Malaysia's My Second Home (MM2H) Programme: An examination of Malaysia as a destination for international retirees

Malaysia was recently ranked fourth highest as a retirement destination by one established magazine. This warrants examination of the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) Programme which targets retirees, and more recently, high net worth foreigners. Data was collected using postal questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews. By virtue of the entry requirements, the retirees were well-to-do. The application process for the MM2H visa did not pose much difficulty. Malaysia was chosen because of fond memories from earlier trips. Satisfied MM2H stayers inadvertently promoted the MM2H Programme when they narrated their positive experiences in various media. If the various country-specific and locality-specific charms that drew foreigners to Malaysia altered deleteriously, even bona fide retirees who had made Malaysia their only home would migrate elsewhere. Malaysian policy makers need to adopt cogent actions to attract more fresh retirees while retain those already in the country.     

A Qualitative Exploration of Participant Motives Among Committed Amateur Triathletes

This study explored motivations of amateur triathletes using an interpretive approach. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 triathletes in two Australian east coast states. Data were interpreted through the theoretical lenses of self-determination theory and flow. Nine motivation themes emerged. The triathletes were motivated to participate in triathlon partly for intrinsic reasons, though extrinsic motives were also extensively prevalent. Different motivations were found to be cyclical in directing behavior contingent upon individual goals, event schedules, and personal circumstances. There is a need for further inquiry into endurance sport participants’ endorsement of intrinsic versus extrinsic motives.     

Tourist Motivation with Sun and Sand Destinations: Satisfaction and the Wom-Effect

To study the tourist consumption process, the present work suggests a new conceptual framework of tourist motivation. This framework for tourist motivation proposes causal relationships for important constructs in the consumption process: between motivations to travel, tourists' satisfaction, and intentions to communicate with others by word-of-mouth (WOM). A review of current tourism and marketing literature suggests two body-related dimensions (i.e., sun and warmth, fitness and health) and two mind-related dimensions (i.e., culture and nature, escapism). The study tests an instrument to measure the dimensions of tourist motivation. A research model investigates the relevant relationships among the constructs and uses a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. Analysis of 1,222 outbound charter tourists from Norway tests the model. The results confirm that body and mind are useful as a framework to assess tourist motivations. People have many motives for visiting sun and sand destinations. Satisfaction was, as expected, found to impact WOM. However, only mind-related motives affect satisfaction with the destination, and tourists prefer to talk about culture and nature motivations, in particular, to others. These findings are of great importance due to the great influence of WOM in tourism marketing. The findings point to the importance of recognizing the differences in tourist motivation for traveling and what tourists are inclined to tell others when arriving back home.     

Start-up Factors for Small and Medium-sized Accommodation Businesses in Sabah,Malaysia: Push and Pull Factors

This article identifies start-up factors for small and medium-sized accommodation (SMSA) businesses. Using the Heider theory, it explains the push and pull factor start-up motives in SMSA businesses. The purpose of this research was to indentify the underlying motivational factors and the primary motivational factors of SMSA operators. This topic was chosen owing to the fact that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role as key drivers of employment and economic growth in most countries, especially in Malaysia. The results show there is a wide range of these start-up factors related to the tradition of business operation, resources, location, market opportunities and the desires of individuals. The findings show that key start-up factors are driven by pull factors – namely, family business, availability and readiness of resources (land, building), market potential and opportunity of accommodation business, strategic location, the influence of friends and family, and profitability. Conversely, the key start-up factors related to push factors that emerged in this study include personal attitude, previous working experience in the accommodation business, personal interest and retirement. The findings provide an insight into the understanding of the start-up factors for small and medium-sized accommodation businesses, and add to the existing literature on start-up factors for small and medium-sized accommodation businesses from pull and push factors. They implicate the growth of small and medium-sized accommodation businesses in Sabah and, subsequently, may affect the SMEs' development policies in accommodation businesses.     

An Analysis of Push and Pull Motivational Factors of International Tourists to Penang,Malaysia

This study identifies the travel motivations of international tourists to Penang, Malaysia, using the theory of push and pull motivations as a conceptual framework. The methodology was comprised of quantitative research based on 400 self-completed questionnaires. A principal component factor analysis was used to identify the underlying dimensions of push and pull motivational items. The results revealed three push and three pull factor dimensions. Among the identified motivation factors, Novelty and Knowledge-Seeking and Cultural and Historical Attractions were regarded as the most important push and pull factors, respectively. Based on the study’s findings, practical implications for tourism marketers are suggested and future research recommendations are provided.     

Bleisure: motivations and typologies

ABSTRACT

The theme of motivation in travel and tourism research has been largely dominated by a leisure focus and has consequently failed to reflect the changing landscape of business travel. This paper focuses on exploring the motivations of different types of “bleisure travelers”: individuals who combine leisure with professional business obligations when abroad. We employ a multi-disciplinary mixed-methods approach, using photo-elicitation to identify and describe five types of bleisure. As existing theories of tourist motivations have mainly been developed in a leisure context, they fail to fully capture the nuanced scope and subtle context of business and leisure motives. We therefore draw upon experiential learning, boundary-less career theory, expectancy theory, and social capital theory in order to put forward contemporary insights on the nexus between business and leisure tourism.     

A Comparison of Ecolodge Patrons' Characteristics and Motivations Based on Price Levels: A Case Study of Belize

Ecolodges are an increasingly popular accommodation form. This study determined the demographic and trip characteristics, as well as the travel motivations of ecolodge patrons at three different price levels: budget, mid-price and upscale. Six ecolodges were studied in the Cayo District of Belize. Of 480 questionnaires distributed at the ecolodges, 331 valid surveys were returned (68.9% response rate). The clients of the Belizean ecolodges had some demographic characteristics similar to those of ecotourists found in other studies: middle-aged, highly educated, and employed with high levels of income. This study found consistency amongst the three groups in the most important travel attraction motives, with tropical forests and wilderness/undisturbed nature ranked highest by all groups. The study also showed consistency amongst the three groups with regards to travel social motives, with learn and explore nature the top-ranked social motive by all groups. The study found significant differences amongst the price levels on many variables, including: age, country of residence, education, employment status, income, party composition, trip length, length of stay at the ecolodge and level of ecolodge experience. There were important differences found in travel motivations and the importance of ecolodge attributes. The mid-price group was the hardest to please; they wanted a lower price, yet desired the quality, services and programmes of the upscale group.     

Speculative residential developers and foreign retirees’ market segment in Malaysia

Over the last decade in particular, there has been a steady stream of foreign retirees, and more recently foreign high net worth individuals, who have joined Malaysia's My Second Home (MM2H) Programme which provides them with long-stay period visas. This opened up a new but small market segment for residential developers. A study was conducted to determine how the developers accommodate the MM2H participants by using the 4Ps framework. Data was collected using the mixed method of postal questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews. Customisation for the MM2H residential segment was generally limited to promotion of new dwellings. Total customisation in terms of product, price, place and promotion was found to be highly risky. Another ‘P’ for people cannot be excluded from 4Ps framework as speculative developers associate different nationalities with different house purchasing tendencies.     

大型节事中志愿者参与动机的实证研究——以2010年上海世界博览会为例

文章以2010年上海世界博览会为案例,通过对上海世博会的405名志愿者进行问卷调查,探讨了大型节事中志愿者的参与动机,并验证了志愿者参与动机与岗位服务满足感之间的关系。主成分因子分析的结果显示,志愿者的参与动机有学习动机、职业取向、价值观取向、社会交往动机和公民责任5个因子;多元线性回归的分析结果显示,学习动机和价值观取向因子在不同程度上对志愿者的岗位服务满足感产生正的影响,大型节事的组织机构应针对志愿者的参与动机,提供有吸引力的激励措施。依据中国人的思维理解习惯,文章对现行文献中的量表进行了相应的调整,具有一定的探索意义。实证研究表明,文中采用的量表对测量大型节事志愿者的参与动机有一定的参考价值。     

What motivates volunteers to help at business events? Reciprocal altruism and reflexivity

Volunteering literature is yet to examine the motivations for helping at business events. This paper contributes to closing this research gap by on-the-ground investigation of volunteer motivations at business events. Drawing upon 22 volunteers from different business events in China, the results identify a variety of functional motives related to self-development. The analysis gives emphasis to the subjectivity and reflexivity with which individuals give meaning to their motivations and suggests that reciprocal altruism and reflexivity are evident among volunteers. This paper provides insights into the salience of business event volunteering and suggests implications for event organisers dealing with volunteers.     

Self-determined travel facilitation with mental construal priming

In order to encourage people with mobility impairments (PwMI) to become active tourists, it is crucial to enhance their self-determination for overcoming travel constraints. This study proposes mental construal priming as a relatively efficient approach to facilitating self-determined travel pursuits among PwMI. Two pretest-posttest web-based experiments within the context of accessible and inaccessible service support the construal-facilitating effect on self-determined travel motivations, particularly through moderating the relationships between autonomy/competence satisfaction and self-determined motivations. This study offers theoretical implications by bridging construal level theory and self-determination theory, and introduces a new perspective of utilizing mindset intervention to cultivate travel motivations. The context-based adoption of different construal priming programs is recommended to maximize facilitation effectiveness.     

Consumers’ pro-environmental behavior and the underlying motivations: A comparison between household and hotel settings

The present study made a comparison of pro-environmental behavior and the underlying motivations between household and hotel settings. Results of a survey research among 1185 participants showed a behavioral inconsistency between the two settings – participants reported a significantly higher level of pro-environmental behavior in a household setting. Furthermore, the study revealed that while normative motives are the dominant determinant of pro-environmental behavior in a household setting, hedonic motives are the strongest predictor of such behavior in a hotel setting. Theoretical and managerial implications of the inconsistencies in pro-environmental behavior and underlying motivations between the two settings are discussed.     

Travel motivation among cross border tourists: Case study of Langkawi

Research that focuses on regional tourists in Malaysia is scarce in literature. This study examined the influence of travel motivations; economic, nature, and cultural aspects on tourists' loyalty intention in the context of Langkawi Island, Malaysia. A total of 200 fully answered questionnaires were collected from ASEAN tourists on the island using the purposive sampling technique, and the data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling technique. The results confirmed that the ‘economic aspect’ and ‘nature aspect’ are important motivational factors affecting tourists' loyalty intention to revisit Langkawi. Although cultural aspect influences loyalty intention, its effect was weak. Managerial and marketing recommendations were made for tourism in Langkawi based on these findings.     

Attending a tattoo convention: to seek or escape?

Utilizing Iso-Ahola’s (S. E. Iso-Ahola. The Social Psychology of Leisure and Recreation. Dubuque, IA: WC Brown Co. Publishers, 1980) seek and escape theory and social identity theory in the context of tattoo conventions, this study examines whether individual and group identity influences personal and interpersonal seeking and escaping motivations and whether these motivations influence an attendee’s self-enhancement and subsequent revisit intention. Based on an online survey (n = 350), structural equation modeling revealed that individual identity influenced personal seeking and escaping motivations, group identity influenced interpersonal seeking and escaping motivations, and personal seeking and interpersonal seeking and escaping motivations increased self-enhancement and ultimately revisit intention. Implications are provided for tattoo event managers based on findings.     

Why travel to the FIFA World Cup? Effects of motives, background, interest, and constraints

Events have become a significant component of destination marketing. Previous work suggests that event interest, risk constraint, and financial constraint will affect potential attendees’ desire to attend and their sense that it is feasible to attend. For large sport events, interest in the event and perceived constraints should derive from the level of fan motives, travel motivations, and the potential attendee's background. These expectations are tested in a survey of 556 members of American soccer clubs prior to the FIFA World Cup. Results were generally consistent with expectations, although some motives had both positive and negative effects. Event interest and constraints fully mediated the effects of motives and background on respondents’ sense that it was feasible for them to attend. Financial constraint did not affect desire to attend. The desire to learn about the host country had direct effects on interest in the event and the desire to attend the event. Results suggest the value of segmented sport event marketing that appeals to both travel and fan motives.     

Exploring factors influencing individual participation in community‐based tourism: The case of Kampung relau homestay program,Malaysia

This paper presents the early findings from a qualitative investigation conducted to examine how participation is practiced in a community‐based tourism program which offers homestay experience to tourists in Kedah, Malaysia. The first objective of the study was to determine where on the spectrum of participation (Pretty 1995) does the homestay program fall. The second objective was to explore the variables that may influence the extent of community participation in this program. Findings from the present study indicate that participation in community‐based tourism is influenced by community members’ motivations to participate. An important implication from this finding is that community‐based tourism projects must include awareness programs among its members so as to educate them about the project and to motivate them to participate.     

A Pilot Study on Spectators’ Motivations and Their Socio-Economic Perceptions of a Film Festival

The main objective of this pilot study is to examine spectators’ motives for attending a film festival, their perceptions of socio-economic impacts of the festival to the host community, and their satisfaction with the festival utilizing data collected from the attendees of the Transylvania International Film Festival, which takes place on a regular basis in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The results indicate that there are significant variations in motivations, satisfaction, and perceptions of impacts across gender, age, level of education, and occupation of attendees. Theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and limitations are addressed.     

Cannabis Usage in Tourism: sA Sociological Perspective

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the social forces that shape tourists’ motives in consuming cannabis while on vacation. The underlying premise of this paper is that cannabis consumption in tourism is driven and influenced by the wider process of the normalization of cannabis use in Western societies and, therefore, should be examined in this context. Using a grounded theory approach, this study suggests four umbrella groups of motivations to consume cannabis while traveling: experimentation, pleasure and diversion‐seeking, quest for authenticity, and accessible purchasing. Each category is illuminated and discussed, respectively, in the light of four theoretical explanations: loosening of social control, the leisure behavioral continuum, shaping and manifestation of social identity, and smuggling as a deviant career. Given the lack of previous research, it is suggested that these explanations can be viewed as an initial framework for further investigation of this under‐explored topic. The paper concludes by examining several theoretical and epistemological issues revolving around the relationships between cannabis use, tourism and everyday life.