Jui Chi Chang

Travel motivations of
package tour travelers
Abstract Managers in the travel industry are keen to know what influences customer decision-making and
how customers make their decisions. Travel motivation reflects one's needs and wants and can be
viewed as a critical variable in relation to their purchase decisions. Travel motives for joining group
travel may be different from those of free independent travelers. This study examined travel motives
as well as travel decision-making of Taiwanese travellers with a group package tour abroad. The
qualitative approach - participant observation first and telephone interviews with tour participants
later - was conducted for data collection. It was found that socio-psychological needs were an
important motivation for travel, and socio-economic considerations were regarded as a crucial
motivation for travel decision-making. Furthermore, their decision-makings are also strongly
influenced by their social relationships - friends/relatives' recommendations. The results also
revealed that Taiwanese travelers' travel motivations are considerably related to the price paid. The
'push factor' appeared to have much more impact than the 'pull factor' for impelling Taiwanese
travelers in the pursuit of a holiday. Since the source of information for taking a vacation plays an
important role for decision-making, this research suggested that the travel agency should put more
efforts on nurturing a positive corporate image in order to gain consumers' trust. Other recom-
mendations were proposed for the travel service providers to enhance their marketing strategies,
particularly for female travelers.

Keywords:
motivation; traveler; decision-making; travel agency; Taiwanese

Introduction Tourism is an industry for people who are looking for something different and they
want to be treated as valuable customers (Jung, 1993). Hughes (2000) indicates that
holidays provide a strong fantasy element: there is often a hope that something exciting
or romantic will happen while on holiday. Since taking a holiday is likely to be one of
the largest single expenditures in a year and one of the greatest sources of satisfaction
and fulfillment, it is important for service providers to understand travelers’ desires and
their psychological and sociological needs in order to accomplish their dreams.
Travel motivation reflects one’s needs and wants and can be viewed as a critical variable
in relation to purchase decision and the outcome of satisfaction. Mill & Alastair (1998)
consider that tourists undertaking pleasure travel perceive travel as a satisfier of their
needs and wants. Motivation emerges when an individual wants to satisfy a need.

Jui Chi Chang, PhD, Department of Tourism, Providence University, Taiwan

Email: [email protected]

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 They go on holiday in the hope that they can wholly or at least partially fulfill their
needs and wants. Much research has shown (Cha, McCleary, & Uysal, 1995;
Oppermann & Chon, 1997; Kim & Prideaux, 2005) that people travel because they are
driven by their own inner forces, such as the desire for escape, rest and relaxation,
adventure, prestige, health and fitness, and social interaction. And that their desires are
ultimately fulfilled by the features and attractions of the destination.

Studying travel motivation helps one to understand customers’ needs, thus enhancing
service providers’ knowledge about what kinds of experiences travelers seek, especially
for certain groups of people. Different modes of travel - independent travel, package
tours, and escorted tours (Weaver, Weber, & McCleary, 2007) – provide travelers with
different perspectives. Independent travelers are seeking adventure, hedonic inspiration,
and exhibit a higher degree of involvement with local residents through travel (see
Alvarex & Asugman, 2005). In contrast, guided tours provide desires for pleasure
tourists with adventure, novelty, escape, and cultural experiences, all within margins of
safety (Schmidt, 1979). Quiroga (1990) reveals that the reasons of people for choosing
package tours are based on the itinerary offered, price, friends’ recommendations, and
the convenience of the departure dates. In many Asian countries and areas, the group
package tour is one of the main modes of outbound travel (Wang, Hsieh, & Chen,
2002). The group tour is widely accepted and has a significant market share in Taiwan.
Taiwanese people are passive and reserved and are initially afraid to show their travel
needs. Their travel motivations and the determinants of travel decision-making might
be different from other guided package tour travelers or independent travelers. While
much of the previous research on travel motivation has focused on Western tourists, the
significance of motivational factors on Asian tourists has yet to be described in detail
(Kim & Prideaux, 2005). Little study has been done on Taiwanese guided package
tourists’ motivations with a mixed-aged segment. This study investigated travel
motivations of Taiwanese travelers with a group tour abroad. The determinants of
travel decision-making and the influential factors would also be examined since they are
related to the travel motivations. Understanding of travelers’ motivations is critical to
predict future travel patterns (Jang & Wu, 2006). The results will significantly contrib-
ute to the travel decision behavior of Taiwanese tourists and might help travel agencies
to establish appropriate tactics in order to satisfy customers’ needs.

Literature THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

reviews Motivational theory is usually operationalised as a set of needs. Some of our needs are
innate and some arise from the environment. According to Kotler’s (1982) ‘need
arousal’ theory, external and internal stimulations trigger one’s desire to travel. Once
this need is recognized, want is activated and this can be satisfied only by purchasing
the object of desire.

Human needs can be divided into different categories. Maslow’s five-level hierarchy
need theory (1943) has been broadly accepted and used to explain travel behavior. Self-
actualization, the highest need in Maslow’s hierarchy, generates internal satisfaction and
explains the necessity of acquiring knowledge and learning about different cultures.
Fulfilling higher-order needs might also be associated with lower-order needs to which
multiple motives contribute. Still, it is arguable that not all travelers are able to fulfill the
highest need of self-actualization since some people may not consider it to be so signifi-
cant. Pearce & Caltabiano (1983) consider the theory to lack empirical support and
Witt & Wright (1992) doubt that the theory is applicable to tourist motivation.

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 Based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Pearce (1988) proposes a model, the ‘Travel
Careers Ladder’, which uses a five-hierarchical ranking system to demonstrate tourists’
learning experiences. The model addresses the concept of tourists learning through
experience and indicates that an individual does not need to start a career from the
same position or move at the same rate. For example, tourists initially are motivated by
physiological needs, but different experienced travelers may use their travel experience
to develop different higher-level motives. The travel careers ladder also highlights that
people have multiple motives for seeking out holiday experiences. The theory is partially
supported by Gartner (1996) who considers that people may have more than one
motive in participating in a particular type of tour. Their travel motive usually relates to
their socio-economic and psychological circumstances. Previous experiences are
commonly used when exploring motivations for travel. However, this model has
received several criticisms. Ryan (1997) considers that the model fails to recognize the
importance of socialization in holiday taking. And in a mature market, an individual
traveler might be able to move upward to higher order motives without experiencing
lower order needs.
However, exploring human needs is challenging because many people may actually be
unaware of their needs or may be reluctant to reveal them (Holloway, 1998). It is
difficult to determine which stimulation triggers one’s needs in the first place. Besides,
one person’s needs may not be the same as another’s, even though they are in the same
life cycle. Nevertheless, theories of motivation have played an important role in the
development of tourism psychology (Pearce, 1982).
REASONS FOR TRAVEL
Motivations are imprecise, evolving and extremely complex and are heavily influenced
by personality characteristics (Jefferson & Lickorish, 1988). One’s travel motives can be
separated into primary and secondary motivations operating within the parameters of
social and economic determinants. Primary motivations refer to one’s roots or origin,
whereas secondary motivations refer to peripheral influences such as value for money or
the attributes of a destination. Oppermann & Chon (1997) state that there are several
travel reasons, such as, escaping from unfavorable seasonal climates, exploration,
adventure, health, and pilgrimages, that are considered to be primary travel motives. In
addition to those reasons, Iso-Ahola (1982) considers that leisure motivations change
during one’s lifespan depending on different places and social occasions. One should
realize that tourists seek different levels of travel to avoid either over stimulation (mental
and physical exhaustion) or too little stimulation (boredom).

Large-scale research on tourism motivation is available. Dann (1977) addresses two

factors in ‘why do people travel?’ He states that escape motives (push factors) represent
the individual’s inner motivation to travel and compensation motives (pull factors)
signify the individual’s outer motivation for travel. Many researchers develop their
motivational framework in line with push and pull factors. Crompton (1979) proposes
nine tourism motives (escape, exploration, relaxation, prestige, regression, enhance-
ment of kinship relationships, facilitation of social interaction, novelty, education) and
attempts to use socio-psychological views to explain the initial motivation to take a
vacation as well as the choice of destination. He also reports that these motives are
classified mostly as push motives and finds that interviewed respondents initially have
some difficulty in identifying their motives clearly. Crompton (1979) agrees with a
multi-motive view of the determinants of travel behavior and suggests to tourist practi-
tioners that travelers are not motivated by the qualities of the destination, but rather by
their particular psychological needs. Mayo & Jarvis (1981) utilize four categories to
identify travel motivations: physical motivators, cultural motivators, interpersonal

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 motivators, and status and prestige motivators. They suggest that intrinsic motivation
plays an essential role in triggering travel desire. Krippendorf (1987) identifies eight
travel motives as to why people travel: recuperation and regeneration, compensation
and social integration, escape, communication, to broaden the mind, freedom and self-
determination, self-realization, and happiness. Krippendorf summarizes various theories
and concludes that travel is motivated by ‘going away from’ rather than ‘going towards’
something or somewhere, and travelers’ motives and behavior are markedly self-
oriented.

Oppermann & Chon (1997) go one step further and separate tourist motivation into
five categories: relaxation/recuperation, education/exploration, adventure/sport, social
contacts, and nature. And Swarbrooke & Horner (1999) conclude that tourist motiva-
tion can be divided into six distinct categories, namely: physical, emotional, personal,
personal development, status, and cultural. Lastly, in a review of the motivation litera-
ture, Kim & Prideaux (2005) identify that escape from everyday environment, novelty,
cultural experience, social interaction, and prestige motivation factors are commonly
cited in the literature. Among them, ‘cultural experience’ and ‘novelty seeking’ are the
most important motivational factors for traveling to foreign countries.

It is clear that the above motivations identified by researchers are not identical to each
other due to the nature of focus subjects and the type of travelers they investigate. On
the other hand, they share some similarities; it depends on how researchers categorize
them or the significance of the sub-category. For example, Crompton & Krippendorf
categorize travel motives in much more detail than Mayo & Jarvis. Although Dann’s
framework does not provide specific categories, it is simple and easy to approach and
flexible in use. It also includes the important influential factors of destination which
other models do not cover.

On the whole, among the various travel motives, ‘escape’ or ‘getting away from home’
seems to have played a critical role although active holidays are increasing in popularity
in contrast to passive holidays. Iso-Ahola (1984) finds that the desire to escape from
personal or impersonal environments is greater than the desire to seek personal or
impersonal reward (actually many companies offer travel as an incentive). A study in
1992 on German individual pleasure travelers finds that ‘escape from daily life’ is the
highest ranked travel motive followed by ‘relaxation’, ‘gaining new experiences’, ‘time
for each other’, and ‘gather new energy’ (Oppermann & Chon, 1997). Hughes (2000)
indicates that among the reasons for going on holiday, travelers’ motivations refer to the
desire to ‘get away’ rather than the attraction of particular places. The ‘push’ is more
important than the ‘pull’ factor for impelling a person in the pursuit of a holiday. For
example, in a study of Taiwanese seniors’ travel motivation, Jang & Wu (2006) identify
five push and three pull motivation factors. Among them, cleanliness & safety, natural &
historical sights, and knowledge-seeking appeared to be the most important pull and
push motivations. However, this opinion is not supported unanimously by researchers.
Researchers tend to focus on ‘push’ factors and overlook the fact that the destination
could arouse customers’ interests and travel needs. For example, in Huang & Tsai’s
(2003) study, they indicate that natural & historical sights appear to be an important
motivational factor in Taiwanese seniors for overseas travel. Hong Kong features global
shopping which appeals to most tourists. Taiwanese travelers, in particular, are at-
tracted by its good shopping opportunities, products and reasonable prices (Law & Au,
2001). As Goeldner & Ritchie (2003) state, different groups of individuals place differ-
ent values on the composition of travel motives. The success of a travel experience
should be measured by the attractions and activities offered by the destination.
Klenosky (2002) considers pull factors to be the higher-level force which influences the

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 decision to travel in the first place; the transformation of social relationships, the
increasing number of experienced travelers, as well as marketing promotion arouses the
need for travel and creates a higher demand.

It should be noted, however, that there is a relationship between the source of informa-
tion and the travel motivation. The source of information may trigger one’s travel
motives and has an impact on travel decision making which is commonly related to
personal and travel characteristics, such as socio-economic characteristics and the
marketing mix (Sirakaya & Woodside, 2005). Fodness & Murray (1999) point out that
features of each travel product clearly affect information search by consumers and
travelers normally have different purchasing strategies for the different travel products
(March & Woodside, 2005), for example online or offline travel product purchase.
Consumers tend to conduct an extensive research for high-risk products (Morrison,
Jing, O’Leary, & Cai, 2001). Information received may be categorized into marketer or
non-marketer. Information from marketers has lower credibility compared with non-
marketers. Friends and other acquaintances are credible sources of information (Sheth
& Mittal, 2004). Theoretical and empirical evidence shows that advertising may be
particularly important in forming customer expectations if the customer has no other
information sources or previous experience (Oliver, 1997). However, due to the nature
of advertisement, a vague and unclear message may cause more personal communica-
tion (Kotler, Bowen, & Makens, 2003). The results indicate that a proper channel of
voice-to-voice or face-to-face communication may be more authentic. In examining the
degree of impact of received information on customer travel decision making, the
attribute of source of information plays a crucial role.

A number of deterrents may constrain people’s travel. Oppermann & Chon (1997) state
that frequently tourists’ motivations are overridden by deterrents (life-style, time, age,
physical ability, affordability, weather, politics, fashion). Money is recognized as the
most common barrier to travel, especially pleasure travel which is demand-elastic
(Gartner, 1996). Jung (1993) considers that price, convenience, status or prestige,
dreams, destination, excitement, customer service, and need-fulfillment have an impor-
tant role in decision-making about travel and argues that nowadays the greatest motivat-
ing factor in a customer’s purchase is price. Jang & Wu (2006) indicate that Asian
travelers view ‘cost’ as the most critical factor for travel. It appears that price con-
sciousness has a certain degree of influence. Many purchasers just cannot resist the
temptation of something perceived as ‘too good to pass up’. According to Jung, some
travelers just want to experience different cultures and knowledge, and witness how
people differ from them. The destination may not be important, but if it interests them
and the price is reasonable, their experience can be even more satisfying.
REASONS FOR JOINING GUIDED PACKAGE TOURS
Travel motives for joining group travel may be different from those of free independent
travelers, since the guided tour combines adventure, novelty, escape, and cultural
experience, all within margins of safety. There are a number of distinct advantages for
the guided package tour (Schmidt, 1979; Quiroga, 1990; Enoch, 1996; Mancini,
1996). First, it offers companionship as travel is with a group and thus offers more
opportunities for developing friendships or romance. Second, it is usually less expensive
than an individual trip using the same itinerary. Third, many services are included
which are more convenient and which reduce worry for travelers. Fourth, travelers save
time and hassle through the tour leader’s (TL) escort, and gain learning advantages by
being conducted by the tour guides. Fifth, tourists get the feeling of safety. Many
researchers believe that economy and overall convenience are the most important
motives for purchasing a package tour.

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 Guided package tours are popular for certain market segments and especially for
tourists who are advanced in age, or lack language skills, or travel alone, and for first
time travelers (Mancini, 1996). Quiroga (1990), in studying the characteristics of
package tours in Europe, concludes that tourists (from Latin America) from age 46 are
more likely to choose the guided package tour. For example, widowed people and
people who travel alone in a group may travel for reasons of companionship. Sheldon
and Mak (1987), in studying the demand for package tours, find that American
travelers are inclined to choose package tours when traveling to an unfamiliar destina-
tion. Furthermore, Lang, O’Leary, & Morrison (1997) point out that those Taiwanese
guided package tour travelers tend to be female, older, with lower incomes, and less
well educated. They usually look for a destination that has ‘show and tell’, ‘cost’, and
‘environment and scenery’ benefits. They spend more money on trips and travel in
larger groups.
It appears that the dimensions of travel motivations identified above are not much
different from country to country. However, their overseas travel motivations are
different in relative importance due to various circumstances. It is clear that guided
package tours provide several benefits which attract travelers who are price sensitive,
less independent and look for social interaction. People taking guided package tours are
doing so because they are pushed initially by their internal motives and pulled by the
external forces of a destination. This study examined travel motives as well as travel
decision-making of Taiwanese travellers with a group tour abroad. Understanding
customers’ needs helps managers establish appropriate tactics to avoid possible confu-
sion and disappointment in service operations (Shoemaker, 1996). Furthermore, the
marketing message that is received by potential clients can be formulated to develop a
realistic cognitive script in order to satisfy customers’ needs.

Methodology This study examined travel motives and the determinants of travel decision-making of
Taiwanese travelers with a group tour abroad. A case study approach with
phenomenological studies was employed to discover new themes and to provide insight
into the customers’ travel motives, needs and wants on the tour and their reasons for
travel. The qualitative approach was considered an appropriate method given its
exploratory nature and the limited source of information on this particular ethnic
group. The approach of participant observation was used first for accurately capturing
tour participants’ motivational processes. Bowen (2001) employed the approach of
participant observation on a long-haul inclusive tour and considered that this research
technique is flexible and presents opportunities for observing human interactions,
experiences and reactions. In participating in a mixed international guided package
tour, Chang & Bowie (2005) were able to observe and listen to tourists’ emotional
reactions to problems which occurred on the tour through frequent contacts in natural
settings. In traditional views of experimental design, participant observation sounds
subjective. Judd, Smith, & Kidder (1991) argued that observation can become scientific
for the purpose of uncovering a general principle of human behavior when it is planned
deliberately and the data gathered systematically. Jorgensen (1989) considered that
participant observation can provide theories and practical facts regarding human
existence, or be valuable when the phenomenon is hidden from public view, or is
involved with human meanings and interactions. Although participant observation has
been utilized in guided coach tours with different contexts (Holloway, 1981; Bowen,
2001; Seaton, 2002; Chang & Bowie, 2005), there are still comparatively few partici-
pant observational studies in tourism (Seaton, 2002). This study investigated a single
tour with its specific destination and characteristics. The findings will not be used for
generalizations leading to prediction since this study focused on individual opinions and

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 social phenomena which are unsuitable to represent a wide range of general voices.
Instead, it will be used to explain the current market phenomena and used as a com-
parison with previous studies to generate a theoretical proposition.

In order to explore travelers’ travel motives, a period of participant observation in the

field and telephone interviews with tour participants after the tour were undertaken. A
convenient sample of a ten-day Taiwanese guided package tour to Italy was selected.
The tour operator is a mid-size travel agency (T/A). The company focuses on special
tours and offers mid-price tours. The researcher obtained explicit authorization from
the collaborating T/A before undertaking the observation. To avoid unnecessary bias,
the participants were not told that they were being observed. The study group had 39
participants (including 6 couples, two big families) composed of 10 males and 29
females, including one little girl (excluding the TL and the researcher) with an age range
of 20 to 75 and comprised only of Taiwanese people. Among them, 9 had retired from
work. The majority of participants were married (27 out of 39) and had a college or
higher degree. Many of them were extensive travelers who traveled twice a year or
more. All the group members were Taiwanese with variations of the language spoken
throughout the tour – Mandarin being the official language and Taiwanese being the
dialect. The researcher was familiar with both and had no problem in understanding the
meanings of the conversations. It seemed to be common for the tour participants to ask
about each other’s backgrounds when they first met. The researcher has (and still)
worked as a university lecturer in Taiwan in a tourism department. This information
circulated among group members and put the researcher at an advantage to record data
after an observation or a conversation with the participants - without arousing suspi-
cion. The tourists thought that the note taking procedures were to be used for future
teaching. A few of the participants even suggested that the researcher record the tour
scenario for teaching purposes. Collected data was based on the researchers’ observa-
tion of and conversation with the other participants. The observation was carried out
from time to time during daily activities. Most of the conversations and observations
took place on the coach, at meal times, and on walking tours. The data collection was
based on notes taken either on the coach or in the hotel room and were written in
English to avoid unnecessary embarrassment.

To enhance the data collection and gain deeper views of the customers’ travel motives
and their travel decision-making, a series of semi-structured telephone interviews after
the tour with tour participants were also employed. A set of open-ended questions
included:
• Why and how did you join this Italian tour?
• What were your purposes or motivations for joining this tour?
• What did you expect or want from this tour?
• What were your opinions in general? What were your feelings about this tour?

There were no problems for the researcher to collect the phone numbers from each
participant since an exchange of addresses for further contact is common for tour
members and is considered part of Chinese culture: many believe that it is destiny for
people to meet each other. Telephone interviews save time and reduce costs. But the
lack of visual interaction causes problems in interpretation (Robson, 1993). However,
this could be compensated for by interviewees’ tone and voice. In addition, due to
Chinese culture, it would be impolite for the respondents not to talk to an interviewer
whom they had met before. A telephone interview has the advantage of speed for the
substitution of refusals and not-at-homes (Oppenheim, 1992). Face-to-face interviews
were impossible with the tour members since they lived in different areas of Taiwan. A

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 pilot telephone interview was conducted prior to the interviews of the tour participants.
The researcher found that timing was crucial for effective interviews: respondents
would talk more freely in off-duty hours. There were no problems for note-taking
during the telephone interviews since the researcher had known the participants well
and the time of the interviews was limited to 15 to 20 minutes. Based on the name list
provided from the collaborating T/A, a total of 23 out of 33 adult participants were
interviewed (each family member was treated as an individual). Many participants were
called more than once. Attempts to contact the participants were given up if a third call
failed to reach them.

Qualitative analysis involves coding data and categorizing the evidence. The field notes
made throughout the observations were restructured/added immediately at the end of
the tour which enabled the researcher to recall daily on-tour activities including verbal
and non-verbal aspects. The collected data were presented in a workable format before
proceeding with the data analysis. During the transcribing of data from written notes to
computer version, the collected data were relocated in the same category since very
often the interviewees answered a question in a different time frame. The researcher
finally became intimately familiar with the data after transcribing and rewriting them
several times. The primary data gathered from interview transcripts and field notes
were analyzed using NUDIST software - a process of sorting, coding, categorizing,
grouping, and regrouping data by computer into piles of meaningful and readable
material. Coding was the first step and a major task for data analysis. Frequently, if the
new immersed codes were against the original examples then the original codes were
modified, refined or merged. Some passages were coded with more than one code since
they related to more than one theme identified by the researcher. At the end, the results
of coding were verified through Node Search to ensure that all the documents were
properly coded.

Findings Since people have multiple motives in participating in a particular type of tour, and not
all of them should be considered as the determinant for travel decision-making. The
findings were divided into two sections – determinants of travel decision-making and
reasons for travel. Each section consists of the findings from both participant observa-
tion and interviews with tour participants.
DETERMINANTS OF TRAVEL DECISION-MAKING
The determinant of travel decision-making refers to the key factor which influences a
traveler taking the trip. Based on telephone interviews it was found that tour partici-
pants received travel information from four different sources – friends, colleagues,
relatives, and the tour organizer’s promotional pamphlets. It showed that only 4 tour
participants joined this tour as a result of information from the organizer’s promotional
pamphlets, the others were based on word-of-mouth suggestions. It also revealed that
more tour participants got their travel information from family members or relatives.

In mass tourism, most tour products arranged by T/As are homogeneous in nature.
Travelers’ decisions in the selection of a T/A seems to be more important than selection
of a tour product. Table 1 showed the reasons for tour participants joining this compa-
ny’s Italian tour. Travel partners - including friends, colleagues, or relatives – greatly
influenced the travel decision-making. It was considered that traveling with people they
know makes it more enjoyable. The data revealed that for many of the tour participants
the decision to join this package tour was based on more than one reason (SC, TC, CI,
EDM1, ChC, EDF2, C3). SC, a married career lady who seldom traveled with her
husband, indicated that she participated in this tour for multiple reasons – a friend’s

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 recommendation, the price, the good performance of the TL on a previous trip, and the
good reputation of the T/A. In fact, the right timing and the reasonable price (lower
than the general current market price) of the tour was a major reason for joining the
tour since most participants received the tour information from friends or relatives.
Only one tour participant was attracted by the itinerary of the tour, however; even so, it
was her colleagues’ recommendations that motivated her to join the tour. In contrast,
the good itinerary seemed not so significant.

Table 1
REASONS FOR JOINING THE COMPANY’S TOUR (based on telephone interviews)
Reasons Respondents Interview transcript extract
Friends, 1. TC 1. “Based on my colleague’s suggestion,
colleagues, & we decided to participate together. It is
relatives important to travel with someone you know.”
2. SC 2.”A friend convinced me to come since the T/A
has a good reputation.”
3. EDM1 3. “This was my third time travelling with a group tour.
I usually travel with my colleagues.”
4. EDF3 4. “Destinations are not so important for me.
My friend suggested this tour, and the timing was
convenient. It is more important to travel with
someone whom you know.”
5. CoH 5. “Based on my daughters’ recommendation.”
6. C3 & C1 6. “Based on my sister’s recommendation.”
Price 1. PG 1. “The price of the tour was inexpensive.”
2. TC 2. “It was worth joining the tour in terms
of the price I paid.”
3. TG 3. “I had never been to Italy and the T/A offered
a very good price.”
4. SC 4. “Originally, I planned to go to Canada but a friend
suggested I change. Besides, the price of tour was
quite reasonable.”
5. EDM1 5. “I got a discount from the T/A.”
6. PsS 6. “Low cost.”
7. C1 7. “The price of tour was reasonable
and the quality of tour was good.”
8. CoH; C3; 8. “The price of the tour was
Miw; GrW; ChD; inexpensive.”
JaH
Good 1. SC 1. “My friend convinced me to join the tour. Actually the
performance of TL, Peter, did a good job last time. I trust this T/A.”
TL 2. EDF2 2. “Peter, the TL in Coach A, did a good job
last time. He told us we would encounter
the carnival in Venice on this tour.”
Good itinerary 1. ChC 1. “My colleagues joined this kind of tour last year
and told me that it was a good itinerary.”
Good reputation 1. SC “The T/A did a good job last year.”
of the T/A 2. EDM1
3. HH
4. C1
5. EDF1
Right timing 1. EDF2 “The timing of this tour was right.”
2. EDF3
3. ChC & ChD
4. JaH & JaW

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 An essential element which permits travel is the timing: being free of constraints and
being able to take a holiday, or having a chance to travel with family members, being
temporarily without a job, or being retired. The timing indicates that most Taiwanese
tourists do not plan their overseas travel far in advance. A T/A’s good reputation
attracts either repeat customers or new customers. Five tour participants indicated that
this was an important reason for joining the tour. Two participants said the reason they
joined was because they knew the TL who would lead this tour and had confidence in
him.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL
The travel motive refers to the reason participants intend to make this journey. Based
on participant observation, two indicated that they had been to Italy before – SL took
the trip to have a break and also to look for friendship. She said ‘I did not mind coming
again since the travel partners are different and I had different fun’, and MiW said ‘my parents
are getting old and taking a holiday is a good opportunity to spend time with them.’ Most tour
participants indicated that they just wanted to get away from home or from the stress of
routine work. Relaxation could be their travel reasons since many of them indicated
that they had no particular expectations. PG said “I did not feel excited about the trip; it
could be because I have traveled a lot.” EDM1 said “when I travel with a group, I have no
particular expectations.” GrH indicated that she would accept whatever outcome came
about and did not have particular desires. Actually many indicated that they did not
have a specific travel motivation – they were encouraged to join the holiday by friends
or relatives. TC, a single lady who worked for a trade company, said that ‘I preferred to
join a group tour since the T/A arranged it and I did not have to worry too much……… My
friend asked me to come along and the opportunity was good (timing and price) but actually,
Italy is not my favorite place.’ In addition, several of them indicated that they did not have
a specific destination in mind; it was their friends who wanted them to come along for
companionship. The participant observation also found that many married tour mem-
bers seemed to prefer to travel with their friends rather than their spouses; perhaps
their spouses had no free time for vacations. For example, SL, SC and PG are married
and like to travel. They indicated that they always traveled with friends. A few indicated
that notification or recommendation by their friends or relatives was the initial reason,
but the price and the image of the collaborating company were key motivations for
travel (in general, the company offers mid-price tour products). They stated that the
price was inexpensive compared with similar itineraries offered by competitors.

Based on the interviews with tour members (see Table 2), their reasons for traveling
could be categorized into five motives: to get way from home, to see a different culture,
to see Italian attractions, to go shopping abroad, and a family reunion. Many indicated
that they wanted to get away from work pressure or the daily routine and experience
different culture and scenery. They traveled for the relaxation, and the destination was
not so important to them.
By contrast, almost half of the tour participants interviewed indicated that they liked to
experience ancient cities: historical architecture, arts, and the various attractions of
Italy. They considered the country to be a well-known tourist destination which would
enlighten them and broaden their views. Two tour participants pointed out that Italy is
well known for clothes. Part of their travel purposes was for brand name shopping. In
addition, there were two families (5 members in each of the MiW and the ChC fami-
lies) who indicated that they joined the tour because it was a chance for family mem-
bers to get together.

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 Table 2
TRAVEL REASONS (based on telephone interviews)
Motives Respondents Interview transcript extract
Get way from 1. PG 1. “After working for a period of time, I like to take a
home vacation break.”
2. BG 2. “I work for a bank and have much pressure, taking a
vacation can actually release it.”
3. SL 3. “I just want to take a break and relax.”
4. JaH & JaW 4. “We live in Japan and are retired. We just want to take
a vacation and do not care where we go.”
5. PaS 5. “I am busy on my job and just want to relax by seeing
different things.”
See the 1. TC 1. “I just want to take a vacation to see something
differences different.”
2. SC 2. “I just want to relax, to enjoy the local scenery, culture,
and history.”
3. C1 3. “I am used to travelling a lot and like to see different
things and make new friends.”
4. CoH 4. “Seeing different attractions can broaden my view and
make me better informed.”
See Italian 1. BB 1. “Italy has so many churches, museums, and much
attractions heritage. Some of them are famous. I want to take a look
at them and wish to have some fun.”
2. GrH 2. “I am interested in arts and cultural kinds of things. Italy
is an old country and possesses many historical attractions.
It is a good chance to visit the country.”
3. HH 3. “I always wanted to visit this country.”
4. CoH 4. “Italy is well known throughout the world for its various
beautiful attractions. I have longed to visit these beautiful
sceneries.”
5 EDF1 5. “Italy is a beautiful place and I want to see it.”
6. MiW 6. “I like ancient Italian culture, arts, and architecture. I
want to see them.”
7. GrW 7. “I am interested in Italy; it is an interesting place.”
8. ChC 8. “Italy is an attractive tourist destination; it is my first
priority.”
9. TG 9. “Italy has lots of historical cities.”
Shopping 1. TG 1. “I like to shop and Italy is an ideal place for shopping.”
2. EDF2 2. “I have never been to Italy, it is good to visit and shop
as well.”
Family reunion 1. MiW 1. “My parents are getting old and I like to spend time with
them.”
2. ChC 2. “My son just got married and my daughter lost her job
recently, this was a good chance to have a vacation with
them.”
3. CoW 3. “We were retired. My husband wanted to join this tour
and he did not like to be alone so I joined the tour with
him.”
4. ChD 4. “My mother and brother-in-law as well as other two
relatives decided to travel together. I was temporarily out of
job, it was good to join them.”

The approach of participant observation identified a clear picture of tour participants’

travel intentions and behavior when on the tour. The need for shopping seemed to be
important for many tour members on this particular tour. Many tour members wanted
to shop to either gratify themselves or show their affection to their relatives and friends.

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 On the plane back to Taiwan, I asked GrW how much money she had spent on shopping. She
said aboutUS$3,000 on her family and relatives but none for herself. She also mentioned that
her husband was unhappy with her spending so much money (Day 9). The findings indicate
that tourists’ needs are perhaps influenced by the characteristics of a destination. In
comparison with other destinations, the price of famous brand names is much lower in
Italy. In fact, shopping became a major activity of tour members during their free time.
This was particularly true of the female tour members.
Joining a tour means a person will travel with many strangers and has a good chance to
make friends, particularly for those who have few opportunities to meet other people.
Tour members thought it was fun to travel with different people with whom they could
get along. A few actually wanted to make new friends and to have a good time, particu-
larly tour participants who were unmarried (C3, BB). Group photographs were taken
and the possibility of a future exchange of photographs provided an opportunity for
future connections. Excitement was developed through friendship and many other
activities. Loud and excited conversations during the meals and on the coach suggested
that the majority of tour members were enjoying each other’s company.

Many participants indicated that this was the first time they had traveled to Europe.
They were keen on experiencing a different culture, seeing different scenery, and
learning new things. The couple (JaH and JaW) did not want to miss the beautiful night view
of Venice and were standing on the deck of the ferry in spite of the low temperature outside the
cabin. Even though some additional activities cost money, many tour members were
willing to pay for them. Some regarded travel activities as a once in a lifetime experi-
ence; once missed, one might not have a second chance to experience them. Based on
this, many tour members participated in all kinds of activities proposed by the TL or
suggested in the tourist books. However, Italian cuisine was not so attractive to Tai-
wanese travelers, even though the atmosphere in the arranged Italian restaurants was
quite exotic for the tour members. Many tour members indicated that they could not
get used to the Italian cuisine.

Results and Travelers’ decision-making involves two aspects: the selection of a T/A and the tour
discussions itself. They are closely related to each other and it is difficult to tell which precedes the
other. For first-time travelers, it seems that the selection of a T/A is much more
significant than the selection of a tour product. Although the reviewed literature indi-
cates that travelers’ decision-making involves many elements and steps, it can also be a
very simple process. Travelers’ decision-making is more likely to be dependent on three
key factors: (1) sources of information, (2) travel motives, and (3) price. The poor
image of the travel industry in Taiwan might lead the customer to disregard sources
from the media, but rely on word-of-mouth communication or the recommendations of
friends/relatives.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
The source of customers’ information - particularly from non-marketers - plays a vital
role in decision-making in this study since many tour participants indicated that
notification or recommendation by their friends or relatives was the initial reason for
travel. Mill & Alastair (1998) suggest that the commercial environment and social
environment are two major sources of information. Commercial information comes
mainly from suppliers and promoters (destinations and tour operators/travel agents)
who purposely promote their products to consumers. Social information refers to the
information sought from friends/relatives, and reference groups who receive no finan-

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 cial benefits from the purchasers. Although recommendations from friends or relatives
may be distorted, since these are based on value judgments in comparison with com-
mercial information, the social environment is less subject to perceptual bias and has
more influence on consumers’ decision-making (Mill & Alastair, 1998). This was
further confirmed by Lam & Hsu (2005) who indicated that social influence from
referent members was to be an important factor influencing Taiwanese travel intention.
The results were partially similar to Kim & Prideaux’s (2005) study. They found that
Japanese tourist tended to use friends/relatives as information sources while Chinese
tourists tended to use travel agencies, TV and radio as references.

Due to the intangible nature and characteristics of the tourism product, first-time
purchasers are more likely to depend on secondary sources of information since they
lack experience. In a collectivist and feminist society such as Chinese culture (Chen,
2000), the people are group-oriented and are concerned about the welfare of their
friends or colleagues. Personal relationships and kinship relations play an important role
in daily life. For those passive travelers who are flexible in decision-making, they are
less likely to plan their travel far in advance. In the social environment – relatives/
friends or colleagues’ recommendations became important source of information.
Taking a vacation overseas involves a large amount of money which is commonly
perceived as high-risk by travelers. Naturally, word-of-mouth communication is seen as
a reliable source of information for the assessment of tour products and T/As.
TRAVEL MOTIVES
When discussing travel decision-making one cannot rule out travelers’ motives for
travel, since they involve the selection of a destination and the reason for travel. When
discussing travel motives, looking at customers’ travel needs and wants is a good
starting point. It is found that travelers’ needs and wants are related to the T/As’
selection, since very often their needs and wants are influenced by the advertisements of
T/As or recommendations of their salespeople, particularly when promoted with a low
price strategy. The findings suggest that customers do not travel immediately to fulfill
their needs and wants. Instead, they restrain their travel needs until the right time
comes – a combination of free time to travel, reasonable price, and friends and rela-
tives’ recommendations.
Nowadays people take vacations more frequently and with more convenience than
before but their travel motives have become much more complicated. An international
comparative study shows that the habits of holiday-makers do not differ essentially from
country to country (Krippendorf, 1987) but their travel motivations to a destination are
differences in the relative importance (Kim & Lee, 2000; Kozak, 2002; Kim &
Prideaux, 2005). For example, in a comparative study of international pleasure tourist
motivations, Kim & Lee (2000) found that Japanese tourists displayed more interest on
the prestige/status and the kinship motivations compared to ‘Anglo-American tourists.
Conversely, Anglo-American tourist placed more significance on the novelty seeking
factors compared to Japanese respondents. Furthermore, Kim & Prideaux (2005) found
that for the dimension ‘escaping from everyday routine’, Chinese tourists were more
likely to be motivated to travel to Korea than tourists from the USA, Australia, and
Japan. In addition, Chinese tourists placed more importance on ‘social status’ factors
compared to US visitors. Many researchers believe that travelers take vacations for
many reasons and some are more prominent than others. This study found that ‘escape’
or ‘getting away from home’ motives play a dominant role in triggering travel inten-
tions. In addition, it supports Dann (1977), Mayo & Jarvis (1981), Cha et al. (1995),
and Pearce & Lee’s (2005) suggestion that the intrinsic motivation – the ‘push’ factor –

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 plays an essential role in determining the desire for travel. However, pull factors should
not be viewed as un-relevant factors since both push and pull factors might be related
(Klenosky, 2002), particularly when traveling to foreign countries. Furthermore, it is
important to realize that travel motives are not necessarily formed instantaneously. They
might be shaped gradually by different incidents, or be triggered by some form of
stimulation.

According to numerous tour participants’ statements, their reasons for travel are to get
‘away from home’ and to ‘see different attractions’. This is consistent with the results
of Kozak’s (2002) study who found that relaxation and pleasure types of motivations
were ranked as the most significant motivation for both British and German tourists in
taking a vacation to Mallorca and Turkey. It seems that travelers’ travel motives can
simply be just to get ‘away from the daily routine’ or to ‘see different things’. However,
participant observation revealed that ‘hidden motives’ might exist which inspired them
to respond to their friends or relatives’ encouragement. Therefore, their travel inten-
tions seem to be more complicated than we might have thought. Krippendorf (1987)
points out that many things remain hidden subconsciously in customers’ minds and
cannot be brought to light by simply asking questions about their travel motives.

Social need has been recognized as one of the travel reasons for vacation travelers in
many studies (Gilbert & Abdullah, 2002; Mill & Alastair, 1998), especially for those
who join group package tours. Quiroga (1990) indicates that the guided package tour
makes human contact and learning experiences available for those on tour. Interper-
sonal friendship is usually developed gradually through on-bus activities, taking group
photographs, or group activities at dinnertime organized by the TL. The Chinese style
of dining – around a round table – provides a great opportunity for social interaction.
In a sense, tour participants gain from the experience of social interaction on the tour,
and in the post-tour stage. The researcher joined post-tour gatherings twice. The
evidence from the post-tour gatherings in restaurants organized by tour participants and
the activity of exchanging photos showed that some tour participants had developed
good relationships with others during tour interactions. Many tour participants actually
indicated that the companionship developed on the tour and the enjoyment of group
activities had made them feel that it was worth joining the tour.

Crompton (1979) and Fisher & Price (1991) identified the motive of enhancement of
kinship relationships as one travel motive and showed that taking a vacation provided a
great occasion for a family reunion. Krippendorf (1987) identified the travel motive of
‘communication’, and believed that a package tour provided the opportunity for people
to communicate with each other. In participating in a mixed international guided
package tour, Chang & Bowie (2005) found that among the tour members the couples
seemed to have more interactions with other couples and tended to enjoy each other’s
companionship and the companionship of their tour members than the solo partici-
pants. On the field study, family group participants indicated that they did not often
have the chance to do things together and hoped that traveling together would enhance
family affiliation and affection. In fact, there is an advantage to family members
traveling together with a group tour. For example, the price a family pays for all the
members on a guided package tour is much more economical than traveling independ-
ently when using the same quality of travel product. In addition, pre-arranged services
prevent family members from needing to organize anything which in turn offers plenty
of time for family members to enhance their relationships.

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 Cultural tourism is becoming mainstream for mass tourism and people want to seek
change and undergo novel experiences when on tour (McKercher & Chow, 2001).
Gilbert & Terrata (2001) who studied Japanese tourism demand for travel in the UK
found that experiencing a different culture is a very important pull factor. Cohen (1979)
indicated that cultural distance attracts people’s attention but only to the extent that the
change remains non-threatening. From the Taiwanese travelers’ viewpoints, they
considered Italy to be well known for its rich heritage attractions and museums. The
romantic atmosphere and brand name merchandisers in Italy offered the tour partici-
pants great opportunities for sightseeing and shopping, particularly to the female
travelers who were brand name hunters. In fact, a tour to Italy offered cultural advan-
tages and status (learning, style, and prestigious destination), even though traveling with
caution had been advised when staying in the major cities of Italy. Chi & Desombre
(1998) indicated that the Chinese are reserved and less flexible and are unenthusiastic
about exploring new cultures and lifestyles. They tend to visit places which have a
similar culture such as Mainland China and Hong Kong. This may be true for the older
generation or during the early stage of the development of tourism, but may not always
be applicable to the new generation of Taiwanese travelers who are, in fact, actually
looking for novelty and adventure. In fact, the statistics from the Taiwan Tourism
Bureau show that the number of Taiwanese travelers going to long-haul destinations has
been increasing steadily and that the average age of travelers is going down.

Apart from traveling for secondary motives, Gilbert & Terrata (2001) indicated that
when travelers’ primary motives of travel are to broaden their horizons and to have
novel experiences, it could be perceived as fulfilling ‘self-actualization’ needs. The
results of this study indicated that the need of broadening one’s experience was only a
partial need for many Taiwanese travelers - including both experienced and inexperi-
enced ones. Instead, they had multiple motives. In terms of Pearce’s (1988) Travel
Careers Ladder, people have a combination of ‘physiological’ needs, ‘love and
belongingness’ needs, and ‘self-esteem’ needs. The results also indicated that an inexpe-
rienced tourist does not need to start a travel career from the lower-level motive. This
study suggests that the motivators of ‘escape’, ‘culture’, ‘novelty’, and ‘social interac-
tion’ are important for travelers who participated in the package tour but those motives
may not be equally significant for each individual. The findings support the theory that
people travel for social reasons and psychological needs but this is not to ignore the
important motives of the ‘pull’ factors – the attributes of a destination - and the price.
In conclusion, the typologies of Taiwanese tourists’ motivations do not show signifi-
cantly different from other international tourists in taking overseas vacations. However,
they place more significance on the socio-psychological needs compared to other
motivations for travel.
PRICE CONSCIOUSNESS
The findings of this study revealed that Taiwanese travelers’ value judgments of their
vacation experience varied greatly. They were sensitive to the price paid for a tour
product, but on the other hand, they spent a considerable amount on shopping for
brand names. This is not so surprising since many of them are also price sensitive in
buying brand names and the price of famous brand names is much lower in Italy than
in Taiwan. Taiwanese travelers would tend to buy more when they found a good deal.
In addition, they were far away from home and were more willing than usual to spend
more on shopping (Lang et al., 1997). In fact, they established a notion of balancing the
cost against other aspects in making their value judgment (Monroe, 1990; Sweeney,
1994), for example, sacrificing tour quality for a lower price in order to engage in
shopping activities. In fact, Wang (2004) pointed out that shopping motives have been

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 regarded as leisure activities and have become one of the most popular tourist activities
in global tourism (Law & Au, 2000). Their levels of satisfaction showed that even if
they were not satisfied with the quality of the tour product, they might still be happy if
their shopping demands or other needs were fulfilled. In a sense, price can be seen as a
crucial determinant of the levels of expectation and the satisfaction judgments of
Taiwanese travelers.

Having never been to Italy before, and considering Italy as an ideal destination might
serve as a major travel intention, it was the reasonable price which triggered their
decision-making and decision to buy the product. This was supported by Jung (1993)
who showed that the price of a tour is a crucial factor for customers in choosing travel
destinations. The Taiwan Tourism Bureau suggested that T/As should carefully consider
the travel destination and price when planning a tour (Taiwan Tourism Bureau, 1999).
Gilbert & Tsao (2000) pointed out that Chinese customers are much more price-
sensitive than Western customers. Chinese buyers are initially more concerned about
the price than the quality of the product. Therefore when marketing to Chinese mar-
kets, T/As should realize that the price is the customers’ crucial concern.

One reason to explain travelers’ sensitivity to the price of a travel product might be
related to the nature of the tourism product and the value of non-physical goods. Since
the tourism product only provides a short-term physical experience and is perishable in
the long run (it doesn’t exist physically after consuming), the only consequence that lasts
for consumers is the ‘memory’ rather than physically owning the product. So consumers
feel less secure about spending a large amount of money buying an invisible product
(Holloway, 1998; Middleton & Clarke, 2001; Westwood, Morgan, Pritchard, & Ineson,
1999). In addition, customers’ past experiences also influence their selection of a travel
product. Based on previous knowledge (Laws, 2002), if customers have paid a reason-
able price and have received a positive impression from the experience of a tour, they
may believe that they can pay less again and achieve the same or better results from the
next purchase. Certainly, these expectations might not always be fulfilled and the results
may disappoint them.

Conclusions and The major objective of this research is to investigate Taiwanese travelers’ travel
implications motivations and the determinants of their travel decision-making. There were some
similarities and differences between the participant observation and the telephone
interviews regarding tour participants’ reasons for travel. For example, a strong desire
to go shopping has been identified by the participant observation, but little mention was
made of their shopping desire during the telephone interviews. Both sets of data
showed that going away from the daily routine was an important motive for travel but
the telephone interviews also indicated that seeing the Italian attractions or seeing the
differences of culture and scenery were also important motives. This illustrates that for
certain destinations the ‘pull factor’ may equally as important as the ‘push factor’ in
terms of travel motivation. However, the researcher believes that for this specific tour,
the ‘push factor’ seemed to have much more impact than the ‘pull factor’ for two
reasons. Firstly, the reasonable price of the tour triggered tour participants’ desire to
travel. Secondly, although the tour participants did not originally have a strong desire to
visit Italy, their good holiday experience recalled their desire to travel to this particular
destination.
The finding supports the notions that ‘escape’ or ‘getting away from home’ motives play
a dominant role in triggering overseas travel intentions but the attributes of a destina-

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 tion are also crucial. This study suggests that socio-psychological needs are an important
motivation for travel, and socio-economic considerations are regarded as a crucial
motivation for travel decision-making. Furthermore, travellers’ decision-making may be
strongly influenced by their social relationships - friends/relatives’ recommendations. A
few significant results were uncovered and proposed the following recommendations to
the travel industry:
• This study identified that the source of information for taking a vacation plays an
important role for decision-making, and it also found that Taiwanese travelers are
very much dependent on word-of-mouth communication for decision-making which
implies that Taiwanese consumers have less confidence in media communication,
particularly the advertisements of travel agencies in Taiwan (Chang, 2004). In service
marketing, management may regard communication as an important tool for service
recovery and image improvement. This suggests that the T/A should put more efforts
on nurturing a positive corporate image in order to gain consumers’ trust.
• Shopping is seen as a leisure and functional activity by tourists (Wang, 2004) and
women are more likely to visit a destination for shopping or to visit friends and
relatives (McGehee, Loker-Murphy, & Uysal, 1996). Shopping is a main activity for
Taiwanese travelers and many respondents have shown their intentions to shop,
particularly for brand names. It seems that females, particularly single females, tend to
have a stronger desire than others for shopping or other needs. This demonstrates
that the female traveler is a great potential market for suppliers in the travel industry.
The T/A could plan special tours with specially designed features suitable for female
travelers. As Kim & Prideaux (2005) suggest, a destination should identify travelers’
demand from specific nations in order to develop appropriate travel products in a
manner that maximizes the destination’s appeal.
• It seems that Taiwanese travelers tend to travel with friends/colleagues and are
significantly influenced by friends/colleagues in terms of travel decision-making.
Many married tour participants travel with their friends rather than their spouses.
This may imply that traveling with friends/colleagues is more interesting than
traveling with a spouse for a certain demographic group. This study proposes a
hypothesis mentioned above for a further study.
• A large number of Taiwanese travelers do not plan their vacation far in advance
which forms a big hindrance for T/As those need to organize and obtain travel
documents for customers. Since price is a crucial motivator which can be considered
an intervened factor apart from push and pull factors, it would seem sensible for T/As
to offer an early booking discount as an incentive to encourage more early bookings.
• Clearly, travel is becoming more and more fashionable in the modern world. To a
small island country like Taiwan, attractions and resources in country may not meet
travelers’ needs and wanting to see the outside world is understandable. Furthermore,
although social interaction is one of the key travel motives for people taking a vaca-
tion, it appears that travelers’ needs for social contact during the tour is actually more
crucial than previously thought. Travelers have the need for affiliation but they do not
recognize it.

Both approaches of data collection – participant observation and telephone interviews –

have their limitations when applied to this topic of study. Customers’ hidden motives
and travel behavior are difficult to uncover simply through telephone interviews.
However, merely using participant observation does not identify the determinants of
participants’ travel decision-making. The combination of two approaches – the partici-
pant observation first and interviews later – generates in more precise data mining since
respondents know the researcher and are willing to provide deeper information, and the

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 results of respondents’ consumption behavior on the tour lead the researcher to ask
more explicit questions.

This research has it limitations. The results of this study should not be freely used for
generalization within un-similar settings as the participants and the circumstances of the
tour are specific to European destinations, and the tour was offered within mid-price
range. Furthermore, Taiwanese travelers are reserved; their expression of travel
motivations might not fully reflect their true anticipations of this tour. In addition,
telephone interviews with tour participants were conducted after the tour in which
respondents’ travel motivations might have been affected by their experiences during
the tour.

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Submitted: 03/06/2007
Accepted: 05/14/2007

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