Travel Motivation and Choice of Destination Attributes: Empirical Evidences based on Tourist Perceptions

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to unearth the dimensions in travel motives as well as destination attribute sought by tourists and to relate specific dimensions of travel motives with destination attributes.

Design/methodology/approach: Data have been gathered from four hundred tourist visiting Goa, a popular destination in India using a structured questionnaire. The data were analysed using structural equations modelling.

Findings: Travel motives were classified into exploration motive, learning motive and escape motive while destination attributes were classified into culture, image and services. All the three motives were strongly associated with seeking of cultural attribute while explore and escape had a significant positive association with image and learning motive was negatively associated with image seeking. While explore and escape motives had significant positive relation with seeking of services at the destination, learning motive was not associated with seeking of services at the destination.

Research implications: The study extents travel motivation research by unearthing dimensions in motivations and tourist choice by finding dimensions in attributes. The research also matches specific types of motives with seeking of specific attributes.

Practical implications: The study has practical implications for destination development and positioning and also for targeting and promoting specific tourist groups.

Social implications: The study has implications for management of socio-cultural interactions between residents and tourists in terms of directions for social development.

Originality/value:  The study found new dimensions in travel motivations and destination attributes establishing diverse extent of predictions in terms of matching different motives with varied destination attributes.