Chapter 1

1. Chapter 1 Why People Travel Objective: understanding the motivations of travelers – why they choose to go where they go.

2. Tourism Geography • There is difference between “tourism geography” and other forms of geography. • The interaction of traveler and the destination makes the difference. • Knowledge about the psychological and sociological factors affecting the traveler helps to understand why a particular type of product is purchased (type of travel is chosen).

3. Understanding needs and wants • What people are looking for when they visit different destinations? • Why would a tourist choose to holiday in Florida rather than Spain – what variables are at work apart from cost? • Why would he choose to travel with British Airways, but not with Lufthansa? • Why would he buy an independent inclusive tour, but not a group tour?

4. Need Satisfaction Theory • All consumer purchases, including choice of travel destination, are made to satisfy aneed of the consumer. The individual has a desire for something????? • Do people travel just to travel? • People do not travel just to travel. Travel fills some need in each consumer. Travelers’ needs differ.

5. Do we really need? • Often people talk about what they need, say a new television set, a new dress, or a holiday. But do they really need these things? Or are they just expressing a desire for more? • Due to today’s increased material consumption patterns, it is becoming difficult to distinguish wants (e.g. reference group influence)from needs.

6. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Self-actualization (e.g. self-fulfillment, etc.) Ego needs (e.g. self-respect, status, success, etc.) Social needs (e.g. affection, love, friendship, etc.) Safety needs (e.g. security, protection, etc.) Physiological needs (e.g. food, water, air, etc.)

7. According to Maslow, the more basic needs have to be satisfied (satisfied according to the needs of our cultural group) before our interest will focus on higher level needs. • However, according to Alderfer, and his ERG (existence, relatedness, and growth needs) theory, (1) more than one need may be operative at the same time, (2) if the satisfaction of a higher level need is frustrated, the desire to satisfy a lower level need increases.

8. Motivations of tourist • Motivation for travel and tourism can be categorized as; • Physical motivations • Cultural motivations • Personal motivations • Prestige and Status motivations (Mathieson and Wall, 1993)

9. Physical motivations • refreshment of body and mind (rest and relaxation) – beach holidays, lakes and mountains, etc.; • for health purposes (i.e. either medically prescribed or undertaken voluntarily) – spas, etc.; • for participation in sports – skiing, canoeing, safari parks, ponytrekking, etc.; • pleasure, - fun, excitement, romance and entertainment, to shop.

10. Cultural motivations • curiosity about foreign countries, people and places; • interests in art, music, architecture, folklore – music festivals, theatre visits, etc.; • interest in historical places (remains, monuments, churches); • experiencing specific international and national events - Olympic Games, Oktoberfest, etc.

11. Personal motivations • visiting relatives and friends; • meeting new people and seeking new friendships; • seeking new and different experiences in different environments – sailing etc.; • escaping from one’s own permanent social environment (i.e. desire for a change) • personal excitement of traveling; • visiting places and people for spiritual reasons (i.e. pilgrimages) • traveling for travel’s sake

12. Prestige and Status motivations • pursuit of hobbies – craft or painting holidays etc.; • continuation of education or learning- study tours etc.; • seeking of business contacts and professional goals – fairs, etc.; • conference and meetings; • ego enhancement and sensual indulgence; • fashion

13. Factors affecting human needs • All people may have the similar basic needs. But how is it that in various countries and regions, different needs arise, leading to different patterns of demand? • Why is the American satisfied with “convenience” food, to be served quickly and accompanied by a glass of water, while the French consider the meal the most important event of the day?

14. Factors affecting the demand for goods and services (as well as holidays) may be divided into four categories; • Cultural (culture, subculture – ethnic group, social class) • Social (reference groups, family, roles and status) • Personal (mostly demographic variables – age and life-cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle, personality and self-concept) • Psychological (motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes)

15. Cultural factors • Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and behavior. • Culture can be defined as “the set of basic values, perceptions, wants, and behaviors learned by a member of society from family and other important institutions”. • Cultural influences on buying behavior may vary greatly from country to country – e.g. Germans love beauty and art, appreciate their environment, are obsessed with physical well-being. As tourists, they demand accommodation that is clean and simple with private facilities, and offers fresh food with service in the restaurant.

16. Social class: Almost every society has some form of social class structure. Social class may be defined as “the ordered divisions in a society whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviors”. • Social classes may be defined in terms of occupation through which 6 “socio-economic groupings” can be identified: • A – higher managerial, administrative or professional; B – Middle managerial, administrative or professional; C1 – Supervisory or clerical, junior managerial; C2 – Skilled manual workers; D – Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers; E – Pensioners, unemployed, casual or lowest grade workers.

17. Social factors • A person’s behavior is influenced by many small groups. For example, • Peer group; the group with which an individual is most closely associated in his or her life e.g. fellow students, colleagues, friends and relations, close neighbors. • Reference group; the group with which an individual would choose to associate himself/herself, either because he/she admires them or simply because he/she would like to emulate their lifestyle. “trickle effect” where products originally purchased by elite members of a society are adopted by those down the hierarchy, e.g. St Tropez.

18. Family group decision making; where decisions have to be made together, it is important to understand who participates in the decision and the degree of influence each member of the group exercises e.g. wife's or children’s role.

19. Personal factors • An individual’s decisions are also influenced by personal characteristics. Most of the information for this category can be gathered through population (demographic) statistics which include (1) the number of people living in a country or region, and (2) the component make-up of that population – • the proportion in different age groups • the marital status • the proportion of those with children • occupation, and number unemployed • birth rate • disposable income

20. Lifestyle; is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her activities (work, hobbies, shopping, sports, social events), interests (food, fashion, family, recreation) and opinions (about themselves, social issues, business, products) e.g. internet behavior. • Personality and self-concept; Stanley Plog has found that tourists can be categorized broadly as either psychocentric or allocentric. Psychocentrics are self-inhibited, nervous and lack the desire for adventure, preferring well-packaged routine holidays in popular tourist destinations, mainly “sea, sun and sand” variety. Allocentrics are more outgoing, have varied interests and are keen to explore new places and find new things to do, and tend to travel independently.

21. Mid-centric Near Near Psychocentric Allocentric Psychocentric Allocentric

22. Psychological factors • An individual’s buying choices are influenced by four major psychological factors: motivation, perception, learning and beliefs and attitudes. • The way an individual perceive his/her needs is built up a complex interrelationship of beliefs and attitudes which arise out of his/her knowledge and opinions. • Individuals choose products which they perceive as having the best potential to satisfy their needs. They learn about such products partly through experience with the same or similar products in the past, and partly by seeking information (actively or passively).

23. Our perception of products is highly selective. We tend to “screen out” information which is too simple or too familiar (boring), or too complex to take in. We are more receptive to information to which we are predisposed (ready to receive) e.g. we become more aware of holiday advertisements, when we are thinking about a holiday. • Our perception of information is also biased. We tend to distort information to suit our own frame of reference.

24. Learning theory; learning describes changes in an individual’s behavior arising from experience. • Learning occurs through; Needs Drive Action Satisfaction Reinforcement • Our individual needs give rise to a drive which we take action to satisfy. If our action does indeed result in satisfying the need, we tend to repeat the experience, leading to the development of habit formation and customer loyalty. • Repeat purchase of the same product leads to monotony and a search for a new product or brand. AIDA model.

25. Beliefs; through experiencing and learning (also from others “word-of-mouth”), people acquire beliefs and attitudes. • Beliefs make up “images” that affect buying behavior. Beliefs may be wrong or prevent purchase. • Attitudes; a person’s evaluations, feelings, and tendencies toward an object or idea. • Attitudes put people into a frame of mind of liking or disliking things, of moving toward or away from them. They are difficult to change.

26. Decision-making for the travel purchase • The decision making for travel purchases is complicated by the degree of risk. Deciding where to take the annual holiday involves a lot of money and a high degree of uncertainty. • Risk can be reduced in several ways; • through experience (familiarity) or word of mouth recommendation

27. lowering our expectation of the product (not suitable in travel and tourism, since consumers tend to idealize their major purchases) • maximizing knowledge • searching for familiarity (1. choosing familiar or closer destinations e.g. US tourists to Mexico or Britain; Jersey “a bit of France that is British”, 2. choosing package (guided) tours, 3. choosing familiar organizations e.g. a Turkish tourist flying with the Turkish airlines).

28. Source: Mathieson, A.; Wall, G. “Tourism - economic, physical, and social impacts”. Longman Group. Essex. (1993). pg.27.