Influencing Mechanisms of Recreational Attractiveness of Urban Mountain Parks Based on Structural Equation Model

Urban mountain parks (UMPs) are vital green spaces for public leisure and recreation, but their recreational value is often underdeveloped, with few studies examining the influencing mechanisms of UMP recreational attractiveness. To address this issue, this study conducted an empirical investigation in Fuzhou, China. Guided by China’s Standard of Rating for Quality of Tourist Attractions, a structural equation model (SEM) of UMP recreational attractiveness was established and tested based on an expert group and a questionnaire survey of 609 tourists. The findings reveal that seven factors—tourism transport, excursion services, tourism safety, integrated management, natural resource conservation, landscape resource value, and market impact—contribute positively to enhancing UMP recreational attractiveness. Among them, natural resource conservation has the highest influence, followed by landscape resource value, indicating that they both play the greatest role in affecting UMP recreational attractiveness. These seven factors are interrelated, with natural resource conservation strongly positively influencing market impact and landscape resource value. This study explored the influencing mechanism of these seven factors on UMP recreational attractiveness, which can provide practical recommendations for enhancing UMP recreational value worldwide.