Travel Career Pattern Research Articles

The effect of income on the relationship between travel motives and destination choices

Background: Studies investigating the relationship between travel motivations and destination choice are often unidimensional and hierarchical, presenting limited perspectives on traveller groups with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.Aim: This study investigates the variations in travel motives versus destination choices given different income bands. It presents a nuanced profile of income group members based on socio-demographic variables and travel experience.Setting: South African domestic tourism.Method: Threshold regression was applied to determine whether 13 motivations changed toward six destinations given specific income levels. Data from the 2019 South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) were used and the weighted sample represented 42 573 093 South Africans.Results: The threshold regression materialised with between four to six breakpoints for most destinations. Fun dominated as a motive among lower income groups, as opposed to relationship building for higher income groups. Relaxation, as a known core travel motivation, did not lead to varied interest in specific destinations. Apart from motives, race and travel experience produced several significant differences.Conclusion: Income thresholds meaningfully explain variations in the relationship between travel motivations and destination choice. More effective marketing strategies should be built around travellers within overlooked markets.Contribution: The study provides novel empirical evidence that destination choice is non-linear and multifaceted. It applies threshold regression that has not been used in destination choice studies. Finer nuanced segments are identified and suggest an amendment to the travel career pattern (TCP) to accommodate developing and emergent travellers.

Exploring onshore excursion preferences among cruisers: application of the travel career pattern in the Hong Kong cruise tourism context

ABSTRACT Employing the travel career pattern (TCP) by Pearce (2019, Dreaming and longing. Tourist Behaviour, 20–40) as its guiding conceptual framework, the study explores cruise tourism and examines the factors and destination characteristics that influence the onshore excursion preferences of cruisers. Utilising a mixed-methods approach, the study combines qualitative content analysis and quantitative on-site questionnaire. The latter was administered to 602 participants at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong. Our findings provide insights into cruise passengers’ preferences for onshore excursions, particularly focusing on the attributes they value most in nearby destinations that are accessible from the cruise ship's ports of call. The study also identifies two distinct subgroups of cruisers (authenticity seekers and generic sightseers) who have different preferences when selecting places to visit at/nearby ports of call. The study contributes to the cruise tourism literature by exploring passengers’ onshore excursion preferences, a key component of their onboard experience. Moreover, it offers practical insights for destination management organisers keen on promoting their destinations to cruisers by capitalising on the proximity to a cruise port.

Does the travel career pattern model work for repeat tourists?

ABSTRACT Tourism researchers and practitioners have an interest in understanding tourists’ travel patterns, and one of the most used models applied to reach this goal is the seminal Travel Career Pattern (TCP) model. However, repeat tourism is underexplored and in the present research, the authors provide an initial investigation of repeat tourists using the TCP model. Based on survey data from 500 international tourists in India the present research found that the TCP model is valuable for exploring repeat tourists’ travel patterns and motives. Within the TCP model results show that middle level motives were found to be most important for tourists with more diverse travel experience which include nature, self-development and self-actualisation. Significant relationships were also found among the origin of tourists, their travel experiences and their motivational pattern.

Tourist Motivation as an Antecedent of Destination and Ecotourism Loyalty

Objective: This study evaluates the role of tourist motivation in the determination of destination and ecotourism loyalty using push and pull motivation theory and the theory of planned behavior. The paper also analyses the mediating effects of satisfaction and destination image in the relationships between motivation and the two types of loyalty. Method/analysis: Primary data has been gathered from surveys involving 522 Vietnamese tourists traveling to the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic. Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques in R. Findings: The findings support both direct and indirect positive associations between tourist motivation and destination and ecotourism loyalty. In terms of ecotourism loyalty, the effect is mediated by destination image. In terms of destination loyalty, the effect is mediated by satisfaction and destination image. Novelty/improvement: This study has further expanded the theory of planned behavior in the context of ecotourism by linking it to travel career pattern theory and functionalist theory. These are complementary theories that can explain the behavior of ecotourists and help operators and marketers adjust their strategies to attract and retain visitors to ecotourist destinations. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2022-06-05-014 Full Text: PDF

Travel career or childhood travel habit?: Which better explains adult travel behaviour?

This study investigates a popular theory of tourist motivation – the travel career pattern – and contrasts it against an alternative explanation – that childhood travel habits repeat throughout life. The key distinction is that the travel career pattern predicts change, whereas habit predicts repetition. This study tests competing hypotheses, using self-reported childhood and adulthood travel experiences, behaviours and motivations. Results point to childhood travel behaviour repeating as adult travel behaviour, supporting the key role of habit as a driver of travel behaviour. These findings represent a paradigm shift in our theoretical understanding of determinants of travel behaviour, which implies that habits could be used as leverage points for behavioural change in tourism.

TRAVEL ITCH AS A NEW PHENOMENON: TRAVEL MOTIVES AND ATTRIBUTES OF ITCHERS

Purpose – This study aims to better understand the phenomenon of travel itch by revealing the travel motives and travel attributes of “travel itchers” within the framework of motivational theories. Design/methodology/approach – This is an exploratory study. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from individuals who have first-hand experience of travel itch (N: 30). Data were analysed using content analysis within the framework of motivational theories. Findings – This exploratory study finds that travel itch means a desire to travel and findings revealed that the motives of travel itchers are novelty, escape, host-site involvement, self-actualization, stimulation in line with the Travel Career Pattern (TCP) except travel itself. Travel itself is both one of the main motives and coping methods that distinguish those from other travellers. For coping methods, itchers do travel-related activities apart from travel itself. Nonetheless, travel itch is a recurrent cycle even after having a holiday. Consequently, an attempt was made to redefine the concept of ‘travel itch’ in light of all these findings. Originality of the research – Travel itch is an interesting concept newly introduced into tourism literature. And in order to obtain data this study puts the travel itchers themselves who use this concept. Since this is one of the first studies to examine the concept of travel itch, this study can be a guide for future research and place the concept in the context of travel motivation.

The relationship between motive and in-destination behaviour

While a great deal of research has examined the relationship between motive and behaviour, virtually none has explored the relationship between travel motives and in-destination behavior. Motive research focuses on such issues as destination choice and loyalty, while in-destination behavior tends to track visitor movements without sufficient investigation into motives. This study examined the link between motive and behaviour in Bali. It is framed within Pearce's Travel Career Pattern motive model. Eight motive based segments were identified. Differences were noted in intensity of behaviour in the vast majority of the most popular activities undertaken or attractions visited. Management implications are identified.

Influence of attractions on destination selection

AbstractThis study tests the juxtaposition of Pearce's Travel Career Pattern with McKercher's tourism product taxonomy by examining the relationship between motive and the role attractions' taxa play in influencing the decision to visit a destination. The study represents the third in a series of three papers, with the first two presenting a conceptual model and testing the model with secondary data, respectively. The study concluded that Pearce's core motives were associated with tourists seeking a destination experience, while when respondents expressed middle and outer layer motives, they tended to seek more of an attraction specific experience.

Rethinking travel life cycle with travel career patterns

ABSTRACTOn the basis of previous life cycle literature, this study aims to further deliberate over the concept of travel life cycle (TLC) by integrating Pearce’s travel career pattern (TCP) theory. Links between TLC and TCP are investigated by determining the differences between the age and income groups. Results of four-year annual tourist surveys among 21,972 participants corroborate that TLC cannot be equated to family life cycle and be simply categorised by age, in which income level plays an important role. Middle-aged tourists in the high-income range show the most purchasing power in tourism, whereas those with mid-level income are the most business-oriented. Coinciding with Pearce’s TCP work, core travel motives are common motivations over the different stages of TLC. In addition, the middle layer motives are valued by tourists at an early stage. Moreover, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Understanding the travel motivation and patterns of international students in Korea: using the theory of travel career pattern

ABSTRACTThis study examined the travel motivation of international students in Korea using the theory of travel career pattern (TCP). In particular, latent profile analysis (LPA) was applied to identify latent classes within international students. Based on the results, four latent profiles were derived and named “Core,” “Longing,” “Middle,” and “Veteran.” The results described the travel motivation and patterns across these four profiles to enhance the understanding of international students in the context of tourism. There were significant differences in travel patterns (i.e. travel companion and information sources) among the profiles segmented by motivation. This study has expanded travel motivation research by (a) applying TCP to an understudied population (i.e. international students in a non-English-speaking country); (b) comparing travel careers between the home country, Korea (i.e. a study abroad destination), and the third countries; and (c) highlighting LPA as a clustering tool to understand travel motivation.

Travel Career Patterns: The Motivations of Indonesian and Malaysian Muslim Tourists

Indonesia and Malaysia have a combined population of ~225 million Muslims. Little academic work has been conducted on their motives for nonpilgrimage, leisure-based travel. Building on the travel career pattern approach for assessing tourist motivation, the this study sought to uncover the motivational patterns of Muslim tourists in this part of Southeast Asia. A combined total of 356 respondents from the two countries were sampled and the patterns of tourist motives between these Muslim tourists and data from previous studies of Western tourists were compared. Comparisons between the Malaysian data and the Indonesian data were also undertaken. The special importance of relationships, nature appreciation, and safety in the Muslim data compared to responses from Western respondents was identified. Close parallels between the Malaysian and Indonesian Muslim motivation patterns were found. The results were interpreted as highly consistent with Islamic teaching and the collectivist culture of the two communities.

Do attractions “attract” tourists? The case of Singapore

AbstractThis paper represents an exploratory empirical study testing a proposed framework analysing the importance of attractions in driving tourism. The study is framed within Pearce's travel career pattern model and McKercher's proposed attraction's hierarchy model. Singapore's most important source markets are analysed. The study concluded that individual attractions play a more critical role in driving demand for the most and least destination knowledgeable and for people who travel for Pearce's middle‐ and outer‐layer motives. Individual attractions play a much less important role among tourists who are somewhat destination aware and who are travelling to have Pearce's core motives met.

여행경력패턴(Travel Career Pattern)에 따른 수원 관광객의 유형과 특성

The purpose of this study was to identify travel career pattern of Suwon tourist by using a Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) and classify them based on measurements such as latent class characteristics and structure. Data from 1,000 tourists at main tourism destination in Suwon city were surveyed with person interview then analyzed. LPA identified three subgroups: (1) core motives oriented type with lowest motivation, (2) mid-layer motives oriented type with highest motivation, and (3) general type with relatively regular motivation. In order to examine the significant differences among three groups, cross-tabulation and ANOVA analysis was conducted. As a result, gender, age, number of travel times of Gyonggi do, the purpose of visit, intention to recommend, and intention to revisit, and tourism satisfaction were found to be significant differences of three groups whereas number of travel times of Suwon and aborad did not. In conclusion, our findings suggest that LPA can be an effective tool for identifying subgroups of individuals who have engaged in particular sets of tourism activities with multiple motivation dimensions.

Understanding travel motivations of Chinese tourists visiting Cairns, Australia

Using survey data sets collected in 2008 and 2012, this study provides insights into the demographic profile, travel characteristics and travel motivations of Chinese tourists to Cairns. Strong correlations between the push and pull factors indicate that the attributes Cairns offers largely match the Chinese tourists' push motivational factors, which may explain why China has been Cairns' fastest-growing inbound tourism market. The special attributes of Cairns such as the Great Barrier Reef and reef-associated activities could be promoted in the Chinese market to strengthen Chinese tourists' push motivations. This study also suggests that certain groups such as females, people under 30 years of age and high income earners could be specifically targeted in tourism promotions as these groups tend to place higher values on the features and lifestyle of Cairns. Given that most of the respondents are experienced travellers, the findings of this study provide some empirical support for the travel career pattern theory of travel motivation.

Tourist behaviour and the contemporary world

offers an aptly-timed, fascinating and in-depthexploration of tourist beha viour. A contempor ary tourism stud y, besides pr oviding an outlineof the emerging themes of tourist behaviour, this book endeavors to provide an understandingand realistic application of a number of research paradigms and conceptual schemes whichthe readers can pick up for future research. The book is well organised into seven chapters.The first chapter is the most important and complex, especially for readers who are notfamiliar with r esear ch on tourist beha viour . Pear ce be gins the intriguing jour ney by first settingscenes where he examines the various definitions of tourist behaviour, followed by acomprehensive review on the relevant conceptual schemes. In this book, a holistic definitionfor ‘tourist behaviour’ is adopted which encompasses tourists’ senses, emotions, attitudes,perceptions and beha viour s. Subsequentl y, the author rig orousl y revie ws the emic-etic per specti veand paradigmatic issues pertinent to tourist behaviour research. The final part of this introductorychapter introduces 12 conceptual schemes, including travel career pattern model, role theory,equity theor y, social r epresenta tions, etc. Pearce opines tha t conce ptual sc hemes w hich can belikened to mini-theories are more significant to tourism studies rather than the large scaleclassic theories which have limited explanation power to specific areas of interest. The conceptualdiscussion in Chapter 1 prepares the readers with the fundamental knowledge to apprehendthe following chapters where the author reviews five emerging topics in tourist behaviour.The rest of the book comprises six chapters with the first five featuring different emergingthemes and the last one pr oviding ad ditional per specti ves on contempor ary tourist beha viour.Chapter two outlines advances in technology in tourism and its impact on tourist behaviour.Pearce examines the e xisting liter atur e on We b 2.0 comm unica tions and ad dresses the benef itsand pitfalls of these social platforms. It is noted that digital elasticity is replacing the conceptof liminality. New mobile technology has led to cultural confusion as tourists stay in thebubble of familiar cultural practices when confronting novel destinations and challengingconditions. As a result, mobile technology helps soften cultur al shock but at the same time, itdiminishes the experience of travel. Chapter three features the safety and security issues intourism with special reference to tourist scam, crime, and health-related risks. Pearce bringstogether motivation theory and attribution theory to explain why some tourists choose toengage themselves in adventurous yet risky activities. The discussion is f ollowed by a detailedintroduction to Travel Career Pattern (TCP) – a tourist motivation model developed byPearce in his previous studies. TCP illustrates the changing patterns of 14 core motives

The Importance of Tourism Motivations Among Sport Event Volunteers at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Stuttgart, Germany

The main aim of this research is to explore the importance of tourism within the motivation of volunteers, focusing on a case study of the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Volunteers have mostly been ignored as a subject of research in almost all fields and there is a need for a deeper understanding of the diverse nature of sport event volunteer tourism. The study on 225 volunteers at the Championships investigated a range of 50 motivations framed by Pearce's (2005) Travel Career Pattern, as well as Snyder's (1993) Volunteer Function Inventory, Farell et al.'s (1998) volunteer classification and Stebbins' (1992) work on serious and project-based leisure. Overall, the results indicated volunteer-based motivations that are generally more important than the tourism-based considerations. The age and gender of the volunteers had an influence on more of the volunteer-based motives compared with tourism. A considerable proportion of volunteers perceived themselves to be a tourist, and there was a desire to further take part in tourism activities, in addition to their volunteering duties, while at the event. Destination managers and volunteer event co-ordinators should be aware that the link to tourism may strategically help to increase commitment and experience satisfaction levels among the volunteers, who are less obvious and thus a potential tourism market.

Backpacker Motivations: A Travel Career Approach

The main purpose of this study was to conceptualize backpacker motivation within the framework of the travel career pattern (TCP) theory of travel motivation. An online survey was administered to backpackers targeted in backpacker-specific online communities in order to obtain a diverse sample. The relationship between backpackers' previous travel experience and motivations was examined, and six underlying dimensions of motivation were extracted. Four of the motivations, personal/social growth, experiential, budget travel, and independence were found to be fluid in relation to backpackers' travel experience. Notably, two dimensions, cultural knowledge and relaxation, were found to be constant in relation to the backpackers' travel experience, which suggest that the two dimensions constitute the core motivations for backpackers.