Travel motivations of tourists to selected marine destinations

Abstract

South Africa is well known for its favourable climate, wildlife and golden beaches. Adding to this, its long summers make its coastline (over 3500 km) even more attractive to tourists around the world, and so are transforming the South African coast into a major marine tourism attraction. Along this lengthy coastline lie numerous marine destinations attracting thousands of tourists. These destinations offer various activities such as scuba diving, snorkelling, swimming, world class surfi ng and whale watching to tourists. When trying to capitalise on these assets, marketers clearly state that it is necessary to understand the market that uses them and the reasons people travel. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to determine the travel motives of tourists to selected marine destinations.Five surveys were conducted at marine resorts by means of a structured questionnaire. Two hundred and two (202) questionnaires were completed at Hartenbos, 210 at Jeffrey's Bay, 333 at Margate, 237 at Amanzimtoti and 153 at Plettenberg Bay. The statistical analysis entailed descriptive statistics and a factor analysis of the fi ve surveys. The results revealed similarity regarding escape and relaxation as travel motives when compared to other research. However, time usage and personal attachment were unique motives identifi ed by this study.A combination of psychological motives and of more tangible aspects should be used in tourism marketing strategies in order to attract a higher number of visitors to marine destinations. These results will, therefore, assist marketers and product developers of marine destinations, particularly with the marine tourism product being very similar.

The non-consumptive value of selected marine species at Table Mountain National Park: An exploratory study

“…Many tourists today want get in touch with nature; for them, nature provides a special holiday experience (Kuenzi & McNeely, 2008:156). This is confirmed by numerous studies on this topic (see Van der Merwe, Slabbert & Saayman, 2011;Kruger & Saayman, 2009). Opportunities for wildlife viewing are a valuable asset to national parks since tourists are willing to pay a significant amount of money to view particular species of animals and nature in general.…”

An exploratory investigation towards a visitor motivational profile at a provincial nature reserve in Gauteng

“…According to Beh and Bruyere (2007), this triggers the zeal to understand the travel motivations to nature reserves (such as SNR) as this influences development and marketing strategies to these destinations. Van der Merwe, Slabbert and Saayman (2011) describe tourist motivations as a set of needs that causes a person to partake in a tourist activity. Tourist motivations can be seen as a psychological stimulus that is able to spark the zeal to travel Mahika (2011).…”

“…Meng et al (2006) further highlight that, although many factors influencing tourist motivations exist, motivations are still crucial in answering what motivates visitors to visit nature reserves. Effective management of visitor service provision is only realised after the understanding of visitors' travel motivations (Kruger, Saayman & Hermann 2014;Van der Merwe et al 2011). Zhang and Marcussen (2007:18) note that understanding tourism motivations and activities will not only help tourism providers improve their products and services, but also know exactly what their customers want and where they are coming from.…”

“…Mahika (2011:1) supports this idea when he states that, in order to survive the stiff competition in the NBT system, tourism planners and managers need to know and focus on the changes that affect the motivations of tourists to buy tourism products and services. Van der Merwe et al (2011) state that different tourist attractions lead to different motives. This may be owing to the unique nature of each destination (Hermann et al 2016).…”

Determinants of Intention to Visit Phuket, Thailand

“…Several motivation theories have been proposed to describe how tourists' motivation affects their tourism behavior and actions, including Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Plog's (1974) tourism motivation model, Dann's (1977) push and pull motivation theory, and Crompton's (1979) nine motives. According to Van der Merwe et al (2011) and Chen et al (2014) travel motivation is a set of needs that cause a person to participate in a tourist activity. The internal needs create a tension or discomfort level in the mind and body of an individual, who tries to act to satisfy these needs to reduce the tension .…”