Motivation for Pleasure Travel - Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies - page 198

one kind of experience to ful ll travelers motives. It can be argued that destinations offer many kinds

of holiday experiences; to assume that areas as diverse as resort cities or countries are going to attract
just one group of visitors with a certain narrow range of motivations would be simplistic. The title of
this chapter is ''Motivation for Pleasure Travel,'' an obvious indication of the focus of attention, but it is
worth noting that rich research and practical opportunities exist to develop our understanding of the
motivation of business, sports, and other travel groups. 2

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Background

Three main sources of ideas assist in answering questions concerning travel motivation. Historical and
literary accounts of travel and travelers provide one such source. Additionally, the discipline of

psychology and its long history of trying to understand and explain human behavior is a rich vein of

writing for travel motivation. And finally, the current practices of tourism industry researchers,
particularly those involved in surveying visitors, offer some additional insights concerning how we
might approach travel motivation.

History and Literature

Historians provide a range of accounts concerning why travelers have set about their journeys over the
centuries. Casson 3 and Wolfe 4 point out that the wealthier members of Athenian and Roman society
owned summer resorts and used to holiday there to avoid the heat of the cities and indulge in a social
life characterized by much eating and drinking. The stability of the Roman world permitted its citizens
to interest themselves in some long-distant travel; Anthony reports that visiting the Egyptian
monuments and collecting souvenirs from these sites were well-accepted and socially prestigious
practices. 5 If motives such as escape, social interaction, and social comparison were popular in Roman
times, then the emergence of the pilgrimage in the Middle Ages can be seen as adding a serious travel
motive to our historical perspective. The original pilgrimages were essentially journeys to sacred places
undertaken because of religious motives. Travelers sought the assistance or bounty of their god and
journeyed long distances to revere the deity. Rowling has noted that later in the Middle Ages, revelry

Don't you wish! This vacationer appears to be appreciating euphoria — the kind of optimal experience we
all hope to have when on holidays. Clearly some in-depth motivational research is in order here — to discover

this destination's secret of success in filling visitors needs. PhotocourtesyofWisconsinDepartmentofTourism.