Travel Motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Travel Motivation - Essay Example With the changes in the structure of the society, more purchasing power in the hands of the people, rightly associated with more stress, tourism worldwide has grown beyond proportions. It is now declared as an industry like any other industry. Motivation has always been an important consideration in the field of tourism (Pearce & Lee, 2005). Motivation is seen as the driving force behind all actions. Travel motivation is challenging because of the different human needs. The purpose of travel is no more just business or pleasure. The tourist visitation patterns and the result of a destination choice pattern are influenced by the tourists’ motives and backgrounds. Tourist motivation can be defined "as the global integrating network of biological and cultural forces which gives value and direction to travel choices, behavior and experience" (Pearce, Morrison & Rutledge, 1998 cited by Espinoza). A desire for novelty and difference, the curiosity to remove the myths about exotic pl aces gives tourism a boost. Tourism ranges from Jerusalem to Bangkok and shapes politics, creates identities, and manufactures history. Today we hear of spiritual tourism, health tourism, nature tourism, casino tourism, sex tourism, dark or grief tourism, sustainable tourism, eco-tourism, adventure tourism, space tourism and heritage tourism. This paper will discuss how different forms of tourism have come into existence to meet different needs of the tourists especially in the context of New York as a tourist destination. Market segmentation in the tourism industry is based on travel motivation factors. A study conducted on Switzerland as a destination revealed that the number of leisure trips that any person undertook and the duration of the trips have reduced. These have been related to significant time constraints in certain segments of the traveling public. This is an indication that Switzerland’s travel market has entered the maturity stage. It also demonstrates that