Unit 2

Why Tourists Travel

Lesson 7: Travel Motivators

"Travel early and travel often. Live abroad, if you can. Understand cultures other than your own. As your understanding of other cultures increases, your understanding of yourself and your own culture will increase exponentially." ~ Tom Freston

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Push / Pull Model 

Tourism is based on the distinction between factors which encourage individuals to move away from their home setting (the known) through travel (the unknown). The moving away from the familiar is a push factor where the attraction toward a place is referred to as a pull factor.

Examples of push factors are origin-related where individual travellers seek relaxation, want to enhance their social circle, look for sightseeing variety, strive to fulfill spiritual needs, or gain cultural knowledge.

Pull factors emerge as a result of the attractiveness of a destination perhaps through other travellers' advice or marketing imagery. Examples include events or activities, affordability, historical significance, adventure, natural resources, or that all-important image that satisfies their individual wants or needs.

Leisure

There are two basic motivational forces that serve to explain leisure behaviors included in the context of tourism:

1. Escaping. People engage in leisure activities because they want to escape their personal and/or interpersonal environment. The benefit of these tourist experiences stems from an interaction between escaping routine or a stressful environment and seeking opportunities for intrinsic rewards.
   
2. Seeking. People engaging in leisure activities because they expect personal and/or interpersonal rewards.
   

No matter which motivating factor comes into play, people strive to compare their experience with other travellers. With the increasing popularity of social media review sites, travellers are consistently accessing traveller reviews to see what unpaid solicited tourists say about a destination or attraction. These reviews have a huge influence on leisure tourists' motivation, helping to decide where to spend travel dollars.

Disposable Income

Supported by Maslow's hierarchy of needs, people obviously require physiological survival items such as air, food, water, shelter, and safety prior to any higher level needs such as travel. If citizens do not have any disposable income, they will be unable to travel beyond their local area. Even among tourists that do have access to disposable income, they can be divided into four phases:

1. Phase I: Bubble Travellers. They do not have much money or knowledge. They prefer packaged tours where they can observe different cultures without being a part of it. They travel mostly out of curiosity. 
   
2. Phase II: Idealized Experience Seekers. They are confident tourists with the experience of foreign tours. They are flexible and comfortable. They prefer tour offers made for individuals.
3. Phase III: Seasonal Travellers. These tourists are more affluent than the idealized-experience seekers. They are more confident to experiment and experience different places and environments. They are more adventurous and prefer individualistic tours.
   
4. Phase IV: Complete Immersers. These tourists have an intention of immersing completely into the foreign culture, heritage, culinary experience, and language. Their holidaying is well-planned but not well-structured.

Educational Opportunities

Educational or learning travel is essentially a central motivating factor. Five categories emerge in educational tourism motivation:

1. Physical. Refreshment of body and mind; for health purposes; for participation in sports; or contact with an outdoor way of life.
2. Cultural. Curiosity about foreign countries, people, culture, and places; interest in art, music, architecture, and folklore; experiencing specific cultural events.
3. Social. Visiting friends and relatives; meeting new people; fashion; pursuit of hobbies; continuation of education; conferences and meetings; seeking business contacts.
4. Spiritual. Visiting places and people for religious reasons; travelling as part of a pilgrimage; travelling to find oneself; contact with nature.
5. Fantasy. Personal excitement of travel; escaping from one's own permanent social environment; ego-enhancement; wish fulfillment
   

Personal Interest

The desire to travel may not be a permanent one, but merely a desire to temporarily change day-to-day life for something which is more exotic. The motivation for pleasure travel is associated with a desire for natural attractions, climate, relaxation, and rest. Two motivating factors emerge:

1. Wanderlust. There is a basic trait in human nature that causes some individuals to want to leave things with which they are familiar and go and see first hand different exciting cultures and places (Gray, 1970). Wanderlust tourists seek foreign cultural experiences and have an interest in built and cultural attractions. Often the result of the experience is an enlightening.
   
2. Sunlust. This factor focuses on the attractiveness and pull of the sun, sand, and sea. These travel plans are usually a single destination. The major consideration is the climate where travellers largely seek amenities and accommodations similar to their original homeland.
   

Business

Business travel is defined as "work-related travel to an irregular place of work for purposes related to their work" (Middleton, Clarke, 2001). Importantly, the business traveller also has the travel expenses paid for by the business they work for. Recent studies by UNWTO show that approximately 15% of international tourists report travelling for business and professional purposes.

Business tourism is also an investment in the future because business tourists act as unpaid ambassadors for a destination by communicating with colleagues and others about their positive impressions and favourable experiences. Business travel also demands a high quality of personal service with higher revenue potential. Personal motivations enter into the decision-making because business travellers often take a spouse or partner along on the trip, so leisure activities are included. 

The business traveller is less sensitive to the costs since they are not personally paying for the expenses. Secondly, they are more concerned with the need to complete their travel and business dealings as efficiently and effectively as possible within a given time frame -- reflecting their company's motivation for the trip. The top three expense categories for business travel are airline expenses, hotel expenses, and food and beverage expenses. Over the last 15 years, airlines have been concentrating on providing premium service on long-haul flights targeting the first and business class traveller. Where do you think the term business class came from? With the softer cost concerns, airlines are able to offer these services at a higher cost, linked to higher profits.

And hotels are not far behind. Business travellers are offered flexible points programs, broadband connections in rooms, and express check in and check out.