialization, so this study aims to explore the causal relationship between enduring involvement and specialization and seeks to explain sustained involvement in scuba diving activity as a recreation specialization. Design/methodology/approach This research selects four diving sites in Taiwan as survey locations, specifically Yeliou, Longdong, Kenting and Green Island. The questionnaire consists of three sections, including demographic information, enduring involvement and specialization. By analyzing the data collected from 810 scuba divers in Taiwan, structural equation modeling is used to examine the causal relationships among the variables. Findings The primary findings of this study are as follows: attraction positively affects divers’ commitment and lifestyle through joy, relaxation and sharing diving experiences; the results indicate that self-expression is associated with past experience of participating in scuba diving activity; and centrality indicates that participants’ daily life and recreation are related to each other and become central to their life. Results show that most theoretical hypotheses are supported, but there is no significant evidence of attraction impacting past experience or self-expression influencing commitment and lifestyle. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the causal influence of enduring involvement and specialization in the scuba diving context. The findings provide a solid theoretical basis for the study of sustained involvement motivation and behavior on specialization. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Effect of Outdoor Sports Participants on Leisure Facilitation, Recreation Specialization, and Leisure Satisfaction: Yacht and Golf Participants

The purpose of this study was to investigate leisure satisfaction among outdoor sports participants in golf and yachting. Influence was also measured of recreation specialization on leisure satisfaction, and the effect of the relationship between leisure facilitation and leisure satisfaction on golf and yacht participation was investigated as well. Frequency, reliability, confirmatory, and correlation analysis, as well as structural equation modeling results, indicate that leisure facilitation had no influence on outdoor sports participants’ recreation specialization. Leisure facilitation had a positive influence on leisure satisfaction among the golf and yachting participants, and their recreation specialization had a positive influence on their leisure satisfaction. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are addressed, specifically the constraints that the disease has imposed on outdoor sports and leisure, and strategies are presented for addressing these constraints and promoting outdoor sports participation.