The Rate of Tourism and Motivation of Nature Tourism - Essay Example

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 2 Motives and motivation 3 Motivation of Nature Tourism 2 4 Green Eco-tourism4 5 Cultural Tourism 4 6 Spatial Behaviour 6 7 Tourism Behaviour in Australia 6 8 Categorisation of Tourists 8 9 Service in Tourism 9 10 Mass Tourism 10 11 Conclusion 11 12 Bibliography 13 CHARACTERISTICS AND BEHAVIOUR OF TOURISTS 1. Introduction Tourism and tourists have become a characteristic feature of contemporary societies. Tourism as an industry accounts for about 7% of world trade. Places, cities and regions are being planned and transformed in a way that they will attract more tourists and tourism investors. Even whole countries can be highly dependant on tourists and tourist trade. Jokinen and Veijola, (1997,p23) state, the tourist seems to appear everywhere, in every keynote paper at social scientific conferences, as a symbol of our allegedly post-modern era. Tourism arises out of a movement of people to, and their stay in, various places and destinations. Motivation relates to the choice of destination and activities, which are expected to relate to trip satisfaction and subsequent travel related intentions. The theories of motivation are a way of understanding the tourist expectations formation, that is, the tourist behaviour. Do they accurately assess and analyse tourist behaviour If so, to what extent 2. Motives and Motivation Some of the functions of attitude are knowledge, ego, defence, value expression, utility and social adaptation; these functions act as mediators between drives or motives and values or situations. The theory of tourism motivation explains the behaviour pattern and assists in the satisfaction of it's underlying cognitive and emotional motives. The two systems of emotions and cognition differ in the degree of control a person has over their generation and manipulation. The term cognition refers to the mental representations such as knowledge or beliefs. Emotions encompass drives, feelings and instincts. The two jointly contribute to tourism motivation process. Motive is a distinct type of learned or conceived action in the form of behaviour. Motivation contains results of a situation-person interaction. One and the same motive can generate situational different behaviour; while different motives can generate very similar behaviour. A person experiences a press or a pull, which usually appears in the guise of a threat of harm or promise of benefit. Both need and press, combine to form an equivalent group of behavioural situations. (Heckhausen, 1989.) When motives transform to motivation, the process of choosing specific destination and activities begin. "Motivation is based on feelings of competence and self determination." (Deci and Ryan, 1985.) Tourist motivation is a set of needs, which predispose a person to participate in a tourist activity. The important antecedents of individual motivation are cultural background, values, market communication, experience, and consumer self-perception. 3. Motivation of Nature Tourism People who live in cities are motivated to travel as tourists to areas of wilderness because they need to escape from an artificial monotonous environment. Gray's Travel Motivation Theory gives us two motives; first is the desire to go from a known place to an unknown place and the second is to go to a place which can provide the traveler with special facilities, that do not exist in the place of residence. This theory does not completely cover the aspects of nature tourism. It will be worthwhile to have a look at the Career Ladder Theory, which emphasizes that people have a range of motives for seeking out holiday experiences. With different levels, it allows for many motives. It is dynamic and covers the seven requirements, which are considered to be good to assess the theory of tourist motivation. These seven requirements are, it functions as a true theory; it appeals to different users; it is easy to communicate; it suggests ways to measure motivation; it allows for many motives; it is dynamic and it accounts for intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. (Pearce, Morrison and Rutledge, 1998.) However while analyzing it at different levels, especially the relationship needs, self esteem/development needs and fulfillment needs it presents possible clues to understand the motivation of nature tourism. By comparing the needs described in different levels of The Career Ladder, such as need for achievement, and then consider nature tourism activities like hiking, trekking and mountaineering, where the tourist proves it's competence and if successful achieves a goal. Travel Career Ladder is a helpful theory to understand nature theory motivation. Another comparison can be drawn from the self esteem needs level. The need for mastery, control and competence can be a motivation for a nature tourism activity such as scuba diving. Where mastery is required to undergo the activity successfully and safely, as well as competence, and control is basic in case of extreme under water conditions. Wilt and Wright present a very complete and interesting Expectancy Theory, applied to tourist motivation. (1992) It includes needs, the decision making involved, consider pull and push factors, as well as the reasons for travel. One of the two proposed equations is to understand the motivation of travel or not to travel. It states that an individual's behaviour is determined by his belief that the attractiveness and valence of an outcome (a holiday) is useful to attain another outcome (relaxation, spiritual growth) with greater attractiveness and valence. The belief that going to a natural setting to experience the environment is seen as an outcome with certain intrinsic value and attractiveness, but above all useful to attain physical and psychological recovery from stress. The equation tells us that a tourist to natural settings does not go only to have an encounter with nature, but also to achieve a further self-indulgent goal. Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen And Fishbein, 1980) states that changing beliefs will produce a change in behaviour, but this may not be enough, if attitudes and/or subjective norms do not change. Attitudes can be viewed as enduring general evaluation of people. Subjective norms are what we expect other people will think of us if we carried out a certain action. The model states that beliefs influence attitudes and the perception of subjective norms, at the same time they influence intention and intention determines behaviour. The New Environment Paradigm presents new sets of beliefs and values, including the desirability of restricting growth, of protecting the integrity of eco-systems, and of securing more harmonious relationship between man and nature (Albrecht, Bultena, Hoiberg and Nowak, 1982.) Relating The Theory of Reasoned Action with the New Environment Paradigm can make us understand how this change of beliefs in society are affecting the motivation of people in their travel habits resulting in a desire to visit natural areas. If we consider the motives of widespread changing environmental attitudes, development of environmental education and development of environmental mass media, they are good reasons to understand the shift to a New Environment Paradigm. 4 Green Eco-tourism A beautiful park is visited by a large number of tourists, who literally trample through the lawns of the garden creating a negative effect on the natural habitat of many species of birds and animals, threatening their breeding and eating patterns. Some species would be forced to change their habitat. The unruly tourist may remove rocks and break flowers as keepsake or leave behind initials on trees. Over a considerable period of time the complete landscape of the park will be changed. Unless proper steps are taken, a time may come when the eco-tourists may themselves change their preference and select other destination. This brings about a lesson for the planners of eco-tourism, that they must take steps to change the behaviour of the tourists towards the eco-tourists attractions. A part of the planning process must be directed at tourists. They must also plan alternative sights to redirect the tourists to other sights to reduce the strain. A number of tourists also visit forests or animal reserved sanctuaries. The preservation of flora and fauna in these areas demands a high sense of discipline. Killing of animals and cutting of trees not only adversely effects the environment, it reduces the attraction of the tourist sight. The negative behaviour pattern of the tourists does not match the theories of motivation. The misbehaviour pattern does not form a part of the needs of the tourist. There is no tangible satisfaction at trampling a garden or destroying a jungle. There is an emotional aspect towards the protection of eco-tourism sites specially today when the climate is heating up and the world faces a crisis. 5. Cultural Tourism It is worthwhile to understand the aspects of cultural tourism. It has a number of particular, sometimes contradictory characteristics. The cultural tourists encounter a wider section of native population as they visit villages and towns in remote areas. Natives have often not yet developed the skills required to cope with mass tourism. This means that initially they are hospitable, vulnerable and exploitable. As they become familiar with the tourist pattern, they become active in protecting their interests. If a host community is remote, they promote a sense of self-awareness, pride, self-confidence and solidarity due to tourists. They try to encourage the reflection about their traditions and cultures and simulate the preservation of crafts and rituals. The national and regional tourist authorities usually commoditise and market local culture without consulting the inhabitants. This leads to resentment amongst the inhabitants. The tourist is however disappointed as he has paid to gain knowledge of the culture, which is being denied or is not available. Sometimes the tourists are very curious. It can lead to loss of privacy of the inhabitants. The tourists have paid for gaining knowledge and therefore they look for crossing the threshold and boundaries to penetrate the authentic backstage. The back regions are somehow more authentic and real, intimate and truthful. Many cases of tourists looking around in domestic back region or participating in private events have caused discomfort to the unwilling host. Massive tourist attention destroys the very culture that a tourist comes to visit. Tourist complexes coming along The Mediterranean have demolished tranquility and environment. The inhabitants of more marginal and less developed tourist destinations are simple, enjoy a rural way of life, unspoiled tranquilized environment. Other communities in the region regard them as backwards. They have therefore to modernize themselves and this modernization is to be done through the advent of tourists. This advent of tourism however will destroy the culture that attracts visitors. It is interesting to note the changing character of the cultural tourism. The modern gadgets and the communications systems have added momentum to the fast changing life of the cultural tourism. The simple man is today aware of the activities taking place around the world. It has therefore reduced the scope of the typical culture image, which existed in the minds of the tourists. This opens up an important aspect of needs not being satisfied. The changing pattern of life of the said people who had a typical style of life, a different culture and which was an attraction has brought about restrictions to the destination and resultant change in the behaviour of the tourists. The destination can now be viewed on television or it will have to be created to satisfy the wants of the tourists. 6. Spatial Behaviour Freytag (2003) carried out an experiment to study the spatial behaviour of the tourists to Heidelberg. The town of Heidelberg is very concentrated with some attractions on the periphery of the town. With the help of ground positioning systems and antennae, the visitors were tracked to enable the analysis of the spatial behaviour. The complete data was computerized and required values were obtained. The tourist spatial behaviour was highly concentrated in the medieval city center and the Replica of the Holy Sepulchre and the Wilhelminian Style area were hardly frequented. It also generated interesting information of the hot areas. The maximum time was spent at the restaurants, average time at shops, attraction sights and very little time given to play ground, events and for information. 7. Tourist Behaviour in Australia Australia is in the middle of a typical tourist behaviour problem, where the tourism industry is slowing down. This trend is in tune with the tourists of United Kingdom and New Zealand, where also there is a decline in the number of domestic tourists. The trends currently affecting Australia are that the Australians are traveling less; they are allocating more funds on the household consumption than on the travel. There is a decline towards the domestic travel, while international sites are being preferred due to cheap fares being presented by the airlines. This pattern of behaviour of the local tourists has been gauged based on the theories of motivation. The push factors are being generated, however the motives are not strong enough. They prefer to travel for a shorter period only. This can be attributed to their jobs, which do not permit them a longer break. There is also a shift towards quality experience rather than a long tour. Travel is either for cultural and intellectual enrichment or for the sake of bragging, but these do not apply to the Australians. Traveling has become a low priority. They would rather spend on items providing them with immediate gratification rather than travel. An analysis of the above indicates that there is a perceptible change as far as the needs are concerned. The tourists in the adult category are more satisfied with the virtual world available at home on the modern gadgets. The human psyche demands immediate gratification, which is provided with the purchase of tangible property rather than travel. It is also apparent that there is lack of satisfaction after the previous events. The journey factor and the stay/activities factors have not been satisfying to the traveler. The accommodation available at moderate costs is small and lacks the necessary character. There is a lack of targeted information and the management of marketing has not been up to the mark. The above example of the Australian behaviour of domestic tourist in the present circumstances is unique to the extent that there is a perceptible change in the needs pattern of the people. The needs are still being generated but the method of satisfying the needs or achieving the goals has undergone a change due to modernization. The actions and behaviour of individuals are guided and determined by conscious and unconscious needs, which create motives for action. The need of self-actualization, need for safety, sociality and esteem and the psychological needs lead to motives. The socio-psychological tourist motives are relaxation, prestige, regression, escape and exploration. The selection of tourist place is dependant on the pull factors like culture, traditions and heritage, nature, amusement. They must have an element of non-home. As per the Mac Cannels Theory (1976,pp41-45, 109-120), a sight becomes an attraction because of the tourist literature, brochure and post-cards. The sight is then named, framed and elevated, enshrined and finally reproduced both mechanically and socially. The mechanical reproduction takes the form of travelogues, brochures, post-cards and models. The social factor is the social groups, communities, cities, and regions, which name themselves after the attraction. The Mac Cannels theory has not been able to accurately assess the current pattern of tourist behaviour so far as Australia is concerned today. Let us consider the behaviour pattern of Australian tourist with the theory propounded by Leiper (1990). The first part deals with the primary aspect that is the selection of the attraction/ destination. The secondary aspect is the decision to travel and the tertiary aspect comes into play after reaching the destination. The valve of travel in the mind of common tourist is undermined by the value of tangible property, which has more priority. Secondly the time factor is a major resistance to the decision making process. The theory therefore is unable to assess the behaviour pattern of the common tourist accurately. 8. Categorisation of Tourists Tourists have been categorized as per various requirements and styles of the theory writers. Some of the categories are based on age factor, others on the behaviour and character pattern, third is on the economic status. Cohen (1972) categorized them as drifters, explorers, individual mass tourists and organized mass tourists. The drifters and explorers are considered as non-institutional, while the other two fall under the institutional sub-category. The behaviour pattern of the institutional group is different from the non-institutional group. The former is demanding. They require a better standard of services and facilities. Comparatively the non-institutional group is more individualistic, more active and less demanding. They are more at peace with the world. Plog (1973) classified the tourists as allocentrics, psychocentrics and mid-centrics based on their behaviour pattern. An allocentric tourist is individualistic, active and adventurous. The psychocentric is conservative and passive. These persons chose common destinations, which are popular and provide safety and security. The mid-centric is the intermediate of the two, which attracts the maximum number of tourists in its category. A categorization by age lands the tourists into groups such as adults, families, young couples and individuals, young tourists. The motivating factors for each type of tourist is based on there needs pattern. An adult may be a drifter or even an allocentric. He may as well fall in the other categories of individual mass tourist or a psychocentric. It is thus seen that an individual may have needs separate from the type he has been categorized into and this will not allow the various theories to correctly analyse the behavioural pattern of the tourist. 9. Service In Tourism Despite the best efforts of a service provider a tourist can be dissatisfied due to poor weather conditions, over crowding, failure to spot wild animals in a safari. This can have an adverse effect on the repeat tour plan of the visitor to the spot. The prompt reaction of the tourist can be to make a complaint, negative word of mouth and a decision not to repurchase. The service provider must ensure a proper handling of the complaint to reduce the negativity of the effects of the incidents. A customer has plans worked out to manage the time in the most fruitful manner. A service failure, which has a direct effect on the time plan, will have deeper repercussions on the behavioural pattern of the customer. The delay in the flight plan with no alternatives, rude or inattentive behaviour of the staff, and imperfect maintenance of tangibles are the customer's perception of service. The motivation of the customer will depend upon the response of the employee to these customer needs and special requirements. Customer needs can be implicit or explicit. Implicit needs are not requested. A customer falls sick in a plane. The staff will have to attend to him and ensure his proper evacuation to the treatment center. The explicit needs are overtly requested. These include special needs, customer preferences, and customer errors. Whatsoever is the nature of request, unprompted and unsolicited employee action is warranted. The level of attention paid by the employee will dictate the level of motivation for the customer behaviour. Apology, urgent reinstatement, empathy, symbolic atonement and follow up of the complaint will go a long way. The problem must be acknowledged. The reasons for the failure must be explained followed by an apology and compensation. Apology alone without compensation will be useless. The theories of motivation have been partially able to assess the tourist behaviour in the service sector. The needs of the customer can never be fully satisfied despite the best motivating factors. The faults in the services, which can be managed and their timely corrective action may lead to the satisfaction of the customer. But faults, which happen due to nature or reasons beyond the call of the employee, can hardly be attended to. This will result in unsatisfied customer, who may not be motivated. 10. Mass Tourism Pearce, Morrison and Rutledge, (1998) define tourist motivation as the global integrating network of biological and cultural forces, which give value and direction to travel choices, behaviour and experiences. The general motives are the widespread changing environment attitude; development of environment education and development of environment mass media. Further, these lead to motive to experience the environment, motive to rest and relax in pleasant settings, motives to pursue special interests and skills and motives to be healthy and fit. Today, the tourist spaces, attractions and destinations and their meaning and representation are socialized and linked to tourist motives through spatial socialization. A wilderness represents peace and spiritual quest to modern pilgrim. The mountains and fields represent a sublime, aesthetic and sacred experience. The Niagara Falls is a metaphor for death and honeymoon. A passionate romance is associated to Paris. In modern categories, tourists are seen as unadventurous and unimaginative mass. They are the passive actors in the hands of tourism industry. In post modern category a tourist is aware of the commodification and staged nature of tourist experience and attraction and accepts no real authentic attraction. The attraction is recycled till artificial appears better than real. They are construed by flows of visual material symbolic products and fragments. The tourists however are bound by four distinct drives. The drive to acquire emphasises that people identify with objects and positive experience. The drive to bond is the drive that people hold to make social contacts and relationships and includes love, friendship, empathy etc. The drive to learn is to understand, satisfy curiosity, believe and value environment. The drive to defend is to act as a result of falling in danger. Today the numerous products (destination, activities, package products) are offered together with motivation makes the picture appealing and challenging. Consumer behavioural studies reveal that customer satisfaction is the result of a psychological process from need recognition to the evaluation of the experienced products. Mass tourism encompasses movement of large group for tourism purpose to a tourist package. The tourist package is tourist friendly and meets the needs of the customer. It appears to be correctly assessed by the theories of motivation. It however misses the important point of the damage it is going to construe upon itself. The uncontrolled increase in mass tourism can ruin areas of natural beauty. Tourism can damage coral reefs, pollute beaches, and destroy the habitats of wildlife as roads and hotels are built. Rise in mass tourism could result in popular destinations becoming swamped with visitors. ( Hickman, M.2006) Areas of environmental and historic significance shall soon reach the visitors capacity which will force a change in the tourism culture and behaviour. As discussed earlier large number of tourists can have adverse effect on local culture, traditions and the way of life. 11. Conclusion The rate of tourism is growing at a fast pace all over the world. The tourism industry has been internationalized with the advent of jets and supersonic planes. With higher wages and restricted time, tourists are planning short getaways to foreign tourist places. The concept of mass tourism has added ease and required motivation for travel. Coupled with the change in the world climate and everyday increasing load on the tourism, the eco-tourism and the cultural tourism are going to be adversely affected in the near future. With this change in the modern and post-modern tourism, the theories of tourist motivation do not accurately analyse tourist behaviour. Even though the basics of human needs and their satisfaction will continue to guide the motivation factors, there is a need to understand the challenges of the fast moving technology and the accelerating growth of the tourism industry. The damages to the environment are going to be of permanent nature, which will discourage the motivations to the attractions. The swamping of the sights by the increasing numbers of the visitors will act as a negative motive for the tourist to make decisions. The economy of the country will dictate the tourist behaviour pattern. An important aspect of guiding the tourist behaviour is the growing threat of international terrorism and political instability in a number of nations. A tourist will have the needs and he may have the resources to satisfy them, but there is a necessity to have the right atmosphere to achieve it. 12. Bibliography AJZEN, I., and Fishbein, M. 1980.Understanding attitudes and predicting social behaviour. 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