Description
The purpose of this paper is to review the relevant literature on travel motivation and provides
a scenario-based discussion on the applications of travel motivation theories in the industry practice.
The paper offers an invaluable practical interpretation of travel motivation and related management
issues.
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Travel motivation: linking theory to practice
Songshan (Sam) Huang Cathy H.C. Hsu
Article information:
To cite this document:
Songshan (Sam) Huang Cathy H.C. Hsu, (2009),"Travel motivation: linking theory to practice", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism
and Hospitality Research, Vol. 3 Iss 4 pp. 287 - 295
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Antónia Correia, Metin Kozak, J oão Ferradeira, (2013),"From tourist motivations to tourist satisfaction", International J ournal of Culture,
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Kye-Sung Chon, (1989),"Understanding recreational traveler's motivation, attitude and satisfaction", The Tourist Review, Vol. 44 Iss 1 pp.
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Tammy R. Kinley, J udith A. Forney, Youn-Kyung Kim, (2012),"Travel motivation as a determinant of shopping venue", International
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Travel motivation: linking theory to practice
Songshan (Sam) Huang and Cathy H.C. Hsu
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reviewthe relevant literature on travel motivation and provides
a scenario-based discussion on the applications of travel motivation theories in the industry practice.
The paper offers an invaluable practical interpretation of travel motivation and related management
issues.
Design/methodology/approach – Acomprehensive literature reviewon travel motivation is conducted to
acknowledge the major theories. Two scenarios are presented and discussed by linking two motivation
conceptual schemes, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and Plog’s allocentrism/psychocentrism model,
to practical issues in travel management.
Findings – The literature review discloses that travel motivation theories have evolved over time. By
linking theories to industry practice, the paper advocates that travel managers be more conscious of
travelers’ internal psychological needs when designing travel services/products.
Originality/value – This paper offers a good understanding of travel motivation by discussing
theoretical applications in real-world situations.
Keywords Travel, Tourism management
Paper type General review
Introduction
Travel motivation is a critical factor and a driving force behind tourist behavior (Crompton,
1979); however, understanding tourists’ motivations remains illusive to tourismscholars. Travel
motivation research is evolving along the general tourism studies agenda, but only limited
theoretical themes emerges (Pearce, 2005). Among the theoretical themes are adapted forms
of Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy of needs theory (Travel Career Ladder and Travel Career Patterns
frameworks), and Plog’s (1974, 1987, 2001) allocentrism/psychocentrism model. To industry
practitioners, understanding travel motivation enhances their awareness of customer needs,
offers more customized services, creates more memorable customer experiences, and
obtains more repeat business. In practice, many travel managers are ill-prepared to apply
basic travel motivation theories. A genuine need exists to link the theories with industry
practice. This paper ?lls the gap between theory and practice by linking travel motivation
theories with real world management cases. After a critical reviewof travel motivation theories,
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and Plog’s allocentrism/psychocentrism model are
applied to two travel management scenarios and practical management implications are
discussed following a training exercise format.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and application in tourism research
The theoretical frameworks of travel motivation studies are rooted primarily in sociology and
social psychology ?elds. Many tourism researchers base their theoretical analyses on
Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy of needs theory (Jang and Cai, 2002), which is one of the most
DOI 10.1108/17506180910994505 VOL. 3 NO. 4 2009, pp. 287-295, 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 287
Songshan (Sam) Huang is a
Lecturer in Tourism
Management, based at the
School of Management,
University of South
Australia, Adelaide,
Australia. Cathy H.C. Hsu is
Professor and Associate
Director based at the
School of Hotel and Tourism
Management, The Hong
Kong Polytechnic
University, Hong Kong,
China.
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in?uential motivation theories. Since the publication of Motivation and Personality in 1954,
the hierarchy of needs theory has received growing attention in psychology, education,
business, and other social science academic journals. According to Maslow (1970), all
human needs can be arranged in a hierarchy of ?ve categories. The most basic need is
physiological such as hunger, thirst, and sex. Ascending stepwise Maslow’s other needs are
safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization. Typically, people try to ful?ll
a higher order need once a lower level need has been satis?ed. Human needs usually follow
this hierarchical order; however, cases exist when higher level needs predominate in an
individual’s mind when lower level needs have not been met (Maslow, 1970). A need’s
ful?llment does not need to be completely satis?ed before the next level’s need emerges.
Maslow concludes, ‘‘A more realistic description of the hierarchy would be in terms of
decreasing percentages of satisfaction as we go up the hierarchy of prepotency’’ (Maslow,
1970, p. 54).
Although Maslow’s theory originated in clinical psychology, the premise applies to other
scholarship areas (e.g., industrial and organizational psychology, counseling, marketing,
and tourism). Pearce (1982) applies Maslow’s hierarchy to tourist motivation and behavior,
and analyses 400 travel experiences or incidents provided by 200 tourists in the United
States, Europe, Canada and Australia. Each respondent wrote down one positive travel
experience and one negative travel experience. The tourist experience data were analyzed
and coded into ?ve categories in accordance to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. For positive
experiences, the percentages of each need satis?ed are as follows:
1. physiological (27 percent);
2. safety (4 percent);
3. love (33 percent);
4. self-esteem (1 percent); and
5. self-actualization (35 percent).
For negative experiences, the percentages of the ?ve categories are:
1. physiological (27 percent);
2. safety (43 percent);
3. love (17 percent);
4. self-esteem (12 percent); and
5. self-actualization (1 percent).
Pearce (1982) suggests that travel motivation has the properties of an
approach-avoidance paradigm. He argues that tourists are attracted to holiday
destinations because of the possibility of ful?lling self-actualization, love and
belongingness, and physiological needs in that order of importance. When considering
the avoidance aspect of the motivational paradigm, tourist concern for safety is the
predominant feature, with additional emphasis placed on failure to satisfy physiological,
love and belongingness, and self-esteem needs.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a key theory in travel motivation research. Two conceptual
frameworks in understanding travel motivation – the travel career ladder (TCL) and travel
career patterns (TCP) – emerged prominently in this ?eld.
TCL is based upon Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the conceptualization of psychological
maturation towards a self-actualization goal (Ryan, 1998). According to the TCL, travelers’
needs or motivations are organized hierarchically. Relaxation needs are the lowest level,
followed by safety/security, relationship, self-esteem and development, and ful?llment
needs. The core idea underlying this conceptual framework is that an individual’s travel
motivation changes with his/her travel experience. TLC postulates that peoples’ trip needs
change over their life span and with accumulated travel experience. As tourists become
more experienced, they increasingly seek satisfaction of higher level needs. Many people
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move systematically through a series of stages, or have predictable travel motivational
patterns. Some travelers ascend the hierarchy, while others remain at a particular level.
Contingency or limiting factors such as health and ?nancial considerations affect changes in
motivational patterns. TCL proposes that people progress upward through motivation levels
with accumulated travel experience (Lee and Pearce, 2002).
The travel career patterns (TCP) is operationalized by Pearce and his colleagues (Lee and
Pearce, 2002, 2003; Pearce, 2005; Pearce and Lee, 2005). Although they call TCP an
adjusted version of TCL, the new model is quite different. Lee and Pearce (2002, 2003)
empirically test the TCP framework after conducting surveys in both Western (Australia,
United Kingdom (UK) and other Western countries) and Eastern (Korea) cultural contexts.
The two studies generate very similar motivational factors. Both studies ?nd 14 motivational
factors from74 items, with slightly different importance mean ranking orders. Korean tourists
ranked by the motivation factors in the following order:
1. novelty;
2. escape/relax;
3. self-actualization;
4. nature;
5. kinship;
6. self-enhancement;
7. romance;
8. kinship-belonging;
9. autonomy;
10. self-development (host-site involvement);
11. nostalgia;
12. stimulation;
13. isolation; and
14. recognition.
When comparing motivational factor scores among various travel career (experience)
groups, highly convergent results emerged. Findings show that within the 14 travel
motivation factors, respondents at higher travel career levels give more emphasis to
externally-oriented motivation factors, such as self-development through host-site
involvement and seeking nature. Respondents at lower travel career levels focus more on
internally-oriented motivation factors, such as self-enhancement, romance, kinship
(belonging), and autonomy. Other factors did not show a signi?cant difference in mean
value between the high and low travel career groups. Nonetheless, based on their
importance, these factors can be divided into two clusters. One cluster includes the most
important and common motivation factors to all travelers, namely novelty, escape/relax, and
kinship or relationship. The second cluster includes motivation factors considered are less
important to all respondents, such as nostalgia, stimulation, isolation, and social status.
From these ?ndings, Lee and Pearce (2003) propose the travel career patterns model and
suggest that the TCP approach can be illustrated conceptually as three layers of travel
motivation, where each layer consists of different travel motives. The most important
common motives (e.g. novelty, escape/relax, enhancing relationships) are embedded in the
core layer. The next layer, surrounding the core, includes the moderately important travel
motives, which change from inner-oriented travel motives (e.g. self-actualization) to
externally-oriented motives (e.g. nature and host-site involvement). The outer layer consists
of common, relatively stable, and less important travel motives (e.g. nostalgia, isolation, or
social status).
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Plog’s allocentrism/psychocentrism model
Based on his work with the airline industry, Plog (1974; 1987; 2001)develops the in?uential
allocentrism/psychocentrism model. In the late 1960’s, 16 airline/travel companies asked
Plog to determine why a large percentage of the American population at the time did not ?y
and what could be done to turn more non-?yers into ?yers. After conducting in-depth,
one-on-one interviews with non-?yers, Plog (1974) ?nds those people shared common
personality tendencies including:
B territory boundness – a tendency to have traveled less throughout one’s lifetime;
B generalized anxieties – a strong feeling of insecurity in daily life; and
B a sense of powerlessness – inability to control fortunes and misfortunes throughout their
lifetime.
He de?nes these tendencies as ‘‘psychocentrism,’’ and accordingly terms those non-?yers
as ‘‘psychocentrics.’’ Subsequent investigations on the issue indicate that a tendency
towards allocentrism exists on the opposite side of psychocentrism. Allocentric people are
venturesome and self-assured. Between the psychocentric and allocentric groups are
clusters of near-psychocentric, mid-centric, and near-allocentric individuals. Nation-wide
samples ?nd allocentrism and psychocentrism dimensions are distributed on a normal
curve, with a slight skew towards allocentrism (Figure 1). Recently, Plog (2001) updates his
model and re-labels the term psychocentrics with dependables, and allocentrics with
venturers. He argues that about 2.5 percent of the US population can be classi?ed as
dependables and slightly over 4.0 percent as venturers. The remainder falls in between:
near-dependables, near-venturers, and centrics (the largest group).
Plog’s model is cited widely in tourism textbooks (e.g. Gee et al., 1984; Goeldner and
Ritchie, 2006; Gunn, 1988; Mathieson and Wall, 1982; Mill and Morrison, 1985; Murphy,
1985; Pearce, 1987). The model’s extensive use may be due to the model’s ability to explain
why tourist destinations rise and fall in popularity. Based on the model, Plog (2001) argues
that most destinations followa predictable but uncontrolled developmental pattern frombirth
to maturity, old age, and declination. At each stage, a destination appeals to a different
psychographic group of travelers based on the destination’s character and success. When a
Figure 1 Allocentrism/psychocentrism distribution
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destination ?rst develops tourism industry, few support services exist, such as hotels,
restaurants, and organized sightseeing activities. In the early stage, mass tourists do not
arrive; only a few venturers visit. When the venturers return home, they talk with friends and
relatives about the best new spots they have discovered. Some friends and relatives, the
near-venturers, visit the intriguing place they had just heard about. As shown in the normal
distribution curve, there are far more near-venturers than venturers. When demand
increases due to a large volume of near-venturer arrivals, local people become optimistic
about the future of tourismand develop hotels, restaurants, shops selling ‘‘native’’ items, and
other services.
When the near-venturers return home satis?ed, they pass the message to their mid-centric
friends and greater demand is created. However, because the centrics seldom sway the
opinions of venturers or near-venturers, they pass their views only to followers (e.g. the
near-dependables and dependables). The destination’s development gradually takes on a
more touristy look, which is more appealing to dependables but unattractive to venturers.
Following this curve, the destination’s popularity ?rst rises and then declines.
Plog (2001) argues that the ideal psychographic positioning for most destinations lies in the
middle of the near-venturer segment. If a destination’s policy makers and marketers
understand the psychographic curve, they can try to control tourism development to
maintain an ideal market position.
Although generally well known in tourism research (Smith, 1990), Plog’s model neither
explains tourist motivations nor predicts tourist behaviour. Some researchers criticize Plog’s
model because tourists travel with different motivations on different occasions (e.g., Andreu
et al., 2005). For example, holidaymakers may take a winter skiing break in a destination
appealing to the allocentric travelers; however, their main holiday is a psychocentric
destination. McKercher (2005) criticizes the validity of Plog’s model argues each tourist is
drawn to a destination due to a unique relationship with the destination and the destination
can exist at multiple stages along Plog’s allocentric/psychocentric continuum
simultaneously. Perhaps Plog’s model is best suited to explain tourist roles and lifestyle
typologies. However, compared to other tourist typology forms, Plog’s model seems to
provide better tourist motivation explanations.
Industry applications
To link the theories with practice, two travel management scenarios are presented as training
exercises along with questions for practitioners. Management solutions are provided
following the exercises. However, please note that there are no de?nite answers to the
questions. Readers can work out different solutions based on their understanding of the
travel motivation theories.
Training exercise scenario 1
After gaining his BA degree in tourism management from a university, Allen Edwards
secured a position as a travel agent at the New Fortunes Travel Pty Ltd, Sydney. The travel
company wants to explore Chinese senior travelers as a niche market. Allen was asked by
his supervisor to design some package tour products to be promoted in China to further
develop this niche market. Allen took Chinese as a foreign language while in school and can
speak ?uent Mandarin. This background has put himin a good position to communicate with
the company’s current Chinese clients and Chinese package tourists. Allen understands that
in order to design appropriate tour products catering to a new market, he must probe and
explore the market’s travel needs and motivations.
Training questions
1. How can Allen get to know the travel motivations of Chinese senior travelers?
2. Suppose that the TCL and TCP theories could be applied to Chinese senior travelers.
What should Allen pay more attention to when designing the package tour products?
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Solution for scenario 1
1. In what ways can Allen get to know the travel motivations of Chinese senior travelers?.
Accurately measuring people’s travel motivations is dif?cult. Motivations normally reside in
people’s minds in either a conscious or subconscious manner. Sometimes even travelers
cannot clearly identify or express their own travel motivations explicitly (Dann, 1981).
Fortunately, several methods are available to solicit information about peoples’ travel
motivations. The basic method is talking with targeted travelers. In this case, Allen can
interview some Chinese senior travelers in Sydney to study this travel cohort’s underlying
motivations to visit Australia. Employing a personal in-depth interview format, Allen can
apply the hierarchical value map (HVM) technique that Jewell and Crotts (2001) propose.
The HVM method identi?es both higher and lower psychological values and their
connections via a series of probing questions. During the HVM interview process, subjects
are asked multiple questions. After answering each question, they must justify the answers.
Based on their justi?cation, follow-up probing questions are posed. This process is repeated
until the subjects can no longer justify the previous answer. Interviews usually end by
repeated answers of ‘‘it just is’’ or ‘‘I don’t know.’’ Recorded information is then analysed
following a means-end cognitive structure. All subjects’ responses are combined into a
collective matrix providing a representation of group-level motives. A value structure map is
then created, with aggregated value linkages illustrated graphically. The value structure
map not only provides information of underlying higher value motives, but also gives
information on the ladder structure among various levels of psychological value
expressions.
Another method is to use focus groups. Focus group interviews enable Allen to solicit
opinions and expressions of the Chinese senior travelers in groups. Group dynamics may
encourage focus group participants to talk more about their personal situation and generate
richer data around the topic. To improve the representativeness of the focus group
members, and to increase the utility of the discussion results, participants should have
considerable variations in their personal and social characteristics, such as gender,
occupation and education. To make the group interviews more effective, both homogeneity
of in-group members and heterogeneity of between group members are important. Multiple
focus groups likely will generate different views. When no new information is generated from
the discussions, the interview process can end.
Allen also can employ quantitative methods such as a small-scale survey to further explore
the issue. Based on the qualitative interviews’ ?ndings, Allen can design a survey
questionnaire to measure traveler’s level of agreement with a series of motivation statements.
A typical motivation statement could start with ‘‘you visit Australia because you want to . . . ’’
Respondents are given an answer scheme from 1 ¼ ‘‘strongly disagree’’ to 7 ¼ ‘‘strongly
agree’’. Once Allen collects a good sample of data, statistical data analyses results can help
to direct his product design. For example, factor analysis looks for common themes in the
data to determine whether or not salient motivation factors exist among Chinese senior
travelers. Other statistical procedures analyses can test the relationship between Chinese
senior travelers’ motivations, satisfaction with current tour products, and their demographic
and/or travel characteristics. This information will give Allen more knowledge in proposing
new products.
2. Suppose that the TCL and TCP theories could be applied to Chinese senior travelers.
To what should Allen pay more attention when designing the package tour products?
Although no speci?c research that applies TCL or TCP theory on motivations of Chinese
travelers has been conducted, Allen can refer to Lee and Pearce’s (2003) study in Korea as a
proxy because cultural similarities exist between Korea and China. Allen needs to consider
the following issues when designing the package tour products:
B Although the international travel market seems to have entered into a mature stage,
mostly propelled by European and North American travelers, outbound tourists from
China are a relatively recent phenomenon. Most outbound travelers from Mainland China
are less experienced in international travel compared to travelers from most western
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countries. Even though Chinese senior travelers are of similar ages as their western
counterparts, they are at a relatively lower travel career level. According to the TCP theory,
travelers at lower travel career levels tend to focus more on internally oriented motivation
factors, such as self-enhancement, romance, kinship (belonging) and autonomy. Most
senior travelers from China likely would treat a trip to Australia as once-in-a-lifetime
experience, Allen should pay more attention to appealing to their prestige and
self-enhancement motivations.
B As implied by the TCP theory, some common travel motivations (e.g., novelty,
escape/relax, and enhancing relationships) are more important than others. Chinese
seniors likely will travel to see something new because in earlier stages of their life, travel
was (and may still be) a luxury and constrained by the government. Because they are
inexperienced travelers, their travel careers are not well developed. As a result, Allen
needs to pay more attention to common travel motives (e.g., novelty, escape/relax).
B Traveling seniors have special physical needs. The pace of organized tour activities
should be leisurely to match senior travelers’ physical condition. Although physical needs
unlikely are salient travel motivations, they can be a constraint factor. When designing his
tour products, Allen should bear in mind the special physical/physiological needs of this
market. For instance, without much previous international travel experience and cultural
exposure, Chinese seniors may not be adaptive to western food. Providing Chinese food
to them could largely enhance their satisfaction level.
Training exercise scenario 2
Jack Johnson works for the Adelaide City Council. Realizing Adelaide’s tourism
development potential, the Council would like to develop the city into a regional tourist
destination. Jack is appointed to prepare a comprehensive plan to enhance the city’s
tourism infrastructure and superstructure. Jack took tourism management as a minor while
studying in the School of Marketing at the University of South Australia. Jack recalls reading
about Plog’s Allocentrism and Psychocentrism Model from a tourism management textbook.
He searches for further information on the model and ?nds an article published in the Cornell
Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly by Plog (2001), titled ‘‘Why destination areas
rise and fall in popularity: an update of a Cornell Quarterly Classic’’. Convinced that he could
adopt Plog’s model to analyze Adelaide’s destination development stages, Jack decides to
prepare the plan using Plog’s model as an analytical framework.
Training questions
1. What other information should Jack try to obtain to prepare the plan? How?
2. Once Jack identi?es Adelaide’s position in Plog’s Allocentricism/Psychocentrism
distribution curve, what should be his recommendation to the Council?
Solution for scenario 2:
1. What other information should Jack try to obtain to prepare the plan? How? In order to
identify Adelaide’s destination development stage, Jack should search for more information
on the pro?le of Adelaide’s current visitors. If independent visitors (e.g. backpackers)
dominate the local travel market, the city can be categorized somewhere between Near
Venture to Centric Venturer. To corroborate his judgment, Jack could make ?eld observations
in major tourist gathering locations. Jack should talk with some tourists to note their
personality types.
Hot-spot tourism destinations in Australia, such as Golden Coast and other capital cities
such as Brisbane and Melbourne. Arguably, Adelaide is regarded as a second-tier tourism
city in Australia. Jack can take a comparative approach to identify Adelaide’s destination life
stage by using secondary tourism statistical data (e.g. historical tourist arrival trends) on
various primary and secondary tourist destinations in the country. He can get such
information from these cities’ tourism websites, state tourism departments, Tourism
Australia, and/or Tourism Research Australia.
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2. Once Jack identi?es Adelaide’s position in Plog’s allocentricism/psychocentrism
distribution curve, what should be his recommendation for the Council? Suppose Jack
found that Adelaide is somewhere in between Near Ventruer and Centric Venturer, he could
recommend the following to the City Council:
B improve parking facilities around major tourist attractions for package tour coaches;
B spprove well-designed construction plans for hotels and other accommodation facilities;
B encourage local business owners to invest in quality restaurants catering to tourists;
B approve more land-use plans for building desired tourist attractions;
B allocate more funds for heritage site preservation and protection; and
B design the City Council website to make it more informative and user friendly to interstate
visitors, for example, highlighting city parking rules to avoid outsider parking violations
and penalties.
Jack also should caution the City Council not to over develop the city. The ideal market
position is to target Near Ventruer/Centric Venturer tourists. By offering quality tourism
experience to the Near Ventruer/Centric Venturer visitors, the focus is on high-yield, rather
than the total number of, tourists.
Conclusion
Travel motivation is a commonly researched concept in the tourismdiscipline but little effort has
been made by academics explicitly link travel motivation theories to industry practices. This
paper ?lls this gap by bridging major travel motivation theories and concepts with industry
training practices. To apply the motivational theories, two scenario-based training exercises are
presented and discussed with solutions explicitly derived fromTravel Career Patterns adaption
of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and Plog’s allocentrism/psychocentrism model. On
important caveat to applying travel motivation theories to industry practices is that
context-speci?c factors also must be considered. Theory application is an adaptation
process rather than a copy-and-paste process. Managers should take an integrated view on
theory application by considering the global and local economic situations, market trends,
company pro?le, and even their personal quali?cations and skills.
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Corresponding author
Songshan (Sam) Huang can be contacted at: [email protected]
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doc_117652329.pdf
The purpose of this paper is to review the relevant literature on travel motivation and provides
a scenario-based discussion on the applications of travel motivation theories in the industry practice.
The paper offers an invaluable practical interpretation of travel motivation and related management
issues.
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Travel motivation: linking theory to practice
Songshan (Sam) Huang Cathy H.C. Hsu
Article information:
To cite this document:
Songshan (Sam) Huang Cathy H.C. Hsu, (2009),"Travel motivation: linking theory to practice", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism
and Hospitality Research, Vol. 3 Iss 4 pp. 287 - 295
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Travel motivation: linking theory to practice
Songshan (Sam) Huang and Cathy H.C. Hsu
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reviewthe relevant literature on travel motivation and provides
a scenario-based discussion on the applications of travel motivation theories in the industry practice.
The paper offers an invaluable practical interpretation of travel motivation and related management
issues.
Design/methodology/approach – Acomprehensive literature reviewon travel motivation is conducted to
acknowledge the major theories. Two scenarios are presented and discussed by linking two motivation
conceptual schemes, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and Plog’s allocentrism/psychocentrism model,
to practical issues in travel management.
Findings – The literature review discloses that travel motivation theories have evolved over time. By
linking theories to industry practice, the paper advocates that travel managers be more conscious of
travelers’ internal psychological needs when designing travel services/products.
Originality/value – This paper offers a good understanding of travel motivation by discussing
theoretical applications in real-world situations.
Keywords Travel, Tourism management
Paper type General review
Introduction
Travel motivation is a critical factor and a driving force behind tourist behavior (Crompton,
1979); however, understanding tourists’ motivations remains illusive to tourismscholars. Travel
motivation research is evolving along the general tourism studies agenda, but only limited
theoretical themes emerges (Pearce, 2005). Among the theoretical themes are adapted forms
of Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy of needs theory (Travel Career Ladder and Travel Career Patterns
frameworks), and Plog’s (1974, 1987, 2001) allocentrism/psychocentrism model. To industry
practitioners, understanding travel motivation enhances their awareness of customer needs,
offers more customized services, creates more memorable customer experiences, and
obtains more repeat business. In practice, many travel managers are ill-prepared to apply
basic travel motivation theories. A genuine need exists to link the theories with industry
practice. This paper ?lls the gap between theory and practice by linking travel motivation
theories with real world management cases. After a critical reviewof travel motivation theories,
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and Plog’s allocentrism/psychocentrism model are
applied to two travel management scenarios and practical management implications are
discussed following a training exercise format.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and application in tourism research
The theoretical frameworks of travel motivation studies are rooted primarily in sociology and
social psychology ?elds. Many tourism researchers base their theoretical analyses on
Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy of needs theory (Jang and Cai, 2002), which is one of the most
DOI 10.1108/17506180910994505 VOL. 3 NO. 4 2009, pp. 287-295, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1750-6182
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
j
PAGE 287
Songshan (Sam) Huang is a
Lecturer in Tourism
Management, based at the
School of Management,
University of South
Australia, Adelaide,
Australia. Cathy H.C. Hsu is
Professor and Associate
Director based at the
School of Hotel and Tourism
Management, The Hong
Kong Polytechnic
University, Hong Kong,
China.
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in?uential motivation theories. Since the publication of Motivation and Personality in 1954,
the hierarchy of needs theory has received growing attention in psychology, education,
business, and other social science academic journals. According to Maslow (1970), all
human needs can be arranged in a hierarchy of ?ve categories. The most basic need is
physiological such as hunger, thirst, and sex. Ascending stepwise Maslow’s other needs are
safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization. Typically, people try to ful?ll
a higher order need once a lower level need has been satis?ed. Human needs usually follow
this hierarchical order; however, cases exist when higher level needs predominate in an
individual’s mind when lower level needs have not been met (Maslow, 1970). A need’s
ful?llment does not need to be completely satis?ed before the next level’s need emerges.
Maslow concludes, ‘‘A more realistic description of the hierarchy would be in terms of
decreasing percentages of satisfaction as we go up the hierarchy of prepotency’’ (Maslow,
1970, p. 54).
Although Maslow’s theory originated in clinical psychology, the premise applies to other
scholarship areas (e.g., industrial and organizational psychology, counseling, marketing,
and tourism). Pearce (1982) applies Maslow’s hierarchy to tourist motivation and behavior,
and analyses 400 travel experiences or incidents provided by 200 tourists in the United
States, Europe, Canada and Australia. Each respondent wrote down one positive travel
experience and one negative travel experience. The tourist experience data were analyzed
and coded into ?ve categories in accordance to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. For positive
experiences, the percentages of each need satis?ed are as follows:
1. physiological (27 percent);
2. safety (4 percent);
3. love (33 percent);
4. self-esteem (1 percent); and
5. self-actualization (35 percent).
For negative experiences, the percentages of the ?ve categories are:
1. physiological (27 percent);
2. safety (43 percent);
3. love (17 percent);
4. self-esteem (12 percent); and
5. self-actualization (1 percent).
Pearce (1982) suggests that travel motivation has the properties of an
approach-avoidance paradigm. He argues that tourists are attracted to holiday
destinations because of the possibility of ful?lling self-actualization, love and
belongingness, and physiological needs in that order of importance. When considering
the avoidance aspect of the motivational paradigm, tourist concern for safety is the
predominant feature, with additional emphasis placed on failure to satisfy physiological,
love and belongingness, and self-esteem needs.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a key theory in travel motivation research. Two conceptual
frameworks in understanding travel motivation – the travel career ladder (TCL) and travel
career patterns (TCP) – emerged prominently in this ?eld.
TCL is based upon Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the conceptualization of psychological
maturation towards a self-actualization goal (Ryan, 1998). According to the TCL, travelers’
needs or motivations are organized hierarchically. Relaxation needs are the lowest level,
followed by safety/security, relationship, self-esteem and development, and ful?llment
needs. The core idea underlying this conceptual framework is that an individual’s travel
motivation changes with his/her travel experience. TLC postulates that peoples’ trip needs
change over their life span and with accumulated travel experience. As tourists become
more experienced, they increasingly seek satisfaction of higher level needs. Many people
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move systematically through a series of stages, or have predictable travel motivational
patterns. Some travelers ascend the hierarchy, while others remain at a particular level.
Contingency or limiting factors such as health and ?nancial considerations affect changes in
motivational patterns. TCL proposes that people progress upward through motivation levels
with accumulated travel experience (Lee and Pearce, 2002).
The travel career patterns (TCP) is operationalized by Pearce and his colleagues (Lee and
Pearce, 2002, 2003; Pearce, 2005; Pearce and Lee, 2005). Although they call TCP an
adjusted version of TCL, the new model is quite different. Lee and Pearce (2002, 2003)
empirically test the TCP framework after conducting surveys in both Western (Australia,
United Kingdom (UK) and other Western countries) and Eastern (Korea) cultural contexts.
The two studies generate very similar motivational factors. Both studies ?nd 14 motivational
factors from74 items, with slightly different importance mean ranking orders. Korean tourists
ranked by the motivation factors in the following order:
1. novelty;
2. escape/relax;
3. self-actualization;
4. nature;
5. kinship;
6. self-enhancement;
7. romance;
8. kinship-belonging;
9. autonomy;
10. self-development (host-site involvement);
11. nostalgia;
12. stimulation;
13. isolation; and
14. recognition.
When comparing motivational factor scores among various travel career (experience)
groups, highly convergent results emerged. Findings show that within the 14 travel
motivation factors, respondents at higher travel career levels give more emphasis to
externally-oriented motivation factors, such as self-development through host-site
involvement and seeking nature. Respondents at lower travel career levels focus more on
internally-oriented motivation factors, such as self-enhancement, romance, kinship
(belonging), and autonomy. Other factors did not show a signi?cant difference in mean
value between the high and low travel career groups. Nonetheless, based on their
importance, these factors can be divided into two clusters. One cluster includes the most
important and common motivation factors to all travelers, namely novelty, escape/relax, and
kinship or relationship. The second cluster includes motivation factors considered are less
important to all respondents, such as nostalgia, stimulation, isolation, and social status.
From these ?ndings, Lee and Pearce (2003) propose the travel career patterns model and
suggest that the TCP approach can be illustrated conceptually as three layers of travel
motivation, where each layer consists of different travel motives. The most important
common motives (e.g. novelty, escape/relax, enhancing relationships) are embedded in the
core layer. The next layer, surrounding the core, includes the moderately important travel
motives, which change from inner-oriented travel motives (e.g. self-actualization) to
externally-oriented motives (e.g. nature and host-site involvement). The outer layer consists
of common, relatively stable, and less important travel motives (e.g. nostalgia, isolation, or
social status).
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Plog’s allocentrism/psychocentrism model
Based on his work with the airline industry, Plog (1974; 1987; 2001)develops the in?uential
allocentrism/psychocentrism model. In the late 1960’s, 16 airline/travel companies asked
Plog to determine why a large percentage of the American population at the time did not ?y
and what could be done to turn more non-?yers into ?yers. After conducting in-depth,
one-on-one interviews with non-?yers, Plog (1974) ?nds those people shared common
personality tendencies including:
B territory boundness – a tendency to have traveled less throughout one’s lifetime;
B generalized anxieties – a strong feeling of insecurity in daily life; and
B a sense of powerlessness – inability to control fortunes and misfortunes throughout their
lifetime.
He de?nes these tendencies as ‘‘psychocentrism,’’ and accordingly terms those non-?yers
as ‘‘psychocentrics.’’ Subsequent investigations on the issue indicate that a tendency
towards allocentrism exists on the opposite side of psychocentrism. Allocentric people are
venturesome and self-assured. Between the psychocentric and allocentric groups are
clusters of near-psychocentric, mid-centric, and near-allocentric individuals. Nation-wide
samples ?nd allocentrism and psychocentrism dimensions are distributed on a normal
curve, with a slight skew towards allocentrism (Figure 1). Recently, Plog (2001) updates his
model and re-labels the term psychocentrics with dependables, and allocentrics with
venturers. He argues that about 2.5 percent of the US population can be classi?ed as
dependables and slightly over 4.0 percent as venturers. The remainder falls in between:
near-dependables, near-venturers, and centrics (the largest group).
Plog’s model is cited widely in tourism textbooks (e.g. Gee et al., 1984; Goeldner and
Ritchie, 2006; Gunn, 1988; Mathieson and Wall, 1982; Mill and Morrison, 1985; Murphy,
1985; Pearce, 1987). The model’s extensive use may be due to the model’s ability to explain
why tourist destinations rise and fall in popularity. Based on the model, Plog (2001) argues
that most destinations followa predictable but uncontrolled developmental pattern frombirth
to maturity, old age, and declination. At each stage, a destination appeals to a different
psychographic group of travelers based on the destination’s character and success. When a
Figure 1 Allocentrism/psychocentrism distribution
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destination ?rst develops tourism industry, few support services exist, such as hotels,
restaurants, and organized sightseeing activities. In the early stage, mass tourists do not
arrive; only a few venturers visit. When the venturers return home, they talk with friends and
relatives about the best new spots they have discovered. Some friends and relatives, the
near-venturers, visit the intriguing place they had just heard about. As shown in the normal
distribution curve, there are far more near-venturers than venturers. When demand
increases due to a large volume of near-venturer arrivals, local people become optimistic
about the future of tourismand develop hotels, restaurants, shops selling ‘‘native’’ items, and
other services.
When the near-venturers return home satis?ed, they pass the message to their mid-centric
friends and greater demand is created. However, because the centrics seldom sway the
opinions of venturers or near-venturers, they pass their views only to followers (e.g. the
near-dependables and dependables). The destination’s development gradually takes on a
more touristy look, which is more appealing to dependables but unattractive to venturers.
Following this curve, the destination’s popularity ?rst rises and then declines.
Plog (2001) argues that the ideal psychographic positioning for most destinations lies in the
middle of the near-venturer segment. If a destination’s policy makers and marketers
understand the psychographic curve, they can try to control tourism development to
maintain an ideal market position.
Although generally well known in tourism research (Smith, 1990), Plog’s model neither
explains tourist motivations nor predicts tourist behaviour. Some researchers criticize Plog’s
model because tourists travel with different motivations on different occasions (e.g., Andreu
et al., 2005). For example, holidaymakers may take a winter skiing break in a destination
appealing to the allocentric travelers; however, their main holiday is a psychocentric
destination. McKercher (2005) criticizes the validity of Plog’s model argues each tourist is
drawn to a destination due to a unique relationship with the destination and the destination
can exist at multiple stages along Plog’s allocentric/psychocentric continuum
simultaneously. Perhaps Plog’s model is best suited to explain tourist roles and lifestyle
typologies. However, compared to other tourist typology forms, Plog’s model seems to
provide better tourist motivation explanations.
Industry applications
To link the theories with practice, two travel management scenarios are presented as training
exercises along with questions for practitioners. Management solutions are provided
following the exercises. However, please note that there are no de?nite answers to the
questions. Readers can work out different solutions based on their understanding of the
travel motivation theories.
Training exercise scenario 1
After gaining his BA degree in tourism management from a university, Allen Edwards
secured a position as a travel agent at the New Fortunes Travel Pty Ltd, Sydney. The travel
company wants to explore Chinese senior travelers as a niche market. Allen was asked by
his supervisor to design some package tour products to be promoted in China to further
develop this niche market. Allen took Chinese as a foreign language while in school and can
speak ?uent Mandarin. This background has put himin a good position to communicate with
the company’s current Chinese clients and Chinese package tourists. Allen understands that
in order to design appropriate tour products catering to a new market, he must probe and
explore the market’s travel needs and motivations.
Training questions
1. How can Allen get to know the travel motivations of Chinese senior travelers?
2. Suppose that the TCL and TCP theories could be applied to Chinese senior travelers.
What should Allen pay more attention to when designing the package tour products?
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Solution for scenario 1
1. In what ways can Allen get to know the travel motivations of Chinese senior travelers?.
Accurately measuring people’s travel motivations is dif?cult. Motivations normally reside in
people’s minds in either a conscious or subconscious manner. Sometimes even travelers
cannot clearly identify or express their own travel motivations explicitly (Dann, 1981).
Fortunately, several methods are available to solicit information about peoples’ travel
motivations. The basic method is talking with targeted travelers. In this case, Allen can
interview some Chinese senior travelers in Sydney to study this travel cohort’s underlying
motivations to visit Australia. Employing a personal in-depth interview format, Allen can
apply the hierarchical value map (HVM) technique that Jewell and Crotts (2001) propose.
The HVM method identi?es both higher and lower psychological values and their
connections via a series of probing questions. During the HVM interview process, subjects
are asked multiple questions. After answering each question, they must justify the answers.
Based on their justi?cation, follow-up probing questions are posed. This process is repeated
until the subjects can no longer justify the previous answer. Interviews usually end by
repeated answers of ‘‘it just is’’ or ‘‘I don’t know.’’ Recorded information is then analysed
following a means-end cognitive structure. All subjects’ responses are combined into a
collective matrix providing a representation of group-level motives. A value structure map is
then created, with aggregated value linkages illustrated graphically. The value structure
map not only provides information of underlying higher value motives, but also gives
information on the ladder structure among various levels of psychological value
expressions.
Another method is to use focus groups. Focus group interviews enable Allen to solicit
opinions and expressions of the Chinese senior travelers in groups. Group dynamics may
encourage focus group participants to talk more about their personal situation and generate
richer data around the topic. To improve the representativeness of the focus group
members, and to increase the utility of the discussion results, participants should have
considerable variations in their personal and social characteristics, such as gender,
occupation and education. To make the group interviews more effective, both homogeneity
of in-group members and heterogeneity of between group members are important. Multiple
focus groups likely will generate different views. When no new information is generated from
the discussions, the interview process can end.
Allen also can employ quantitative methods such as a small-scale survey to further explore
the issue. Based on the qualitative interviews’ ?ndings, Allen can design a survey
questionnaire to measure traveler’s level of agreement with a series of motivation statements.
A typical motivation statement could start with ‘‘you visit Australia because you want to . . . ’’
Respondents are given an answer scheme from 1 ¼ ‘‘strongly disagree’’ to 7 ¼ ‘‘strongly
agree’’. Once Allen collects a good sample of data, statistical data analyses results can help
to direct his product design. For example, factor analysis looks for common themes in the
data to determine whether or not salient motivation factors exist among Chinese senior
travelers. Other statistical procedures analyses can test the relationship between Chinese
senior travelers’ motivations, satisfaction with current tour products, and their demographic
and/or travel characteristics. This information will give Allen more knowledge in proposing
new products.
2. Suppose that the TCL and TCP theories could be applied to Chinese senior travelers.
To what should Allen pay more attention when designing the package tour products?
Although no speci?c research that applies TCL or TCP theory on motivations of Chinese
travelers has been conducted, Allen can refer to Lee and Pearce’s (2003) study in Korea as a
proxy because cultural similarities exist between Korea and China. Allen needs to consider
the following issues when designing the package tour products:
B Although the international travel market seems to have entered into a mature stage,
mostly propelled by European and North American travelers, outbound tourists from
China are a relatively recent phenomenon. Most outbound travelers from Mainland China
are less experienced in international travel compared to travelers from most western
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countries. Even though Chinese senior travelers are of similar ages as their western
counterparts, they are at a relatively lower travel career level. According to the TCP theory,
travelers at lower travel career levels tend to focus more on internally oriented motivation
factors, such as self-enhancement, romance, kinship (belonging) and autonomy. Most
senior travelers from China likely would treat a trip to Australia as once-in-a-lifetime
experience, Allen should pay more attention to appealing to their prestige and
self-enhancement motivations.
B As implied by the TCP theory, some common travel motivations (e.g., novelty,
escape/relax, and enhancing relationships) are more important than others. Chinese
seniors likely will travel to see something new because in earlier stages of their life, travel
was (and may still be) a luxury and constrained by the government. Because they are
inexperienced travelers, their travel careers are not well developed. As a result, Allen
needs to pay more attention to common travel motives (e.g., novelty, escape/relax).
B Traveling seniors have special physical needs. The pace of organized tour activities
should be leisurely to match senior travelers’ physical condition. Although physical needs
unlikely are salient travel motivations, they can be a constraint factor. When designing his
tour products, Allen should bear in mind the special physical/physiological needs of this
market. For instance, without much previous international travel experience and cultural
exposure, Chinese seniors may not be adaptive to western food. Providing Chinese food
to them could largely enhance their satisfaction level.
Training exercise scenario 2
Jack Johnson works for the Adelaide City Council. Realizing Adelaide’s tourism
development potential, the Council would like to develop the city into a regional tourist
destination. Jack is appointed to prepare a comprehensive plan to enhance the city’s
tourism infrastructure and superstructure. Jack took tourism management as a minor while
studying in the School of Marketing at the University of South Australia. Jack recalls reading
about Plog’s Allocentrism and Psychocentrism Model from a tourism management textbook.
He searches for further information on the model and ?nds an article published in the Cornell
Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly by Plog (2001), titled ‘‘Why destination areas
rise and fall in popularity: an update of a Cornell Quarterly Classic’’. Convinced that he could
adopt Plog’s model to analyze Adelaide’s destination development stages, Jack decides to
prepare the plan using Plog’s model as an analytical framework.
Training questions
1. What other information should Jack try to obtain to prepare the plan? How?
2. Once Jack identi?es Adelaide’s position in Plog’s Allocentricism/Psychocentrism
distribution curve, what should be his recommendation to the Council?
Solution for scenario 2:
1. What other information should Jack try to obtain to prepare the plan? How? In order to
identify Adelaide’s destination development stage, Jack should search for more information
on the pro?le of Adelaide’s current visitors. If independent visitors (e.g. backpackers)
dominate the local travel market, the city can be categorized somewhere between Near
Venture to Centric Venturer. To corroborate his judgment, Jack could make ?eld observations
in major tourist gathering locations. Jack should talk with some tourists to note their
personality types.
Hot-spot tourism destinations in Australia, such as Golden Coast and other capital cities
such as Brisbane and Melbourne. Arguably, Adelaide is regarded as a second-tier tourism
city in Australia. Jack can take a comparative approach to identify Adelaide’s destination life
stage by using secondary tourism statistical data (e.g. historical tourist arrival trends) on
various primary and secondary tourist destinations in the country. He can get such
information from these cities’ tourism websites, state tourism departments, Tourism
Australia, and/or Tourism Research Australia.
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2. Once Jack identi?es Adelaide’s position in Plog’s allocentricism/psychocentrism
distribution curve, what should be his recommendation for the Council? Suppose Jack
found that Adelaide is somewhere in between Near Ventruer and Centric Venturer, he could
recommend the following to the City Council:
B improve parking facilities around major tourist attractions for package tour coaches;
B spprove well-designed construction plans for hotels and other accommodation facilities;
B encourage local business owners to invest in quality restaurants catering to tourists;
B approve more land-use plans for building desired tourist attractions;
B allocate more funds for heritage site preservation and protection; and
B design the City Council website to make it more informative and user friendly to interstate
visitors, for example, highlighting city parking rules to avoid outsider parking violations
and penalties.
Jack also should caution the City Council not to over develop the city. The ideal market
position is to target Near Ventruer/Centric Venturer tourists. By offering quality tourism
experience to the Near Ventruer/Centric Venturer visitors, the focus is on high-yield, rather
than the total number of, tourists.
Conclusion
Travel motivation is a commonly researched concept in the tourismdiscipline but little effort has
been made by academics explicitly link travel motivation theories to industry practices. This
paper ?lls this gap by bridging major travel motivation theories and concepts with industry
training practices. To apply the motivational theories, two scenario-based training exercises are
presented and discussed with solutions explicitly derived fromTravel Career Patterns adaption
of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and Plog’s allocentrism/psychocentrism model. On
important caveat to applying travel motivation theories to industry practices is that
context-speci?c factors also must be considered. Theory application is an adaptation
process rather than a copy-and-paste process. Managers should take an integrated view on
theory application by considering the global and local economic situations, market trends,
company pro?le, and even their personal quali?cations and skills.
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Corresponding author
Songshan (Sam) Huang can be contacted at: [email protected]
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