travel career pattern motives

Travel Career Pattern Theory of Motivation

Hera oktadiana , manisha agarwal.

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Backpacker Motivations: A Travel Career Approach

2010, Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management

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

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Chapter 3. Motivation: The Travel Career Pattern Approach

From the book tourist behaviour.

• Philip L. Pearce
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Health motives and the Travel Career Pattern (TCP) model

Panchal, Jenny , and Pearce, Philip (2011) Health motives and the Travel Career Pattern (TCP) model. Asian Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 5 (1). pp. 32-44.

The contemporary travel motivation approach known as the travel career pattern (TCP) was selected as the broad based framework to guide the assessment of the importance of health motives compared to other factors. The first aim of this paper is to locate the importance of health as a travel motive in the TCP. A second aim of the work lies in assessing the role of varied levels of travel experience in modifying the importance of health as a travel motive. The context for this work lies in a study of travellers selected for their participation in at least some form of health related tourist behaviours in South East Asia, most particularly India, Thailand and the Philippines. The core findings of the study of 336 travellers consists of establishing health as motive of mid level importance in the travel career patterns and that like other middle level motives increasing travel experience tends to lessen the importance of this motive in travellers' overall tapestry of motivational drivers.

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Travel motives

Understanding tourists travel motives is crucial in several respects. Partly for tourism business owners who need to understand which needs their experiences should fulfil for tourists, but also for the various authorities planning for tourism development. It can also explain tourists’ (unsustainable or sustainable) behaviour on holiday and make it possible to counteract or encourage that behaviour. 

It’s important to clarify the definition of travel motive, especially in relation to the purpose of the journey. Motive isn’t the same thing as purpose. Motives are the underlying psychological reasons why we travel, and are often not openly taken into account, unlike the purpose of the trip. They reflect the needs of the individual and can often be hard to put into words.

One example: The purpose of my last trip to Stockholm was to meet friends and acquaintances as well as go to a music event. Those were my desired experiences and the purpose of the trip. Motive explains why we want to travel for that purpose and can in this case, for instance, be escapism (i.e. getting away from it all), relationships (strengthening and nurturing relationships with nearest and dearest) or nostalgia (seeing the band I’ve loved since I was a teenager). That it was Stockholm in particular that I travelled to was because I have friends there and the band was playing there that weekend. But it could just as easily have been another destination. In this context it’s also common to talk about push or pull factors, in other words factors that push you away from your home area and factors that pull you to various destinations. The former often includes motive, like the desire to escape day to day life (escapism) or to try and find something different (novelty seeking), whereas pull factors are specific attractions in destinations (read more about that later under Destinations’ Offers).

Research on travel motive has discovered a number of different motivating factors and patterns, that often change depending on context and destination. Two theories have been important for the understanding of travel motive; Travel Career Ladder and Travel Career Pattern, which are partly based on Maslow’s well known Hierarchy of Needs. The latter progresses the former, and focuses on motivation patterns, in other words the many different motives that cluster together to form a tourist’s motivation to travel to a particular place. The Travel Career theory is important here, as well as motivation pattern. Someone who has visited every corner of the earth and travelled continuously for long periods has other motives than a first time traveller. The motives overlap each other but research has shown that in general there is a significant difference that is derived from a tourist’s prior experience of travelling.

Research shows that tourists with high travel experience want to distance themselves from other “tourists” (read: charter tourists) and see themselves as “travellers” and “explorers”. Consumption of (different kinds of) journeys consequently becomes an important strategy, which is used to differentiate themselves socially and culturally from others. In the table below we can see examples of which motives arise in connection to how experienced a tourist is.

Table 1: Motivational factors, travel career patterns (adapted from Pearce & Lee, 2005)

The table shows that there are four main motives which arise whatever the travel experience; Novelty Seeking, Escapism/Relaxation, Relationships and Self Development. The last two motives pull in different directions depending on the travel experience; internal or external (personal development versus host site involvement and security versus strengthen relationships). The table also shows motives that are generally specific to those with lower travel experience.

Research on travel motives is often carried out on Western tourists. There’s a certain degree of variation in how strong the different travel motives are, but studies of Asian tourists, for instance, show bigger differences. For example prestige or self-actualization, and strengthening family relationships have been shown to be of greater importance in studies of Japanese tourists, and novelty seeking is less important in comparison. Other cultural contexts are said to be the largest reason for these differences.

Crompton, J. L., & McKay, S. L. (1997). Motives of visitors attending festival events. Annals of Tourism Research, 24(2), 425-439. Iso-Ahola, S. E. (1982). Toward a social psychological theory of tourism motivation: A rejoinder. Annals of Tourism Research, 9(2), 256-262.  Kim, S. S., & Prideaux, B. (2005). Marketing implications arising from a comparative study of international pleasure tourist motivations and other travel-related characteristics of visitors to Korea. Tourism Management, 26(3), 347-357. Munt, I. (1994). The ‘Other' postmodern tourism: Culture, Travel and the New Middle Classes. Theory, Culture & Society, 11(3), 101-123. Pearce, P. L., & Lee, U.-I. (2005). Developing the travel career approach to tourist motivation. Journal of Travel Research, 43(3), 226-237.

• Methodology

Maintained in cooperation with Travel CO 2

Motivation and emotion/Book/2015/Travel motivation

• 2.1 Travel Career Ladder (TCL)
• 2.2 Travel Career Patterns (TCP)
• 3 Murray's classification of human needs: Application to travel motivation
• 4 Push/pull theory
• 5 Plog's allocentrism/psychocentrism model
• 6 Conclusion
• 8 References
• 9 External links

Crompton (1979) notes it is possible to describe the who, when, where, and how of travel motivation, but there is no answer to the question ‘why’, the most interesting question about travel behaviour. Travel motivation relates to why people travel (Woodside & Martin, 2007). If we can explain what an individual gets out of travel experiences then we can explain the motivation behind them seeking it out. Motivation is crucial in explaining travel behaviour as it constitutes the driving force behind all actions. Motivation sets the stage for individual goal formation, reflected in both travel choice and behaviour while further influencing expectations and experience perception. Motivation is therefore a factor in satisfaction formation (Reissmann, n.d). Basic motivation theory suggests a dynamic process of internal psychological factors (needs, wants and goals), causing an uncomfortable level of tension within individuals’ minds and bodies, resulting in actions aimed at releasing that tension and satisfying these needs (Fodness, 1994), moving people to do.

This chapter delves into the reasons behind pursuing travel experiences through reviewing psychological literature. Most travel motivation literature is based on application of theories from mainstream psychology. This chapter highlights Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs and its application to travel motivation, stemming from here a less well known of Maslow’s theories is the aesthetic need and the need to know and understand. Examination of the Travel Career Ladder (TCL) and Travel Career Pattern (TCP) will also help explain the motives behind seeking travel experiences. Murray’s (1938) classification of human needs , Crompton’s (1979) push/pull theory and Plog's (2001) allocentrism/psychocentrism concept will further contribute to describing the relationship between travel and motivation.    

The aim of this chapter is to use psychological theories to uncover the motivation behind travel. It is hoped that this investigation will aid readers in understanding their employees, consumers, families, friends or own travel motives better.

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson  

“We travel for fulfilment.” –  Hilaire Belloc

“I travel because half the fun is the aesthetic of lostness.” – Bradbury

Maslow's hierarchy of needs: Application to travel motivation

An influential psychological theory and one that many travel motivation researchers base their theoretical analysis around is Maslow's hierarchy of needs (1954) (Jang & Cai, 2002), also known as Maslow's pyramid. According to Maslow (1970), human needs can be arranged in a hierarchy of five categories (see Figure 2). The most basic needs are physiological, such as hunger, thirst, and sex (Huang & Hsu, 2009). Climbing the pyramid, Maslow’s other needs include safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualisation. Typically, people fulfill their needs starting from the lower segments of the pyramid, upwards, as each level of need is satisfied. Human needs usually follow this hierarchical order; however, circumstances exist when higher level needs outweigh lower level needs even though they have not been met (Maslow, 1970). This can be the case when it comes to travel motivation. Maslow’s hierarchy theory helps us to understand the different needs that motivate travellers while also providing knowledge about what kinds of experiences travellers seek, especially for certain groups of people. Nationality and age play a role in the motivation to travel, however gender has no effect when predicting motivation to travel (Jönsson & Devonish, 2008).

Many researchers have used motivational theory to try to interpret the motivations of tourists. On the idea that motivations derive from a real or perceived need, it is justifiable to analyse individuals' travel experience seeking choices as a consequence of need deficiency (Brown, 2005). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs forms the basis for further development and applications to understand travel behaviour (Maslow, 1970).This hierarchy can be related to the travel industry in the sense that unless individuals have their physiological and safety needs met, they are less likely to be interested in travelling the world. Self-actualisation can, in fact, be considered the end or goal of leisure (Brown, 2005), with travel experiences offering the opportunity to re-evaluate and discover more about the self, to act out one’s self-image as a way of modifying or correcting it.

Maslow discusses two other sets of important human needs: the aesthetic need and the need to know and understand, [ grammar? ] they are less known because they were not included in the hierarchy model (Huang & Hsu, 2009). If placed in the pyramid these two needs would come between self-actualisation and esteem (see Table 1).

The aesthetic need & the need to know and understand

Referring to Figure 2 and Table 1 the first four needs, Maslow identified as deficit needs [ grammar? ] :  if the needs are not met, they make us uncomfortable and we are motivated or driven by these needs until we are able to sufficiently fulfill these needs (Gautam, 2007).

However the last three needs, particularly the aesthetic need and the need to know and understand, he [ who? ] identifies as growth needs: we never get enough of these. We are constantly motivated by these needs as they affect our growth and development (Gautam, 2007). It is obvious how important these needs are when explaining travel motivation and the experience seeking behaviour behind it.

• The need to know and understand : at the fifth level of Maslow’s pyramid humans have the need to increase their intelligence and thereby chase knowledge. This need is the expression of the natural human need to learn, explore, discover and create to get a better understanding of the world around them (Martin & Loomis, 2007).
• The aesthetic need : at the sixth level based on Maslow’s beliefs, it is stated in the hierarchy that humans need beautiful imagery or something new and aesthetically pleasing to continue up towards self-actualisation (the seventh and last level). Humans need to refresh themselves in the presence and beauty of nature while carefully absorbing and observing their surroundings to extract the beauty that the world has to offer (Martin & Loomis, 2007). 

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a key theory in travel motivation research. Two conceptual frameworks in understanding travel motivation – the travel career ladder (TCL) and travel career patterns (TCP) – emerged from his work and apply to this field (Huang & Hsu, 2009).

Travel Career Ladder (TCL)

The core idea underlying this conceptual framework is that an individual’s travel motivation changes with his/her travel experience. The Travel Career Ladder (TLC) suggests that peoples’ travel needs change over their life span and with accumulated travel experience. As tourists become more experienced, they increasingly seek satisfaction of higher level needs.

Many people move systematically through a series of stages, or have predictable travel motivational patterns (Huang & Hsu, 2009). Some travellers ascend the hierarchy, while others remain at a particular level. Pearce, (1988) suggests that the TCL proposes that people progress upward through motivation levels with accumulated travel experience and these travel experiences enable people to psychologically mature.

Based on Maslow’s hierarchy, Pearce’s 1988 model specified that there are five different steps affecting tourist behaviour (see Figure 3) which may be used to explain the TCL concept. Pearce (1996) describes his theory as distinguishing between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation at the four lower levels of the system. The travel career ladder emphasises all the tourists’ patterns or motives, rather than a single motive for traveling. Pearce (1996), observes that the direction of the change within the TCL is variable; some individuals may ascend the ladder predominantly on the left hand side of the system, while others may go through all the steps on both the left and right hand side of the model. This shows that travel motivation is developmental and dynamic, as people acquire touristic experiences (a career), their motivations change (Ryan, 1998). Those going abroad for the first time may prefer the security of a group tour, but in time may opt for independent ones as they become more experienced.

Pearce explicitly recognised that tourists’ travel motivation can be self-directed or other-directed (see Figure 3); individuals do not always seek the same type of fulfillment from travel, and people can descend as well as ascend on the ladder. To what extent tourists do so from one trip to the next, or whether this only occurs over longer time periods, is not quite as clear (Brown, 2005).

Travel Career Patterns (TCP)

Another theoretical outline based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the Travel Career Patterns (TCP) framework, presented by Pearce and Lee (2002). The TCP is essentially a modified version of the TCL. The TCL theory proposed that travellers progress up the ladder of travel motives as their travel experience increases, which created some questions of validity of the theory [ why? ] (Ryan 1998; Pearce and Lee 2005), and led to development of Travel Career Pattern (TCP) theory (Paris & Teye, 2010). The TCP reduced the hierarchical focus of the TCL and recognised that travel motivation is dynamic and multi-leveled (Paris & Teye, 2010). The concept of travel career is still central to the TCP, as is the idea that travellers will have changing motivational patterns during those travel careers (Pearce and Lee 2005).

The TCP is centred on 14 motivational factors:

• Self-actualisation – internal
• Self-enhancement – internal
• Romance – internal
• Belonging – internal
• Autonomy – internal
• Self-development (host site involvement) – external
• Nature – external
• Escape/relax – most important
• Novelty – most important
• Kinship – most important
• Nostalgia – less important
• Stimulation – less important
• Isolation – less important
• Recognition/social status – less important

The most important and core concepts (see figure 4) of the Travel Career Pathway are the most common motives among travellers (Lee, 2004). The next layer or middle layer is moderately important and is where traveller’s motives change from inner to externally orientated. Individuals at a higher travel career level were more externally orientated and motivated to travel, while people with lower travel career levels were more internally motivated to travel. The final and outer layer consists of common, stable and less important travel motives (Huang & Hsu, 2009).

Murray's classification of human needs: Application to travel motivation

Another motivation theory from mainstream psychology which may offer an explanation behind travel motives and behaviour is Murray’s classification of human needs. Henry Murray’s 1938 needs classification theory provides a comprehensive list of human needs that could influence travel behaviour (Pizam & Mansfeld, 1999). Murray listed 14 physiological and 30 psychological needs from which it is possible to identify factors that could act as travel motives (Pizam & Mansfeld, 1999), offering considerable scope for the exploration of needs and travel destination decisions (Ross, 1998).

For example, Table 2 provides a selection of Murray’s needs that may be applicable to travel motivation.

However this theory suggests that needs will change independently, so knowing the strength of one need will not necessarily explain the strength of others (Ross, 1998), due to its complexity Murray’s work is not as easy to apply as Maslow’s hierarchy and has not been adopted by travel researchers and is also therefore not as well known (Pizam & Mansfeld, 1999).

Push/pull theory

One of the best known theories of travel motives, after Maslow’s, was proposed originally by Dan (1977) who suggested a two-tiered scheme of motivational factors: the ‘push’ and the ‘pull’ (Brown, 2005). The push factors social-psychological motives that drive the desire to travel [ Rewrite to improve clarity ] . The pull factors are external factors that affect where a person travels to fulfil the identified needs or desires. Dann suggested that anomie and ego-enhancement were the basic underlining reasons for travel (Brown, 2005). John Crompton (1979) agreed with Dann’s basic idea of push and pull motives but went further to classify these motives as those that push people to travel and motives that pull people towards a travel experience as well as identifying nine motives for travel.

• The escape from a perceived mundane environment
• Exploration and evaluation of self
• Enhancement of kinship relationships
• Facilitation of social interaction

He classified the first seven motives as push factors, and the last two as pull factors (Brown, 2005). According to Crompton (1979) people travel because they are pushed by their inner motives and/or because they are pulled by the external factors of an experience. It is considered that most motives that push people originate from non-materialistic inner desires to escape, experience adventure, fulfill dreams, develop relationships, rest and relax, improve health and recreate or from a desire for prestige and socialisation (Huang & Hsu, 2009). On the other hand, the motives that pull are based on the attractive factors of the destination and expectations like a search for novelty and education (Vukic, Kuzmanovic, & Kostic Stankovic, 2014). Some researchers only accept push factors as motivation (Woodside & Martin, 2007), while they are considered important in initiating travel desire to satisfy or reduce the need, travellers are also pulled by destination attractions and attributes [ grammar? ] .

Plog's allocentrism/psychocentrism model

Stanley Plog (1974; 1987) developed the influential allocentrism/psychocentrism model, the earliest model that forms the basis of tourism typology theory. Individuals either fall into the allocentrism or psychocentrism category in relation to travel seeking behaviour. Psychocentrics are defined as people who experience territorial boundaries: a tendency to have travelled less throughout one’s lifetime, generalised anxieties: a strong feeling of insecurity in daily life and a sense of powerlessness: inability to control fortunes and misfortunes throughout their lifetime (Plog, 1974). Psychocentrics dislike destinations that offer unfamiliarity or insecurity. It is suggested that the psychocentric is dominated by safety needs (Brown, 2005). Allocentrism however exists on the opposite side of psychocentrism; allocentric people are venturesome and self-assured (Huang & Hsu, 2009) who tend to choose remote, untouched destinations (Brown, 2005), and unstructured holidays with more involvement in local culture (Pizam & Mansfeld, 1999). Between the psychocentric and allocentric groups are clusters of near-psychocentric, near-allocentric and mid-centric individuals (see Figure 5), the latter group displaying characteristics of an adventurer, but they want home comforts. It is this group that represents the mass travel seeking crowd (Brown, 2005).

Recently, Plog (2001) updated his model and re-labelled the term psychocentrics with dependables, and allocentrics with venturers. The remainder falls in between: near-dependables, near-venturers, and centrics (the largest group). Based on the model, Plog (2001) argues that most destinations follow a predictable but uncontrolled developmental pattern from birth to maturity, old age, and declination (Huang & Hsu, 2009). At each stage, a destination appeals to a different psychographic group of travellers based on the destination’s character and success. In the early stage, mass tourists do not arrive; only a few venturers visit. When the venturers return home, they talk with friends and relatives about what they have discovered. Some friends and relatives, the near-venturers, visit the intriguing place they had just heard about. When the near-venturers return home satisfied, they pass the message to their mid-centric friends. The destination gradually takes on a more touristy look, which is more appealing to dependables but unattractive to venturers. Some researchers criticise Plog’s model because tourists travel with different motivations on different occasions (Huang & Hsu, 2009). However, compared to other tourist typology forms, Plog’s model seems to provide better tourist motivation explanations (Huang & Hsu, 2009).

Ultimately travel motivation is a multidimensional concept that has been proposed by many researchers. Tourist motivation studies need to be carried out on a regular basis as people’s motivations change over time, with accumulated travel experience and with the social and cultural evolution of travel. Travel motivation is an important topic for researchers to understand and develop individuals' travel ideas and behaviour, with hopes of predicting the who, what, where, when and why of travel seeking experiences with ease. Future study areas include the reasons for people not wanting to travel or the differences in motivation between ages, life stages, income status, cultural backgrounds or occupation types.

This chapter has examined the psychological domain of motivation and its application to reasons for people seeking out travel experiences. It was aimed at improving the readers' understanding of their own travel motives as well as their employees, consumers, family or friends.  

Dann, G. (1977). Anomie, ego-enhancement and tourism. Annals Of Tourism Research, 4(4), 184-194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(77)90037-8

Figler, M., Weinstein, A., Sollers, J., & Devan, B. (1992). Pleasure Travel (tourist) Motivation: A Factor Analytic Approach. Bulletin Of The Psychonomic Society, 30(2), 113-116. Retrieved from http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/649/art%253A10.3758%252FBF03330412.pdf?originUrl=http%3A%2F%2Flink.springer.com%2Farticle%2F10.3758%2FBF03330412&token2=exp=1442557615~acl=%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2F649%2Fart%25253A10.3758%25252FBF03330412.pdf%3ForiginUrl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Flink.springer.com%252Farticle%252F10.3758%252FBF03330412*~hmac=1cc8cdcbe38f87ed76946ca0977e211336d026322734289e5adab4d8f4ace108

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Huang, S., & Hsu, C. (2009). Travel motivation: linking theory to practice. International Journal Of Culture, Tourism And Hospitality Research, 3(4), 287-295.

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Pearce, P., & Lee, U. (2005). Developing the Travel Career Approach to Tourist Motivation. Journal Of Travel Research, 43(3), 226-237. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0047287504272020

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Vukic, M., Kuzmanovic, M., & Kostic Stankovic, M. (2014). Understanding the Heterogeneity of Generation Y's Preferences for Travelling: a Conjoint Analysis Approach. International Journal Of Tourism Research, 17(5), 482-491. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2015

Woodside, A., & Martin, D. (2007). Tourism management . Wallingford, Oxfordshire: CABI Pub.

External links

• Intriguing blog piece to read , Reissmann thinks outside the box http://www.authenticholidayfilms.com/tourist_motivation_35.html
• Social contributions : Talk:Motivation and emotion/Book/2015/Travel motivation
• Quiz : What travel motive best describes you? https://www.qzzr.com/quiz/ad0f4764-a8c8-4ae5-9754-71742d1e092b/fi9xdWl6emVzLzEwNjQ2OA - Made with Qzzr.com - Further information available from this article: http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/649/art%253A10.3758%252FBF03330412.pdf?originUrl=http%3A%2F%2Flink.springer.com%2Farticle%2F10.3758%2FBF03330412&token2=exp=1442557615~acl=%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2F649%2Fart%25253A10.3758%25252FBF03330412.pdf%3ForiginUrl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Flink.springer.com%252Farticle%252F10.3758%252FBF03330412*~hmac=1cc8cdcbe38f87ed76946ca0977e211336d026322734289e5adab4d8f4ace108

This quiz is based on the Travel Motivation Survey (TMS) from the above article, results support past and present papers in travel research.

There are 5 possible categories that a participant could be placed in:

Anomie/authenticity seeking

Specifically this category validates Dann's (1977) position that people travel in search of something better or more comfortable for themselves, Pearce (1983) also suggested that positive travel experiences reflect fulfillment of self-actualisation, and needs for love and belonging. It further maintains Cohen's (1979) description of diversity, experimental and existential travel modes. McCannell's (1976) thesis is also all about people seeking a more authentic travel existence.

Culture/education seeking

Present data reinforces that travel can be for cultural enhancement and educational pursuits (Crompton, 1979, Dann, 1977), meaning that individuals are 'pulled' toward the attributes of the destination rather then social-psychological factors that motivate one to travel.

Escape/regression seeking

Many researchers are supported in this category (Crompton. 1979, Cohen, 1979, Farber 1954) with suggestions that travel is to escape from pressure, dissatisfaction and routine at home. Trying to shed responsibility and relax.

Wanderlust/exploring seeking

Relating to the desire to roam and explore Gary, 1970, Cohen, 1979 & Vogt, 1976 all acknowledge this motive.

Jetsetting/prestige seeking

Finally this motive implies a desire for personal recognition, status and higher living, Lett (1983), Dann (1977) and Crompton (1979) support this social prestige seeking travel motive.

• Resources needing improved grammar
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• Motivation and emotion/Book/2015
• Motivation and emotion/Book/Travel
• Motivation and emotion/Book/Tourism

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