THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TRAVEL

1. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TRAVEL CHAPTER 3

2. MOTIVATION FOR TRAVEL Escape Relaxation Relief of tension Sunlust Physical Health Family togetherness Interpersonal relations Roots or ethnic Maintain social contacts Convince oneself of one's achievements Show one's importance to others Status and prestige Self-discovery Cultural Education Professional/business Wanderlust Interest in foreign areas Scenery

3. 4 Basic Travel Motivators: Physical motivators include those related to physical rest, sports participation beach recreation, relaxing entertainment and other motivations directly connected with health. Cultural motivators include the desire to know about other countries - their music, art, folklore, dances, paintings and religion. Interpersonal motivations pertain to the desire to meet other people, visit friends or relatives, escape from routine, from family and neighbours. Status and prestige motivation concern ego needs and personal development. Included in this group are trips related to business, conventions, study and pursuit of hobbies and education. Travel would enhance one's recognition and good reputation.

4. Travel as a means to satisfy a need and want The key to understand tourist motivation is to view vacation travel as a vehicle to satisfy one's needs and wants. Tourists do not go on vacation just to relax and have fun, to experience another culture or to educate themselves and their children. They take vacations in the belief that these vacation will satisfy, either completely or partially, various needs and wants.

5. Relationship of Needs, Wants and Motives NEEDS WANTS AWARENESS MARKETING OBJECTIVES SATISFY SUGGESTS MOTIVATION

6. Maslow's Theory of Motivation and Travel Motivations

7. NEED MOTIVE TOURISM LITERATURE REFERENCES Physiological Relaxation Escape Relaxation Relief of tension Sunlust Physical Mental relaxation of tension Safety Security Health Recreation Keep oneself active and healthy for the future Social Love and Affection Family togetherness Enhancement of kinship relationships Companionship Facilitation of social interaction Maintenance of personalities Interpersonal Relations Ethnic Roots Show one's affection for family members Maintain social contacts

8. NEED MOTIVE TOURISM LITERATURE REFERENCES Self-esteem Achievement Status Convince oneself of one's achievement Show one's importance to others Prestige Social recognition Ego enhancement Professional/business Self-actualization Personal fullfillment The need to know and understand is motivated by the desire for knowledge. Many people travel to learn the cultures of other countries. Other motivations are education, wanderlust and interest on foreign parts. The need for aesthetics is shown in those who travel for environmental reasons - to view the scenery.

9. Relating travel motivations with Maslow's need theory whill produce two tangible benefits: The traveler is better understood and better motivated if she is recognized as a person consuming products and services. If one accepts Maslow's idea that the lower-level needs should first be satisfied before higher-level needs, we would expect that products and services, including vacations, which are aimed towards the satisfaction of lower-level needs, would be regarded as a necessity rather than a luxury.

10. The Need for Escape or Change The greatest reason for travel can be summed up in one word, “escape” - escape from the dull daily routine; escape from the familiar, the commonplace, the ordinary; escape from the job, the boss, the customers, the house, and the accelerated pace of modern life. Travel can provide diversity. It removes person from familiar surroundings to something that is new and exciting.

11. TRAVEL FOR HEALTH Development in the field of medicine have influenced travel for centuries, giving rise to the concept of health tourism. The search for health and long life has popularized the spas, seaside resorts as well as un resorts. The mineral water of different springs were believed to cure different ailments such as rheumatism, heart and circulation disorders, diabetes and problems of the kidneys and gall bladder. Reducing ranches attract middle-aged women with weight problems. Americans suffering from different maladies go to China or Hong Kong to undergo acupuncture or to the Philippines to consult faith-healers.

12. SPORTS Interest in sports, either as a participant or a spectator is attracting large segments of the population. People demand activity and excitement during their leisure hours to relieve them from the boredom of their work. They indulge in activities such as hiking, surfing, scuba diving, mountaineering and skiing. An example of an event that attracts millions of tourist is the Olympic Games which is held every four years.

13. SOCIAL CONTACT Much travel grows out of the social nature of people. They need contact and communication with others. They feel comfortable in a tour group. In the group, the traveller may develop friendships that may last for years. According to Charles Metelka , travel increases the “sociability resources” of individuals. It makes them more interesting to themselves and to others.

14. STATUS AND PRESTIGE Travel provides the means for ego or self-enhancement. Travel to poor country can provide the traveller with a feeling of superiority. Travel can also provide a means of mingling with the wealthy and social elite. Much travel is done to keep up with the Joneses and to appear knowledgeable about foreign places. Being well-travelled enhances one’s status in society. A trip to an out-of-the-ordinary destination adds glamor o one’s personality.

15. TRAVEL FOR EDUCATION Travel offers an opportunity to satisfy the urge to learn. Once an interest has been developed in a destination area, the urge to see that area emerges and the interest grows as knowledge increases. When a person reads a book about a place, sees a television program with that place as backdrop, he (tourist) suddenly discovers desperate desire to go there. E.g. College students go in large number either on their own or as part of study groups sponsored by universities. Students combine travel with learning and receive academic credit for doing so.

16. PERSONAL VALUES The notion of personal values is an important travel motivator. Many people are urged to travel to satisfy personal values such as the search for spiritual experience, patriotism and wholesomeness. Pilgrimages to religious sites or holy places such as the Vatican, Lourdes, Jerusalem, Mecca are undertaken for spiritual reasons. Trips to Disneyland are made to satisfy personal values of wholesomeness environment and patriotism.

17. CULTURAL EXPERIENCE Cross-cultural exchanges, experiencing how other people live and fostering international understanding are some of the reasons to satisfy curiosity about other cultures, lifestyles, and places. Studies conducted among travellers abroad reveal that seeking a new cultural experience is a primary reason for international travel.

18. SHOPPING AND BARGAIN HUNTING The joys derived from buying certain goods may be the major reason for travel. Millions of travellers go to Hong Kong, Singapore and other tax-free ports to shop. Bargain hunting or being able to get special merchandise at low cost is a travel motivator. Tourists are looking for place that are inexpensive.

19. PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS MOTIVES Conference and conventions about education, commerce and industry increase annually. More than one-half of all airline travel is done by business travellers. A great portion of business travel is mixed with pleasure. For example, a tourist may be attending a convention in Las Vegas but may spend half of his time gambling in a casino.

20. SEARCH FOR NATURAL BEAUTY Travel can satisfy one’s search for beauty in the environment and in the scenery. Natural beauty such as the sunset, trees, mountains, waterfalls, flowers, beaches, valleys, bays, rivers, lakes is usually pleasurable to the viewer. Most people are inspired by the beauty of nature. The trips of city dwellers to the rural areas on weekends show man’s need to see the beautiful scenery – trees, grass, streams and the open sky.

21. The Learning Process Of A Tourist Commercial Social Information Same Vacation Similar Vacation Previous Vacation Purchase Inclination Combination Alternatives Motives Combination

22. An individual’s learning input based on past experience, is derived from having experienced the same thing that is being considered or having experienced something similar. E.g. if a person stayed in a particular destination, the factors that accounted for his satisfaction such as good weather and friendly service will be the criteria by which he determines where to take his next vacation. Thus, decision criteria are developed or modified from actual experiences.

23. Effect of Consistency and Complexity on Leisure Travel Edward J. Mayo and Lance Jervis in The Psychology of Leisure travel, believe that individuals differ in the amount of psychological tension they can handle. Too much repetition or consistency results in boredom and a corresponding amount of psychological tension greater than he could handle. Similarly, too much complexity may result in more tension than a person can endure. To reduce the level of tension, he will introduce consistency into that experience. For example, a Filipino tourist in Europe may find the different language and culture (complexity) need to be balanced by staying in a hotel chain with which he is familiar (consistency).

24. Classification of Travellers Based on Personality Psychocentrics Midcentrics Allocentrics People centered on self, are inhibited and unadventuresome . Have a strong desire for consistency and the familiar. Prefers to visit “safe” destinations. Do not like to experiment with accommodations, food and entertainment. Look for experiences that will not result in personal stress or involve unusual situations. Indulge in activities with low activity. Not particularly adventurous, yet they are not afraid to try new experiences as long as these are neither too odd nor too challenging. Constitutes the mass market or the bulk of the population. People having interest and attention on other persons, are highly curious and thrive on stimulation and change. Have a strong need for variety and new experiences. They seek destinations that offer them an opportunity to experience totally different cultures and environments. Accept challenges, meet the residents, try-out local food & drink, stay in native lodgings. Want to explore & discover & go on their own rather than buy package tours.

25. Classification of Travellers Based on Purpose of Travel BUSINESS TRAVELLERS Regular Business Travellers The cost of the trip is shouldered by a company. Travel is not influenced by personal income. The volume and rate of growth of business travel is not generally affected by the cost of travel. This means that business travellers will continue even if the price of travel services increases. According to a survey, business travellers are well educated, have high-level job and tend to fly often.

26. Business Travellers attending meetings, conventions, and congresses According to a survey, 20% of all business travel trips are for the purpose of attending meetings, conventions, congresses. A congress, convention or conference is a regular formalized meeting of associations or body or a meeting sponsored by an association or body on a regular or ad hoc basis. Conventions are classified into 4 kinds namely: international, continental, national, and regional conventions. Incentive Travellers Is a special type of business travel given by firms to employees as a reward for some accomplishment or to encourage employees to achieve more than what is requires.

27. Experts say that these incentive trips last for five days and usually include spouses. The increasing popularity of incentive travel has led to the establishment of incentive travel organizations. Incentive travel organizations negotiate with suppliers such as hotels and airlines to determine the cost of incentive travel trips. They act as specialized types of tour wholesalers. To their prices, they add a mark-up of 15%-20% for their services and costs in packaging the incentive travel trip.

28. PLEASURE/PERSONAL TRAVELLERS Consists of people travelling for vacation or pleasure and also known as “ non-business travellers”. The demand for travel services by non-business travellers is elastic with respect to prices. Traveling for pleasure is the largest segment of the international market and the fastest growing. Regular Business Travellers Resort travellers are better educated, have higher house-hold incomes, and more likely to have professional and managerial positions. Majority of resort travellers have families with children.

29. Family Pleasure Travellers Junior families – with parents aged 20-34 having pre-school and/or grade-school children only. Mid-range families – with parents aged 35-44 with grade school and/or high school children only Mature families – with parents aged 45 or over with children who are of high school age and older. Family pleasure travel trips are motivated by these 3 objectives: Use travel as an educational experience for their children. To do something different. Use travel to bring the family closer together.

30. Hindrances to family pleasure travel: Cost of travel particularly the cost of transportation, accommodation, food. The ability of the parents to have privacy from their children. The problems of organizing and coordinating family pleasure plans. The elderly There are many people who are fifty years of age and over, including greater numbers of people in the retirement age category. These population shifts have made the elderly persons a lucrative target for tourism destination areas. Persons in the “50 plus” age bracket are called active affluents

31. or people with the money and the desire to the travel extensively. Active effluents generally search for learning experiences, cultural enrichment, socialization and activities which lead to self-fulfilment. Singles and Couples They take their vacations to fulfil their psychological, intellectual and physical needs by giving them the opportunity to rest, relax, escape the routine of pressures of daily living, enjoy the naturalness of life and to express total freedom.

32. Travel Constraints Lack of money – it is the major travel constraint. Less money means less travel. Lack of time – another inhibiting factor to tourist travel. The desire to travel and the financial ability to travel are insufficient if one does not have the time to travel. Lack of safety and security – lack of security in public places, hotels and travel centers cause people to prefer to remain in the security of their neighbourhood and home. Physical disability – in the form of bad health or physical handicap may keep people at home. Family commitments – parents with young children find it inconvenient and expensive to go on holiday. Lack of interest in travel – due to preference to simply stay at home. Fears – fear of flying is quite common; fear of the unknown; and afraid to go to countries with different language.