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Virtual tourism has become popular in recent years. However, there is still a research gap on virtual tourist motivation. This study aims to identify virtual tourist motivation and explore the relationship between virtual tourism and on-site tourism.

This research identifies virtual tourist motivation based on Means-end chain (MEC) theory. Laddering interviews with 32 respondents were conducted to construct a hierarchical value map. Additionally, a motivation analysis of virtual tourism and on-site tourism was developed based on a review of the relevant literature.

This exploratory study revealed 12 attributes, 9 results and 4 values that virtual tourists wish to achieve and identified 5 means-end chains where self-satisfaction is the most important value-led motivation. Compared with on-site tourism motivations, virtual tourism shows possibilities of replacing, complementing and extending on-site tourism under certain circumstances. However, it significantly depends on whether tourists are attracted by the technical characteristics, security and experience conditions of virtual tourism.

This study contributes to understanding virtual tourist motivation and offers motivation-based insights into the relationship between virtual and on-site tourism. Managerial implications on how to attract potential online tourists are also provided.

虚拟旅游在近些年逐渐受到欢迎。然而, 关于虚拟旅游动机的研究仍存在不足。本研究旨在识别虚拟旅游动机, 并探讨虚拟旅游与现实旅游之间的关系。

本研究基于方法-目的链（MEC）理论识别虚拟游客动机。通过对32名受访者进行阶梯式访谈, 以构建一个价值阶层图。此外, 本研究在回顾相关文献基础上, 对虚拟旅游和现实旅游的动机进行差异化比较分析。

这项探索性研究揭示了虚拟旅游游客希望实现的12个属性、9个结果和4个价值, 并确定了5条MEC, 其中自我满足是最重要的价值导向动机。通过与现实旅游动机比较, 研究发现虚拟旅游在一定条件下具有替代、补充和延伸现实旅游的可能性。然而, 这在很大程度上取决于游客是否被虚拟旅游的技术特点、安全性和体验等条件所吸引。

研究结果有助于进一步理解虚拟旅游动机, 并为虚拟旅游和现实旅游之间的关系提供基于动机的见解。重要的是, 研究还为如何吸引潜在虚拟游客提供管理启示。

El turismo virtual se ha popularizado en los últimos años. Sin embargo, aún existe un vacío en la investigación sobre la motivación del turista virtual. El estudio pretende identificar la motivación del turista virtual y explorar la relación entre el turismo virtual y el turismo in situ (real).

Esta investigación identifica la motivación del turista virtual basándose en la teoría de la cadena medio-fin (MEC). Se realizaron entrevistas escalonadas a 32 encuestados para construir un mapa jerárquico de valores. Además, se elaboró un análisis de la motivación del turismo virtual y del turismo presencial basado en una revisión de la bibliografía pertinente.

El estudio exploratorio reveló 12 atributos, 9 resultados y 4 valores que los turistas virtuales desean alcanzar e identificó 5 MEC en los que la autosatisfacción es la motivación basada en valores más importante. En comparación con las motivaciones del turismo in situ (real), el turismo virtual muestra posibilidades de sustituir, complementar y ampliar el turismo in situ (real) en determinadas circunstancias. Sin embargo, depende en gran medida de si los turistas se sienten atraídos por las características técnicas, la seguridad y las condiciones de experiencia del turismo virtual.

Este estudio contribuye a comprender la motivación del turista virtual y ofrece perspectivas basadas en la motivación sobre la relación entre el turismo virtual y el turismo in situ (real). También se ofrecen implicaciones para la gestión sobre cómo atraer a los turistas potenciales en línea.

Religious tourism is one of the oldest and fastest-growing segments. This study analyzes religious tourism through the pilgrimage of Muslims to the holy city of Mecca and has the following objectives: (1) establish the motivational dimensions of religious tourism; (2) identify the motivational dimensions that predict the satisfaction of religious tourism and (3) determine the motivational dimensions that predict return, recommend and say positive things about religious tourism applied to the pilgrimage to a sacred city.

The sample consisted of Muslim pilgrims who had visited Mecca. The sample was collected in Bahrain, a country located on the Persian Gulf, where most of its population is Muslim. A total of 380 valid questionnaires were obtained online. For the data analysis, factorial analysis and the multiple regression method enter were performed.

The results show that religious motivations are more important when visiting a sacred city than secular ones. Three motivational dimensions were found: religious, social and cultural and shopping. The three dimensions found have a significant relationship with satisfaction and loyalty. Likewise, it was found that the religious motivational dimension is the factor that most predicts satisfaction and loyalty in the behavior of religious visits to a sacred city.

The main limitation of the present study was the temporality in which the sample was taken because the demand may vary at another time of the year and therefore vary its results.

The authors of the study recommend that holy cities increase the religious motivations of these travelers by periodically researching their needs and organizing services to suit their desired spiritual experience. Also, to improve the social and cultural part, travel agencies and tourist companies to Mecca should promote social and cultural motivation among travelers in an appropriate way by providing service packages that involve visits to cultural and social sites such as museums and cultural centers.

This research will serve as a management guide for public institutions and private companies to develop more efficient planning in religious destinations and sacred cities.

This study is the first to analyze the construct of motivations in the pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, to then establish what the main motivations are that predict satisfaction and loyalty in a religious city. Thus, its results provide important information for tourist destination managers and tourism service providers.

Originally conceptualised as an innovative strategy for environmental conservation, ecotourism is now considered as one of the fastest growing segments of tourism. Although many definitions of ecotourism have been provided over the years, the application of the concept is still inconsistent, shifting its focus from purely nature-based towards more sustainable and conservative activities. Research on ecotourism reveals that ecotourism marketing initiatives are mainly driven by the supply-side or government/environmentalist organisations’ perspective, without taking into account the demand side, i.e., individuals’ motivations for ecotourism. This chapter will provide recognition of the different definitions of the ecotourism concept in order to distinguish it from other similar forms of tourism, e.g., nature-based tourism, and will review the research to build an understanding of the various motivations pushing individuals to choose ecotourism offerings. It will also function as the basis for the development of an appropriate protocol to investigate a sample of ecotourism providers and the congruency of their marketing initiatives with established consumer motivations.

This study aimed to determine the motivations of a select group of South Africans in terms of their potential engagement with cultural tourism; more specifically, the study set out to show whether these motivations influence the cultural activities that the tourists want to participate in and whether their interest in specific cultural activities determines their destination choices. Furthermore, the mediating role of activities in the relationship between cultural motivations and destination choice was also assessed.

An online panel survey collected responses from 1,530 potential cultural tourists across South Africa. Hypotheses were tested, using structural equation modelling.

The results show that tourists' motivations for cultural tourism influence their likelihood of participating in specific cultural activities. Cultural tourism is shown to be influenced by more than learning and includes entertainment, relaxation, novelty and escape dimensions. There also seems to be a difference in the activities engaged in by destination type. For example, tourists likely to take part in indigenous cultural tourism activities are more likely to do so at hedonic destinations.

This paper contributes to the understanding of cultural tourism activities, aiding destinations in attracting cultural tourists. Destinations need to develop activities that match visitor motivations, increase satisfaction and encourage visitors to return.

The paper increases the understanding of cultural tourism in South Africa and underlines the importance of communities in providing distinctive tourism activities. The study also has an important social dimension, highlighting the role of social status in cultural tourism consumption and destination selection.

This paper aims to investigate the socio-demographic variables that affect the motivation of Muslim tourists in Malaysia, and to examine the travel characteristics factors that affect the motivation in decision making of Muslim tourists travelling to Malaysia.

The study surveys questionnaires for data collection. Convenience sampling technique was used on the selected sample. The study was conducted in Malaysia, where the target respondents included Muslim family tourists with ages ranging from 18 to 64 years.

The findings show that motivation differs significantly among different levels of the socio-demographic characteristics except for gender and income. The result also reported that a majority of tourists’ travel behaviour was significantly different unless when it comes to seeking accommodation. Results also revealed a tendency for long holiday stays among Muslim tourists in Malaysia.

In this study, the examination of motivation on the Muslim family tourists has provided significant influence in managing the family tourist experience. On the other hand, most previous studies have shown that motivation is positively guided by general “push and pull” factors. However, this research demonstrates that components such family financial income and age of respondents has an effect on Muslim family tourists’ motivation, thus justifying the experience effect.

It is crucial for the service provider and destination management organizations to differentiate their products and services so that the packages and experience will be more meaningful.

Destination packages should be appropriately designed and positioned in the target markets to meet the needs and wants of different Muslim family groups. Communication should emphasize not only the most distinctive characteristics but also the most suitable holiday packages that the family tourist can afford to pay. This would assist the family in the decision-making process and choice processes and facilitate the family’s expectation.

This research paper related to Islamic tourism marketing which can be used to formulate appropriate marketing strategies, build a viable market segment and design practical marketing strategies to attract potential Muslims travellers.

This paper aims to respond to a knowledge gap regarding the motivations of medical tourists, the term used to describe persons that travel across borders with the intention of accessing medical care. Commonly cited motivations for engaging in medical tourism are typically based on speculation and provide generalizations for what is a contextualized practice. This research paper aims to complicate the commonly discussed motivations of medical tourists to provide a richer understanding of these motivations and the various contexts in which medical tourists may choose to travel for medical care.

Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 32 former Canadian medical tourists, this study uses the Iso-Ahola’s motivation theory to analyze tourists’ motivations. Quotations from participants were used to highlight core themes relevant to critical theories of tourism.

Participants’ discussions illuminated motivations to travel related to personal and interpersonal seeking as well as personal and interpersonal escaping. These motivations demonstrate the appropriateness of applying critical theories of tourism to the medical tourism industry.

This research is limited in its ability to link various motivations with particular contexts such as medical procedure and personal demographics. However, this study demonstrates that the three commonly cited motivations of medical tourists might oversimplify this phenomenon.

By providing new insight into medical tourists’ motivations, this paper expands the conversation about medical tourists’ decision-making and how this is informed by tourism discourse. This insight may contribute to improved guidance for medical tourism stakeholders for more ethical and safe practices.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the differences and relationships of push and pull motivations in two different rural tourism destinations.

Data were collected from tourists visiting rural tourism companies in Finland and in Tyrol (Austria). The data were analyzed using analysis of variance and correlation coefficients.

The results indicate significant differences of push and pull motivations in the two regions. In addition, tourists motivated by different variables obviously search for different destination attributes. For example, tourists motivated by the search of a once‐in‐a‐lifetime experience expect different destination attributes than those respondents searching for a sense of comfort or an opportunity to relax.

The low sample size in both Tyrol and Finland reduces the generalizability of the results.

The findings can be used by rural tourism companies and practitioners to understand how push and pull motivations affect tourist behaviour. Based on this information, marketing initiatives can be customized for various target segments in this particular market.

This is the first paper to examine the inter‐relationship between push and pull motivations in rural tourism and one of the most detailed studies on rural tourist motivations. Additionally, the comparison of the two countries underlines the assumption, that cultural or macro‐economic variables strongly influence push and pull motivations of consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine visitors’ motivations for going to the South Luogu Alley, a famous hutong with an over 700-year history in Beijing, China.

The study applied a self-administered questionnaire to collect data from visitors on the main street of the South Luogu Alley.

It was found that most visitors of the hutong are casual tourists pursuing relaxation, including tension release and spending time with friends and family; seeking authenticity is not visitors’ most important motivation.

This study used only one hutong to assess visitors’ motivations in hutong tourism, so the results may not be applicable to all hutongs.

The research on the demographics and different motivations of the South Luogu Alley visitors can be useful to managers of tourism-related organizations.

This study shows that tourists with different motivations for visiting a hutong have varying requirements for authenticity. The reconstruction of some historical hutongs is not always perceived as negative, and the influence of Western cultural elements can be seen as positive if they contribute to the sustainable development of the local culture.

The term “hutonger,” which includes casual visitors, entertainment seekers, authenticity seekers and pure escapees, based on these respective motivations, is introduced to describe the specific groups of hutong visitors and contribute to the hutong tourism literature.

This study aims to analyze the drivers of a creative food tourism experience (CFTE) and its effect on the tourists' perceived authenticity and satisfaction. Specifically, this study captures the importance to explain a CFTE of two sets of stimuli: internal stimuli, including push motivations for food travel (i.e. emotional, cultural and social) and the tourist self-congruity (i.e. actual and ideal) with the chosen food establishment; and external stimuli, referred to the pull motivation exerted by restaurant innovativeness.

Data are obtained through a questionnaire completed by 407 food tourists who have traveled to visit a creative restaurant. The research model is tested using structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Results confirm the relevance of emotional and social motivations to enjoy a CFTE and the need to align the target tourists' self-concept and restaurant positioning. The most vital driver of the CFTE is the restaurant innovativeness, which suggests that entrepreneurship in gastronomy is critical to boosting food tourism.

This study expands the understanding of the role of food tourism motivations and self-congruity in the tourist experience and underlines the relevance of the restaurant's production process to create authentic and compelling experiences that improve the tourists' satisfaction. Moderation analysis considering the tourists' previous experience reveals that cultural motivations only exert a positive effect on the CFTE for first-time travelers. However, self-congruity is the strongest predictor of a CFTE for repeat travelers.