MODELLING THE EFFECTS OF GROUP-TRAVEL MOTIVATIONS AND DESTINATION IMAGE FOR MAJOR SOCIAL-ORIENTED EVENTS

Transcription

1 MODELLING THE EFFECTS OF GROUP-TRAVEL MOTIVATIONS AND DESTINATION IMAGE FOR MAJOR SOCIAL-ORIENTED EVENTS INTRODUCTION Whether it is in informal groups comprising immediate family members, other family members or friends, or as part of formally organised tour groups, studies suggest that groupbased travel accounts for a sizable portion of tourist trips (e.g. Dunne, Flanagan & Buckley, 2011; Wu, Zhang, & Fujiwara, 2011). For example, 60% of tourism travel within New Zealand is group-based (MED, 2011), and accounts for the majority of New Zealand eventbased tourism travel (A&A, 2010). However, group travel differs from individual travel in its complexity, nature, destination-choice process and contextual factors (Hsu et al., 2008; Hsu et al., 2009; Wu et al., 2011). Group-based differences have been identified in destination choice, time spent planning, motives, information use and behaviours, tour-selection criteria, spending, flexibility, activities and length of stay (Hsu et al, 2009; Wu et al., 2011). Thus, models based on individual travel may not be realistic for group-based travel for a major event (Sirakaya & Woodside, 2005). On this basis, there have been limited efforts to conceptualise and test integrated models of group-travel in a major-social-event context. Events are an important motivator of tourism activity and an increasingly significant component of destination marketing (Getz, 2008). Events are used to increase visitation (Light, 1996; Ritchie, 1984), improve a destination s positioning (Roche, 1994) and foster destination development (Bramwell, 1997). In Australia, 22% of international and 19% of domestic overnight-stay visitors were involved in attending festivals, fairs or cultural events in 2009 (TRA, 2010). Major social events, such as the Olympics, international cricket tours and music festivals, draw significant numbers of domestic and international tourists to the hosting regions, resulting in increased consumer spending on accommodation, food and recreational activities and highlighting new tourism destinations (Dwyer, Forsyth & Spurr, 2005; Getz, 2008; O Reagan, 2005; Tourism NSW, 2007; UK Sport, 2007). These events are thus attractive to governments due to their positive, economic-flow-on effects (SRV, 2007; URS, 2007). For example, the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix race costs Victoria $A47 million annually, but has returns of $A170 million to $A200 million (Masters, 2009). Similarly, the Parkes Elvis Festival (2011) is now a major event in regional NSW, attracting over 15,000 visitors annually with an estimated economic impact of $A15 million. Despite this practical significance, a lack of scholarly attention has been given to the various factors that affect event-based tourism (Getz, 2008), and, in particular, group-oriented, eventbased travel behaviour. Formalised, fan-group event-tourism organisations e.g. The Barmy Army (England) and The Fanatics (Australia) have played an increasingly visible role in organising fan-group travel to major sporting events around the world. The Barmy Army has over 20,000 members, and it is difficult not to watch an Ashes or Test cricket series featuring England or Australia without seeing The Barmy Army or The Fanatics visibly present (O Reagan, 2005; Senewiratne, 2008). Thus, understanding who travels for events and why, is important in order to attract larger numbers of tourists to the destination (Getz, 2008; Weed, 2006), with particular regard to group-oriented, event-based tourism. On this basis, the remainder of this paper seeks to enhance our understanding of factors that influence grouporiented, event-travel behaviour. To this end, a theoretical framework is presented (Figure 1) positing travel motivations and destination-image as factors influencing consumers group- 1

2 oriented, event-travel intentions. Next, we present the methodology followed by the analysis of data. Finally, we discuss the results and offer conclusions and future research directions. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Travel motivations In travel-motivations studies, the underlying assumption is that travellers psychological needs and motivations shape travel behaviour and travellers choose the type of holiday to satisfy these internal needs (Meng & Uysal, 2008; Yuan et al., 2005). Internal (push) factors can drive the tourist to search for signs, objects, situations and events that contain the promise of meeting their psychological needs (Fluker & Turner, 2000). External (pull) factors tend to reflect attributes offered by destinations, such as leisure/sport facilities or attractions (Kim & Beck, 2009). A variety of travel motivations have been proposed in the tourism literature. For example, Crompton (1979) identified seven key dimensions of motivations to attend a sporting event: escape; relaxation; prestige; exploration and evaluation of self; regression; enhancement of kinship relationships and facilitation of social interaction. Hoye and Lillis (2008) explored the travel motivations of Australian Football League fans, identifying nine motives that drive sports-fan consumption behaviour: social interaction; skills of players; acquisition of knowledge; aesthetics; drama; escape; achievement; physical attraction and family. An individual s personal characteristics, which include motivations, also shape and affect the formation of destination image (Beerli & Martín, 2004; Martín & del Bosque, 2008). Motivations are important in the traveller s decision-making process and are intertwined with the image that people have about a particular destination (Stepchenkova & Mills, 2010). Travel motivations are thus included in image-formation models as a major influence guiding the development of destination images (Baloglu, 1999), as well as influencing cognitive and affective destination-image dimensions (e.g. Li et al., 2010). Having established that travel motivations are vital to understanding tourist behaviour and predicting future travel patterns, it is argued that stronger travel motivations will have a positive influence on group-oriented travel behaviour. Since attendance at a major social event also requires travel, it follows that higher levels of travel motivations should affect the attractiveness of (or attitude toward attending) the event (Kim and Chalip, 2004). This is because the stronger an individual s travel motivations with reference to an event, the more compelling the event should be for the consumer to attend it. Thus, H1: Travel motivations will positively influence cognitive destination image. H2: Travel motivations will positively influence affective destination image. H3: Travel motivations will positively influence group-oriented travel intentions. Destination image Destination image is an individual s mental representation of knowledge (beliefs), feelings and overall perception of a particular destination (Chen & Tsai, 2007; Lee, Lee & Lee, 2005). Destination image can be conceptualised as having rational (cognitive) and emotional (affective) elements (Beerli & Martín, 2004; Kaplanidou & Vogt, 2007; Wang & Hsu 2010). For example, cognitive inferences can be made by tourists about destinations based on a variety of destination cues, such as price and attractions (Kaplanidou & Vogt, 2007). Affective destination image is formed by a consumer s assessment of the affective (emotional) quality of a destination, such as being gloomy or exciting, pleasant or unpleasant, or arousing or sleepy (Baloglu, 1999). Importantly, there is agreement in the literature that the 2

3 affective dimension of destination image is informed by the cognitive dimension (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Li et al., 2010; Lin et al., 2007; Wang & Hsu 2010). This being the case; H4: Cognitive destination image will positively influence affective destination image. Prior studies have shown that destination image (inclusive of cognitive and affective dimensions) has an important influence on tourist behaviours, including attitude toward event participation (Kaplanidou and Gibson, 2010) and intentions to visit for the first time or revisit a destination (Baloglu, 1999; Chen & Tsai, 2007; Kaplanidou & Vogt, 2007; Lin, et al., 2007). Tourists behaviour can thus be expected to be partly conditioned by the image that they have of destinations (Bigné, Sánchez & Sánchez, 2001). In the case of event travel for major social events, individuals do not decide the event s location. Consequently, the destination image or its perceived appeal may influence the consumer s decision making as to their potential attendance at the desired event. Further, in the absence of prior experience and/or limited knowledge of the destination (i.e. an unvisited destination), a consumer s cognitive beliefs and affective feelings of the destination image have a potentially critical decision-making role to play in this context (Keller, 2008). Therefore, an individual s cognitive and affective destination image, whether a true representation or not, is seen to be a critical element in destination-visitation decisions (Ross, 1998). On this basis, we argue that consumers who have a favourable image of the destination hosting the event will be more likely to engage in group-oriented travel behaviour. Thus, H5: Affective destination image will positively influence group-oriented travel intentions. H6: Cognitive destination image will positively influence group-oriented travel intentions. METHODOLOGY A convenience sample of 170 Australian university students representing a variety of academic majors was asked to nominate the next major social event that they planned to travel to (which would include at least an overnight stay) as part of a group in the next 12 months and base their survey responses with respect to this focal event. The group was defined as travelling as part of a formal package tour or an informal social group of friends. We follow the decision rules outlined by Jarvis et al. (2003) to configure travel motivations as a multidimensional Type II reflective-formative construct. On this basis, it is assumed that the attributes of travel motivations have an impact on (form) travel motivations. This is because failure to specify a model properly can bias estimates of the structural relationships between constructs, undermine statistical conclusions about theoretical relationships amongst the constructs drawn from the research and can lead to incorrect managerial decision making (Mackenzie et al., 2005). As such, eighteen items adapted from a variety of studies (e.g. Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Kim & Chalip, 2004; Li et al., 2010) tapped four travel motivation constructs pertaining to the focal major social event: escape (5 items), excitement (4 items), socialising (4 items) and learning/curiosity in the culture of the destination of the event (5 items). All items were rated on a 7-point, Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree). Seven-point, semantic-differential scale items (Kaplanidou & Vogt, 2007) measured cognitive destination image (2 items) and affective destination image (5 items). Finally, group-event travel intention was measured by adapting two items from Kim and Chalip (2004) on a 7-point, Likert-type scale (item one rated from strongly disagree to strongly agree and item two rated from very uninterested to very interested ). 3

4 RESULTS A variety of large-scale social events were nominated by the 170 respondents, with music (58%), sport (20%), cultural (10%) and travel (7%) events accounting for almost all of the major social events. Gender was roughly equal (males = 46%, females = 54%). The average age was 21.4 years (range = 18-38). Respondents made approximately two domestic trips each year, of which 56% involved attendance at a large-scale social event. Further, respondents made 1.2 international trips every two years, of which nearly half (46%) involved attendance at a large-scale social event. Partial Least Squares (PLS), specifically PLS-GRAPH version 3.0 with the bootstrapping resampling procedure (Chin 1998), was used to assess the adequacy of the measurement model of the seven constructs and the predictive relevance of the conceptual model, which includes reflective and formative constructs. We assessed the adequacy and significance of the outer model through an examination of specific indices, including component loadings, composite reliability (>.70), average variance explained (AVE >.50), bootstrap (critical ratios) t-statistic (> 1.96) and discriminant validity, with all the results exceeding the recommended benchmarks. Furthermore, the first-order attributes of excitement (.36), culture and curiosity (.57), socialisation (.33) and escapism (.28), which formed the travelmotivations construct, indicated that the weights (interpreted like regression coefficients) were acceptable, with all t-values > The results of the hypothesis testing revealed that the individual R 2 s (>.10) for the endogenous variables, βs and the AVA (>.10) were acceptable for H2, H4, H6 in the inner model, whereas H1, H3 and H5 were not supported. Figure 1 presents the conceptual model and PLS results. Figure 1 Conceptual Model and Results H3:.18, 1.21 Excitement R 2.13 Culture and Curiosity Socialisation Escapism.36*.57*.33*.28* Travel Motivations + H2:.34, 3.22* H1:.10, 1.21 Affective Destination Image H4:.33, 3.16* Cognitive Destination Image H6:.45, 4.70* H5:.13, 1.43 Group Travel Intentions R R 2.25 Note: * = significant at 1.96, p < 0.01, + = Travel motivations first-order dimensions possess reflective indicators that then form the travel motivations construct. Average Variance Accounted for (AVA) =.23 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH Overall, this study builds and extends prior tourism research regarding the effects of travel motivations, destination image and travel intentions of group-oriented, event-travel consumers. The results show support for our specification of the travel-motivations construct 4

5 showing that all first-order constructs formed the second-order construct, which was largely influenced by culture and curiosity (.57), followed by excitement (.36), socialisation (.33) and escapism (.28). Subsequently, the hypothesis testing shows that the formative configuration of travel motivations had a significant positive relationship with affective destination image (H2), but not cognitive destination image (H1) and travel intention (H3). The finding that travel motivations does not directly influence travel intentions in our model is counter to a number of studies in the tourism literature (e.g. Baloglu, 1999; Hung & Petrick, 2011; Rittichainuwat, Qu & Leong, 2003). However, this result is consistent with recent tourism studies that have failed to find a direct influence on travel behaviours/intentions (e.g. Hsu & Huang, 2010; Li et al., 2010). One possible explanation for this finding is that attitude toward the event is mediating the effect of event-travel motivations on travel behaviour intentions. Thus, future research could explore the role of mediating variables on group-travel behaviour. Support was also found for the role of the cognitive-affective nature of destination image in the study context and the positive influence of the cognitive dimension on the affective dimension (H4). This finding is consistent with the broader tourism research in this area (e.g. Li et al., 2010). Further, the finding that affective destination image s stronger influence on travel intentions (H6) is also consistent with research in this area (Lin et al., 2007). A number of tourism implications emerge from this research. First, tourism marketers need to appreciate the role that destination image has on group-oriented, event-travel intentions, and whether they should focus on affective (feelings) or cognitive judgements in promoting a major social event. For example, consider the recent Commonwealth Games in Delhi and the next Games location in Scotland. India needed to address negative sanitary and security concerns and emphasise the friendly nature of India s people in ads (cognitive dimension) and build on the positive affective image people have of India, whereas Scotland may need to counter the less favourable weather and expense perceptions and highlight the safety, landscape and quality accommodation (cognitive dimension) and tap into the positive affective image people have of Scotland. Second, major-social-event marketers need to consider how different travel motivations influence destination image (e.g. culture/curiosity and excitement having large effects in this study) and event-travel intentions and factor those into designing their communications programme, and how they may differ by event type. For example, travelling events (e.g. the Olympics) face a constant reassessment compared to static events (e.g. Malaysian F1 Grand Prix), as well as sporting events compared to music and wine festivals. As such, further studies could investigate the varying influence of travel motivations (and its underlying dimensions) across different major-event categories. There are limitations and considerations for this research that should be kept in mind when seeking to compare and generalise these findings and open avenues for further research. An Australian student sample was used, and a wide range of major social events were evaluated. Only event travel intentions were measured, not actual travel behaviour. Finally, other factors may also play a role in explaining event travel intentions, such as involvement, event identification and travel constraints. In conclusion, despite the significance of large-scale-event-based tourism, a theoretical gap exists as to what drives consumers to attend these events, particularly with regard to grouporiented, event-based tourism. To address this deficiency, a theoretical framework was presented that posited travel motivations and destination-image as factors influencing consumers group-oriented, major-social-event travel intentions. A better understanding of the reasons why consumers travel to and attend major social events in groups will enable 5

6 practitioners and policy makers to formulate more effective, consumer-centric, marketing strategies, thus leading to larger event attendance resulting in greater economic activity. 6

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