Understanding of Travel Motivations of Domestic Tourists

Abstract

Domestic tourism plays an essential role in the tourism industry and contributes to the overall economic development. This study aims to investigate the relationship between push and pull travel motivations of domestic tourists, their behavioral intentions, a direct influence of travel motivations on perceived benefit and perceived value of domestic tourists. The paper applies the concept of push and pull factors of travel motivation, perceived benefit, perceived value, and behavioral intention. The study implies a quantitative research method - questionnaire survey targeting domestic tourists in Mongolia between July to September 2019. A total of 1068 returned questionnaires were analyzed using factor analysis, reliability test, regression, path analysis, and SEM. The research result suggests that travel motivations (push and pull factors) were significant constructs of behavioral intentions. Moreover, the research results are significant for tourism practitioners, researchers, and destination managers to understand the motivational factors of domestic tourists, their perceived benefit and value, and behavioral intention. The study outcomes could assist destination planners to develop new products and services or to enhance destination offer and tourist experiences by improving pull factors that include better service quality, various travel activities,  ease of accessibility, reasonable pricing, and attractive environment; which latter lead to increase domestic tourist numbers and overall competitiveness of the destination.