Description
To establish tourist visitation to new tourism areas is in most cases dependent on tourists’
behavior. Indeed, tourist visitation is considered among the primary components of the marine tourism
operation. Such behavior is usually enacted in the form of destination awareness, destination image and
motivation. Word of mouth is likely to influence tourist to visit. The purpose of this paper is to examine the
factors that may influence tourists to visit marine tourist destinations.
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Factors influencing tourist visitation in marine tourism: lessons learned from FRI Aquarium Penang, Malaysia
Salmi Mohd Isa Lizana Ramli
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To cite this document:
Salmi Mohd Isa Lizana Ramli , (2014),"Factors influencing tourist visitation in marine tourism: lessons learned from FRI Aquarium Penang,
Malaysia", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 8 Iss 1 pp. 103 - 117
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Factors in?uencing tourist visitation in
marine tourism: lessons learned from
FRI Aquarium Penang, Malaysia
Salmi Mohd Isa and Lizana Ramli
Abstract
Purpose – To establish tourist visitation to new tourism areas is in most cases dependent on tourists’
behavior. Indeed, tourist visitation is considered among the primary components of the marine tourism
operation. Such behavior is usually enacted in the formof destination awareness, destination image and
motivation. Word of mouth is likely to in?uence tourist to visit. The purpose of this paper is to examine the
factors that may in?uence tourists to visit marine tourist destinations.
Design/methodology/approach – The study has utilized self-administered questionnaire survey and
the target population are the visitors that came to FRI Aquarium. The survey period was from August
2012 to September 2012. Total of 179 responses were collected during this period.
Findings – This study demonstrates that destination awareness, motivation and WOM are factors that
in?uence the tourist to visit the FRI Aquarium. Interestingly, destination image however, has shown
insigni?cant relationship with tourist visitation. WOM also found to be has a full mediating effect for
awareness towards tourist visitation. For example, before visit, visitor may require some information
beforehand and word of mouth is a direct medium to transfer the information. A key implication for FRI
Aquarium is that it might be wise to assess such variables for their marketing strategies.
Research limitations/implications – First, the sample was obtained from one marine aquarium in
Malaysia. The comparative studies between aquariums are important to understand if there are any
similarities and differences. It would be better to conduct the survey in other local aquariums such as the
Underwater World, Langkawi and the KL Aquaria, Kuala Lumpur. Second, a longitudinal study is
relevant to further investigate the factors that will in?uence the visitor visitation. Thus, future study should
gather data from those who had visited the aquarium several times. This approach might improve the
destination image results, which in this study shows insigni?cant relationship. That said,
acknowledgements of these limitations also suggest a new direction of future research.
Practical implications – FRI Aquariumis suggested to create more awareness to the public by placing
an advertisement via mainstream and social media. Hence, FRI Aquarium is suggested to design
environmentally marine life oriented educational programs in order to motivate and encourage more
visitors to visit the place.
Originality/value – In sum, this paper conjectures that an understanding of factors that in?uence the
tourist to visit the marine tourism destination are worthy of additional research. Consequently, the
?ndings help to understand howthese factors can provide alternative sources of marketing to attract the
long-term economic sustainability of the FRI Aquarium in marine tourism.
Keywords Word of mouth, Malaysia, Motivation, Destination awareness, Destination image,
Marine tourism
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The tourismindustry has become the largest service industry in the global economy (Ferreira
et al., 2009; Som and Badarneh, 2011). In Malaysia, the industry has emerged as one of the
country’s key economic sectors. Malaysia is rich in natural and cultural diversity. Due to its
popularity, extensive ?ndings demonstrate that Penang is the most visited state in Malaysia,
with almost six million hotel guests reported in 2012 (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2012).
DOI 10.1108/IJCTHR-04-2013-0016 VOL. 8 NO. 1 2014, pp. 103-117, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1750-6182
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
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PAGE 103
Salmi Mohd Isa and
Lizana Ramli are both
based at the Graduate
School of Business,
Universiti Sains Malaysia,
Penang, Malaysia.
Received 10 April 2013
Revised 8 January 2014
Accepted 19 January 2014
The authors would like to thank
Mohamad Saupi Ismail for
giving them the opportunity to
conduct the study in the
Fisheries Research Institute
(FRI), Penang.
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Penang, which is also known as the Pearl of the Orient, is well known among local and
foreign tourists for its natural beauty and modern beach resorts. Since Penang is an island
surrounded by sea water, it has particularly strong potential in marine tourism(Ghaderi et al.,
2012). Globally, the growth rate of marine tourism has been found to exceed other forms of
tourism (Eagles and McCool, 2002). In relation to this, it has been reported that marine
tourism has becoming increasingly competitive and even saturated (Yoon and Uysal, 2005;
Hui et al., 2007). Therefore, it is important for marine tourism destinations such as Penang to
attract more visitors. Aquariums are one of the most common marine tourism attractions,
where marine life is captive under arti?cial environments, thus offering visitors an
under-water world experience. As aquariums become increasingly attractive experiences,
where tourists are able to simultaneously enjoy themselves and learn more about marine life,
it is important to identify the factors that may further enhance their attractiveness to tourists.
Study area
Penang is located in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia. It covers of an island with an
area about 285km
2
and a strip on the mainland known as Seberang Perai with an area of
737km
2
. The island is connected to the mainland via the Penang Bridge and also by ferries.
The state’s population is about 1.5 million, comprising a mix of religions, ethnicities and
cultures. Apart frombeing a famous destination locally (Ghaderi et al., 2012), Penang is also
a well-known destination for foreign tourist due primarily to its myriad modern beach resorts,
inland forests, ethnic cultures and heritage sites (see Table I); More recently, the state has
experienced a growth in marine tourism.
The FRI aquarium has a total of 25 tanks showcasing the large variety of marine life. Apart
from?sh, there is also a display of different types of corals and sea anemones. The aquarium
aims at both introducing marine tourism to the local and international tourists. Currently, FRI
is in search of alternative sources of marketing to ensure its long-term economic
sustainability. Among possible alternatives includes the establishment of visitation pattern,
since it is considered a relatively reliable and potential source of increasing the market share
of the marine tourism industry.
Development of the research hypotheses
Establishing tourist visitation to a new tourism area is, in most cases, dependent on tourist
behaviour. Indeed, tourist visitation is considered among the primary components of marine
tourism operation. Such behaviour is usually enacted in the form of destination awareness,
destination image, and motivation. As noted by Kiss and Bichler (2008), word-of-mouth
(WOM) is likely to in?uence tourists to visit. Our study comprises the ?rst attempt to examine
the factors that may in?uence tourists to visit marine tourism destinations.
Destination awareness
The concept of destination awareness is mostly investigated under the topic of tourism
decision processes (Woodside and Lysonski, 1989; Goodall, 1993). Awareness might not
always lead to purchase because it acts as product curiosity (Fesenmaier et al., 1993).
Table I Domestic and international tourist arrivals to Penang from 2005 to 2010
Tourist
Year Local total % International total % Overall total
2005 2,267,532 52.1 2,084,377 47.9 4,351,909
2006 2,562,978 54.4 2,152,256 45.6 4,715,234
2007 2,787,260 53.7 2,399,351 46.3 5,186,611
2008 3,496,293 55.4 2,811,175 44.6 6,307,468
2009 2,982,687 50.0 2,977,642 50.0 5,960,329
2010 2,942,544 49.1 3,048,320 50.9 5,990,864
2005-2010 17,039,294 52.4 15,473,121 47.6 32,512,415
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Gartner (1993) viewed awareness as what someone knows or thinks they know about a
destination. Meanwhile, Woodside and Lysonski (1989, p. 8) described awareness as
‘‘unaided recall from long-term memory and aided recognitions’’. However, Pike (2002)
referred to it in a tourism context as the destination that ?rst comes to mind when an
individual is considering taking a trip. In relation to this, Gartner and Ruzzier (2010) argued
that the dimension of awareness and image is important for ?rst-time visitors. They claimed
that without awareness, a destination may not be chosen by a person that has an intention to
travel. Konecnik and Gartner (2007) have included awareness as one of the dimensions in
the customer-based brand equity model. Their study demonstrated that cognitive image
and conative image constituted an awareness dimension used to measure Slovenia’s
awareness to German and Croatian tourists. They found that awareness it is an important
dimension in their model. Therefore, in order for a tourism destination to be known, it must
create greater awareness (Milman and Pizan, 1995) because awareness can be heard and
recognised.
Further, Gartner and Ruzzier (2010) also claimed that, in the absence of awareness, a
destination may not be chosen by a prospective traveler. In the destination choice process,
one of the sets of destinations that are considered by a traveler is the awareness set. This set
is made up of all destinations that come to the mind of a potential tourist when they think of
going for a vacation. Moreover, Milman and Pizan (1995), in their study, also found that
awareness is a necessary element before a person builds a desire and eventually buys a
product or service. In relation to this, Woodside and Sherrell (1977), in their study, argued
that awareness is a ?rst and necessary step leading to destination visitation. Thus,
destination awareness builds a desire before the tourist eventually visits a place.
Destination image
According to Lopes (2011), although a person might have not been to a particular place,
they are still able to have the destination image in their mind based on information that they
have received. Destination image is a mental representation of a place of interest (Lawson
and Baud-Bovy, 1977; Fakeye and Crompton, 1991; Bigne et al., 2001). An early study by
Gunn (1988) suggested that image formation happens in seven stages. Based on the
stages, he created a destination image framework, which consists of two levels, namely,
organic images and induced images. Organic images are images or information from
resources that have not been directly linked to destination promoters such as geography
books and school lessons, magazines, television, WOM, news, movies, newspapers and
other media. It is a potential tourist’s impression of a destination before visiting. Induced
images are images projected or in?uenced by destination promoters and tourist
organisations using planed marketing and communication methods such as travel
brochures or advertisements. It is not only formed by promotional material, but also by
actual visitation to the area.
Later, Gartner (1993) claimed that destination images are formed by cognitive, effective and
conative. These three components interrelate to determine the overall image. Cognitive
component is the sumof a person’s knowledge about a destination, which may be organic or
induced. This is the awareness, knowledge or belief that people have about a destination’s
attributes. Affective component represents an individual’s feeling toward a destination
(Baloglu and McCleary, 1999). The conative component is the outcome of the cognitive and
effective stages and decides a person’s intention. According to the latest guidelines for
tourism marketing (Lopes, 2011), the development of the image of a tourist destination is
based on consumer rationality and emotion and also as a result of two main components:
Perceptual and cognitive – the destination image is evaluated by the attributes of its
resources of attractions which motivates tourist to visit the destination; and Affective –
referring to feelings and emotions raised by tourist destinations. The overall image of the
destination is a combination of both components.
Hunt (1975) demonstrated how important a destination image is in in?uencing tourist
visitation to a particular destination. The selection of destination processes of potential
tourists has been demonstrated by destination image factor (Hunt, 1975; Gunn, 1988).
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Similarly, Baloglu and McCleary (1999) demonstrated the relationship of visitation intention
with variety of information received, will induce the destination image. Destination image has
also been shown to be closely tied to the cognitive image component, as it leads to visitation
(Gartner and Ruzzier, 2010). Thus, destination image is also important in determining tourist
decisions to visit.
Motivation
Research has found that motivation is one of the most important travel decision-making
factors (Valle et al., 2006). Swanson and Horridge (2006) de?ned motivation as a set of
needs that makes a person become involved in tourist activities. An important framework to
examine the motivations on tourist visitation behaviour is the push-pull framework introduced
by Dann (1977). This concept explained that people travel because they are pushed and
pulled to do so by forces. Crompton (1979) emphasised further that both push and pull
factors shape tourist motivation and in choosing a vacation destination. He grouped and
isolated nine travel motivations, namely, escape from mundane, exploration, relaxation/rest,
prestige, regression, and enhancement of kind ship relationship, facilitation of social
interaction, education and novelty. The ?rst seven are categorised under push forces/factors
and the remaining two are categorised under pull forces/factors. Travel motivation is also a
multi-motive dimensional as reviewed by Van der Merwe et al. (2011). Their research shows
that different travel destinations have different travel motives for a person before he decides
to choose a travel destination. Travel motivation is also a multi-motive dimension, whereby, a
person might have more than one motive in choosing a destination.
1. Motivation Push Factors. Push factors refer to intangible, intrinsic desires of individual
travelers (Uysal and Hagan, 1993). It could be the individual traveler’s desire to escape,
rest and relaxation, health and ?tness, adventure, prestige, and/or social. It is suggested
that individuals are pushed by motivation variables to make travel decision. Push factors
are those that ‘‘push’’ a person away from their home and in?uence a person’s decision to
take a vacation. Thus, the push motivations are useful for explaining the desire for travel. It
is considered to be socio-psychological motivations that predispose the individual to
travel.
2. Motivation Pull Factors. Pull factors are external motivation factors to travel (Uysal and
Jurowski, 1994). They are based on the attractiveness of the destination. It is the
attractiveness of the destination and tangible characteristics such as beaches and
cultural/historical resources, among others, that motivate a person to travel (Uysal and
Hagan, 1993). It is also a traveler’s perception and expectation such as novelty, bene?t
expectation and marketing image of the destination. According to Bansal and Eiselt
(2004), it is a region-speci?c lure that pulls a tourist towards a destination. Pull motivation
is useful for explaining the actual destination choice. Pull factors are those that attract the
individual to a speci?c destination once the decision to travel has been made.
Based on the theory of planned behavior (TBP) by Ajzen (1991), this study argues that
destination awareness, destination image, and motivation will in?uence the tourist visitation
rate. Given the well-established theoretical rationale, the following hypotheses are advanced
for empirical testing:
H1. A signi?cantly higher level of destination awareness will lead to signi?cantly higher
tourist visitation in marine tourism.
H2. A signi?cantly higher level of destination image will lead to signi?cantly higher
tourist visitation in marine tourism.
H3. A signi?cantly higher level of motivation will lead to higher tourist visitation in marine
tourism.
Word-of-mouth (WOM)
Arndt (1967) de?ned WOM as oral, person-to-person communication between a receiver
and a communicator, when the receiver is perceived as non-commercial, regarding a brand,
product or service. Meanwhile, Westbrook (1987) de?ned WOM as the means by which
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consumers communicate their opinions to others in an unof?cial way after they have used a
product or taken a service. Eventually, WOMin?uences other people’s purchasing behaviour
(Kim, 2009). WOM can be projected as either positive or negative. Positive WOM occurs
when testimonials of good news and endorsements of the organisation are uttered (Buttle,
1998). It is when a person encounters satisfactory services; positive WOM will happen
(Susskind, 2002).
In relation to this, Kiss and Bichler (2008) commented that WOM is one type of marketing
technique. This technique has been used to increase brand awareness by self-replication
and message diffusion. This shows that there is a relationship between awareness of the
product or destination when a person has been exposed to informal information such as
WOM. Informal sources such as relatives and friends have been shown to in?uence image
formation among tourist destinations (Crompton, 1979; Beerli and Martin, 2004). This shows
that images were induced by the use of WOM as well. Sundaram and Webster (1999)
suggested that consumption experiences and motivation are closely related in the process
of WOM transmission. Moreover, a study by Godes and Mayzlin (2004) found that there was
a positive feedback mechanism between WOM and product sales. They found that WOM
leads to more product sales, which, in turn, generate more WOMand, ultimately, more sales.
Similarly Milman and Pizan (1995) found that the negative comments that visitors hear from
others could create low interest in visitation. According to Jeong and Jang (2011), positive
WOM also plays an important role in projecting a positive image which leads to intention to
behave. Bojanic (1996) argued that it is important to have a positive image in tourist
decision-making. In addition, Allsop et al. (2007) commented that communication such as
WOM can persuade by reason and motivate by emotion. According to them, research that
was done on consumer motivation and decision-making can maximize personal relevance
on the cognitive and emotional dimensions. Therefore, WOM is an important source of
information prior to visit, which has an impact on tourist visitation.
Following this rationale, therefore:
H4a. The higher the level of WOM, the better the relationship between destination
awareness and tourist visitation in marine tourism.
H4b. The higher the level of WOM, the better the relationship between destination image
and tourist visitation in marine tourism.
H4c. The higher the level of WOM, the better the relationship between motivation and
tourist visitation in marine tourism.
Methodology
The study utilized a self-administered questionnaire survey, with the target population being
visitors to the FRI Aquarium. The survey period was fromAugust 2012 to September 2012. A
total of 179 responses were collected during this period. However, 30 collected survey
questions were excluded from the analysis due to high percentage of incomplete responses
to the questions. All of the questions were adapted from previous related studies (see
Table II).
The survey questionnaire consisted of six major sections. The ?rst section included
questions on the tourist pro?le, such as gender, age, education, income and mode of
transportation to the aquarium. The next ?ve sections were developed to assess the
respondent’s level of agreement on awareness, destination image, motivation, WOM, and
visitation to the FRI Aquarium. A total of 42 items were selected for all ?ve sections (see
Table III). The items used a ?ve-point Likert scale, where 1 ¼ Strongly Disagree;
2 ¼ Disagree; 3 ¼ Neither Agree or Disagree; 4 ¼ Agree; 5 ¼ Strongly Agree. All data
collected were analysed using the SPSS software version 2.0. The data were tested for
descriptive analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis and regression
analysis.
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Results
Several aspects of our analysis are worthy of mention. First, the pro?les of the respondents were
analysed. This was aimed to gather general information on the respondents. Based on the
analysis, 52 per cent of respondents were male and 48 per cent were female. The majority of
the respondents were aged between 25-34 years (38 per cent). Half of the respondents were
high school or diploma leavers. Thirty four per cent of the respondents worked in the private
sector, followed by 29 per cent working as government servants. Most of the respondents’
income levels ranged from RM1,000 to RM5,000 per month (72 per cent). The overwhelming
majority of respondents came to the aquarium via their own transportation (83 per cent).
Second, the scree plot was also been used as a base to select a number of factors to be
taken into the analysis. Due to the small sample size in this study, this method will not provide
precise result. Three factors were identi?ed and 15 items were retained for further analysis.
Results of the analysis after elimination of 20 items showed an improvement in
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measurement to 0.85. The Bartlett test remains signi?cant ( p ¼ 0.00).
The three factors accounted for 61 per cent of total variance.
Third, for the validation measure, principal component analysis was conducted. Varimax
rotation was conducted towards all three independent variables, namely, awareness,
destination image and motivation. On initial factor analysis, the KMO was 0.82, which was
deemed acceptable for further factor analysis. Thirty ?ve questions were analysed for factor
analysis. Items were deleted if they exhibited low factor loadings (# 0.40), had high cross
loading (. 0, 40), or if they had low communalities (, 0.40) (Hair et al., 1998). Items were
removed one by one until no further deletion was needed. On ?nal analysis, 15 items were
maintained for further analysis. Results of the analysis after elimination of 20 items showed
an improvement in KMO to 0.85. The Bartlett test was signi?cant ( p ¼ 0.00). Three factors
were identi?ed on analysis, which accounted for 61 per cent of total variance. The three
factors were labelled as Awareness, Destination Image and Motivation. Results of this
analysis are shown in Table IV.
Fourth, factor analysis was conducted on the mediator, which is the word-of-mouth. One of
the items needed to be deleted due to low communalities (,0.40). After deletion, KMO was
0.74. The Bartlett test was signi?cant ( p ¼ 0.00). Total variance explained was 83 per cent,
with eigenvalue of 2.49. Finally, factor analysis was carried out on visitation. No deletion of
items was required. KMO was 0.69 and the Bartlett test was signi?cant ( p ¼ 0.00). Total
variance explained was 69.2 per cent and eigenvalue was 2.08. Reliability analysis was
conducted to test internal consistency. Factors that exceeded 0.70 of Cronbach’s Alpha
demonstrated good reliability (Hair et al., 1998). Analysis conducted shown that each factor
had good internal consistency where each had a value of Cronbach’s Alpha of more than
0.7, except for awareness factor. This is explained due to the small number of items for
awareness (three items). Gartner and Ruzzier (2010) had suggested that for small numbers
of items, 0.60 or 0.50 could be accepted as the alpha limit. Result of reliability for awareness,
destination image and motivation is as per Table IV. Correlation analysis was conducted to
test the strength and direction of the linear relationship between all variables.
Table II Summary of research instruments
Variables Source
No. of
questions
Awareness Milman and Pizan (1995); Konecnik and Ruzzier (2006);
Konecnik and Gartner (2007); Gartner and Ruzzier (2010) 6
Destination image Echtner and Ritchie (1993); Konecnik and Gartner (2007);
Gartner and Ruzzier (2010); Qu et al. (2011) 13
Motivation Yoon and Uysal (2005); Van der Merwe et al. (2011) 16
Word of mouth Jeong and Jang (2011) 4
Visitation performance Jeong and Jang (2011) 3
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The analysis had shown that all independent variables are positively correlated to the
dependent variable.
Regression analysis was used to analyse the relationship of each independent variable
towards the dependent variable. The result of factors in?uencing visitation is shown in
Table V. Based on the analysis, destination awareness (b ¼ 0.149, p , 0.05) and motivation
(b ¼ 0.623, p , 0.05) were found to be in a signi?cant positive relationship with visitor
visitation. However, destination image (b ¼ 0.095, p . 0.05) is found to be insigni?cant.
Therefore only H1 and H3 were supported.
Next, regression analysis was done on the independent variable with word-of-mouth. Based
on the analysis, destination awareness (b ¼ 0.262, p , 0.05) and motivation (b ¼ 0.580,
p , 0.05) had a positive relationship and signi?cant effect on WOM. However, destination
image (b ¼ 20.094, p . 0.05) was shown to be insigni?cant. It is therefore concluded that
destination awareness and motivation have a positive and signi?cant effect on WOM.
Therefore, H4a and H4c were supported. Further, regression analysis was done on WOM
with visitor visitation. The results show that WOM (b ¼ 0.826, p , 0.05) is signi?cant. It is
Table III Summary of questions
Code Measurements
AW1 A state tourist destination
AW2 Exhibits coral reef life
AW3 Located in Batu Maung
AW4 Open daily except on Wednesday
AW5 A research oriented aquarium
AW6 Free entry for old citizens, disable person and children below 6 years old
DI1 Well known and famous
DI2 Well-advertised
DI3 Available via travel agency
DI4 Easy access via all types of transportation
DI5 Ample parking space
DI6 Entrance fee is among the cheapest of all zoos/aquaria in Malaysia
DI7 Friendly and helpful staff
D18 Surrounding is restful and relaxing
DI9 Has a clean image
DI10 Has a safe image
DI11 Exhibits many marine life species
DI12 Interesting and unique attraction/exhibits
DI13 Provides good information on its exhibits
MO1 Affordable tourist destination
MO2 Close to other surrounding area of attraction
MO3 Close to my home/relatives/accommodation
MO4 Increase education and learning experience
MO5 Enhance knowledge on marine life
MO6 Able to appreciate natural resources
MO7 Place for family recreation and/or having leisure time with someone special
MO8 Entertaining and fun place to go
MO9 Place where my friends/family/relatives had not been to
MO10 Able to rest and relaxing myself
MO11 Many activities for children
MO12 Convenient facilities, e.g. restroom, cafeteria, prayer room
MO13 Value for my money
MO14 To get away from demand at home
MO15 Exploring new travel destination
MO16 Spending time with my friends
WM1 Received good comments from others
WM2 I want to share my positive experiences with others
WM3 I want to give others the opportunity to have a good experience
WM4 I feel good when I share my experience with others
DVAR1 I am very satis?ed with my visit to the Aquarium and would visit again and will recommend
DVAR2 In my opinion, this Aquarium should be supported and I will show my support by sharing my positive experience to others
DVAR3 I would recommend this Aquarium to others
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concluded that WOM has a positive and signi?cant effect on visitor visitation to FRI
Aquarium. Therefore, H4 is fully supported.
Finally, multiple regressions were conducted to investigate the mediator role of WOM for
destination awareness, destination image and motivation towards visitor visitation to the FRI
aquarium. To verify the mediating effect of the variables, multiple regression analysis was
conducted.
According to Baron and Kenny (1986) cited in Hsu et al. (2010), to claim a mediating
relationship, the following four conditions must be met:
1. The independent variables (in our case, destination awareness, destination image and
motivation) must be in a signi?cant relationship with the mediator (which, in our case, is word
of mouth (Path A)) in the absence of the dependent variable (in our case, tourist visitation).
2. The independent variables (i.e. awareness, destination image and motivation) must be in
a signi?cant relationship with the dependent variable (i.e. tourist visitation (Path C)) in the
absence of the mediator (i.e. WOM).
3. The mediator (i.e. WOM) must be in a signi?cant relationship with the dependent variable
(i.e. tourist visitation) (Path B) in the presence of the independent variables; and the
Table IV Result of reliability analysis
Factor label Motivation Image Awareness Communalities
Increase education and learning experience 0.775 0.722
Enhance knowledge on marine life 0.796 0.743
Able to appreciate natural resources 0.767 0.604
Place for family recreation and/or having leisure time with someone special 0.759 0.588
Entertaining and fun place to go 0.816 0.688
Able to rest and relaxing myself 0.648 0.496
Convenience facilities, e.g. restroom, cafeteria, prayer room 0.624 0.480
Exploring new travel destination 0.709 0.515
Friendly and helpful staff 0.720 0.570
Surrounding is restful and relaxing 0.733 0.667
Has a clean environment 0.816 0.770
Has a safe environment 0.712 0.557
Exhibits coral reef life 0.744 0.647
Located in Penang 0.732 0.539
A research oriented aquarium 0.735 0.564
Eigenvalue 5.843 1.740 1.569
Variance (%) 38.95 11.60 10.46
Cumulative variance (%) 38.95 50.55 61.01
Cronbach’s alpha 0.898 0.775 0.613
Table V Result of regression analysis
Independent variables Standardized Beta
Regression result between factors in?uencing visitation
Destination awareness 0.149*
Destination image 0.095
Motivation 0.623*
Regression result between factors in?uencing WOM
Awareness 0.262*
Destination image 20.094
Motivation 0.580*
Regression result between WOM and visitation
Mediating variable
WOM 0.826*
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independent variables must be in a signi?cant relationship with the dependent variable in
the presence of mediator.
4. If all of the previous conditions are satis?ed, the effect of the independent variable on the
dependent variable must be less in the third condition than in the second condition (see
Figure 1).
In addition, Baron and Kenny (1986) cited in Hsu et al. (2010) recommended conducting a
Sobel test to investigate if the mediator signi?cantly in?uences an independent variable to
the dependent variable. This is to test the signi?cant change in the coef?cient for a more
comprehensive and reliable test. Based on Table VI, the analysis shows that for Model 2
(Path A), awareness (b ¼ 0.262, p , 0.05) has a positive and signi?cant relationship with
word of mouth. Model 1 (Path C), shows that awareness (b ¼ 0.149, p , 0.05) has a positive
and signi?cant relationship with visitor visitation. Model 3 (Path B) shows that that WOM
(b ¼ 0.826, p , 0.05) had a positive and signi?cant relationship with visitation. Model 4
shows that the b is insigni?cant. These justify all four conditions discussed earlier. To fully
verify this effect, a Sobel test was conducted and the result was signi?cant ( p , 0.001).
Based on the results, it can be concluded that there is a full mediating effect of WOM with
regards to relationship between awareness and tourist visitation. Therefore H4a is
supported. However, WOMdoes not have any mediator effect for destination image towards
visitor visitation. Therefore H4b is not supported. Finally, based on the analysis it was found
that WOM partially mediates the relationship between motivation and visitation. Therefore
H4c is partially supported.
Discussion
Our study contains several interesting ?ndings relevant to our understanding of factors
in?uencing tourist visitation in marine tourism. We found through our analysis that, when
framed in terms of in?uencing tourist behaviour, several factors are signi?cant to highlight.
Destination awareness and visitation
According to Milman and Pizan (1995), awareness can lead to interest and eventually to trail.
In this study, respondents were asked about the aquarium itself as a marine research
Figure 1 Mediating path
Table VI Results of mediating effect of WOM with regards to relationship between factors in?uencing visitation
performance
Signi?cant value of dependent variables measurement
Variables Model 1 (Path C) Model 2 (Path A) Model 3 (Path B) Model 4 (Path AB-C)
Destination awareness 0.149* 0.262* 20.021
Destination image 0.095 20.094 0.157*
Motivation 0.623* 0.580* 0.245*
WOM 0.826* 0.650*
Note: ‘‘0’’ shows insigni?cant and *p-value , 0.05
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location with coral reef life exhibits. In addition, the survey also asked about the respondents’
awareness of the location. Konecnik and Gartner (2007), in their study, found that people are
often more aware about locations associated with appealing weather, beautiful natural
surroundings, and so on. These ?ndings were consistent with the results produced from this
study. The respondents in our study were aware that the FRI Aquarium is a marine research
destination which exhibits marine life. In addition, they were also aware that the aquarium is
located in Batu Maung, Penang.
Destination image and visitation
The destination image was shown to have an insigni?cant relationship with visitation, which was
something our variables did not predict. Respondents were asked to rate if the place had
‘‘friendly and helpful staff’’, ‘‘restful and relaxing surroundings’’, ‘‘clean environment’’, and ‘‘safe
environment’’. These items of measurement could be answered appropriately if the visitors had
visited the destination before. This is because the visitor will have to experience the destination
images before they are able to decide on a revisit. A prior study conducted by Assaker et al.
(2011), concluded that destination image impacted revisits and in?uences future return
intention. Similarly, Qu et al. (2011), also found that the overall image of a destination was
perceived more positively by return visitors rather than by ?rst-time visitors. In relation to this,
the present study focused on ?rst-time visitors to the aquarium. Thus, further investigation
needs to be undertaken by future researchers on revisit tourists to shed more light on this issue.
Motivation and visitation
According to Hsu et al. (2010), motivation represents a person’s psychological need to
pursue a stated goal. Van der Merwe et al. (2011) demonstrated that for marine tourism,
relaxation and escape were among the chief motives in selecting a destination. Based on our
results here, motivation does play a role in getting people to visit a tourist destination. For
example, if a person is motivated to get away and relax, he is being ‘‘pushed’’ to do so. This
result was consistent with previous studies, which suggest that tourists are pushed towards
the attraction by their motivation.
Mediating effect of WOM
This study also analysed the possible mediating effect of WOM on visitation. The results
showed that WOM plays a signi?cant mediating role for awareness. This is because in order
for a visitor to be aware of a tourist destination, he/she needs to acquire the information from
numerous communication sources. The information could come fromfamily members, friends,
or other sources such as the Internet and reviews by others who have experienced the
destination. Sheth (1971), cited in (Buttle, 1998), claimed that WOM was more important than
any other advertising mechanismin raising awareness in serving the decision to try a product.
Buttle (1998) added that WOM in?uenced a variety of conditions, such as awareness,
expectations, perceptions, attitudes, behavioural intentions, and behaviour. This possibly
explains why WOM partially mediates the relationship between motivation and visitation. For
instance, when a student needs to conduct an assignment on marine life, they will be
motivated to visit an aquarium if they were told by their teachers that all information to
complete the assignment could be found in the aquarium. In addition, if a visitor is satis?ed
with his experience, he would want to share the experience with those who are close to him.
Due to that, he would be motivated to spread the news to assist others on their decision to visit.
This is supported by Cheung and Lee (2012), who found that enjoyment of helping others is
crucial in affecting consumers’ WOM intention. This could help others with their behaviours.
However, WOM does not have any in?uence on destination image towards visitation. This
could be due to the fact that it is dif?cult for a person to imagine a situation only by hearing
about it, but without experiencing it. For example, when a person says that there is a big ?sh
exhibit in the aquarium, the receiver might have different interpretations of the meaning of
‘‘big’’. They understand the word ‘‘big ?sh’’ based on what they had experienced or what
they had seen before. This is very subjective, depending on each individual’s assumptions
and experiences. With this in mind, it is understandable why WOM is largely irrelevant as a
mediator for destination image in determining visitation.
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Conclusions
In this study, we demonstrate that destination awareness, motivation, and WOMare factors that
in?uence tourists to visit the FRI Aquarium in Penang. However, destination image was shown
to have an insigni?cant relationship with tourist visitation. The ?ndings corroborate with earlier
research by Assaker et al. (2011), who concluded that destination image impacted revisits and
in?uenced future return intention. Similarly, Qu et al. (2011) also demonstrated that tourists view
image of a destination more positively by return visitor rather than by a ?rst timer visitor. WOM
was also found to have a full mediating effect for awareness towards tourist visitation. For
example, before a visit, a visitor may require some information beforehand and WOMis a direct
medium to transfer the information. WOM is gradually being recognised as a powerful tool in
affecting visitor choice. A key implication for the FRI Aquariumis that it might be wise to assess
such variables for their marketing strategies. Thus, the FRI Aquarium can use satis?ed visitors
as spokespersons for their destination. Our ?ndings suggest the FRI Aquarium can bene?t by
knowing which form of WOM can help to improve their position in the market, as well as harm
them. Hence, if two-sided WOMis used, FRI Aquarium will know how best to make themselves
more persuasive when presenting the FRI Aquarium as marine tourism.
Limitations
Several limitations of our study should also be noted. First, the sample was obtained from
one marine aquarium in Malaysia. Comparative studies between aquariums are important to
understand if there are any similarities or differences. Future researchers might wish to
conduct a similar survey in other local aquariums such as the Underwater World in Langkawi
and the KL Aquaria in Kuala Lumpur. Second, a longitudinal study might be helpful to further
investigate the factors that in?uence the visitor visitation. Therefore, future studies should
gather data from those who have visited the aquarium on multiple occasions. This approach
might also improve the destination image results, which in this study was shown to have an
insigni?cant relationship. That said, acknowledgements of these limitations also suggest a
new direction of future research.
Recommendations
FRI Aquarium might wish to create more awareness among the public by placing an
advertisement via mainstream and social media. They should promote the aquarium as a
reference centre for those who want to knowmore about marine life. This will eventually pull and
push those who are interested in marine tourism. Schools are the best place to incorporate this
approach. Public talks should be given to school children to instil awareness and motivate them
to visit. Moreover, FRI Aquarium should encourage visitors who are satis?ed with their visit to
give good recommendations and convey their satisfaction to others. A platform, such as a web
site where visitors can express their satisfaction and share their experiences, should also be
provided. Therefore, it is suggested that FRI Aquarium design marine life-oriented educational
programs in order to motivate and encourage more visitors to visit
By promoting the place as destination for learning and leisure, marine tourism is likely to
produce long-lasting changes in tourist behaviour.
In sum, we conjecture that an understanding of factors that in?uence tourists to visit marine
tourism destinations are worthy of additional research. Consequently, we hope that our
?ndings will help further our understanding on how these factors can provide alternative
sources of marketing in order to attract long-term economic sustainability of the FRI
Aquarium in marine tourism.
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Corresponding author
Salmi Mohd Isa can be contacted at: [email protected]
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doc_125883121.pdf
To establish tourist visitation to new tourism areas is in most cases dependent on tourists’
behavior. Indeed, tourist visitation is considered among the primary components of the marine tourism
operation. Such behavior is usually enacted in the form of destination awareness, destination image and
motivation. Word of mouth is likely to influence tourist to visit. The purpose of this paper is to examine the
factors that may influence tourists to visit marine tourist destinations.
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Factors influencing tourist visitation in marine tourism: lessons learned from FRI Aquarium Penang, Malaysia
Salmi Mohd Isa Lizana Ramli
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Factors in?uencing tourist visitation in
marine tourism: lessons learned from
FRI Aquarium Penang, Malaysia
Salmi Mohd Isa and Lizana Ramli
Abstract
Purpose – To establish tourist visitation to new tourism areas is in most cases dependent on tourists’
behavior. Indeed, tourist visitation is considered among the primary components of the marine tourism
operation. Such behavior is usually enacted in the formof destination awareness, destination image and
motivation. Word of mouth is likely to in?uence tourist to visit. The purpose of this paper is to examine the
factors that may in?uence tourists to visit marine tourist destinations.
Design/methodology/approach – The study has utilized self-administered questionnaire survey and
the target population are the visitors that came to FRI Aquarium. The survey period was from August
2012 to September 2012. Total of 179 responses were collected during this period.
Findings – This study demonstrates that destination awareness, motivation and WOM are factors that
in?uence the tourist to visit the FRI Aquarium. Interestingly, destination image however, has shown
insigni?cant relationship with tourist visitation. WOM also found to be has a full mediating effect for
awareness towards tourist visitation. For example, before visit, visitor may require some information
beforehand and word of mouth is a direct medium to transfer the information. A key implication for FRI
Aquarium is that it might be wise to assess such variables for their marketing strategies.
Research limitations/implications – First, the sample was obtained from one marine aquarium in
Malaysia. The comparative studies between aquariums are important to understand if there are any
similarities and differences. It would be better to conduct the survey in other local aquariums such as the
Underwater World, Langkawi and the KL Aquaria, Kuala Lumpur. Second, a longitudinal study is
relevant to further investigate the factors that will in?uence the visitor visitation. Thus, future study should
gather data from those who had visited the aquarium several times. This approach might improve the
destination image results, which in this study shows insigni?cant relationship. That said,
acknowledgements of these limitations also suggest a new direction of future research.
Practical implications – FRI Aquariumis suggested to create more awareness to the public by placing
an advertisement via mainstream and social media. Hence, FRI Aquarium is suggested to design
environmentally marine life oriented educational programs in order to motivate and encourage more
visitors to visit the place.
Originality/value – In sum, this paper conjectures that an understanding of factors that in?uence the
tourist to visit the marine tourism destination are worthy of additional research. Consequently, the
?ndings help to understand howthese factors can provide alternative sources of marketing to attract the
long-term economic sustainability of the FRI Aquarium in marine tourism.
Keywords Word of mouth, Malaysia, Motivation, Destination awareness, Destination image,
Marine tourism
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The tourismindustry has become the largest service industry in the global economy (Ferreira
et al., 2009; Som and Badarneh, 2011). In Malaysia, the industry has emerged as one of the
country’s key economic sectors. Malaysia is rich in natural and cultural diversity. Due to its
popularity, extensive ?ndings demonstrate that Penang is the most visited state in Malaysia,
with almost six million hotel guests reported in 2012 (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2012).
DOI 10.1108/IJCTHR-04-2013-0016 VOL. 8 NO. 1 2014, pp. 103-117, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1750-6182
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
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PAGE 103
Salmi Mohd Isa and
Lizana Ramli are both
based at the Graduate
School of Business,
Universiti Sains Malaysia,
Penang, Malaysia.
Received 10 April 2013
Revised 8 January 2014
Accepted 19 January 2014
The authors would like to thank
Mohamad Saupi Ismail for
giving them the opportunity to
conduct the study in the
Fisheries Research Institute
(FRI), Penang.
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Penang, which is also known as the Pearl of the Orient, is well known among local and
foreign tourists for its natural beauty and modern beach resorts. Since Penang is an island
surrounded by sea water, it has particularly strong potential in marine tourism(Ghaderi et al.,
2012). Globally, the growth rate of marine tourism has been found to exceed other forms of
tourism (Eagles and McCool, 2002). In relation to this, it has been reported that marine
tourism has becoming increasingly competitive and even saturated (Yoon and Uysal, 2005;
Hui et al., 2007). Therefore, it is important for marine tourism destinations such as Penang to
attract more visitors. Aquariums are one of the most common marine tourism attractions,
where marine life is captive under arti?cial environments, thus offering visitors an
under-water world experience. As aquariums become increasingly attractive experiences,
where tourists are able to simultaneously enjoy themselves and learn more about marine life,
it is important to identify the factors that may further enhance their attractiveness to tourists.
Study area
Penang is located in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia. It covers of an island with an
area about 285km
2
and a strip on the mainland known as Seberang Perai with an area of
737km
2
. The island is connected to the mainland via the Penang Bridge and also by ferries.
The state’s population is about 1.5 million, comprising a mix of religions, ethnicities and
cultures. Apart frombeing a famous destination locally (Ghaderi et al., 2012), Penang is also
a well-known destination for foreign tourist due primarily to its myriad modern beach resorts,
inland forests, ethnic cultures and heritage sites (see Table I); More recently, the state has
experienced a growth in marine tourism.
The FRI aquarium has a total of 25 tanks showcasing the large variety of marine life. Apart
from?sh, there is also a display of different types of corals and sea anemones. The aquarium
aims at both introducing marine tourism to the local and international tourists. Currently, FRI
is in search of alternative sources of marketing to ensure its long-term economic
sustainability. Among possible alternatives includes the establishment of visitation pattern,
since it is considered a relatively reliable and potential source of increasing the market share
of the marine tourism industry.
Development of the research hypotheses
Establishing tourist visitation to a new tourism area is, in most cases, dependent on tourist
behaviour. Indeed, tourist visitation is considered among the primary components of marine
tourism operation. Such behaviour is usually enacted in the form of destination awareness,
destination image, and motivation. As noted by Kiss and Bichler (2008), word-of-mouth
(WOM) is likely to in?uence tourists to visit. Our study comprises the ?rst attempt to examine
the factors that may in?uence tourists to visit marine tourism destinations.
Destination awareness
The concept of destination awareness is mostly investigated under the topic of tourism
decision processes (Woodside and Lysonski, 1989; Goodall, 1993). Awareness might not
always lead to purchase because it acts as product curiosity (Fesenmaier et al., 1993).
Table I Domestic and international tourist arrivals to Penang from 2005 to 2010
Tourist
Year Local total % International total % Overall total
2005 2,267,532 52.1 2,084,377 47.9 4,351,909
2006 2,562,978 54.4 2,152,256 45.6 4,715,234
2007 2,787,260 53.7 2,399,351 46.3 5,186,611
2008 3,496,293 55.4 2,811,175 44.6 6,307,468
2009 2,982,687 50.0 2,977,642 50.0 5,960,329
2010 2,942,544 49.1 3,048,320 50.9 5,990,864
2005-2010 17,039,294 52.4 15,473,121 47.6 32,512,415
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Gartner (1993) viewed awareness as what someone knows or thinks they know about a
destination. Meanwhile, Woodside and Lysonski (1989, p. 8) described awareness as
‘‘unaided recall from long-term memory and aided recognitions’’. However, Pike (2002)
referred to it in a tourism context as the destination that ?rst comes to mind when an
individual is considering taking a trip. In relation to this, Gartner and Ruzzier (2010) argued
that the dimension of awareness and image is important for ?rst-time visitors. They claimed
that without awareness, a destination may not be chosen by a person that has an intention to
travel. Konecnik and Gartner (2007) have included awareness as one of the dimensions in
the customer-based brand equity model. Their study demonstrated that cognitive image
and conative image constituted an awareness dimension used to measure Slovenia’s
awareness to German and Croatian tourists. They found that awareness it is an important
dimension in their model. Therefore, in order for a tourism destination to be known, it must
create greater awareness (Milman and Pizan, 1995) because awareness can be heard and
recognised.
Further, Gartner and Ruzzier (2010) also claimed that, in the absence of awareness, a
destination may not be chosen by a prospective traveler. In the destination choice process,
one of the sets of destinations that are considered by a traveler is the awareness set. This set
is made up of all destinations that come to the mind of a potential tourist when they think of
going for a vacation. Moreover, Milman and Pizan (1995), in their study, also found that
awareness is a necessary element before a person builds a desire and eventually buys a
product or service. In relation to this, Woodside and Sherrell (1977), in their study, argued
that awareness is a ?rst and necessary step leading to destination visitation. Thus,
destination awareness builds a desire before the tourist eventually visits a place.
Destination image
According to Lopes (2011), although a person might have not been to a particular place,
they are still able to have the destination image in their mind based on information that they
have received. Destination image is a mental representation of a place of interest (Lawson
and Baud-Bovy, 1977; Fakeye and Crompton, 1991; Bigne et al., 2001). An early study by
Gunn (1988) suggested that image formation happens in seven stages. Based on the
stages, he created a destination image framework, which consists of two levels, namely,
organic images and induced images. Organic images are images or information from
resources that have not been directly linked to destination promoters such as geography
books and school lessons, magazines, television, WOM, news, movies, newspapers and
other media. It is a potential tourist’s impression of a destination before visiting. Induced
images are images projected or in?uenced by destination promoters and tourist
organisations using planed marketing and communication methods such as travel
brochures or advertisements. It is not only formed by promotional material, but also by
actual visitation to the area.
Later, Gartner (1993) claimed that destination images are formed by cognitive, effective and
conative. These three components interrelate to determine the overall image. Cognitive
component is the sumof a person’s knowledge about a destination, which may be organic or
induced. This is the awareness, knowledge or belief that people have about a destination’s
attributes. Affective component represents an individual’s feeling toward a destination
(Baloglu and McCleary, 1999). The conative component is the outcome of the cognitive and
effective stages and decides a person’s intention. According to the latest guidelines for
tourism marketing (Lopes, 2011), the development of the image of a tourist destination is
based on consumer rationality and emotion and also as a result of two main components:
Perceptual and cognitive – the destination image is evaluated by the attributes of its
resources of attractions which motivates tourist to visit the destination; and Affective –
referring to feelings and emotions raised by tourist destinations. The overall image of the
destination is a combination of both components.
Hunt (1975) demonstrated how important a destination image is in in?uencing tourist
visitation to a particular destination. The selection of destination processes of potential
tourists has been demonstrated by destination image factor (Hunt, 1975; Gunn, 1988).
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Similarly, Baloglu and McCleary (1999) demonstrated the relationship of visitation intention
with variety of information received, will induce the destination image. Destination image has
also been shown to be closely tied to the cognitive image component, as it leads to visitation
(Gartner and Ruzzier, 2010). Thus, destination image is also important in determining tourist
decisions to visit.
Motivation
Research has found that motivation is one of the most important travel decision-making
factors (Valle et al., 2006). Swanson and Horridge (2006) de?ned motivation as a set of
needs that makes a person become involved in tourist activities. An important framework to
examine the motivations on tourist visitation behaviour is the push-pull framework introduced
by Dann (1977). This concept explained that people travel because they are pushed and
pulled to do so by forces. Crompton (1979) emphasised further that both push and pull
factors shape tourist motivation and in choosing a vacation destination. He grouped and
isolated nine travel motivations, namely, escape from mundane, exploration, relaxation/rest,
prestige, regression, and enhancement of kind ship relationship, facilitation of social
interaction, education and novelty. The ?rst seven are categorised under push forces/factors
and the remaining two are categorised under pull forces/factors. Travel motivation is also a
multi-motive dimensional as reviewed by Van der Merwe et al. (2011). Their research shows
that different travel destinations have different travel motives for a person before he decides
to choose a travel destination. Travel motivation is also a multi-motive dimension, whereby, a
person might have more than one motive in choosing a destination.
1. Motivation Push Factors. Push factors refer to intangible, intrinsic desires of individual
travelers (Uysal and Hagan, 1993). It could be the individual traveler’s desire to escape,
rest and relaxation, health and ?tness, adventure, prestige, and/or social. It is suggested
that individuals are pushed by motivation variables to make travel decision. Push factors
are those that ‘‘push’’ a person away from their home and in?uence a person’s decision to
take a vacation. Thus, the push motivations are useful for explaining the desire for travel. It
is considered to be socio-psychological motivations that predispose the individual to
travel.
2. Motivation Pull Factors. Pull factors are external motivation factors to travel (Uysal and
Jurowski, 1994). They are based on the attractiveness of the destination. It is the
attractiveness of the destination and tangible characteristics such as beaches and
cultural/historical resources, among others, that motivate a person to travel (Uysal and
Hagan, 1993). It is also a traveler’s perception and expectation such as novelty, bene?t
expectation and marketing image of the destination. According to Bansal and Eiselt
(2004), it is a region-speci?c lure that pulls a tourist towards a destination. Pull motivation
is useful for explaining the actual destination choice. Pull factors are those that attract the
individual to a speci?c destination once the decision to travel has been made.
Based on the theory of planned behavior (TBP) by Ajzen (1991), this study argues that
destination awareness, destination image, and motivation will in?uence the tourist visitation
rate. Given the well-established theoretical rationale, the following hypotheses are advanced
for empirical testing:
H1. A signi?cantly higher level of destination awareness will lead to signi?cantly higher
tourist visitation in marine tourism.
H2. A signi?cantly higher level of destination image will lead to signi?cantly higher
tourist visitation in marine tourism.
H3. A signi?cantly higher level of motivation will lead to higher tourist visitation in marine
tourism.
Word-of-mouth (WOM)
Arndt (1967) de?ned WOM as oral, person-to-person communication between a receiver
and a communicator, when the receiver is perceived as non-commercial, regarding a brand,
product or service. Meanwhile, Westbrook (1987) de?ned WOM as the means by which
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consumers communicate their opinions to others in an unof?cial way after they have used a
product or taken a service. Eventually, WOMin?uences other people’s purchasing behaviour
(Kim, 2009). WOM can be projected as either positive or negative. Positive WOM occurs
when testimonials of good news and endorsements of the organisation are uttered (Buttle,
1998). It is when a person encounters satisfactory services; positive WOM will happen
(Susskind, 2002).
In relation to this, Kiss and Bichler (2008) commented that WOM is one type of marketing
technique. This technique has been used to increase brand awareness by self-replication
and message diffusion. This shows that there is a relationship between awareness of the
product or destination when a person has been exposed to informal information such as
WOM. Informal sources such as relatives and friends have been shown to in?uence image
formation among tourist destinations (Crompton, 1979; Beerli and Martin, 2004). This shows
that images were induced by the use of WOM as well. Sundaram and Webster (1999)
suggested that consumption experiences and motivation are closely related in the process
of WOM transmission. Moreover, a study by Godes and Mayzlin (2004) found that there was
a positive feedback mechanism between WOM and product sales. They found that WOM
leads to more product sales, which, in turn, generate more WOMand, ultimately, more sales.
Similarly Milman and Pizan (1995) found that the negative comments that visitors hear from
others could create low interest in visitation. According to Jeong and Jang (2011), positive
WOM also plays an important role in projecting a positive image which leads to intention to
behave. Bojanic (1996) argued that it is important to have a positive image in tourist
decision-making. In addition, Allsop et al. (2007) commented that communication such as
WOM can persuade by reason and motivate by emotion. According to them, research that
was done on consumer motivation and decision-making can maximize personal relevance
on the cognitive and emotional dimensions. Therefore, WOM is an important source of
information prior to visit, which has an impact on tourist visitation.
Following this rationale, therefore:
H4a. The higher the level of WOM, the better the relationship between destination
awareness and tourist visitation in marine tourism.
H4b. The higher the level of WOM, the better the relationship between destination image
and tourist visitation in marine tourism.
H4c. The higher the level of WOM, the better the relationship between motivation and
tourist visitation in marine tourism.
Methodology
The study utilized a self-administered questionnaire survey, with the target population being
visitors to the FRI Aquarium. The survey period was fromAugust 2012 to September 2012. A
total of 179 responses were collected during this period. However, 30 collected survey
questions were excluded from the analysis due to high percentage of incomplete responses
to the questions. All of the questions were adapted from previous related studies (see
Table II).
The survey questionnaire consisted of six major sections. The ?rst section included
questions on the tourist pro?le, such as gender, age, education, income and mode of
transportation to the aquarium. The next ?ve sections were developed to assess the
respondent’s level of agreement on awareness, destination image, motivation, WOM, and
visitation to the FRI Aquarium. A total of 42 items were selected for all ?ve sections (see
Table III). The items used a ?ve-point Likert scale, where 1 ¼ Strongly Disagree;
2 ¼ Disagree; 3 ¼ Neither Agree or Disagree; 4 ¼ Agree; 5 ¼ Strongly Agree. All data
collected were analysed using the SPSS software version 2.0. The data were tested for
descriptive analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis and regression
analysis.
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Results
Several aspects of our analysis are worthy of mention. First, the pro?les of the respondents were
analysed. This was aimed to gather general information on the respondents. Based on the
analysis, 52 per cent of respondents were male and 48 per cent were female. The majority of
the respondents were aged between 25-34 years (38 per cent). Half of the respondents were
high school or diploma leavers. Thirty four per cent of the respondents worked in the private
sector, followed by 29 per cent working as government servants. Most of the respondents’
income levels ranged from RM1,000 to RM5,000 per month (72 per cent). The overwhelming
majority of respondents came to the aquarium via their own transportation (83 per cent).
Second, the scree plot was also been used as a base to select a number of factors to be
taken into the analysis. Due to the small sample size in this study, this method will not provide
precise result. Three factors were identi?ed and 15 items were retained for further analysis.
Results of the analysis after elimination of 20 items showed an improvement in
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measurement to 0.85. The Bartlett test remains signi?cant ( p ¼ 0.00).
The three factors accounted for 61 per cent of total variance.
Third, for the validation measure, principal component analysis was conducted. Varimax
rotation was conducted towards all three independent variables, namely, awareness,
destination image and motivation. On initial factor analysis, the KMO was 0.82, which was
deemed acceptable for further factor analysis. Thirty ?ve questions were analysed for factor
analysis. Items were deleted if they exhibited low factor loadings (# 0.40), had high cross
loading (. 0, 40), or if they had low communalities (, 0.40) (Hair et al., 1998). Items were
removed one by one until no further deletion was needed. On ?nal analysis, 15 items were
maintained for further analysis. Results of the analysis after elimination of 20 items showed
an improvement in KMO to 0.85. The Bartlett test was signi?cant ( p ¼ 0.00). Three factors
were identi?ed on analysis, which accounted for 61 per cent of total variance. The three
factors were labelled as Awareness, Destination Image and Motivation. Results of this
analysis are shown in Table IV.
Fourth, factor analysis was conducted on the mediator, which is the word-of-mouth. One of
the items needed to be deleted due to low communalities (,0.40). After deletion, KMO was
0.74. The Bartlett test was signi?cant ( p ¼ 0.00). Total variance explained was 83 per cent,
with eigenvalue of 2.49. Finally, factor analysis was carried out on visitation. No deletion of
items was required. KMO was 0.69 and the Bartlett test was signi?cant ( p ¼ 0.00). Total
variance explained was 69.2 per cent and eigenvalue was 2.08. Reliability analysis was
conducted to test internal consistency. Factors that exceeded 0.70 of Cronbach’s Alpha
demonstrated good reliability (Hair et al., 1998). Analysis conducted shown that each factor
had good internal consistency where each had a value of Cronbach’s Alpha of more than
0.7, except for awareness factor. This is explained due to the small number of items for
awareness (three items). Gartner and Ruzzier (2010) had suggested that for small numbers
of items, 0.60 or 0.50 could be accepted as the alpha limit. Result of reliability for awareness,
destination image and motivation is as per Table IV. Correlation analysis was conducted to
test the strength and direction of the linear relationship between all variables.
Table II Summary of research instruments
Variables Source
No. of
questions
Awareness Milman and Pizan (1995); Konecnik and Ruzzier (2006);
Konecnik and Gartner (2007); Gartner and Ruzzier (2010) 6
Destination image Echtner and Ritchie (1993); Konecnik and Gartner (2007);
Gartner and Ruzzier (2010); Qu et al. (2011) 13
Motivation Yoon and Uysal (2005); Van der Merwe et al. (2011) 16
Word of mouth Jeong and Jang (2011) 4
Visitation performance Jeong and Jang (2011) 3
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The analysis had shown that all independent variables are positively correlated to the
dependent variable.
Regression analysis was used to analyse the relationship of each independent variable
towards the dependent variable. The result of factors in?uencing visitation is shown in
Table V. Based on the analysis, destination awareness (b ¼ 0.149, p , 0.05) and motivation
(b ¼ 0.623, p , 0.05) were found to be in a signi?cant positive relationship with visitor
visitation. However, destination image (b ¼ 0.095, p . 0.05) is found to be insigni?cant.
Therefore only H1 and H3 were supported.
Next, regression analysis was done on the independent variable with word-of-mouth. Based
on the analysis, destination awareness (b ¼ 0.262, p , 0.05) and motivation (b ¼ 0.580,
p , 0.05) had a positive relationship and signi?cant effect on WOM. However, destination
image (b ¼ 20.094, p . 0.05) was shown to be insigni?cant. It is therefore concluded that
destination awareness and motivation have a positive and signi?cant effect on WOM.
Therefore, H4a and H4c were supported. Further, regression analysis was done on WOM
with visitor visitation. The results show that WOM (b ¼ 0.826, p , 0.05) is signi?cant. It is
Table III Summary of questions
Code Measurements
AW1 A state tourist destination
AW2 Exhibits coral reef life
AW3 Located in Batu Maung
AW4 Open daily except on Wednesday
AW5 A research oriented aquarium
AW6 Free entry for old citizens, disable person and children below 6 years old
DI1 Well known and famous
DI2 Well-advertised
DI3 Available via travel agency
DI4 Easy access via all types of transportation
DI5 Ample parking space
DI6 Entrance fee is among the cheapest of all zoos/aquaria in Malaysia
DI7 Friendly and helpful staff
D18 Surrounding is restful and relaxing
DI9 Has a clean image
DI10 Has a safe image
DI11 Exhibits many marine life species
DI12 Interesting and unique attraction/exhibits
DI13 Provides good information on its exhibits
MO1 Affordable tourist destination
MO2 Close to other surrounding area of attraction
MO3 Close to my home/relatives/accommodation
MO4 Increase education and learning experience
MO5 Enhance knowledge on marine life
MO6 Able to appreciate natural resources
MO7 Place for family recreation and/or having leisure time with someone special
MO8 Entertaining and fun place to go
MO9 Place where my friends/family/relatives had not been to
MO10 Able to rest and relaxing myself
MO11 Many activities for children
MO12 Convenient facilities, e.g. restroom, cafeteria, prayer room
MO13 Value for my money
MO14 To get away from demand at home
MO15 Exploring new travel destination
MO16 Spending time with my friends
WM1 Received good comments from others
WM2 I want to share my positive experiences with others
WM3 I want to give others the opportunity to have a good experience
WM4 I feel good when I share my experience with others
DVAR1 I am very satis?ed with my visit to the Aquarium and would visit again and will recommend
DVAR2 In my opinion, this Aquarium should be supported and I will show my support by sharing my positive experience to others
DVAR3 I would recommend this Aquarium to others
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concluded that WOM has a positive and signi?cant effect on visitor visitation to FRI
Aquarium. Therefore, H4 is fully supported.
Finally, multiple regressions were conducted to investigate the mediator role of WOM for
destination awareness, destination image and motivation towards visitor visitation to the FRI
aquarium. To verify the mediating effect of the variables, multiple regression analysis was
conducted.
According to Baron and Kenny (1986) cited in Hsu et al. (2010), to claim a mediating
relationship, the following four conditions must be met:
1. The independent variables (in our case, destination awareness, destination image and
motivation) must be in a signi?cant relationship with the mediator (which, in our case, is word
of mouth (Path A)) in the absence of the dependent variable (in our case, tourist visitation).
2. The independent variables (i.e. awareness, destination image and motivation) must be in
a signi?cant relationship with the dependent variable (i.e. tourist visitation (Path C)) in the
absence of the mediator (i.e. WOM).
3. The mediator (i.e. WOM) must be in a signi?cant relationship with the dependent variable
(i.e. tourist visitation) (Path B) in the presence of the independent variables; and the
Table IV Result of reliability analysis
Factor label Motivation Image Awareness Communalities
Increase education and learning experience 0.775 0.722
Enhance knowledge on marine life 0.796 0.743
Able to appreciate natural resources 0.767 0.604
Place for family recreation and/or having leisure time with someone special 0.759 0.588
Entertaining and fun place to go 0.816 0.688
Able to rest and relaxing myself 0.648 0.496
Convenience facilities, e.g. restroom, cafeteria, prayer room 0.624 0.480
Exploring new travel destination 0.709 0.515
Friendly and helpful staff 0.720 0.570
Surrounding is restful and relaxing 0.733 0.667
Has a clean environment 0.816 0.770
Has a safe environment 0.712 0.557
Exhibits coral reef life 0.744 0.647
Located in Penang 0.732 0.539
A research oriented aquarium 0.735 0.564
Eigenvalue 5.843 1.740 1.569
Variance (%) 38.95 11.60 10.46
Cumulative variance (%) 38.95 50.55 61.01
Cronbach’s alpha 0.898 0.775 0.613
Table V Result of regression analysis
Independent variables Standardized Beta
Regression result between factors in?uencing visitation
Destination awareness 0.149*
Destination image 0.095
Motivation 0.623*
Regression result between factors in?uencing WOM
Awareness 0.262*
Destination image 20.094
Motivation 0.580*
Regression result between WOM and visitation
Mediating variable
WOM 0.826*
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independent variables must be in a signi?cant relationship with the dependent variable in
the presence of mediator.
4. If all of the previous conditions are satis?ed, the effect of the independent variable on the
dependent variable must be less in the third condition than in the second condition (see
Figure 1).
In addition, Baron and Kenny (1986) cited in Hsu et al. (2010) recommended conducting a
Sobel test to investigate if the mediator signi?cantly in?uences an independent variable to
the dependent variable. This is to test the signi?cant change in the coef?cient for a more
comprehensive and reliable test. Based on Table VI, the analysis shows that for Model 2
(Path A), awareness (b ¼ 0.262, p , 0.05) has a positive and signi?cant relationship with
word of mouth. Model 1 (Path C), shows that awareness (b ¼ 0.149, p , 0.05) has a positive
and signi?cant relationship with visitor visitation. Model 3 (Path B) shows that that WOM
(b ¼ 0.826, p , 0.05) had a positive and signi?cant relationship with visitation. Model 4
shows that the b is insigni?cant. These justify all four conditions discussed earlier. To fully
verify this effect, a Sobel test was conducted and the result was signi?cant ( p , 0.001).
Based on the results, it can be concluded that there is a full mediating effect of WOM with
regards to relationship between awareness and tourist visitation. Therefore H4a is
supported. However, WOMdoes not have any mediator effect for destination image towards
visitor visitation. Therefore H4b is not supported. Finally, based on the analysis it was found
that WOM partially mediates the relationship between motivation and visitation. Therefore
H4c is partially supported.
Discussion
Our study contains several interesting ?ndings relevant to our understanding of factors
in?uencing tourist visitation in marine tourism. We found through our analysis that, when
framed in terms of in?uencing tourist behaviour, several factors are signi?cant to highlight.
Destination awareness and visitation
According to Milman and Pizan (1995), awareness can lead to interest and eventually to trail.
In this study, respondents were asked about the aquarium itself as a marine research
Figure 1 Mediating path
Table VI Results of mediating effect of WOM with regards to relationship between factors in?uencing visitation
performance
Signi?cant value of dependent variables measurement
Variables Model 1 (Path C) Model 2 (Path A) Model 3 (Path B) Model 4 (Path AB-C)
Destination awareness 0.149* 0.262* 20.021
Destination image 0.095 20.094 0.157*
Motivation 0.623* 0.580* 0.245*
WOM 0.826* 0.650*
Note: ‘‘0’’ shows insigni?cant and *p-value , 0.05
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location with coral reef life exhibits. In addition, the survey also asked about the respondents’
awareness of the location. Konecnik and Gartner (2007), in their study, found that people are
often more aware about locations associated with appealing weather, beautiful natural
surroundings, and so on. These ?ndings were consistent with the results produced from this
study. The respondents in our study were aware that the FRI Aquarium is a marine research
destination which exhibits marine life. In addition, they were also aware that the aquarium is
located in Batu Maung, Penang.
Destination image and visitation
The destination image was shown to have an insigni?cant relationship with visitation, which was
something our variables did not predict. Respondents were asked to rate if the place had
‘‘friendly and helpful staff’’, ‘‘restful and relaxing surroundings’’, ‘‘clean environment’’, and ‘‘safe
environment’’. These items of measurement could be answered appropriately if the visitors had
visited the destination before. This is because the visitor will have to experience the destination
images before they are able to decide on a revisit. A prior study conducted by Assaker et al.
(2011), concluded that destination image impacted revisits and in?uences future return
intention. Similarly, Qu et al. (2011), also found that the overall image of a destination was
perceived more positively by return visitors rather than by ?rst-time visitors. In relation to this,
the present study focused on ?rst-time visitors to the aquarium. Thus, further investigation
needs to be undertaken by future researchers on revisit tourists to shed more light on this issue.
Motivation and visitation
According to Hsu et al. (2010), motivation represents a person’s psychological need to
pursue a stated goal. Van der Merwe et al. (2011) demonstrated that for marine tourism,
relaxation and escape were among the chief motives in selecting a destination. Based on our
results here, motivation does play a role in getting people to visit a tourist destination. For
example, if a person is motivated to get away and relax, he is being ‘‘pushed’’ to do so. This
result was consistent with previous studies, which suggest that tourists are pushed towards
the attraction by their motivation.
Mediating effect of WOM
This study also analysed the possible mediating effect of WOM on visitation. The results
showed that WOM plays a signi?cant mediating role for awareness. This is because in order
for a visitor to be aware of a tourist destination, he/she needs to acquire the information from
numerous communication sources. The information could come fromfamily members, friends,
or other sources such as the Internet and reviews by others who have experienced the
destination. Sheth (1971), cited in (Buttle, 1998), claimed that WOM was more important than
any other advertising mechanismin raising awareness in serving the decision to try a product.
Buttle (1998) added that WOM in?uenced a variety of conditions, such as awareness,
expectations, perceptions, attitudes, behavioural intentions, and behaviour. This possibly
explains why WOM partially mediates the relationship between motivation and visitation. For
instance, when a student needs to conduct an assignment on marine life, they will be
motivated to visit an aquarium if they were told by their teachers that all information to
complete the assignment could be found in the aquarium. In addition, if a visitor is satis?ed
with his experience, he would want to share the experience with those who are close to him.
Due to that, he would be motivated to spread the news to assist others on their decision to visit.
This is supported by Cheung and Lee (2012), who found that enjoyment of helping others is
crucial in affecting consumers’ WOM intention. This could help others with their behaviours.
However, WOM does not have any in?uence on destination image towards visitation. This
could be due to the fact that it is dif?cult for a person to imagine a situation only by hearing
about it, but without experiencing it. For example, when a person says that there is a big ?sh
exhibit in the aquarium, the receiver might have different interpretations of the meaning of
‘‘big’’. They understand the word ‘‘big ?sh’’ based on what they had experienced or what
they had seen before. This is very subjective, depending on each individual’s assumptions
and experiences. With this in mind, it is understandable why WOM is largely irrelevant as a
mediator for destination image in determining visitation.
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Conclusions
In this study, we demonstrate that destination awareness, motivation, and WOMare factors that
in?uence tourists to visit the FRI Aquarium in Penang. However, destination image was shown
to have an insigni?cant relationship with tourist visitation. The ?ndings corroborate with earlier
research by Assaker et al. (2011), who concluded that destination image impacted revisits and
in?uenced future return intention. Similarly, Qu et al. (2011) also demonstrated that tourists view
image of a destination more positively by return visitor rather than by a ?rst timer visitor. WOM
was also found to have a full mediating effect for awareness towards tourist visitation. For
example, before a visit, a visitor may require some information beforehand and WOMis a direct
medium to transfer the information. WOM is gradually being recognised as a powerful tool in
affecting visitor choice. A key implication for the FRI Aquariumis that it might be wise to assess
such variables for their marketing strategies. Thus, the FRI Aquarium can use satis?ed visitors
as spokespersons for their destination. Our ?ndings suggest the FRI Aquarium can bene?t by
knowing which form of WOM can help to improve their position in the market, as well as harm
them. Hence, if two-sided WOMis used, FRI Aquarium will know how best to make themselves
more persuasive when presenting the FRI Aquarium as marine tourism.
Limitations
Several limitations of our study should also be noted. First, the sample was obtained from
one marine aquarium in Malaysia. Comparative studies between aquariums are important to
understand if there are any similarities or differences. Future researchers might wish to
conduct a similar survey in other local aquariums such as the Underwater World in Langkawi
and the KL Aquaria in Kuala Lumpur. Second, a longitudinal study might be helpful to further
investigate the factors that in?uence the visitor visitation. Therefore, future studies should
gather data from those who have visited the aquarium on multiple occasions. This approach
might also improve the destination image results, which in this study was shown to have an
insigni?cant relationship. That said, acknowledgements of these limitations also suggest a
new direction of future research.
Recommendations
FRI Aquarium might wish to create more awareness among the public by placing an
advertisement via mainstream and social media. They should promote the aquarium as a
reference centre for those who want to knowmore about marine life. This will eventually pull and
push those who are interested in marine tourism. Schools are the best place to incorporate this
approach. Public talks should be given to school children to instil awareness and motivate them
to visit. Moreover, FRI Aquarium should encourage visitors who are satis?ed with their visit to
give good recommendations and convey their satisfaction to others. A platform, such as a web
site where visitors can express their satisfaction and share their experiences, should also be
provided. Therefore, it is suggested that FRI Aquarium design marine life-oriented educational
programs in order to motivate and encourage more visitors to visit
By promoting the place as destination for learning and leisure, marine tourism is likely to
produce long-lasting changes in tourist behaviour.
In sum, we conjecture that an understanding of factors that in?uence tourists to visit marine
tourism destinations are worthy of additional research. Consequently, we hope that our
?ndings will help further our understanding on how these factors can provide alternative
sources of marketing in order to attract long-term economic sustainability of the FRI
Aquarium in marine tourism.
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Corresponding author
Salmi Mohd Isa can be contacted at: [email protected]
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