Travel motivation for Taiwanese hearing-impaired backpackers

Why do hearing-impaired people desire to undertake outbound travel as backpackers despite their hearing and speaking limitations? To investigate the reasons, this study applied the push and pull model of travel motivation as the framework. A total of 30 hearing-impaired backpackers participated in face-to-face interviews and responded to questions concerning their motivation to travel overseas. The results of this study reveal many unique motivation themes in the push and pull groups; specifically, five push themes (constraints of group tours, self-challenge, independence, different experience, and invitation by hearing-impaired friends) and two pull themes (enjoy local culture and lifestyle and the “I have been there” feeling) were identified. Furthermore, the participants’ desire to travel as backpackers is based on their previous negative experiences in group tours. Moreover, they prefer backpacking with hearing-impaired partners than with normal-hearing partners. Furthermore, for them, their independence enables them to their parents that they can travel alone. In addition, the study findings suggest that “communication negotiation” should be considered for inclusion in the motivation typology as a new dimension for hearing-impaired backpackers. Finally, the current study provides valuable insights into the behaviors of hearing-impaired backpackers and recommendations for tourism operators.     

世界遗产地旅游推力-引力因素研究--以西递和宏村为例

旅游推力-引力因素是研究旅游动机的有效方法。以世界遗产地西递-宏村为案例区,运用因子分析法（Factoranalysis）推力因素和引力因素两个不同的领域分析古村落旅游者旅游行为的潜在特征,确立5个推力因子和4个引力因子,并在此基础上利用方差分析法（one-way ANOVA）进一步检验了推力和引力因素在不同人口统计学特征群体间存在的显著差异,以期为世界文化遗产地的开发、保护和旅游市场拓展提供有益参考。     

A phenomenological approach of blogger’s view on cultural distance

This paper is intended to determine the influence of cultural distance on the international destination choices by tourists. We adopted a phenomenological approach and data were obtained from 17 bloggers with structured interview form and evaluated by content analysis. We evaluated the research data as three processes, as pre-travel, during travel and post-travel. We identified a tangible and an intangible preparation stage in the pre-travel process. We observed that an increase in cultural distance caused an increase in the destination obscurity and thus in the mental preparation. We found cultural experience, cultural acquisition and personal change themes during traveling. In the meantime, the increase in the geographic distance influences the cultural distance perception. We determined that destinations that are geographically remote (especially the Asian countries) are also culturally remote and interesting. We proposed a model that cultural distance is a moderator variable between travel motivation and destination choice.     

Why Do They Keep Coming Back? The Effect of Push Motives vs. Pull Motives,and Attribute Satisfaction on Repeat Visitation of Tourist Destinations

We conjecture that attribute satisfaction, push motives and pull motives will be positively related to return visitation of tourist destinations. We also hypothesize that push factors will be stronger related to return visitation of tourist destinations than pull factors, both directly and indirectly as mediators of the relationship between attribute satisfaction and return visitation. In addition, we predict that age and gender will moderate the effect of push and pull factors on repeat visitation. Finally, we argue that push factors and pull factors will be mutually reinforcing. To test these hypotheses, we conducted an online survey of repeat tourists’ motives, and received 986 complete responses. Survey participants were randomly chosen from a group that met a series or qualifying questions. PLS-SEM analysis of the data showed that, as we hypothesized, attribute satisfaction and push motives were positively related to repeat visitation. In contrast, pull motives were not related to repeat visitation, either directly or indirectly, but did reinforce the effect of push motives; gender did not moderate either push or pull motives and age moderated only pull motives. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

Examining Tourists’ Push and Pull Travel Motivations and Behavioral Intentions: The Case of British Outbound Tourists to Phuket,Thailand

This research aimed specifically to (1) determine the socio-demographic characteristics and travel patterns of British tourists visiting Phuket; (2) identify the main “push” and “pull” travel motivations of British tourists visiting Phuket; and (3) examine the relationship between British tourists’ main “push/pull” motivations and future travel intention to Phuket. Findings revealed that British tourists’ main push motivations were: “to have fun,” “to rest and relax,” and “to escape from daily routine and environment”; while the main pull motivations were: “natural sceneries and landscapes,” “beaches,” and “hospitality and friendliness of the people.” There was also a relationship found between “push/pull” motivations and future travel intention to Phuket.     

The formation of visitor behavioral intention to creative tourism: the role of push–Pull motivation

This study proposes and examines a behavioral intention to re-experience model consisting of experience quality, perceived value, satisfaction, and push–pull motivation factor as the determinants. For this purpose, self-administrated questionnaires were utilized to gather data from 369 participants of five creative tourism attractions in Indonesia. To examine the proposed model and hypotheses, partial least square modeling was applied. The results provide evidence that pull motivation impacts visitor behavioral intention to re-experience. It also demonstrates that push motivation impacts visitor behavioral intention to re-experience and is strengthened by experience quality and perceived value.     

Effect of Health and Wellness Values on Festival Visit Motivation

Understanding the motivation to visit particular tourist destinations and festivals is important for building effective tourism marketing strategies. This paper explores the effect of existing health and wellness values on the motivation to visit a festival using a field survey at the Goomeri Pumpkin Festival, a typical Australian festival which uses the natural environment, traditions and local produce to provide 21 events during the festival. The study focused on establishing the relationship between health and wellness values and festival attendees' motivation. Qualitative research with random sampling was selected to collect the data. The results revealed high levels of health and wellness values among the participants as well as social interaction, family togetherness, cultural exploration, novelty, natural environment, relaxation, previous food festival experience and food as motivations. Findings of this paper can contribute to festival tourism marketing especially to demonstrate that health-related interests can be significant catalysts for attracting festival attendees.     

Religious Tourist Motivation in Buddhist Mountain: The Case from China

This study aims to develop a measurement scale assessing motivations of tourists traveling to religious sites within the Chinese context. Deploying quantitative methods in relation to Putuo Buddhist Mountain – one of the most visited Buddhist destinations in China, this study depicts 20 motivation attributes. Accordingly, the scale dimensionality of tourist motivation in the context of religious tourism is first revealed by an exploratory factor analysis and further validated by a confirmatory factor analysis. Consequently, three resultant constructs entailing religious belief, cultural enjoyment, and mental relaxation exhibit acceptable levels of reliability. Construct validity, including discriminant and convergent validity, is satisfactorily established. Furthermore, this study examines how tourists’ past experience and degree of religious belief affect the derived constructs that define the motivations of religious tourist. The results suggest that past experience significantly affects tourists’ motivation to achieve religious beliefs, while degree of tourist religious belief has a great impact on both their motivation to achieve religious beliefs and mental relaxation. Finally, according to motivation theory, religious beliefs and mental relaxation can be classified as push factors, while cultural enjoyment and one item belonging to religious beliefs are pull factors.     

“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” – Christmas Holidays in a Tropical Destination

Originally a Christian festival to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas is now a major secular festival celebrated in numerous Christian and non-Christian countries. It is also a major holiday period that from a destination perspective offers an opportunity to attract significant numbers of visitors. The aim of this paper is to explore issues related to developing a Christmas-themed holiday product in a destination that has not previously used the festive nature of Christmas as a major destination pull factor. This paper finds that while its religious significance has waned, the celebration of Christmas remains an important tradition reflected in the expectation that Christmas symbols and activities are present at holiday destinations. The paper also finds that the development of a Christmas product needs to include an authentic “Christmas feel” that is able to be created by street and shop decorations such as Christmas lights and trees, nativity scenes and Santa Claus, as well as Christmas carols and the availability of special foods associated with Christmas.