What Motivates Tourists

Travelling is commonly known as an act of escaping from one’s reality, their daily norms, their usual environment, to a destination chosen for any of a number of reasons. Although the question of what motivates tourists to travel is not an easy one to describe and understand, there are other factors which help break down the complexity of this question. In order to understand exactly why tourists feel the need to travel, it is ideal to understand why it is important for tourist destinations and companies to know what motivates tourists and to determine their market respectively, the techniques and theories used to identify those markets, and ultimately how this shapes the destination.
There are many factors which play the role of the driving force behind a tourist’s motivation to travel. The two main purposes for travelling are broken down into pleasure and business. The motives behind travelling for pleasure include recreation, relaxation, new experiences, cultural interests, and shopping. Some motives behind travelling for business include meetings and conventions, consulting and, sales and operations (Goeldner, & Ritchie, 2012). There are many motivations behind travelling, therefore destinations and companies must take into account all of these motivations in order to be successful in the tourism industry.
Understanding tourist motivation may help to explain why certain places are more developed as successful tourism destination than others (Goeldner, & Ritchie, 2012). By meeting or exceeding the expectations of the tourist and creating that experience and those memories that the tourist will remember, the destination will become a popular one and will see more tourists choosing to travel there. In order to meet or exceed their guests’ expectations it is necessary for destinations and companies to understand what motivates tourists because it enables them to accommodate to their guests’ desires, wants, and needs. If tourist destinations and companies are