Tourist engagement with garden visitation during COVID-19 pandemic: A statistical evaluation

The aim of this study is to build a better understanding of the motivesto visit public gardens. It identifies the main factors behind visitors' experiencesand satisfaction with the services provided at Irbid public gardens.Respondents were chosen randomly in selected seven public gardens in Irbid.A self-completion questionnaire was administered to collect primary data and536 questionnaires were returned. The data were analysed using descriptiveand reliability and explanatory factor analysis in addition to other tests suchas One Sample T-Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test, Mann-Whitney U Test, and One-Way ANOVA Test. The primary findings showed that visitors were largelywomen (76 %), married with children (60%), young, i.e., 18-49 years (85.5%),highly educated (65%), and employed (46%). Visitors have previously visitedIrbid gardens (87%) of 1-10 visits (48%), stayed 3-5 hours every visit(72.6%). Many visitors intended to revisit (86.4%), and 85.6%would considerrecommending the gardens to their relatives and friends. The majormotives to visit Irbid gardens include escape, safety, stress reduction, enjoinment,been before, and admiring natural beauty. Visitors showed a highlevel of satisfaction (81.3%). Additionally, visitors' engagement with gardenvisitation has significantly decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictionsand lockdowns (95.7%). The paper is amongst the first of its kind, whichempirically examined the motives of Jordanian and non-Jordanian visitorsto public gardens, evaluating garden's services and facilities, understandingvisitors' future behaviour, as well as examining the effect of COVID-19 pandemicon garden's visitation.