Understanding Differences in Tourist Motivation Between Domestic and International Travel: The University Student Market

Abstract

While travel motivation is a key concept to predict travel behaviors, the concept has not much been highlighted by tourism researchers in the student market. Thus, the current study was intended to determine push and pull motivational factors of US university students and to assess whether the motivational factors significantly differed between domestic travel and international travel. A total of 1,761 responses obtained from an e-mail/Internet-based survey were analyzed. Factor analysis suggested eight push factors and six pull factors. Independent samples t-test and the chi-square statistic indicated substantial differences as well as similarities in the factors and sociodemographic characteristics between the two types of travel, correspondingly. Both theoretical and practical implications based on the findings are discussed, which may prove beneficial to travel destination marketers and businesses.