The effect of adventure education factors on the outdoor experience in the emerging market : customizing and evaluating outdoor education products for Hangzhou’s outdoor market.
Zhang, Linfeng (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025060561178
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025060561178
Tiivistelmä
With the rapid development of outdoor tourism in China, cities like Hangzhou are increasingly demanding immersive and meaningful outdoor experiences. However, in this emerging market, most existing outdoor products still focus on physical activities and sightseeing, lacking educational depth, structured guidance, and inclusiveness for foreign participants. This thesis explores whether incorporating adventure education elements into hiking products can enhance the overall outdoor experience, especially in terms of engagement, satisfaction, learning, and personal development.
This study was commissioned by the STONE PARK Outdoor Community to design, implement, and evaluate six bilingual hiking itineraries that incorporated adventure education elements such as experiential games, storytelling, reflective dialogue, environmental ethics, and rotating leadership. The study used a mixed methods approach, including participatory observation, quantitative surveys, open-ended questionnaires, and five interviews to explore how these elements affected participants’ physical, emotional, and cognitive experiences.
The results showed that adventure education significantly improved the quality of the outdoor experience. Participants consistently reported high satisfaction, increased environmental awareness, stronger group integration, and improved emotions. The main motivations for participation included social connection, stress relief, and a desire for meaningful interaction with nature. The results are analyzed through experiential learning theory, self-determination & self-efficacy theories, and place-based education theory, confirming that good outdoor programs can promote learning, confidence, and cross-cultural understanding.
This thesis not only provides practical guidance for the development of educational and bilingual hiking products in Hangzhou, but also provides a scalable model for integrating adventure education into outdoor tourism in other emerging markets. It provides clear evidence that combining recreation with purposeful learning design can meet the emotional and developmental needs of different urban populations while supporting the professionalization of China’s outdoor industry.
This study was commissioned by the STONE PARK Outdoor Community to design, implement, and evaluate six bilingual hiking itineraries that incorporated adventure education elements such as experiential games, storytelling, reflective dialogue, environmental ethics, and rotating leadership. The study used a mixed methods approach, including participatory observation, quantitative surveys, open-ended questionnaires, and five interviews to explore how these elements affected participants’ physical, emotional, and cognitive experiences.
The results showed that adventure education significantly improved the quality of the outdoor experience. Participants consistently reported high satisfaction, increased environmental awareness, stronger group integration, and improved emotions. The main motivations for participation included social connection, stress relief, and a desire for meaningful interaction with nature. The results are analyzed through experiential learning theory, self-determination & self-efficacy theories, and place-based education theory, confirming that good outdoor programs can promote learning, confidence, and cross-cultural understanding.
This thesis not only provides practical guidance for the development of educational and bilingual hiking products in Hangzhou, but also provides a scalable model for integrating adventure education into outdoor tourism in other emerging markets. It provides clear evidence that combining recreation with purposeful learning design can meet the emotional and developmental needs of different urban populations while supporting the professionalization of China’s outdoor industry.