push factor tourism definition

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Push and Pull factors in Tourism Industry-Explained in Detail | Tourism Management

Push and pull factors in tourism industry.

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It is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global economy, contributing significantly to both developed and developing nations. The dynamics driving tourism are important for stakeholders, including governments, businesses, and researchers. Push and pull factors play a crucial role in influencing tourist behavior and destination choices.

The push factor refers to the internal motivation that motivates a person to leave their familiar environment, while the pull factor refers to the external attraction that attracts a person to a particular area.

In this comprehensive analysis, we will delve into the intricacies of push and pull factors, exploring their various dimensions and their impact on the tourism industry.

Push Factors

A number of factors contribute to them, including economics, social and familial ties, culture, and psychological needs to relax or discover themselves.

In order to understand why people travel and explore new destinations, stakeholders in the tourism industry need to understand these internal drivers.

a. Economic Factors

An individual’s financial situation is at the root of economic push factors. When people have more money to allocate to leisure activities, they are more likely to engage in tourism.

Higher disposable income, stable employment, and economic prosperity are significant motivators. Additionally, economic stability encourages confidence in spending on non-essential activities such as traveling.

Economic disparities between regions can lead people to explore areas perceived to have better economic opportunities. Migration and travel are often the result of people from economically disadvantaged areas seeking employment or business opportunities in more prosperous regions.

For example, Mexicans migrate to the United States in search of better job opportunities, while Chinese migrate to the United Kingdom seeking higher education.

b. Social Factors

The desire for social interaction and the need to maintain or develop relationships are both social push factors. The motivation to visit friends and family, whether they live in a different city or a foreign country, is a powerful driver for travel.

People may also travel to new destinations in an effort to expand their social network by meeting new people. Special life events, such as weddings, reunions, or milestone celebrations, can serve as triggers for travel.

These events often necessitate a gathering of family and friends from various locations, which can lead to increased tourism activity.

For instance, destination weddings have attracted tourists to countries such as the Caribbean, Mexico, and Hawaii, as they combine a vacation with a special event.

c. Cultural Factors

A cultural push factor is a fascination with different cultures, traditions, and ways of life. Many people travel for the purpose of learning more about the customs, languages, and values of a particular region. Travel is driven by curiosity, which leads individuals to choose destinations with a rich cultural diversity.

A powerful motivator for many tourists is the desire to witness and engage with tangible representations of a culture’s history and heritage. Furthermore, iconic cultural landmarks, historic sites, and museums can motivate tourists to visit.

Travelers can also gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of a destination’s culture by visiting landmarks, historic sites, and museums, which can give them a sense of belonging and connection. In addition, they provide a great opportunity to learn about a destination’s history and culture.

For example, thousands of millions of people visit the Taj Mahal every year, one of the world’s most famous landmarks.

d. Psychological Factors

The psychological push factors are centered around the mental and emotional well-being of an individual. Stress, burnout, and the desire to relax are compelling reasons to travel. Individuals seek out new experiences and environments to escape the pressures and demands of everyday life.

Traveling also provides opportunities for individuals to challenge themselves, gain new perspectives, and gain a deeper sense of self. Personal growth and self-discovery can also serve as powerful psychological motivators.

Exploring new ideas, taking risks, and learning more about the world can be done safely on the trip. It can be a chance to grow and become more self-aware as well. Ultimately, it can open up a person to new possibilities and help them discover their purpose.

For instance, a solo trip abroad can provide an opportunity for an individual to independently explore the world, gain a sense of autonomy, and gain insight into their own strengths and weaknesses.

Pull Factors

In contrast to push factors, pull factors represent the external attractions that draw individuals towards specific destinations. They are the features and attributes of a place that make it appealing and alluring to potential tourists.

Natural beauty and landscapes, cultural and historical heritage, recreational opportunities, and infrastructure and services can all be considered pull factors.

These external attractions form the basis for compelling narratives and experiences, which in turn entice travelers to choose a particular destination for their next adventure, when destination marketers and policymakers recognize and leverage them.

a. Natural Attractions

A destination’s natural pull factors are its geographical and environmental features. The beauty of mountains, beaches, waterfalls, and unique geological formations attract tourists. Travelers seeking adventure and escape are drawn to natural environments because of the promise of beauty and serenity.

Destinations endowed with natural wonders are enhanced by opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, water sports, wildlife viewing, and nature photography. In addition to providing physical and mental health benefits, these activities can also help to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Outdoor activities can also, improve mood, focus, and increase physical activity.

As an example, Yellowstone National Park in the United States offers visitors a variety of outdoor activities including hiking, camping, fishing, and wildlife viewing.

b. Cultural and Historical Heritage

It is important to note that cultural and historical pull factors are related to the richness of a destination’s heritage. UNESCO World Heritage Sites, ancient ruins, architectural marvels, and local traditions provide visitors with a unique cultural experience.

Immersing oneself in the history, art, and traditions of a place can be a powerful motivator for travel.

Destinations with living traditions, such as vibrant festivals, craft workshops, and culinary experiences, provide tourists with a unique opportunity to experience a living cultural tapestry.

In addition to providing tourists with a deeper understanding of the destination’s culture, history, and people, these experiences are also able to strengthen the bond between tourists and the destination, resulting in a more rewarding experience in the destination.

As an example, the Day of the Dead in Mexico is a celebration honoring the dead with colorful parades, altars, and traditional foods such as bread of the dead.

c. Entertainment and Recreational Activities

Those seeking relaxation and amusement are attracted to entertainment and recreational pull factors. In order to attract tourists seeking leisure and entertainment, destinations that offer a variety of activities, such as theme parks, water parks, casinos, music festivals, and sporting events, have a competitive edge.

The promise of a dynamic and enjoyable experience, whether through thrilling rides, live performances, or sporting events, significantly influences destination choices for this demographic.

Many destinations are offering a variety of activities to attract this demographic, such as music festivals, gastronomical experiences, and adventure sports, as a result of this growth. This has resulted in the increase of theme parks, casinos, and other popular attractions.

As an example, the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, offers an array of attractions and entertainment that is perfect for families with children and young adults.

d. Infrastructure and Service

It is the quality and accessibility of amenities that enhance the overall tourist experience that constitute infrastructure and service pull factors.

In addition to well-maintained transportation networks, a variety of accommodations, reliable healthcare facilities, and convenient shopping centers, a destination’s attractiveness is enhanced.

Moreover, easy access to destinations through well-connected airports, reliable public transportation, and easy navigation in the destination play a significant role in influencing travelers’ decisions. Good public transportation systems are essential for providing a stress-free journey.

Travelers choose destinations that are easy to reach and that are easy to navigate. Airports should also be equipped to handle large crowds and provide a pleasant experience for travelers.

As an example, international airports should provide sufficient check-in counters, baggage handling systems, and waiting areas in order to facilitate the check-in and departure processes for travelers.

Tourism dynamics are shaped in part by push and pull factors, as well as other factors. Stakeholders in tourism need to understand the nuances of these factors so that they can customize their marketing strategies and offerings to address the diverse motivations of travelers.

Tourism can remain a thriving force in the global economy by recognizing the interplay between internal motivations and external attractions.

Which can be effective in promoting sustainable growth. In order for the tourism sector to succeed, this is crucial. As it helps keep destinations attractive to tourists and profitable for tourism-related businesses.

Additionally, understanding these motivations may allow stakeholders to identify opportunities for the development of new products and services, enabling them to stay one step ahead of their competitors.

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What are the push and pull factors of tourism?

1. what are some common push factors that drive individuals to travel, 2. how do pull factors attract tourists to specific destinations, 3. what role does personal interest play in the decision to travel, 4. how do economic factors influence tourism, 5. can push and pull factors change over time, 6. how does safety and security affect tourism, 7. what impact does the media have on push and pull factors, 8. how does infrastructure contribute to pull factors, 9. can demographic factors influence push and pull factors, 10. how are technological advancements impacting push and pull factors, 11. is sustainability considered a pull factor, 12. how do cultural factors impact tourism.

Push and pull factors play a significant role in shaping tourism patterns across the globe. These factors essentially influence individuals’ decisions to travel to specific destinations. Push factors are the motivations originating from the traveler’s home country or region, whereas pull factors are the attractions and features that make a destination appealing. Let’s delve deeper into these push and pull factors to understand their impact on tourism.

Push factors are often rooted in the traveler’s place of origin and serve as the driving force behind their decision to embark on a journey. These factors can include socio-economic conditions, political stability, and personal circumstances. For instance, a high unemployment rate or lack of career opportunities in one’s home country can push individuals to seek employment in other nations. Similarly, political unrest or civil conflicts can prompt people to travel in search of safety and stability.

On the other hand, pull factors are the charm and allure of a particular destination that entice travelers to visit. These factors encompass a wide range of aspects, including natural beauty, cultural heritage, historical significance, and recreational activities. For example, the stunning landscapes and biodiversity of a national park may captivate nature enthusiasts and encourage them to plan a trip. Likewise, the rich historical landmarks, museums, and cultural festivals of a city may attract history buffs from all corners of the world.

FAQs about the push and pull factors of tourism:

Push factors can include economic instability, political unrest, lack of job opportunities, desire for adventure, and a yearning for better living conditions elsewhere. These factors prompt individuals to seek new experiences and opportunities in different parts of the world.

Pull factors can range from natural attractions such as beaches, mountains, and wildlife to cultural wonders like historical sites, festivals, and local traditions. Tourists are drawn to these destinations due to their unique offerings and the promise of an enriching experience.

Personal interests can serve as both push and pull factors. For example, someone passionate about scuba diving may be pushed to travel to coastal areas with renowned diving spots, while the pull factor would be the opportunity to explore diverse marine life.

Economic factors can act as both push and pull factors. For push factors, economic instability and unemployment rates can motivate individuals to search for better economic prospects elsewhere. As pull factors, tourism can contribute significantly to a destination’s economy by providing job opportunities and generating revenue.

Yes, push and pull factors are not static and can change over time. Economic development, political stability, changing travel trends, and emerging attractions can all contribute to the evolution of these factors.

Safety and security are crucial pull factors. Tourists are more likely to visit destinations that are known for their safety measures, stable political conditions, and low crime rates. Conversely, regions experiencing conflicts or high crime rates may experience a decline in tourism due to safety concerns.

The media plays a pivotal role in shaping and amplifying push and pull factors. Positive coverage of a destination can increase its appeal and act as a pull factor. Conversely, negative media portrayal or reports of safety concerns can discourage potential travelers, acting as push factors.

Quality infrastructure, such as well-maintained roads, transportation systems, and accommodation facilities, can enhance a destination’s pull factors. Easy accessibility and availability of amenities contribute to the overall appeal of a place.

Yes, demographic factors, such as age, gender, and cultural background, can influence push and pull factors. For example, younger individuals may be more inclined towards adventure tourism, while older adults may lean towards cultural and historical attractions.

Technological advancements have made the world more interconnected, allowing travelers to access information about destinations and plan their trips with ease. Online booking platforms, virtual tours, and user-generated content influence both push and pull factors by providing information, showcasing attractions, and facilitating travel arrangements.

Absolutely. As more travelers become environmentally conscious, destinations that prioritize sustainability and offer eco-friendly experiences are becoming increasingly attractive. The opportunity to engage in responsible tourism practices and contribute to conservation efforts acts as a pull factor for many.

Cultural factors, such as unique traditions, local cuisine, and diverse cultural experiences, are powerful pull factors for tourists seeking an immersive and authentic travel experience. Exploring different cultures and traditions adds depth and enriches the overall travel experience.

By understanding the push and pull factors of tourism, destinations can better cater to the needs and desires of travelers, thereby fostering sustainable growth in the tourism industry. The interplay between these factors shapes the flow of tourists and contributes to the overall development and promotion of diverse destinations.

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, examining the relationship between push and pull factors through partial least-squares path modeling.

Advances in Hospitality and Leisure

ISBN : 978-0-85724-769-8 , eISBN : 978-0-85724-770-4

Publication date: 3 August 2011

Tourism motivation is a prerequisite in understanding tourist behavior. Push and pull factors have provided a simple framework for comprehending tourism motivation in various contexts. Nevertheless, many of the propositions related to the push–pull framework have rarely been empirically examined. One of these suggests that pull factors both respond to and reinforce push factors. The current study, consequently, examines this twofold proposition empirically through partial least-squares path modeling. The findings indicate that push factors influence the tourism-demand variable (length of vacation) via pull factors and vice versa. Further, the findings indicate that the total effects of push and pull factors on the tourism-demand variable of the study are nearly equal. Theoretical and practical implications are also provided.

• Push factors
• Pull factors
• Tourism motivation
• Partial least-squares
• Tourist behavior

Mehmetoglu, M. (2011), "Examining the Relationship between Push and Pull Factors through Partial Least-Squares Path Modeling", Chen, J.S. (Ed.) Advances in Hospitality and Leisure ( Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Vol. 7 ), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 153-171. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1745-3542(2011)0000007012

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Gastronomy Tourism in Athens, Motivations and Resources: A Push and Pull Approach

• Conference paper
• First Online: 27 May 2023
• Cite this conference paper

• Charilaos Kalpidis 2 ,
• Fragiskos Bersimis 3 &
• Paris Tsartas 2  

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ((SPBE))

Included in the following conference series:

• International Conference of the International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism

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The study aims to utilize the push–pull factors approach to address the internal motives of tourists and their preferred gastronomy-related resources in the capital city of Greece, Athens. The quantitative approach was applied, with data collected using the methodological research instrument of a specifically designed structured questionnaire. A tourist survey was conducted, generating a number of participants (N = 640) responses. Exploratory data analyses on push and pull factors were conducted with appropriate parametric and non-parametric statistical tests. The results revealed that the sensory experience—taste of food and cultural motivators (authentic experience, knowledge of different cultures) are the primary motivators for their trip. The most significant gastronomical resources (pull factors) were core food tourism appeals (Greek cuisine restaurants and taverns for casual dining). The research results add to the comprehension of food travel motivations and attractions from a tourist’s and the destination’s viewpoint, with relevant implications for restaurant entrepreneurs, Destination Management Organizations (DMOs), and tourism policy planners.

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Harokopio University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Charilaos Kalpidis & Paris Tsartas

Univesrity of Piraeus, Athens, Greece

Fragiskos Bersimis

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Correspondence to Charilaos Kalpidis .

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Appendix 1: One Sample t Test and One Sample Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test (test value = 3)

Appendix 2: Independent Samples t Test and Mann–Whitney U (Gender)

Appendix 3: ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis Test (Age)

Appendix 4: ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis Test (Education)

Appendix 5: One Sample t Test and One Sample Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test (test value = 3)

Appendix 6: Independent Samples t Test and Mann–Whitney U (Gender)

Appendix 7: ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis Test (Age)

Appendix 8: ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis Test (Education)

Appendix 9: One Sample t Test and One Sample Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test (test value = 3)

Appendix 10: Independent Samples t Test and Mann–Whitney U (Gender)

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Kalpidis, C., Bersimis, F., Tsartas, P. (2023). Gastronomy Tourism in Athens, Motivations and Resources: A Push and Pull Approach. In: Katsoni, V. (eds) Tourism, Travel, and Hospitality in a Smart and Sustainable World. IACuDiT 2022. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29426-6_32

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Federation University Newsroom

The travel decisions pushing and pulling visitors to melbourne.

11 July 2023

A Federation researcher has developed a model to identify the pre-trip motivations behind travel decisions and destination choices that overseas visitors make before visiting Melbourne.

Dr Daria Soldatenko compared the travel motivations of tourists from China to those from other countries for the study that has been pubished in the International Journal of Tourism Cities . Before COVID lockdowns, China held the top spot on the list of countries whose citizens visited Australia but fell to sixth place after lifting travel restrictions earlier this year.

She hopes the study will help destination marketing organisations wanting to develop customised tourist products, services, and promotional programs.

"To provide travellers with competitive and desirable products and services, destination marketers and tourism providers need to understand the attributes of visitors from each major market, as well as their travel decision-making and destination-choice processes," Dr Soldatenko said. "Then we can endeavour to meet those needs."

For the PhD project, Dr Soldatenko developed a complex push-pull theory model to look at tourists' pre-trip motivations. In tourism, push factors encourage people to travel and pull factors motivate people to visit a particular destination.

She says the extended push-pull model gives a comprehensive understanding of how people make travel decisions, taking into account factors like why people want to travel, what they look for in a destination, how they get information, what they expect from the trip, what might hold them back, and how they evaluate their destination choices. Understanding these factors can be used to attract and keep visitors at tourist destinations, Dr Soldatenko says.

The pre-trip motivational model was developed and tested on a sample of 320 tourists from China and other countries. The primary data for the research were collected just before the COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020, and the study also drew from official data from the same period to form an appropriate data set for context. The results and findings pre-date the significant impacts on travel behaviour from the pandemic.

To collect data, Dr Soldatenko engaged with the tourists in person at tourism hotspots in the city, in lounges of hostels and those travelling on tourist buses - before and after visiting locations and through social media channels.

She says the findings show that for both groups, knowledge, novelty and pleasure were the most important motivations and nature and climate were the most important elements of destination attributes. The survey revealed significant differences between the samples' push and pull factors.

"Chinese visitors to Melbourne assigned higher importance to rest and relaxing opportunities, family-oriented activities, as well as safety and a high level of service," Dr Soldatenko said. They prioritised ease of travel and being comfortable - this is a strong focus because it hasn't been easy to travel abroad, and there are issues getting travel visas."

Tourists from other countries were more interested in having new and more adventurous activities.

"For Melbourne as a tourist destination, promotion campaigns for non-Chinese markets should focus on nature-based experiences, cultural attractions, and the city's exciting atmosphere, while for the Chinese market, emphasis should be placed on nature-based experiences, resting and relaxing opportunities, family-oriented activities, cultural attractions, as well as safety and high level of service."

"It is significant to examine the constructs in the proposed tourists' pre-trip motivational model, but in addition, it is more important to analyse and compare separate source markets based on cultural background or nationality to tailor tourist products and advertising campaigns to each market."

She says Chinese tourists typically have much shorter annual leave than other tourists, which had potential implications for tourism development in regional Victoria as these tourists would often stay in big cities and spend just one day at easy-to-reach locations if time permitted.

Dr Soldatenko’s supervisor Professor Elisa Zentveld says research plays an important role in guiding the industry by providing detailed information to tourism industries.

“Understanding the different aspects that motivate people to engage in tourist experiences, and the different experiences being sought by different types of tourists can be valuable to tourism industries to better direct their marketing dollars.”

Dr Soldatenko says the research is timely as the tourism sector was yet to fully recover from the COVID lockdowns, and more time is needed for the tourism sector to return to full capacity. She says the pre-trip motivational model for tourists can guide further research in this area, and there is scope to use the model in other sectors.

"The study is designed to advance both tourist behaviour research and tourism decision-making literature and add depth to the understanding of visitor motivational factors that affect travel decision-making processes," Dr Soldatenko said. "But this pre-trip motivational model can be easily modified and applied to other behaviour and motivational studies beyond the tourism sector."

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• Published: 04 March 2024

The impact of push-pull motives on internal tourists’ visit and revisit intentions to Egyptian domestic destinations: the mediating role of country image

• Doaa Ayoub   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2275-0510 1   na1 &
• Dina Nasser Hassan Sayed Mohamed 1   na1  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  358 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Purpose -The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the push motivational factors (rest & relaxation, enhancing the ego, and novelty & knowledge-seeking) and pull motivational factors (tourism facilities, environment & safety, and cultural & historical attraction) on internal tourists’ visit and revisit intentions to a domestic destination in Egypt. It also tested the mediation role of the country image in the relationship between the independent variables (push & pull motives) and the dependent variables (visit & revisit intentions). This study provides novelty for the context of travel motivation, especially in a global crisis like Corona and highlight the limited literature regarding the Arab context, especially Egypt. Data were collected using an online survey of internal tourists to test the proposed model empirically using structured questions. Structural equation model (SEM) was developed to test the research hypotheses with a sample of 349. The findings indicate that all the research hypotheses were statistically supported, except for the associations between rest-and-relaxation, tourism facilities and the internal tourists’ visit intention to a destination in Egypt.

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Introduction.

The academics of tourism have shown considerable interest in travel motivation, and how travel motivation is considered a useful approach to comprehend tourists’ needs and motives. They even propositioned the complexity of investigating why tourists intend to travel and what they want to indulge or enjoy (Yoon and Uysal, 2005 ). Many disciplines have been considered to explain the travel motivation phenomena, and accordingly it has been investigated by many academics from various fields, namely anthropology, sociology, and psychology fields (Mohammad and Som, 2010 ; Yoon and Uysal, 2005 ; Gnoth, 1997 ; Dann, 1977 ). Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs have been highly utilised as the most famous and well-known theory within the travel motivation literature, displaying the basic human needs at the bottom of the pyramid to its way up to the least pressing needs (Negrusa and Yolal, 2012 ). Therefore, the hierarchy of Maslow can be seen as the theoretical basis and background for travel motivation studies.

Travel motivation theory has been examined and investigated till it is generally accepted, which is the push and pull motives (Dann, 1981 ; 1977 ). Previously, different studies have addressed and utilised the push and pull motives in the context of tourism motivation, and hence they were seen as relevant independents or predictors to be used for comprehending why tourists intend to travel, and integrating their behaviours (Correia et al., 2013 ; Jarvis and Blank, 2011 ; Mohammad and Som, 2010 ). Yousefi and Marzuki ( 2015 ), Negrusa and Yolal ( 2012 ), Mohammad and Som ( 2010 ), and Yoon and Uysal ( 2005 ) identified the push factors as the forces that motivate and induce individuals to go away from their home; while the pull factors are the externalities of a specific place/destination that pull individuals to visit this destination. Furthermore, Seebaluck et al. ( 2015 ) supported that push-pull motivational factors can integrate well with the hierarchy of Maslow. Thus, such an integration between the most well-known theory (Maslow’s theory) and the generally accepted theory (push-pull motives) will help to better comprehend the travel motivation and behaviours of tourists.

The dimensions that this paper focuses on and investigates for the push motives are: rest and relaxation, enhancing the ego, and novelty and knowledge-seeking. While the pull motives are the following dimensions: tourism facilities, environment and safety, and cultural and historical attractions. These dimensions were mentioned by and taken from Yousefi and Marzuki ( 2015 ). Moreover, this study concentrates on internal tourism, meaning that it considers the travel activities of those who are resident in the country of reference and non-residents visitors to the country of reference, as part of either their domestic or international tourism trips, respectively. In the same vein, it is also because many studies were focusing on either investigating residents visiting an outbound country only or investigating international tourists visiting a country of reference only (Baniya and Paudel, 2016 ; Yousefi and Marzuki, 2015 ; Mohammad and Som, 2010 ; Huang, 2010 ; Jang and Cai, 2002 ). Thus, this research paper provides novelty to the travel motivation context especially in global crisis such as Corona.

Country image plays an essential role in getting the interest and attention of travellers to visit a city of reference. It is considered the sum of impressions collected by a person about a specific destination or place (Gallarza et al. 2002 ). Doosti et al. ( 2016 ) highlighted the fact that country image is not only a good predictor in determining traveller’s visit intention but also their re-visit intention, because it influences travellers’ decision-making process for both, namely the visit and re-visit intentions. Therefore, this paper utilises the country image role as a mediator between the first relationship of the push-pull motivational factors and visit intention, and between the second association of the push-pull motives and re-visit intention. Hence, adding contribution to the tourism context.

Although studies regarding the travel motivation context have been covered excessively, focusing on the overseas countries like: Japan, Australia, North America, Canada, West Germany, France, the UK, and many regions across Asia (Hsu et al., 2009 ; Rittichainuwat, 2008 ; Kim and Prideaux, 2005 ; Oh et al., 1995 ; Uysal and Jurowski, 1994 ; Yuan and McDonald, 1990 ), Mohammad and Som ( 2010 ) highlighted the lack of information and limited literature regarding the Arab context that is why they studied Jordon as one of the Arabic countries. As a result, this research concentrates on Egypt in specific as a very promising country when it comes to tourism. Tourism in Egypt is considered a very crucial factor from the many essential factors that takes an extremely huge role in the growth of the economic development, and accordingly if tourism recovers, Egypt will recover in return (World Tourism Organisation UNWTO, 2016 ). Egypt is considered one of the top safest countries, according to Gallup’s 2018 Global Law and Order Report, coming in the 10th place for being safe for not only the local residents, but also for international tourists visiting Egypt. This survey showed that Egypt is being tied up with Denmark, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Austria, China, and Netherlands by scoring 88 out of 100, indicating its low crime rate (CNN Travel, 2018 ). A year later, Egypt escalated up to the 8th place, outranking multiple European countries, the USA, and the UK by scoring 92 out of 100, indicating its sense of personal safety and faith in law enforcement according to Gallup’s 2019 Global Law and Order Report (GALLUP, 2019 , P.12; Egyptian Streets, 2019 ).

Egypt is considered one of the countries that attracts many tourists to visit annually. The number of international tourists arriving to Egypt annually from the period ranges from (2007) to (2019) has escalated as reported by The World Bank ( 2023 ). Even during the pandemic (Covid-19) that disrupted the economy so hard worldwide, Egypt was regarded as one of the few emerging countries that showed resilience towards the pandemic, experiencing growth in 2020, and maintaining a positive GDP growth in 2021 (International Monetary Fund, 2021 ). Although such a pandemic influenced the entire world in 2020, but Egypt was able to hold onto its position as a top destination for tourists, this is due to the Egyptian government’s active response and short-period lockdown. As a result, Egypt led Africa in terms of tourists’ arrivals, reporting around 3.7 million tourists visited Egypt in 2020 (Statista, 2022a ). In 2021, Egypt ranked the first to have the largest number of tourists visiting the country among the rest of the African countries, reporting 3.67 million tourists (Statista, 2022b ). Ultimately, Egypt ranked the highest in the 2021 Competitiveness Index of Travel and Tourism among the African Countries, scoring 4.2 (Statista, 2022c ). Thus, showing such a high score of resilience will contribute to Egypt’s development (World Economic Forum, 2022 ).

This paper aims to investigate the impact of push motives (rest and relaxation, enhancing the ego, and novelty and knowledge-seeking) and pull motives (tourism facilities, environment and safety, and cultural and historical attractions) on internal tourists’ visit and revisit intentions to a domestic destination in Egypt. It also tests the country image and its mediation role in the relationship between the independent variables (push-pull motives) and the dependent variables (visit and revisit intentions). This study provides novelty for the context of travel motivation, especially in a global crisis like Corona. Afterwards, the study’s objective is to assess the impact of the push and pull motivational factors on internal tourists’ visit and revisit intentions to a domestic destination in Egypt. On that basis, the following section presents the literature related to this study.

Literature review

Tourism, internal tourism, and tourists.

Caldito et al. ( 2015 ) identified tourism as a global and universal economic activity, which advocates and supports the socio-economic developments and processes within the countries, territories, or provinces where they are developed. The United Nations ( 2010 , P.1) and the World Tourism Organisation UNWTO ( n.d. ) considered tourism in different phenomena such as social, cultural, as well as economical. Tourism entails the transfer and movement of individuals to different places or countries that are regarded to be outside the individuals’ own usual and normal environment for one purpose or more purposes (World Tourism Organisation UNWTO, n.d. ), including professional purposes, leisure purposes, or even personal ones (United Nations, 2010 , P.10). On that basis, internal tourism is the comprising of both, namely the domestic and in-bound tourism (World Tourism Organisation UNWTO, n.d. ). The internal tourism is considered the activities of both, resident as well as non-resident visitors, as part of either domestic tourism trips or international tourism trips within the country of reference (United Nations, 2010 , P.15). Accordingly, tourists are those individuals who leave voluntarily their usual environment and go-to surroundings where they used to live and work, integrating and participating in various activities despite of the destination being close or far-away, as conformed by Camilleri ( 2017 ).

Travel motivation

Travel motivation has gained the attention and interest of many researchers in various research, studies, and fields. It has also showed its importance in different contexts of comprehending well travellers’ behaviours and intentions (Baniya and Paudel, 2016 ). Motivation can stimulate an action, and in that sense, it is considered the person’s psychological as well as internal forces which in sequence can spur that action (Armstrong and Kotler, 2013 ). Due to this action that is being stimulated, then it can satisfy a specific need (Li et al., 2015 ). This elucidates that for these actions to be stimulated, the person must have from the beginning some psychological or what is so called biological needs and wants. The existence of these needs and wants will start directly and immediately to motivate the person, and in return some behaviours and activities will be integrated (Negrusa and Yolal, 2012 ). Indeed, individual’s motivation is like a collection of driving forces that in return can conciliate performing and carrying out specific actions that can be induced by the person who is being motivated (Sandybayev et al., 2018 ). In line with that, Chang et al. ( 2014 ) clarified that tourists will tend to participate, engage, and integrate in a specific behaviour, however that integration or participation is due to being motivated based on some reasons, forces, or even goals. Jarvis and Blank ( 2011 ) challenged that it is not necessary that all tourists will be motivated by the same motives or forces, as that way might cause many problems if tourists to be treated the same exact way. Understanding and comprehending well individual’s motives is the most important key for designing offerings and tailoring them to suit the targeted markets (Negrusa and Yolal, 2012 ; Park et al., 2008 ).

Negrusa and Yolal ( 2012 ) defined motivation as an initiator for the everyday individual’s decision-making process. It is considered what affects people’s choices through internal and psychological influences. This agrees with Banner and Himmelfarb (1985 as cited in Jarvis and Blank, 2011 ), supporting that tourism is solely based on the voluntary motivation (intrinsic force), leaving behind the extrinsic motivation. Getz ( 2008 ) agreed to some extent with what addressed earlier regarding the voluntary motivation, supporting that it is well-established compared to the extrinsic motivation. Hence, this clarifies the lack of support towards the extrinsic force that requires more comprehension and understanding when it comes to the tourism motivation (Jarvis and Blank, 2011 ). However, other researchers argued the above and addressed a different perspective, Seebaluck et al. ( 2015 ) stated that travel motivation is a combination of both, namely intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and accordingly these factors can stimulate the desire for travelling and visiting a specific destination in mind and that tourists can satisfy concurrently many distinctive needs and wants, instead of pleasing/delighting one need only. This agrees with what has been addressed by Mohammad and Som ( 2010 ), that the forces/factors of travel motivation can be seen as a multi-dimensional concept. Nevertheless, travel motivation does not only look very interesting topic for marketers to better understand tourist’s motives/forces as stated earlier, but according to Chang et al. ( 2014 ), they addressed that it can also explore and understand the reasons behind why an individual intends to travel. Due to this perplexity on how to define or even describe travel motivation, then it is being referred to as a “Fuzzy Set” according to Kay ( 2003 as cited in Jarvis and Blank, 2011 ). To put it differently, despite that travel motivation may appear as a very interesting topic for many researchers, however it is a hard and dynamic concept in the tourism field/context (Chang et al., 2014 ; Mohammad and Som, 2010 ).

Travel motivation theories

By reviewing the previous literatures regarding the travel motivation, many well-known theories and frameworks were presented. These frameworks were widely used as a guide to many research studies of tourism motivation, explaining and identifying the behaviour of tourists (Sandybayev et al., 2018 ; Li et al., 2015 ; Negrusa and Yolal, 2012 ). These theories are Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs (Maslow, 1943 ; 1954 , P.2), Travel Career Pattern (Pearce, 1988 , P.31), and Escape-Seeking Model (Ross and Iso-Ahola, 1991 ). They are followed then by the Push and Pull Motives (Dann, 1981 ; 1977 ), which are considered the focus of this paper.

First, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs, which is arranged in a hierarchical-composure from tackling first the most essential human-being needs to the least pressing needs. Simply put, when a person tends to fulfil and satisfy one need, then he/she will be motivated to satisfy and delight the next upcoming need (Sandybayev et al., 2018 ; Pearce and Packer, 2013 ; Negrusa and Yolal, 2012 ; Maslow, 1943 ). According to Pearce and Packer ( 2013 ) and Mohammad and Som ( 2010 ), the hierarchy of Maslow is considered the most applied framework to contribute to studying, exploring, and identifying travel motivation. Second is the Travel Career Pattern or what is merely known by Sandybayev et al. ( 2018 ) and Li et al. ( 2015 ) as the Travel Career Ladder. Travel Career Pattern showed pivotal contribution into the travel motivation literature, identifying the existence of the multiplicity of forces. In other words, it means that tourists will not be motivated by one dominant motive only, but by multiple forces, and accordingly this shows that travel motivation can be identified in patterns of multiple forces all together (Pearce and Packer, 2013 ; Jarvis and Blank, 2011 ). Additionally, a dynamic approach can be recommended to this framework. This is because of its multiplicity of forces that can be recognised in not only tourists in the tourism context, but also in people in any social ones, confirming that this framework can be effective in any motivation context (Jarvis and Blank, 2011 ).

Third is the Escapism-Seeking Model. It showed a great influence on the leisure behaviour of an individual, suggesting that escaping and seeking are the two leading and master motives that affects simultaneously individuals’ motives for leisure activities (Ross and Iso-Ahola, 1991 ). Negrusa and Yolal ( 2012 ) also explained that seeking activities are sought in trying and discovering novel and new things or places; and mainly for fulfilling the self and acquiring psychological rewards. While for the escape, it refers to the fleeing from the daily stressful environment, difficulties, and the tedious routine of life. The last theory that this study will tackle is the Push-Pull Framework. This is not the last theory when it comes to the travel motivation theories and context, it is considered the main focus of this paper.

Push and pull motives

Push and Pull motives are considered the main constructs of this study. Sandybayev et al. ( 2018 ), Li et al. ( 2015 ), and Negrusa and Yolal ( 2012 ) identified the push motives as the forces that induce individuals to go away from home. While the pull motives are the forces that pull individuals to visit a specific destination, it is the destination’s external attractions. Push and Pull motives were addressed before in various research studies, and they were seen as relevant and effective constructs to be used as a starting point for explaining why tourists intend to travel, alongside identifying their behaviours. Many researchers showed their agreement regarding these factors due to their utilisation in several tourism motivation literatures, and accordingly this concept is considered generally accepted (Dean and Suhartanto, 2019 ; Correia et al., 2013 ; Jarvis and Blank, 2011 ). Apart from this, Seebaluck et al. ( 2015 ) encouraged that the Push and Pull motives can integrate well with the above addressed theory, which is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs. Likewise, Jarvis and Blank ( 2011 ) supported that the Push-Pull motives can be adjusted by its integration with the Escapism-Seeking Model. Therefore, this shows the integration between the theories with each other to better understanding the travel motivation and behaviours.

Push motives

Push factors are considered the factors or forces that can prompt, motivate, and encourage tourists to go to a specific destination. It has also been referred to as the socio-psychological needs (Seebaluck et al., 2015 ), intangible elements or intrinsic factors (Isa and Ramli, 2014 ). These factors push tourists to travel as a way of escapism from the home-surrounding environment, daily tedious routine, and the hassle of everyday life. Hence, tourists consider that these forces can spur them to travel as a way of recharging their batteries once again; and to relax (Dunne et al., 2011 ). Ultimately, push factors are what push tourists to escape, have social interactions, and to be novelty-seekers and adventurous (Yousefi and Marzuki, 2015 ; Seebaluck et al., 2015 ; Isa and Ramli, 2014 ; Mohammad and Som, 2010 ). Several researchers also suggested other push factors that can stimulate tourists to travel and visit a specific place in mind which are: psychological health and fitness (Sandybayev et al., 2018 ; Isa and Ramli, 2014 ), knowledge (Yousefi and Marzuki, 2015 ), ego-enhancement (Seebaluck et al., 2015 ), and self-exploratory (Negrusa and Yolal, 2012 ; Mohammad and Som, 2010 ).

Jang and Cai ( 2002 ) studied the push-pull motives of British travellers and identified that knowledge-seeking was perceived as the most important push motive. Correspondingly, novelty-seeking was perceived as the core travel motivation factor that pushed Chinese visitors to travel to Hong Kong (Huang, 2010 ). This also agrees with the findings of Sangpikul ( 2009 ), discovering that the most perceived push dimensions to push Asians and Europeans to Thailand were novelty-seeking and escape and relaxation. This is similar to the results of Chen et al. ( 2023 ) study and Teng et al. ( 2023 ) study. Based on the above, this research will concentrate on the following push dimensions mentioned by Yousefi and Marzuki ( 2015 ), namely rest and relaxation, enhancing the ego, and novelty and knowledge seeking. Thus, the below hypotheses are formulated:

H1 : The push-dimension impacts internal tourists’ visit intention to a domestic destination in Egypt.

H1-1: Rest and relaxation impact internal tourists’ visit intention to a domestic destination in Egypt.

H1-2: Enhancing the ego impacts internal tourists’ visit intention to a domestic destination in Egypt.

H1-3: Novelty and knowledge seeking impact internal tourists’ visit intention to a domestic destination in Egypt.

Pull motives

Pull factors are considered the externalities of a destination that can attract tourists to travel and contribute to their desire of visiting this place. Simply speaking, pull factors come from the destination itself, what is external to tourists (Seebaluck et al., 2015 ). Pull factors are related and linked to the cognitive or situational aspects of motivation, as a way of example, destination’s landscape, hospitality, image, publicity, facilities, branding, climate, features, promotions, and marketing (Seebaluck et al., 2015 ; Correia et al., 2013 ). According to Dunne et al. ( 2011 ), the allure and fascinating attraction of the triple S or what is so called the 3’S (Sea, Sun, and Sand) are the most relevant when it comes to vacation decision-making. Some intangible and tangible elements are also included in the pull motives, for instance, biodiversity (the variety of life that has existence on earth), rivers, as well as beaches (Seebaluck et al., 2015 ). Yousefi and Marzuki ( 2015 ) argued that other factors like: destination’s heritage and historical sites, cultural appeal and charms, destination’s security, natural reserves, and safety and cleanliness of the place are regarded as externalities of a destination that can pull and attract tourists. Similarly, Seebaluck et al. ( 2015 ) added that flexibility, resilience of travelling, and travel costs are also externalities of a destination that can contribute to the traveller’s desire of visiting the destination in mind.

Jang and Cai ( 2002 ) studied the push-pull motives of British travellers and identified that cleanliness and safety were perceived as the most important pull motives. Conversely, another study found that touristic activities, attractions, and travel costs were the most considered pull factors by Asian travellers visiting Thailand, whereas European travellers were pulled by the cultural, historical attractions, touristic activities and attractions (Sangpikul, 2009 ). Based on the above, this research will concentrate on the following pull dimensions mentioned by Yousefi and Marzuki ( 2015 ), namely tourism facilities, environment and safety, and cultural and historical attractions. Therefore, the below hypotheses are formulated:

H2 : The pull-dimension impacts internal tourists’ visit intention to a domestic destination in Egypt.

H2-1: Tourism facilities impact internal tourists’ visit intention to a domestic destination in Egypt.

H2-2: Environment and safety impact internal tourists’ visit intention to a domestic destination in Egypt.

H2-3: Cultural and historical attraction impact internal tourists’ visit intention to a domestic destination in Egypt.

Mediation role: Country image

Seaton and Benett (1996 as cited in Doosti et al., 2016 ) and Fakeye and Crompton ( 1991 ) defined country image as the mental construction of city portrayal. Doosti et al. ( 2016 ) also added that country image is being constructed based on the understanding of the characteristics of the country/city. Ultimately, it is how tourists perceive the city and the overall set of impressions and beliefs of the country/city, which is mainly developed from the collection of information from multiple sources formed over the time, as a way of example, through tourists’ exposure to the TV, magazines, any non-tourism information, and touristic sources from advertisements to posters. Destination image is considered the visitors representation of the destination in their own minds, and such representation might include the climate, people of the city, or even the surrounding natural environment (Fakeye and Crompton, 1991 ).

Country’s image is very essential in attracting and getting the attention of tourists to visit the city (Kim and Lee, 2015 ). Avraham ( 2004 ) added that it also plays an essential role in improving and enhancing how people perceive this destination and its image. This agrees with Doosti et al. ( 2016 ) that improving the country’s image is affecting visitors’ visit intention positively as well as their decision-making process for a re-visit (future visitation intention). Stepchenkova and Morrison ( 2008 ) found that when US travellers had more willingness and intention to visit Russia, they had less negative image of Russia as the host country, and vice versa. This elucidates that enhancing the positive image of a destination can influence tourists’ visitation intentions. Likewise, Doosti et al. ( 2016 ) confirmed that city image is a significant predictor of visitors’ visitation intention when studying foreign visitors to Iran. Multiple studies also showed that positive country image can lead to revisit intentions too (Beerli and Martin, 2004 ; Gallarza et al., 2002 ). For instance, Kim and Lee ( 2015 ) showed that city image influenced positively the revisit intention of South Korean tourists to international cities.

H3 : Country image will mediate the relationship between travel motivation factors and visit/revisit intentions.

H3-1: Country image will mediate the relationship between travel push motivation factors and visit intention.

H3-2: Country image will mediate the relationship between travel pull motivation factors and visit intention.

H3-3: Country image will mediate the relationship between travel push motivation factors and revisit intention.

H3-4: Country image will mediate the relationship between travel pull motivation factors and revisit intention.

Visit intention and revisit intentions

Intention as a concept is considered a very broad subject and an interesting topic in consumer behaviour (Chekima et al., 2015 ). This triggered the interest of many marketers to study people’s intentions in different contexts (Goh et al., 2017 ; Chekima et al., 2015 ; Dunne et al., 2011 ; Han et al., 2010 ). In the tourism context, tourists’ visit intention is considered their subjective likelihood to engage in a certain behaviour (Chang et al., 2014 ). Additionally, visit intention is one of the steps of the travel/vacation decision-making process (Doosti et al., 2016 ), and accordingly it showed great significance in the recent years (Dunne et al., 2011 ). Martin and Woodside ( 2012 ) clarified that the travel decision making process is like a fickle and dynamic process, and it is characterised by having a series of unique and solitary, yet unstructured decisions. These decisions may be based on some unplanned or even unexpected events, including some decisions that can be inter-related that can drive an individual to the destination’s choice/selection and visitation intention. Accordingly, it is really hard to be able to predict or even explain the decision of a tourist/traveller, it is a complex phenomenon that still stimulates scholar’s curiosity and interest back in the old decades till nowadays (Dunne et al., 2011 ).

Chang et al. ( 2014 ) emphasised that tourists tend to participate and integrate in a specific behaviour after being motivated based on multiple and different reasons or even goals that need to be satisfied. This confirms that these behaviours are still hard for tourists to be explained. In line with that, Martin and Woodside ( 2012 ) stressed on keeping a sharp eye on the unconscious mind of tourists, because it can assist in interpreting the causal and associative processes that result in the selection, conclusions, and intentions/actions of tourists. Ultimately, intention is a good predictor of individuals’ behaviour, where it stimulates a person for a real commitment (Chekima et al., 2015 ). Ajzen ( 1991 ) also emphasised that intention is the best predictor when it comes to the actual commitment, since it can indicate the behaviour even if it is not deliberated or considered. On that basis, it is essential to comprehend the visit intention of tourists for the selected destination (Martin and Woodside, 2012 ), which will leave a room in the future to create successful touristic destination’s campaigns and businesses (Dunne et al., 2011 ).

As previously mentioned in the mediating role of the country image part, the relationship between city image and tourists’ visit intentions is significant, and according to Stepchenkova and Morrison ( 2008 ), they showed that enhancing the favourable image of a destination can impact tourists’ visit intention. This means that city image is a significant predictor of tourists’ visit intention (Doosti et al., 2016 ).

H4: There is significant positive relationship between country image and visit intention.

Repeating the visit to a specific place that an individual visited before is considered an essential phenomenon that needs to be considered in the tourism context (Wang, 2004 ). This is because it is more effective, in terms of the cost, to attract repeat travellers than new visitors (Chang et al., 2014 ). That is why many destinations might rely extensively on repeat travellers as emphasised by Um et al. ( 2006 ), clarifying that the cost to retain back the former group (e.g., repeat tourists) is less expensive compared with the new visitors. Additionally, it has been illustrated that repeat travellers tend to spend more, in terms of money, than first-time visitors (Chang et al., 2014 ; Lehto et al., 2004 ). For instance, when studying U.S. travellers to Canada, Meis, Joyal, and Trites ( 1995 ) showed that repeat travellers spend more across the whole duration of their travel-life cycle. Chang et al. ( 2014 ) also revealed that repeat tourists tend to stay longer compared to first-time ones. This is confirmed by Wang ( 2004 ) when he studied repeat visitation of Chinese travellers to Hong Kong. Intention is a good predictor of individuals’ behaviour, and accordingly it can promote for a real commitment. Likewise, traveller’s revisit intention is considered a good predictor of traveller’s future travel behaviour to a specific destination (Chang et al., 2014 ). Accordingly, this helps marketers and scholars to understand and predict tourist’s future commitment and behaviour (Ajzen and Driver, 1992 ).

As addressed earlier in the country image section, many research studies showed positive and significant relationship between city image and re-visit intentions (Beerli and Martin, 2004 ; Gallarza et al., 2002 ). Kim and Lee ( 2015 ) also agreed on this, showing that city image is significant in predicting the re-visit intention of South Korean visitors to international destinations/cities.

H5: There is significant relationship between country image and revisit intentions.

H6: Push-Pull motives have a positive influence on tourists’ revisit intentions.

The study analytical model

Based on the above literature reviewed, the relationships between the independent and dependent variables are presented in the below conceptual model (Fig. 1 ) of this research. This conceptual framework is going to discover which is the most push-dimension and the most pull-dimension, from the listed dimensions that this paper will tackle, that have a great influence on the visit intention of internal tourists to a domestic destination in Egypt (H1 and H2). It will also figure out the impact of the push-pull motives on the revisit intention of internal tourists to a domestic destination in Egypt (H6). In addition to the country image that positively mediates the relationship between push-pull dimensions and visit and re-visit intentions (H3, H4, and H5).

The figure shows the relationships between the push motivational factors (rest & relaxation, enhancing the ego, and novelty & knowledge-seeking) and pull motivational factors (tourism facilities, environment & safety, and cultural & historical attraction) on internal tourists’ visit and revisit intentions; the mediation role of the country image in the relationship between the independent variables (push & pull motives) and the dependent variables (visit & revisit intentions).

Methodology

The measurement of constructs.

The items’ relevance to measuring the variable was confirmed through a pilot study involving three experts. Subsequently, the study instruments underwent pretesting consisting of 30 participants to modify and refine items clarity of words and sentences, no changes were recommended based on the results. In March 2022, a self-administered questionnaire was disseminated in Cairo -capital city of Egypt. It included multiple sections to measure the independent, dependent, and mediator variable used in this research (Push-Pull motivational factors, visit and revisit intentions, and country image). In addition to the socio-demographic data collected to provide more information on the respondents’ profile.

The survey consisted of close-ended questions, and the Egyptian internal tourists (respondents of this study) were exposed to six sections: the first section designed to obtain general information on travel characteristics. The second section identified the push and pull travel motivations, where 19 push and 18 pull motivational items were presented. Questions were developed based on a comprehensive review of travel motivation past studies, where the items got selected and adapted from Yousefi and Marzuki ( 2015 ), Hsu and Huang ( 2008 ), Sangpikul ( 2009 ), Jang and Wu ( 2006 ), and Hanqin and Lam ( 1999 ). The third section obtained data on the country image, that was measured by four items adopted from Chi and Qu ( 2008 ), following the studies of Jalilvand and Samiei ( 2012 ) and Jalilvand et al. ( 2013 ). The fourth section obtained data on the visit intentions that was measured by four items scale adopted from Usakli and Baloglu ( 2011 ). These sections were presented in a statement format and assessed on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (means strongly disagree) to 5 (means strongly agree). Respondents were also exposed to the last two sections: the fifth section obtained data on the re-visit intentions, where respondents got asked to rate their revisit intentions to different destinations in Egypt. Three items were selected from Deslandes ( 2003 ) for their reliability and adapted to fit the context of this research. The sixth and last section obtained data on the socio-demographics, where respondents required to provide some personal details regarding their profile (like gender, age, marital status, income, occupation, educational level, travel companion, accommodation, and nationality).

Sampling and data collection

This study tests the hypotheses and research framework by means of questionnaire survey with an extensive literature review. The research object of this study is Egyptian internal tourists. The questionnaire was sent to the randomly selected consumers.

Due to the fact that the tourists’ segment in Egypt exceeds 1 million according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics -CAPMAS ( 2021 ); therefore, the sample size will be 384 respondents according to the Uma Sekaran table (Sekaran, 2003 ). In total, 385 responses were received, (70.2%) females and (29.8%) males. In total, 36 cases were deleted because of incomplete answers, which generated 349 usable responses to proceed for analysis, around (7.2%) are aged between 18 and 24 years, almost (31.2%) between 25 and 34, (36.7%) between 35 and 44, (20.9%) between 45 and 54, (3.4%) between 55 and 64, and (0.6%) above 64 years. This shows that younger generation are more involved in domestic tourism. In terms of education, around (4.9%) from Secondary/Diploma, (2.6%) earned High School degree, (33.8%) had an Undergraduate degree, and (58.7%) had a graduate degree. In terms of Job level, around (18.3%) were businessperson, (47.2%) were employees, (31%) were unemployed, and (3.5%) retired. In terms of travel companion, almost (62.5%) travel with family, around (24.9%) travel with friends, (4.6%) travel for work, around (4.9%) travel alone, and around (3.2%) travel with other companions. Regarding the marital status (7.2%) were single, (85.4%) were married, (6.6%) are widowed, and (0.9%) were divorced.

Statistical analysis and results

Table 1 indicates that the questionnaire is reliable as the Cronbach’s alpha and average inter-item correlation coefficient for all items greater than (0.7), ranging from 0.732 (ego-enhancement) to 0.811 (novelty and knowledge seeking), emphasising a good level of internal consistency (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994 ). AVE value for all items greater than 0.5, ranging from 0.600 (revisit intention) to 6.83 (country image). AVE values above 0.50 are considered to be adequate (Hair et al., 2006 ).

Descriptive statistics of variables

From Table 2 , the average of all variables is between 3 and 4 which mean that respondents are tend to neutrally and agree to most of the statement that measure these variables. The variable with highest agreement is the novelty and knowledge seeking and country image while the variable with least agreement is the tourism facilities and environment and safety. As overall push dimensions have higher agreement than pull dimensions.

Correlation analysis

In this subsection the correlation analysis between the variables of the study is presented. From Table 3 below, it is clear that with confident (95%) that there is positive significant correlation between country image, visit intention, revisit intentions and each of push dimensions and pull dimensions, as the p value associated with them less than (5%). However, the correlation with push dimension is higher than the correlation with pull dimension.

ANOVA test results

The p value equals 0.000 which is significant (less than 0.05)as shown in Table 4 . This means that the proposed model predicts the dependent variable better than the intercept-only model (model with no predictors).

Coefficients summary

The following table (Table 5 ) summarise the included and excluded variables listed with significance and coefficients. The significance of the included variables is less than (0.05) which indicates that 4 variables out of 6 have significant influence on the visit intention, this with confident (95%). The significance of the excluded variables is greater than (0.05) which indicates that 2 variables out of 6 have no influence on the visit intention, with confident (95%).

Novelty and knowledge have significant positive impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%). The p value is 0.000 (less than 0.05) and β coefficient equals 0.393, which accept the alternative hypothesis (H1-3). Thus, novelty and knowledge have significant positive impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%), and controlling for other variables.

Ego-enhancement has significant positive impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%). The p value is 0.029 (less than 0.05) and β coefficient equals 0.153, which accept the alternative hypothesis (H1-2). Thus, Ego-enhancement has significant positive impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%), and controlling for other variables.

Rest and relaxation have insignificant impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%). The p value is 0.107 (larger than 0.05). Thus, rest and relaxation have insignificant impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%), and controlling for other variables which reject the alternative hypothesis (H1-1).

Cultural and historical attraction have significant positive impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%). The p value is 0.000 (less than 0.05) and βcoefficient equals 0.248, which accept the alternative hypothesis (H2-3). Thus, Cultural and historical attraction have significant positive impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%), and controlling for other variables.

Environment and safety have significant positive impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%). The p value is 0.048 (less than 0.05) and β coefficient equals 0.108, which accept the alternative hypothesis (H2-2). Thus, Environment and safety have significant positive impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%), and controlling for other variables.

Tourism facilities has insignificant impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%). The p value is 0.139 (larger than 0.05). Thus, tourism facilities have insignificant impact on visit intention, this with confident (95%), and controlling for other variables which reject the alternative hypothesis (H2-1).

From the standardised coefficient, the variable with highest effect on visit intention is Novelty and knowledge seeking.

Regression model summary

Table 6 shows that the Adjusted R 2 value of 0.989 indicates the fit of the model. The proposed model could infer 98.9% of the total variance in the visit intention.

From the value of Durbin Watson, there is no serial autocorrelation between residuals, as the value is near to 2. No serial auto correlation is one of the assumptions of the regression model.

Linearity assumption was checked to ensure that model results are reliable, from the graph below (Fig. 2 ) points are random then linearity satisfied.

The figure represents the linearity assumption. The linearity was checked to ensure that model results are reliable. The graph shows that points are random then linearity satisfied.

The H3, H4, H5, H6 hypotheses are answered using SEM and path analysis, then the following path model will be estimated as in Fig. 3 .

SEM is used to assess hierarchical relationship between some variables, as testing for mediating effect in a model.

From Table 7 , we can conclude that push dimension has insignificant effect on revisit intentions this with confident (95%) as p-value larger than (5%), then this path is removed, and the model will be estimated again.

Second and final step

The following table (Table 8 ) and path model (Fig. 4 ) present the results of the final estimated path model, and from it we can conclude that:

The results show that pull dimension and push dimension has direct positive impact on country image and this effect = 0.444, 0.078 respectively and this with confident (95%) as the p value associated with them is less than (5%).

Pull dimension and Push dimension has direct positive impact on country image and this effect = 0.444, 0.078 respectively and this with confident (95%) as the p-value associated with them is less than (5%).

Country image has direct positive impact on intention to visit and this effect = 0.374, and this with confident (95%) as the p value associated with them is less than (5%).

Country image has direct positive impact on revisit intentions and this effect = 0.406, and this with confident (95%) as the p value associated with them is less than (5%).

Pull dimension has direct positive impact on intention to visit and this effect = 0.394, and it has indirect positive impact on intention to visit through country image and this indirect effect  =   0.166 (0.444*0.374) , then country image mediate the relationship between pull dimension and visit intention, such that it strength this relationship, and this with confident (95%) as the p value associated with them is less than (5%).

Pull dimension has direct positive impact on revisit intentions and this effect = 0.480, and it has indirect positive impact on intention to revisit through country image and this indirect effect  =   0.180 (0.444*0.406) , then country image mediate the relationship between pull dimension and revisit intentions, such that it strength this relationship, and this with confident (95%) as the p value associated with them is less than (5%).

Push dimension has direct positive impact on intention to visit and this effect = 0.050, and it has indirect positive impact on intention to visit through country image and this indirect effect  =   0.029 (0.078*0.374) , then country image mediate the relationship between push dimension and visit intention, such that it strength this relationship, and this with confident (95%) as the p value associated with them is less than (5%).

Push dimension has insignificant impact on revisit intentions while it has indirect positive impact on revisit intentions through country image and this indirect effect  =   0.03167 (0.078*0.406) , then country image mediate the relationship between push dimension and revisit intentions, such that it strength this relationship, and this with confident (95%) as the p value associated with them is less than (5%).

SEM results

Regarding model in the above table, the researcher concluded that all the goodness of fit measures of the model indicates that all indicators at acceptable limits, especially NFI (0.948), RFI (0.039), IFI (0.951), TLI (0.943), and CFI (0.949) is close to one. Also, the value of RMSEA (0.034) is less than (0.05). All these measures indicate the goodness of fit of the structural model. Although the level of significance of the Chi-square test is less than (0.05) which indicate that the model is not good fit, but this is not an accurate result as Chi-square is very sensitive for large sample size so goodness of fit of the model is determined according to the above-mentioned indicators.

This research paper aimed to investigate the impact of the push motivational factors (rest and relaxation, enhancing the ego, and novelty and knowledge-seeking) and pull motivational factors (tourism facilities, environment and safety, and cultural and historical attraction) on internal tourists’ visit and revisit intentions to a domestic destination in Egypt. It also tested the mediation role of the country image in the relationship between the independent variables (push and pull motives) and the dependent variables (visit and revisit intentions). The hypotheses of this study were expected to be positive and significant. Indeed, positive and significant relationships were found, supporting H1-2, H1-3, H2-2, H2-3, H3-1, H3-2, H3-3, H3-4,H4, H5, and H6. However, other insignificant links were found too, especially H1-1 and H2-1.

The key findings, with the support from the past literature reviewed, showed that the relationships between enhancing the ego and visit intention (H1-2), and between novelty and knowledge-seeking and visit intention (H1-3) were positive and significant. This means that these push factors are indeed the core travel motivation factors that push and motivate internal tourists to visit a domestic destination in Egypt. The findings of this research agreed with the results of Chen et al. ( 2023 ), Dean and Suhartanto ( 2019 ), Jang and Cai ( 2002 ), Sangpikul ( 2009 ), and Huang ( 2010 ), who all supported that novelty-seeking and knowledge-seeking were perceived as the core and most important push motives for tourists. Ultimately, the findings of this study showed that the variable with the highest contribution on the visit intention is novelty and knowledge-seeking, reporting a standardised coefficient (Beta) value of (0.406). However, different results were found regarding the last push dimension, which is the rest and relaxation. The findings of this research regarding the impact of rest and relaxation on internal tourists’ visit intention to a domestic destination in Egypt (H1-1) was insignificant, and accordingly showed inconsistency with the results of Chen et al. ( 2023 ), Teng et al. ( 2023 ), and Sangpikul ( 2009 ), who argued that escape and relaxation have a positive significant impact on the visit intention as per the study of each. Therefore, H1-2 and H1-3 were met.

As predicted, significant and positive relationships were found between environment and safety and visit intention (H2-2), and between cultural and historical attraction and visit intention (H2-3), demonstrating that these pull dimensions are the core externalities of a destination that can attract internal tourists to visit a domestic destination in Egypt. The outcomes of this study agreed with the findings of Jang and Cai ( 2002 ), who confirmed that cleanliness and safety were perceived as the most important pull motives for British travellers. In addition to the consistency showed with the results of Sangpikul ( 2009 ), who supported that cultural and historical attraction were the core pull dimensions by Europeans visiting Thailand. Thus, H2-2 and H2-3 were supported.

Country image was expected to mediate positively the relationships between the visit intention and push and pull motives. The findings revealed that country image mediates positively the relationship between the push motives and visit intention (H3-1), and the association between the pull motives and visit intention (H3-2). Therefore, strengthening these associations as it mediates. Additionally, these interactions/links were also statistically significant since they were significant at ( P  < 0.05), as presented on the second and final step of the Regression Weights table under the analysis chapter, demonstrating these relationships with a 95% confidence level. Based on that, and as expected, a significant and positive association was found between country image and visit intention (H4). This illustrates that enhancing the country image can end up influencing positively, directly, and significantly tourist’s visit intention. Thus, the findings of this study aligned with the results of Stepchenkova and Morrison ( 2008 ), who found that the tourists with more favourable image of Russia as the host country, the more intention and willingness they get to visit Russia. Likewise, the results showed consistency with the outcomes of Doosti et al. ( 2016 ) while studying foreign visitors to Iran. Hence, H3-1, H3-2, and H4 were met.

In this research, it was revealed that a positive, direct, and significant association exists between country image and revisit intentions. Doosti et al. ( 2016 ) supported that country image does not only impact significantly tourists’ visit intention, but also it impacts their decision-making process for a re-visit intention. Such an outcome aligned with the results of Beerli and Martin ( 2004 ) and Gallarza et al. ( 2002 ), who showed the same significant relationship. Similarly, the findings of Kim and Lee ( 2015 ) confirmed that city image is significant in predicting the revisit intentions of South Korean visitors to international cities. Finally, it was found that positive but insignificant relationship occurs between pull-push motives and revisit intentions. To demonstrate, it means that the push and pull factors do not have an impact on tourists’ revisit intentions. Therefore, H5 was confirmed, but H6 was rejected.

In this research, it investigated the influence of the push-pull motivational factors on internal tourists’ visit and revisit intentions to a domestic destination in Egypt. This study also tested the mediation effect of country image on the relationship between the independent variables (push and pull motives) and dependent variables (visit and revisit intentions). Based on that, the findings of this research showed that novelty and knowledge-seeking, ego-enhancement, cultural and historical attraction, environment and safety were found to understand and explain the visit intention of internal tourists to a domestic destination in Egypt very well and clearly, reporting a positive, direct, and significant relationship with the visit intention. However, the findings showed that rest and relaxation and tourism facilities did not contribute to the whole model, reporting a positive but insignificant relationship with the visit intention, and therefore contradicted with the results of the previous studies in the literature reviewed.

Over and above, this research presented that the country image is significantly and positively, as hypothesised and expected, mediates the relationship between push motives and visit intentions, and between the pull motives and visit intentions. Thus, showing its significance within the context of this research. Additionally, country image showed a significant and positive influence on both intentions investigated in this study, namely visit and revisit intentions. Therefore, this demonstrates that a more favourable country image can contribute to influencing tourists’ visit and revisit intentions to a domestic destination in Egypt.

Theoretical implications

This research has extended the knowledge and understanding base with two main contributions. Starting with, the novelty it added to these literatures: push-pull motivational factors, visit intention, and revisit intentions by providing more insights regarding internal tourist’s behaviour towards a domestic destination within the Arab region (Egypt). This is because a very limited literature has been devoted to explaining the model in Egypt, considering that Egypt is one of the promising countries when it comes to tourism and rich history. Secondly, this research has also contributed to the literature-base of the country image through providing deep valuable insights on the mediation role of country image in the relationship between the independent variables (push and pull motives) and the dependents (visit and revisit intentions).

Managerial/marketing implications

The findings of this study are considered valuable for marketers, tourism city managers, tourism-planning organisations, and government, as they are for researchers and academics, providing knowledge on how motivate and entice internal tourists to visit a domestic destination in Egypt. Marketers and tourism city managers can build strategies that can utilise the most push and pull factors that this study has investigated to embed them in their marketing campaigns. This can be achieved by utilising the novelty and knowledge seeking and ego-enhancement as the main push factors that can motivate and encourage internal tourists to visit a domestic destination in Egypt. This is in addition to utilising the factors that pull tourists from the destination itself, like cultural and historical attractions and environment and safety of the destination. Marketers can also enhance the country image and advertise for a more favourable and appealing image about Egypt, since it strengthens the associations between the independents and the dependent variables as it mediates. Finally, tourism-planning organisations and government need to cooperate and work together to promote the desirable destination based on pull factors like environment and safety of the destinations and attractions whether cultural or historical.

Limitations and directions for future research

There are limitations associated with this research. First, this research examined the motivational factors of the internal tourists in specific cities in Egypt (Cairo, Luxor, Alexandria, Aswan, Sharm El-Shiekh, Hurghada, Safaga and Ain El-Sokhna) since they are the most visited locations during vacations and were chosen based on TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel guidance platform and may not be generalised to the other cities. Thus, the generalisability of the study findings is limited to Egyptian citizens. Second, variables may not be considered as the only variables that reflect tourists’ intentions for visit or revisit, other variables can be included like trust. For future research, tourists’ evaluation in other tourism cities of Egypt may create a new insight about the relationships among motivations, city image, and visit and revisit intention. The present study was limited by the number variables used. It is recommended that future studies should include more variables. Moreover, other studies can deal with other variables related to visiting tourism cities including value, culture, and social motives.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article. The data that support part of the findings of this study are available and freely accessed from Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics available at https://www.capmas.gov.eg/Pages/IndicatorsPage.aspx?page_id=6133&ind_id=2251 and https://www.capmas.gov.eg/Pages/StaticPages.aspx?page_id=5034 , GALLUP available at https://www.gallup.com/analytics/267869/gallup-global-law-order-report-2019.aspx , International Monetary Fund available at https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2021/07/14/na070621-egypt-overcoming-the-covid-shock-and-maintaining-growth , Statista available at https://ezproxy.bue.edu.eg:2917/statistics/970638/egypt-tourist-arrivals/?locale=en , https://ezproxy.bue.edu.eg:2917/statistics/261740/countries-in-africa-ranked-by-international-tourist-arrivals/ , https://ezproxy.bue.edu.eg:2917/statistics/1343743/ttci-scores-of-countries-in-africa/ , The World Bank available at https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ST.INT.ARVL?end=2019&locations=EG&start=2007&view=chart , https://www.unwto.org/archive/middle-east/press-release/2016-02-24/unwto-confident-egypt-s-tourism-recovery , World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) available at https://www.unwto.org/glossary-tourism-terms , United Nations available at https://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/Seriesm/SeriesM_83rev1e.pdf#page=21 , and World Economic Forum available at https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Travel_Tourism_Development_2021.pdf .

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Ayoub, D., Mohamed, D.N.H.S. The impact of push-pull motives on internal tourists’ visit and revisit intentions to Egyptian domestic destinations: the mediating role of country image. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 358 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02835-7

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Push and Pull Factors of Tourists Visit the Tourism Destination of Bali, Indonesia

Push factor is that make person want to travel and they are mainly internal psychology motive. The pull factor is external factor that affect person travels to fulfill needs or desire. Person will choose one destination which fulfills their needs and desires. Objectives of this research are to identify major push and pull factors which influencing tourist visit to tourism destination of Bali, Indonesia. This research is using qualitative and quantitative analysis which using factor analysis and descriptive of qualitative. Result of this research shows that there are three major push factors namely status and personal development (F2), culture (F1) and inter-personal relationship (F4), and there are four major pull factors namely people (F10), atmosphere and climate (F6), security and hygiene (F11), and opportunities for outdoor activities (F12) the tourists visit to the tourism destination of Bali, Indonesia.

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Travel Motivation

There is always a motive behind everything happens in this world. Always there is a motivation in doing any work or anything. There are mainly two factors in behind happening anything it may be pull factors or push factors. In tourism, behind the movement of tourist there are various motives, it may may be leisure, business, pilgrimage or any other.

As we know tourism is a people centric and one of the fastest growing industry. Assessing behavior and motivations of tourist is a critical task as travel decisions of tourist depends on it. Travel has been a nomadic urge in human earlier in quest of food. As humanity grows desire for shelter came into being and with the rises of civilization search of trade bundles with safety and security. The game changing moment for mass tourism comes with the rise of leisure time. Assessing motivations of tourist is a critical task as travel decisions of tourist depends on it.

Motivation is an intrinsic property of a human-being that arises from the inside or of psychological origin. A combination of internal and external forces that motivates to drive the tourism industry. To satisfy all the levels of needs such psychological, physiological, etc. humans travels. It tells of tourist attempt to satisfy their recognized need and strongly influence decisions made by tourist in every steps of decision. Various theories have been developed to reveal the most important question why people travel?

The answer to this question is influenced by the nature of the travel motives.

4.  Types of Motivation  

Motivation can be classified into categories:  

1.  Intrinsic Motivation:  

this type of motivation comes from the inside through the core of the heart and mind of the tourist to do any specific work. t is defined as the performing of an activity for its intrinsic motivation that emerges from an individual’s inherent satisfactions, enjoyment, challenge entailed, interest or the feeling of inner pleasure that drives from the task rather than for some external pressures, or rewards or any separable consequence.

2. Extrinsic Motivation:  

  All the external factors which tends and individual to do any specific work. Individuals performs certain activities in order to attain or receive something from the outcomes. It involves executing an action influenced by the outer stimuli, to attain an external reinforcements or rewards from others such as money, praise, status etc.

Travel Motivation Theories

The tourist selecting to travel for business, leisure, pilgrimage, adventure or for other reasons, depends on motivation to visit destination. There are some common factors influencing tourist travel decisions such as 

•      Availability free time

•      Disposable income

•      Age and status

•      Attractiveness of destinations

A. Gray’s Travel-Motivation Theory .

 Gray explains the motivation of individual and given two motives for travel:

Wanderlust:   

It describes the motive or the desire to go from a known to an unknown place. It is travelling from or leaving a familiar places to go and see different or unfamiliar places. It is about going to different destinations to experience monumental and socio-cultural heritage.

It is a type of travel to a destination that can provide the tourist with specific facilities or better amenities. It is travelling for particular purpose or facilities that are not available in place of residence of the tourist.

B. McIntosh and Goeldner Categorization of Travel Motivation 

McIntosh has stated that basic travel motivators may be grouped into four broad categories:  

1. Physical Motivators 

These types of motivation are concerned with the individual physical health and well-being involves physical relaxation and rest, sporting activities, medical care or treatment and specific remedial health management. It include physical motivators that are concern with health from recreation to attending yoga camp to medical treatment for upkeep of health. 

2.Interpersonal Motivators   

Human are social animal and always keen to make new friends, have a desire to visit and meet relatives and friends, or simply want to escape from the daily hassles of everyday life. These type of motivators are termed as interpersonal motivators.

3.Cultural Motivators

Cultural motivators are describe as curiosity that tourists have and want to experience different people’s cultures and lifestyle. These are related with tourists desire to travel to different destination, in order to know about other countries, people, their culture, tradition, life style, art, music etc.

4.Status and Prestige Motivators    

Tourists travel to secure respect among their friends or in family and recognition of education and knowledge or for pursuit of hobbies. These types of motivators are identified with the need for fame and status or of personal esteem and personal development. It also include travel for business or professional interests. 

C. Anomie and Ego Enhancement Motivation Theory

            Dann investigated two push factors and proposes that motivational factors can be grouped into anomie and ego enhancement. 

Anomie refers to the need and desire to rise above the feeling of loneliness and quarantine inherent in everyday life and to get away from daily hassles. It is associated with search for life’s meaning and interaction with family and friends and social communication. The anomic tourists are mainly young, married, male mostly repeat visitors. They are from urban and rural areas and are above-average socio-economic status.

2.Ego enhancement  

Ego-enhancement tourists are the opposite end of spectrum. It derived from desire and need for recognition. The individual’s desire and need for social recognition is mainly associated with it and is achieved through the status or ego enhance conferred by travel. Ego-enhancement tourists are likely to be female, married or single mostly first-time visitors. They are older than anomic tourists and typically from lower socio-economic group. 

Dann argues that push factors are logically, and often an antecedent to pull factors. The question that  ‘what makes tourists travel’  can only be recognized through the push factors. As the tourist to take two different difficult decisions at two diverse times i.e. “whether to go” and “where to go”. 

D. Push and Pull Theory

Crompton identified two different levels of socio-psychological motivation. The first level of motivation is the desire to travel, that drives the initial decision for a trip or a vacation. It subsequently facilitates individual’s decision for destination. The second level of motivation drives the decision of selection of destinations. After the initial decision for making a trip, various motivation factors comes into being that impact the selection of destination. Crompton proposes two groups of motives among pleasure vacationers, one that push for a trip or tour are socio-psychological motives, while another factors that pull are cultural motives. 

1.Push Factors.   

Push factors are those factors which motivate people to travel. Push factors are initiating travel desire of an individual to engage in recreational activities or tourism. .Push factors are the inner motives which tends tourists to seek activities for needs fulfillment. Some push factors of travelling are:

•      Exploration and evaluation of self.

•      Escape from a perceived mundane environment.

•      Relaxation.

•      Health and fitness.

•      Re-experiencing family.

•      Facilitation of social interaction.

•      Enhancement of kinship relationships.

•      Novelty.

•      Cultural experiences.

•      Education.

•      Prestige.

2.Pull Factors 

All the external factors that pulls or attracts and individual towards some specific things or any destination. Pull factors appear due to the attractiveness and the attributes associated with the destination. It is related to the external condition, cognitive aspects or choices available on a destination such as attractions, climate, culture etc. Everyone has unique taste and choices which attract or pull individuals experience the destination. Identifying a set of pull factors that can be applicable to all sites is possible as different destinations have different or unique set of pull factors. 

Pull factors were characterized by  facilities ,  core attractions  and  landscape features .

•      The  facilities factor  encompasses all tourism facilities of a destination including fooding, lodging, roads, hospitality and security. 

•      The  core attractions  factor includes all those activities and services available for tourism. It includes sports activities, night life, entertainment and amusement and shopping facilities. 

•      The  landscape features  pull factor strongly relates to the geographical and sociocultural features of destination i.e. natural and cultural environment of destination. 

E. Escaping and Seeking Motivation of Mannell and Iso-Ahola

Mannell and Iso-Ahola   defined the motivation in socio psychological perspective. A two-dimensional model of tourist motivation where both the forces simultaneously influence tourists’ behaviour. The theory consists of both personal and interpersonal escape &amp; seeking motives together. An individual perceive that satisfaction can be feel from leisure related activities, for two major reasons 

Escaping  – the desire to get out from the monotonous environment of work.

Seeking  – the aspiration to get intrinsic psychological rewards from other or self through traveling 

Tourist are motivated for leisure or tourism related activities in order to get away from the personal and/or interpersonal problems of day to day hustle and bustle of life and get personal and/or interpersonal rewards from passive and active tourism activities.

Personal rewards  are more about individual satisfaction includes exploration and relaxation; learning, challenge, a sense of competence etc.

Interpersonal rewards  are arising from social interaction with family and friends or with other people in destination.

Intrinsic rewards  arise from the activity that provide certain feelings, such as a feeling of mastery and escape from the monotonous environment. 

F. Travel Career Ladder (TCL)

The travel career ladder approach was proposed by Pearce. The approach is based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory of motivation. 

Following Maslow theory, the proposed model sees the needs of travelers is organized into a hierarchy or ladder model. Biological needs including relaxation at the foundation level, followed by safety needs and relationships needs, and in line selfesteem and development needs, and fulfillment needs at the highest level.  

The model identified five steps of hierarchy affecting tourist behaviour. It suggests that a group of needs in the ladder steps or level can be dominant at a particular time but travel motivation of tourist may derive from the different level of ladder. It emphasizes all the motives for traveling of a tourist, rather than a single motive. TCL proposes that every individual or tourist headway upward through hierarchy levels with accumulated travel experience and psychologically maturity. 

This shows that travel motivation changes as tourist acquire experiences in tourism developmental and dynamic motivations process. An individual can descend or ascend on the ladder as the direction of the change in level may vary with the experience. Some individuals may undergo every steps or level on either side of the model or may ascend the ladder on one side of the schema. Each individual every time not seek the similar type of experience or fulfillment from travel.  For example: First time visitor may be more cautious of safety and security then repeat visitor due more knowledge and experience about the destination or of trip. 

G. Travel Career Pattern (TCP)

The TCP model is modification of the earlier Travel Career Ladder (TCL) approach. The TCP emphasis on motivations patterns of tourist over their life cycle because of different motivation and its impact on their travelling experience. Travel experience plays a driver role for changing travel motivations which has crucial part in

TCP model. Travel experience is the collective changes in an individual’s perspective about self and environment due to tourism activities and events that individual passes through in course of travelling. 

Pearce suggested three layers of travel motivation:

Layer 1-  It is the core of the TCP and includes common motives such as escape, relaxation, health and fitness, social interaction etc. 

Layer 2-  It comprises series of moderately important motivators that surround core layer of motivations. It related to self-actualization and interaction of guest with the host society and environment. 

Layer 3-  The outer layer of model embraces motives with lesser importance such as social status and nostalgia.

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