An Integrated Model to Explain Inter-Relationships in Travel Behaviours

Abstract

This study focuses on the decision making process of international tourists traveling to Tanzania. An integrated approach is proposed to understand the interrelationships among tourist motivations, expectations, place identity and place dependence. Specifically, travel motivations directly affect tourist’s expectations and these expectations have impact on place identity and place dependence. Finally, place identity affects place dependence, both being components of place attachment. The model is based on the theory that potential tourists form their experiences in a path order that is at the start or even stage of planning the itinerary, during their stay and finally when building their attachment as well as future choices towards destinations. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather data in which a convenience sampling method was  employed. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis in which out of 700 collected questionnaires, 504 responses were retained for analysis. The empirical findings of this study recognize and account for the fact that travel motivation can only be understood by focusing on several underlying factors. Also, the empirical findings recognize that different experiences release and stimulate identification processes, which further strengthen the attachment of tourists to the site they visit. Other  researchers can make use of theories developed in this study to come up with more lucid models in different contexts.

Keywords: travel motivations; travel expectations; place identity; place dependence