The purposes of this study were to investigate ecotourism goals which are providing educational tourism, generating environmental conservation, and residents’ economic benefits based on the 7th Muju Firefly festival.
The sample was 243 visitors from August 23rd to 30th, 2003.
The results were as follows: First, visitors showed high satisfaction for the educational tourism program. Experiencing educational "Mysterious Firefly Field Trips" contributed to the tourists` educational satisfaction. It was found that these experience programs were very popular.
Second, residents` and domestic visitors` satisfaction was high with 5.50 on Likert 7 points concerning environmental conservation.
Third, foreigners showed high satisfaction for visiting tourism sites and understanding regional culture in terms of understanding region and economic benefits. The average economic effect was decreased compared to 2002. So there should be more diverse strategy to increase economic effect. Also more festival related products, diverse and unique foods and beverages based on regional products should be developed.