Natural area visitors' place meaning and place attachment ascribed to a marine setting

Investigations of place have often focused on either place meaning (utilizing interpretive designs) or place attachment (using quantitative measures). Rarely have researchers explored the association between place meaning and place attachment. Hence, this investigation was designed to explore how individuals' attachment to a natural environment is reflected in their depictions of why the resource is meaningful.We began with 20 key informant interviews designed to identify the meanings visitors ascribed to places in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The meanings identified were used to create a questionnaire, addressing the thoughts and feelings that visitors ascribed to the marine park, which was administered to a larger sample (n = 324) of visitors to the marine park. Results suggest that, as a particular meaning becomes more salient to the individual, the individual has a distinctive cognitive, emotional, and behavioral response to the meaning—evoking a greater degree of attachment.

► Meanings ascribed to a setting are reflected in an individual's place attachment.
► Increased meaning salience evokes cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses.
► Sets of meanings differentiate among individuals' place attachment intensity.