This is an excerpt of my study investigating the motivations of travellers trough the use of interviews and questionnaires.
For more information on how to obtain a complete copy of the study please visit:www.filmingholidays.com
4.2. Implications
As study results suggest, people, who may be considered expressive individualists will also search for opportunities to fulfilling intrinsic needs, while travelling. But perhaps more importantly, thoseindividuals, whose aims are more associated with utilitarian individualism as they may not consciously seek self-actualisation on holiday and instead focus on short-term satisfaction and material goals, appear to display the same desire for a more authentic way of living, as their motives suggest. Interviewee 8 stated: "we are all looking for something that is just at ease in being."In other words motivating factors, such as needs, motives and motivations may not be ends in themselves. Hierarchically lower needs might be more immediate and address a short-term disequilibrium, but overcoming long-term dissatisfactions will be the tourist's ultimate aim. Gnoth (1997) argues that there are no ‘types’ of tourists, since they may switch roles from one day to the next, all the time longing for a synergetic effect (Adler 1989). Consequently it is this synergy that the tourism industry must aim to satisfy (Gnoth 1997). It may be argued that self-discovery through the act of self-expression in tourism (Adler 1989) is indeed the synergetic effect tourists seek.
Escape from social obligations and the mundane tiring routine, is therefore the attempt to express one's true nature and free oneself from limiting mindsets. The tourist may not merely wish to "get away from it all" (MacCannel 1976, p.13) but seek to return to one's true self. However since tourism, as a form of self-discovery, has become a commodity and has proven to be very profitable, it has also become subject to manipulation (Vukonic 1996). Tourism is therefore often an inauthentic, frivolous activity, characteristic of the kind of pseudo-experiences offered by modern capitalist society (Boorstein 1964). Consequently tourists are again faced with the same social conditions, which they hoped to escape from in the first place. However as people balance the opportunities offered by leisure with their inner, spiritual needs they will come to face themselves as a whole person and thus become more tolerant and considerate of others (Krippendorf 1984).
Tourism must therefore provide the conditions, in which tourists may express and identify with their most intimate inclinations. Vukonic (1996) argues that tourism does indeed have the potential to do so, as it offers closeness to nature, the appreciation of beauty and encounter with the diversity of human achievement. The opportunity for quiet contemplation and reflection, as well as the contact with other cultures and ideas in new and unfamiliar surroundings may raise the traveller’s awareness of his/her reality (Krippendorf 1984).As tourists embark on a journey in the hope of fulfilling their innermost wishes, they may also gain a greater sense of knowledge about what truly satisfies them. Moreover the tourist’s inner and outer boundaries will be expanded, as the distance and difference from the usual environment may result in a renegotiation of the self, since identity is constructed in relation to differences (Galau-Moutafi 2000) and the self is used to make sense of the other (Bruner 1991). However if tourists encounter commodified inauthentic culture, this will only reinforce ‘Gestalten’ formed in people's minds by familiar cultural trajectories (Hollinshead 1992). In order for tourists to find authenticity inside they must be able to find the authentic other (MacCannel 1976). Continued
"All I could see was the world and its beauty .The beauty of the trees. The beauty of the grass and the water and the sky and the light breeze stroking my skin. What was this beauty? It could arrest a man's attention, stop him in his tracks, make him stand absolutely still. When he caught sight of this beauty, was enveloped by it, all his conflicts ceased. For but a second or two he entered a new space, a space empty of ambition and intrigue. It was in such moments one saw the wistfulness, the longing for knowledge. How often I had noted human beings shake their head at the end of such moments, turn back to their stark inner worlds with a shrug. They knew they did not know but could not find the energy to pursue their not-knowing until they did."
(Lockhart 1978, p. 236)
4.3. Recommendations
In response to modern society, which has resulted in personal alienation and loss of identity, but also created material well-being and physical security, individuals may search for inner rewards and aim to overcome rigid and inauthentic ways of living, by way of escape. This global disposition, describing a tendency to seek inner rewards, is the drive to self-actualise, which may be more or less conscious in people's minds and will influence the way people behave during their tourism experience. As greater awareness of intrinsic motivating factors will shape the nature of tourism and tourists alike, spirituality may become a vital component of tourism in general.
While it is hoped that these speculations are based on findings, which are supported by valid research efforts that entailed the use of secondary, qualitative and quantitative data, it must be noted that the discussion of tourist motivation has primarily revolved around the concept of self-actualisation and was therefore subject to bias and personal interpretation. The general motivational framework, proposed in this paper, thus demands further empirical support, while speculations made, require further discussion. Other aspects, such as the perceived nature of obstacles to self-actualisation at home, but also the general readiness of consumers to use spiritual techniques as means to future betterment, and the success of these when employed, would benefit greatly from further research.
