What motivates visitors to participate in a gamified trip? A player typology using Q methodology

Destinations have offered diverse gamified trips in the last 10 years. However, there is a lack of understanding on what motivates visitors to participate in such a trip. As one of the first attempts to examine visitors' motivations for taking a gamified trip, this paper conceptualizes and categorizes gamified trips, explores reasons for liking or disliking them, proposes 34 travel motivations, and categorizes players of these trips into six types, including knowledge collectors, reward seekers, explorers, curiosity seekers, sensation seekers, and flow experiencers. The research sheds light upon this emerging phenomenon and provides implications on how to design appealing gamified trips for different market segments. Additionally, this paper expands the use of Q methodology to travel motivation research. The framework of conducting a Q methodology lays a foundation for future studies.