The relationship between vacation factors and socio-demographic and ...

Tourism Management 22 (2001) 259}269

The relationship between vacation factors and socio-demographic and travelling characteristics: the case of Japanese leisure travellers Vincent C.S. Heung *, Hailin Qu, Raymond Chu Department of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA Received 10 May 1999; accepted 31 May 2000

Abstract Understanding consumers' travel decision-making and choice of destination helps in developing appropriate marketing strategies. To have a better understanding about Japanese leisure travellers, this study was designed to identify the relative importance of vacation motives as perceived by Japanese travellers; to identify the underlying dimensions of the vacation motives, and to examine the signi"cant di!erences between the derived vacation factors and sociodemographic variables and travelling characteristics. A survey was conducted with 406 Japanese leisure travellers to Hong Kong. The results show that &enjoying holidays' is the most important vacation motive. Five vacation factors were derived: &bene"ts sought', &attractions and climate', &cosmopolitan city', &exploration' and &dream ful"llment'. A relationship between vacation factors among the sociodemographic and travelling characteristics were also identi"ed in the study. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Japanese travellers; Vacation travellers; Vacation factors; Travelling characteristics; Socio-demographic characteristics

1. Introduction Vacation travel is an experience, an essentially intangible product (Ahmed, Barber & Astous, 1998). It is produced and consumed at the time and on site (Ahmed, 1988). Goodall and Ashworth (1988) regarded vacation travel as a high-risk purchase because travellers can neither directly observe what is being bought, nor try it out inexpensively. Vacation travel has become popular as a result of increased leisure time, income and technological processes, which have freed the movements of money and people (Yau & Chan, 1990). Tourism literature has reported that people's perception of travelling lies in the results of travelling attitudes (Ragheb & Beard, 1982; Gartner & Hunt, 1987), perceived awareness, knowledge and information about travelling resources (Riddick, 1986), and images of tourist areas (Crompton, 1992; Ra!erty, 1990). Travellers are likely to spend much time and e!ort on vacation planning, deciding where to go, the mode of

* Corresponding author. Tel.: #852-2766-6330; fax: #852-23629362. E-mail address: [email protected] (V.C.S. Heung).

travel, and the cost (Goodall & Ashworth, 1988; Mill & Morrison, 1985; Van Raaij & Franchen, 1984). A traveller's vacation destination decision is a complex process involving, among other factors, an individual's perceptions, previous experience, motivation (bene"ts sought), information search, attitudes, and intention (Shih, 1986). McIntosh and Goeldner (1990) de"ned travel destinations as those including natural and developed &mainsprings' that drive people to travel. They include national parks, amusement parks, historical sites, cultural resources, shopping facilities, natural scenery, entertainment facilities, recreational facilities, lodging facilities, food and beverages establishments and the people and culture of di!erent travel destinations. Tourism literature has also mentioned that there are di!erent types of multi-attribute models that study the relationship between people's perceptions of a place and their preference for the place as a travel destination (Goodrich, 1978; Scott, Schewe & Frederick, 1978). Efforts have been made to describe actual destination choice by exploring how tourists perceive a set of alternative travel destinations from which they make a "nal decision (Um & Crompton, 1990; Woodside & Lysonski, 1989; Woodside & Sherrell, 1977). For instance, a model built by Goodrich in 1978 suggested that an individual's

0261-5177/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 2 6 1 - 5 1 7 7 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 5 7 - 1

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V.C.S. Heung et al. / Tourism Management 22 (2001) 259}269

attitude towards an object (e.g. relative preference for each region as a vacation spot) is a function of (determined by, associated with) the amount of valued attributes that the individual perceived the object (region) to have, and of the importance of those attributes to the individual (Goodrich, 1978). Mayo and Jarvis (1981) stated that major in#uence on vacation travel behaviour (e.g. perception) is in#uenced by culture and social class. While Stevens (1992) found that qualitative factors * beautiful scenery, quality of accommodation, and different culture * are more important than price when tourists are at the initial stage of selecting a vacation travel destination, a number of variables are identi"ed as in#uencing travel satisfaction. They include gender, knowledge of travel resources, travel values, income, and the travel attitudes of signi"cant others (Iso-Ahola, 1982). Woodside and Carr (1988) mentioned that consumers actively evaluate the pros and cons of at least four destination choices while making vacation plans.

2. Objectives of the study Understanding why people decide to travel and what in#uences their choice of destination are of critical importance in developing appropriate marketing strategies (McGuiggan, Emerson & Glaser, 1995). They mentioned that being able to predict the likely choice of vacation destination of an individual, and the types of activities that individual is likely to engage in while on vacation, will be bene"cial to tourism marketers. The information can be used to better segment the tourist market and can provide a number of strategic advantages; e.g. e!ective promotional messages and holiday packages can be developed to attract identi"ed segments of travellers. Current tourism literature has focused mostly on travellers' perceptions and satisfaction levels in relation to travelling in Western societies. Few studies, however, have addressed the Asian countries. Mayo and Jarvis (1981) stated that destination attributes may be perceived di!erently by members of di!erent cultural groups. Mill and Morrison (1985) also mentioned that travellers from different countries and cultures generally have di!erent perceptions as to favourite attractions. The di!erences in perception necessitate di!erent marketing themes for those di!erent market segments. Hence, speci"cally, the objectives of this study were: 1. To identify the relative importance of vacation motives for leisure travel as perceived by Japanese travellers; 2. To identify the underlying dimensions of the vacation motives, or vacation factors, that Japanese leisure travellers perceived as important for leisure travel; 3. To examine the signi"cant di!erences between the derived vacation factors and sociodemographic

variables of the Japanese leisure travellers (including gender, age, occupation, and income level); and 4. To examine the signi"cant di!erences between the derived vacation factors and travelling characteristics of the Japanese leisure travellers (including number of times to Hong Kong, length of stay, and sources of information).

3. Literature review 3.1. Vacation motives Um (1987) de"ned vacation motives as the set of attributes that, when aggregated together, describe a place as a travel destination. They include all elements that are related to a destination and to travelling to the place, such as the destination's physical and cultural characteristics, the mental and actual distance required to get to the destination, and so on. Lancaster (1966) said that customers do not choose goods themselves, but rather the attributes possessed by the goods, and that they use the attributes as input factors that produce utility. Mok and Armstrong (1996) added that tourists generally have limited knowledge about a destination that they have not previously visited. Hence, their destination choice is often dependent upon symbolic information acquired either from the media or from social groups. In broad terms, vacation motives can be classi"ed into two distinct categories: &push' and &pull factors' (Graham, 1981). Push factors include cognitive processes and travel motivations including socialization, novelty-seeking, adventure-seeking, dream ful"llment and the need for escape (Chon, 1989). On the other hand, pull factors consist of those tangible and intangible cues of a speci"c destination that &drive' travellers to realize their needs from a particular travel experience, such as natural attractions, food and people (Sirakaya, Sheppard & McLellan, 1997). Goodrich (1978) reported that his sample of American Express international travellers had considered four important factors in their vacation planning: entertainment, purchase opportunities, climate for comfort and cost. Holloway (1986) stated that the success of a travel destination (as a consumer product) depends upon the interrelationship of three basic factors: its attractions; its amenities or facilities; and its accessibility for travellers. Supported by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Travel Development, Shih (1986) identi"ed some important vacation attributes, including visitor safety, reasonable prices, good accommodation, and a relaxing vacation. Van Raaij (1986) viewed the travel destination as a product, which is partly &given' and partly &man-made'. In the &given' part, there are a number of natural features of tourist destination such as climate, scenery, beaches, mountains, historic}cultural buildings, and so forth. In


general, these &given' features may determine the tourist segments, e.g. active vs. passive vacationers; or vacationers with cultural, sports, or other preferences. In the &man-made' part, there exist features such as hotel and transportation facilities, package tours, and facilities for sports and recreation which can all be adapted to customer preferences, subject to budget restrictions. These &man-made' services and facilities can be designed by tourism marketers to satisfy the preferences of the consumer segments in the &given' part. It is important to evaluate consumer behaviour with regard to existing tourist products so that &man-made' characteristics can be better tailored for consumers' needs, and &given' characteristics can be better positioned in the marketplace (Van Raaij, 1986). 3.2. The relationship between vacation motives and sociodemographic and travelling characteristics Goodrich (1980), Woodside and Lysonski (1989) and Um and Crompton (1990) stated that sociodemographic and trip variables a!ected perceptions of a destination image. Um and Crompton (1990) mentioned that people's perceptions of a destination may be in#uenced by internal and external inputs. Internal inputs refer to travellers' sociodemographics, values, and motives, whereas external inputs mean various sources of information, including mass media, word-of-mouth, and past experience. Regarding sociodemographic variables, Goodall and Ashworth (1988) suggested that sociodemographic variables such as age, occupation, and income are important factors in#uencing the formation of the tourist images and perceptions of the travel experience. Woodside and Lysonski (1989) noticed that a destination image is in#uenced by destination attributes and travellers' variables such as age, income, past experiences, and personal values. Baloglu (1997) examined motives of West German travellers to the United States in terms of sociodemographic and trip characteristics. He identi"ed six image factors: adventure, nature and resort; urban environment; budget and value; history and culture; friendly environment; and active outdoor sport. These six image factors were found to vary signi"cantly with travellers' sociodemographic and trip characteristics. Baloglu (1997) also suggested that di!erent promotional strategies should be addressed to di!erent segments of travellers with di!erent vacation motives. For sources of information, they can be categorized internally or externally (Gitelson & Crompton, 1983). Internal sources of information relate to past experience, whereas external sources of information are associated with recommendations from travel agencies, travel magazines, tourist organizations, and referrals from friends and relatives. Fridgen (1984) also stated that destination images are related to trip behaviours such as length of stay, planned activities, and sources of information. Weaver, McCleary,

261

Lepisto and Damonte (1994) found that age was a discriminating demographic variable that in#uenced choice of destination, while Zimmer, Brayley and Searle (1995) identi"ed that income and education in#uenced travellers when choosing nearby and farther-away destinations. For example, Weaver et al. (1994) reported that travellers under 45 years old tend to opt for noveltyseeking and Zimmer et al. (1995) said that travellers who are better educated and have more disposable income tend to travel farther from home. 3.3. Hong Kong as a travel destination Regarding Hong Kong as a travel destination, Siu, Yu and Lit (1987) observed that the e!ective marketing of Hong Kong tourism requires an understanding of the perceptions of Hong Kong's attributes among travellers from di!erent geographic and cultural backgrounds. Yau and Chan (1990) surveyed 600 travellers with an instrument covering 31 major vacation attributes emphasized by tourists in general. Seven vacation attributes were extracted by means of factor analysis: infrastructure; entertainment and attractions; services in hotels and restaurants; quality of food and the proximity of restaurants; price; climate; and friends and relatives. Mok and Armstrong (1995) and Mok, Armstrong and Go (1995) studies looked into the Asian perspective by examining Hong Kong and Taiwanese outbound travellers' perceptions of Australia as a leisure destination. Their "ndings were that safety appeared to be the top priority for by both Hong Kong and Taiwanese travellers. The other vacation attributes, in order of perceived importance, were: scenic beauty; cultural interests; friendliness of local people; price of trip; services in hotels and restaurants; quality and variety of foods; shopping facilities and services; climate; entertainment; recreational and sports facilities; destination distances from place of residence; and friends and relatives at destination. A report by the Hong Kong tourist association (HKTA) on a visitor and tourism study for Hong Kong addressed eight common needs of travellers. They were: ease of visa application and relaxed travel regulations; ease and safety of travel; competitive prices; su$cient information about facilities, attractions, services and events; su$cient hotel accommodation; ease of access; commodities with great variety at reasonable prices; and attractions and relaxing activities (HKTA, 1995). The understanding of the perceived importance of various vacation motives to travellers is an important step facilitating market segmentation and promotion. Successful tourism marketing requires an understanding of the factors that a!ect a destination's image and attractiveness (Ahmed & Krohn, 1990; Haahti, 1986). From a cultural perspective, examining the di!erences in perception helps in developing di!erent marketing themes for those di!erent market segments (Mok et al., 1995).

262


3.4. Japanese arrivals and expenditures in Hong Kong, 1987}1998 Tables 1 and 2 show the Japanese visitor arrivals and expenditure in Hong Kong between 1987 and 1998. Apparently, Hong Kong has long been a popular destination for Japanese travellers. For the past 10 years (1987}1996), the number of Japanese visitor arrivals has increased about 1.3 times, from 1 million in 1987 to a record high of 2.3 million in 1996, with more than 70 per cent of them travelling to Hong Kong for vacation purposes (Hong Kong Tourist Association, 1999). The 1996 "gure represented 20.4 per cent of total visitor arrivals and Japan was ranked the number one inbound market (See Table 1). Table 2 reports Japanese travellers' expenditure in Hong Kong from 1987 to 1996. Tourism receipts from Japan have been reported as the major source of foreign exchange to Hong Kong, accounting for more than 20 per cent on average between 1987 and 1996. In 1996, Japanese travellers spent nearly HK$19 billion in Hong Kong on activities such as shopping, accommodation, meals, entertainment, etc., and equivalent to 22 per cent of total tourism receipts (HK$82.4 billion) in that year. Nevertheless, the year of 1997 was a year of turmoil for Hong Kong's tourism and hotel industry due to the Asian economic crisis and the change of sovereignty of Hong Kong from Britain to China. The Japanese market, which was once regarded as the highest-generating market in terms of tourist arrivals and tourism receipts, has dropped signi"cantly. The 1997 Japanese arrivals of 1.3 million represented a decline of 42.5 per cent compared with 1996. The 1998 "gure showed a further drop, from 1.3 million to less than 1 million. This led to a decrease of Japanese tourism receipts from HK$18,501 million in 1996, to HK$9,213 million in 1997 and HK$5,207 million Table 1 Japanese arrivals in Hong Kong, 1987}1998 Year

Number of Japanese arrivals

Growth rate (%)

Market share (%)

Ranking

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

1,033,525 1,240,470 1,176,189 1,331,667 1,259,837 1,324,399 1,280,905 1,440,632 1,691,283 2,382,890 1,368,988 945,334

42.1 20.0 !5.2 13.2 !5.4 5.1 !3.3 12.5 17.4 40.9 !42.5 !30.9

23.0 22.2 21.9 22.4 20.9 19.0 14.3 15.4 16.6 20.4 13.2 9.9

Top Top Top Top Top Top Top Top Top Top Top Top

1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 4 4

A statistical review of tourism 1987}1998, Hong Kong Tourist Association, Hong Kong. Data for 1992 or before excludes Chinese visitors.

Table 2 Market share of Japanese travellers' expenditure as a percentage of total tourism receipts in Hong Kong, 1987}1998 Year

Total Japanese tourist expenditure (HK$M)

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

7,024.04 9,149.21 9,113.70 9,227.19 9,184.97 9,034.46 10,074.43 12,165.18 14,110.60 18,501.85 9,213.00 5,207.72

Total H.K. visitor receipts (HK$M) 24,837.14 32,496.16 35,842.86 37,977.86 38,300.56 46,698.76 58,303.43 62,511.87 72,939.61 82,462.38 69,946.03 53,078.70

Market share (%)

28.3 28.2 25.4 24.3 24.0 19.3 17.3 19.5 19.3 22.4 13.2 9.8

A statistical review of tourism 1987}1998, Hong Kong Tourist Association, Hong Kong. HK$7.75" US$1.0.

in 1998, respectively. The decline in Japanese visitor arrivals was mainly attributed to: (1) the Asian currency crisis made Hong Kong the most expensive destination in comparison with other Southeast Asian countries. The depreciation of the Thai baht, Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian ringgit, and the Philippine peso inevitably attracted international travelers who preferred to seek bargain visits in these cheaper destinations. This is particularly true because the Hong Kong Dollar is linked to the US Dollar (HK$7.75"US$1.0). The comparatively low cost of travelling to Southeast Asian destinations other than Hong Kong, caused by the Asian currency crisis, undermined Hong Kong's competitiveness. (2) Discriminatory pricing charged to Japanese visitors undermined the reputation of Hong Kong. A discriminatory pricing row in relation to Japanese tourists during the hand-over period discouraged inbound Japanese travel, leading to a 2.9 per cent fall in tourism receipts to HK$39.8 billion in the "rst six months of 1997 (South China Morning Post, 1997). Worse still, unfavourable news about Hong Kong was widespread in Japanese documentaries, which reported that rooms in Hong Kong's hotels cost Japanese tourists three times more than for other tourists.

4. Methodology 4.1. The subject A survey focused on the importance of vacation motives, as perceived by Japanese leisure travellers, was conducted in December 1997 and February 1998. In this study the target populations included those Japanese travellers who left Hong Kong in the survey period. Only


travellers of Japanese nationality visiting Hong Kong for leisure travel were chosen as the sample. Using a convenience sample approach, data were gathered in the departure hall of the Hong Kong International Airport during the periods 25}31 December 1997 and 2}8 February 1998 through a self-administered questionnaire. The Japanese tourists were approached when they lined up for check-ins. If the target sample was not a Japanese or if they were business travellers, the next individual was approached. 4.2. The instrument The questionnaire consisted of two sections. In the "rst section, respondents were asked to rate 25 vacation motives for leisure travel on a "ve-point Likert scale (1"extremely unimportant, and 5"extremely important). A review of relevant literature initially identi"ed 33 vacation motives that had been reported in various studies as major factors that drive travellers to choose a destination (Chon, 1989; Goodall & Ashworth, 1988; Goodrich, 1978; Graham, 1981; HKTA, 1995; Mok & Armstrong, 1995; Mok et al., 1995; Sirakaya et al., 1997; Shih, 1986; Um, 1987; Um & Crompton, 1990; Van Raaij, 1986; Weaver et al., 1994; Woodside & Lysonski, 1989; Yau & Chan, 1990; Zimmer et al., 1995). These 33 vacation motives were then re"ned and condensed to 25 attributes after consultations with a group of experts, including tourism lecturers and travel agents. Section 2 was designed to gather respondents' sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, occupation, and income level) and trip characteristics (number of times to Hong Kong, length of stay, and sources of information). The questionnaire was originally designed in English and translated into Japanese by a team of translators from the language Department of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University under the principle of back translation, i.e. from English to Japanese and then from Japanese to English. The technique, which allows the researchers to examine the original and back-translated versions and hereby improve the quality of translation, has been reported by various studies (Brislin, 1970; Dimanche, 1994). The results of back translation showed that the statements of vacation motives met with the original version. A pilot test was conducted to test the validity of the instrument. The test was conducted in the Hong Kong International Airport, with 50 Japanese travellers being asked to "ll in the questionnaire. Several items were reworded after the pilot test so as to improve the readability and clarity of the instrument. The instrument was also evaluated for validity using various techniques including factor and reliability analyses (McCleary & Weaver, 1992). The results showed that the structure of the questionnaire was valid and reliable.

263

4.3. Data analysis Data were analysed using the SPSS program (statistical package for social science). Mean ratings for the 25 vacation motives and frequency distributions on the respondents' sociodemographic and trip characteristics were computed. Factor analysis with VARIMAX rotation was conducted to create correlated variable composites from the original vacation motives, and to identify a smaller set of dimensions, or factors that explained most of the variances among the motives. In this study, factors were retained only if they had eigenvalues greater than or equal to 1.0 and factor loadings greater than 0.5. To assess the reliability of measures, Cronbach's Alpha was calculated to test the reliability of variables retained in each factor, and coe$cients greater than or equal to 0.50 were considered acceptable and a good indication of construct reliability (Nunnally, 1967). Analysis of variance procedure was employed to determine whether the derived vacation factors varied among groups of sociodemographic and trip variables. A Duncan multiple range test was performed to specify which means were statistically signi"cant. The sociodemographic variables used in this study included gender, age, occupation, and income level, and the trip characteristics consisted of the number of times that traveller had been to Hong Kong, length of stay, and sources of information.

5. Results 5.1. Demographic and travelling characteristics of the respondents A total of 406 Japanese leisure travellers were interviewed in the two survey periods in December 1997 and February 1998. Table 3 illustrates the demographic and travelling characteristics of the respondents. The majority of the respondents were females (74.9 per cent), and more than 70 per cent of the respondents were aged between 18 and 34 years old. Nearly 40 per cent of respondents were professionals; 22 per cent were whitecollar workers; and 16 per cent were students. Almost 60 per cent of the respondents had an annual income of less than US$40,000; 20 per cent earned between US$40,001 and US$60,000; and 23 per cent earned more than US$60,001 annually. Regarding the travelling characteristics of the respondents, nearly 60 per cent of the respondents were "rst-time visitors; and 77 per cent stayed in Hong Kong for no more than four days. The majority of respondents acquired travel information about Hong Kong through the media (53.8 per cent), followed by travel agencies and airlines (29.5 per cent) and friends, relatives and business associates (13.0 per cent).

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V.C.S. Heung et al. / Tourism Management 22 (2001) 259}269 Table 4 The importance of vacation motives, as perceived by Japanese leisure travellers

Table 3 Japanese leisure travellers (N"406) Sociodemographic and travelling characteristics

This study (%)

HKTA (%)

Sex Male Female

25.1 74.9

35.0 65.0

Age 18}24 years old 25}34 years old 35}44 years old 45}54 years old 55}64 years old 65 years old or above

28.9 42.0 16.5 9.1 3.0 0.5

14.0 26.0 24.0 19.0 11.0 6.0

Times to Hong Kong First Time 2}3 Times 4 Times or above

58.9 25.9 15.2

59.0

41.0

11 12 13 14

Length of stay 4 Days or below 5 Days or above

77.0 23.0

NA NA

15 16

Occupation Professionals Self-Employed White Collar Worker Blue Collar Worker Student Retired/not in workforce Others

39.9 3.0 21.9 3.2 15.5 5.2 11.3

Annual income US$20,000 US$20,001}$40,000 US$40,001}$60,000 US$60,001}$80,000 US$80,001

27.5 30.3 19.4 11.4 11.4

Sources of information Travel agencies/airlines Media (travel brochures/ magazines/TV/radio/internet) Friends/relatives/business associates National tourist organizations Others

Ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

17 64.0 1.0

22.0 13.0 NA NA NA NA NA

29.5 53.8

NA NA

13.0

NA

3.2 0.5

NA NA

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Vacation motives

Mean

Std. dev.

Enjoying holidays Enjoying a great variety of food Travelling to a safe destination Exploring a di!erent culture Seeking fun Sightseeing of touristic spots Seeking adventure Taking advantage of discounted fares and tour packages Shopping Travelling to a destination that people appreciate Exploring a di!erent lifestyle Seeking novelty Escaping from daily routine Experiencing pleasant climate/temperature Meeting people Travelling to a closer or nearby destination Travelling to a destination without language barrier Having enough money to travel Travelling to a destination with a mixture of East and West Bypassing a gateway to other destinations Enjoying night life Travelling to a cosmopolitan city Ful"lling dreams of travelling Travelling to a destination that I have never been to Visiting friends and relatives

4.39 4.35 4.25 4.21 4.10 4.01 3.90 3.85

0.85 0.85 0.95 0.80 0.85 1.08 1.01 1.05

3.83 3.70

1.02 1.01

3.69 3.69 3.67 3.45

1.03 1.07 1.17 1.08

3.34 3.29

1.05 1.19

3.25

1.08

3.11 3.10

1.12 1.10

3.05

1.24

2.89 2.76 2.74 2.42

1.24 1.12 1.17 1.17

2.41

1.23

Mean scale: 5 * extremely important to 1 * extremely unimportant. Standard deviation.

Based on Table 3, it was found that the distribution of Japanese leisure travellers' demographic and travelling characteristics were very similar to those reported by HKTA. It therefore indicated that the sample selected in this study were reasonably representative of the target population.

indicated that Japanese leisure travellers perceived &enjoying holidays' as the most important vacation motive for leisure travel, followed by, in descending order of importance, &enjoying a great variety of food', &travelling to a safe destination', &exploring a di!erent culture', &seeking fun' and &sightseeing of touristic spots'. All of these vacation motives scored above 4.0 in a 5-point scale (with 5.0 being extremely important). Fourteen vacation motives scored between 3.0 and 4.0, indicating that these attributes were deemed fairly important to Japanese leisure travellers. The attribute with the lowest mean score was &visiting friends and relatives'.

5.2. Perceived importance of the vacation motives

5.3. Determination of vacation factors

Table 4 shows the ranking and mean scores of perceived importance of 25 vacation motives. The results

The principal component factor method with a VARIMAX rotation was used to generate the factors

A statistical review of tourism 1987}1998, Hong Kong Tourist Association, Hong Kong.


underlying the 25 vacation motives. The eigenvalues suggested that a "ve-factor solution explained 53.9 per cent of the overall variance. The Kaiser}Meyer-Olkin overall measure of sampling adequacy (MSA) was 0.82, which was considered meritorious (Hair, Anderson, Tatham & Black, 1995). The overall signi"cance of the correlation matrix was 0.0000 with a Bartlett test of sphericity value of 3137.04. This means that the data matrix had su$cient correlation to the factor analysis. These measures indicated that the variables had good predictive power for the dimensions. Most variables loaded heavily on one factor and not heavily on others, hereby indicating minimal overlap among these dimensions and that all dimensions were independently struc-

265

tured. The higher loadings signaled the correlation of the variables with the factors on which they loaded. The communality of each variable was relatively high, ranging from 0.46 to 0.67. This indicates that the variance of the original values was fairly captured by the "ve factors. Cronbach's Alpha was calculated to test the reliability of each factor. The results showed that the alpha coe$cients for all "ve dimensions ranged from 0.63 to 0.80, well above the minimum value of 0.5 as an indication of reliability (Nunnally, 1967). Table 5 summarizes the factor analysis results. The "ve factors were labelled as: &exploration', &dream ful"llment', &bene"ts sought', &cosmopolitan city' and &attractions and climate'.

Table 5 Factor analysis results with VARIMAX rotation of the importance of vacation motives, as perceived by Japanese leisure travellers Vacation dimension

Factor loading

Communalities

Factor 1 * exploration ("0.80) Seeking adventure Seeking fun Exploring a di!erent culture Seeking novelty Exploring a di!erent lifestyle Meeting people N"6

0.758 0.731 0.698 0.641 0.630 0.602

0.638 0.641 0.578 0.492 0.468 0.593

Factor 2 * dream fulxllment ("0.73) Ful"lling dreams of travelling Travelling to a destination that I have never been to Visiting friends and relatives Having enough money to travel Bypassing a gateway to other destinations N"5

0.786 0.683 0.663 0.607 0.548

0.638 0.562 0.464 0.498 0.452

Factor 3 * benexts sought ("0.72) Taking advantage of discounted fares and tour packages Travelling to a destination that people appreciate Enjoying holidays Shopping Travelling to a safe destination Enjoying a great variety of food N"6

0.650 0.644 0.555 0.541 0.533 0.517

0.455 0.539 0.575 0.475 0.513 0.588

Factor 4 * cosmopolitan city ("0.70) Travelling to a destination with a mixture of East and West Travelling to a cosmopolitan city Travelling to a closer or nearby destination Travelling to a destination without language barrier N"4

0.764 0.739 0.636 0.563

0.645 0.622 0.528 0.511

Factor 5 * attractions and climate ("0.63) Sightseeing of touristic spots Experiencing pleasant climate and temperature N"2

0.792 0.696

0.597 0.670

EV

Pct of variance

Factor mean

3.54

14.1%

3.82 (0.69)

2.81

11.2%

2.75 (0.83)

2.61

10.4%

4.06 (0.62)

2.54

10.2%

3.10 (0.81)

1.99

8.0%

3.73 (0.92)

Overall reliability ("0.83) Twenty-three vacation motives captured in "ve factors. Eigenvalue. 53.9 per cent of cumulative variance explained. Mean scale: 5 * extremely important, 1 * extremely unimportant, standard deviations are in parentheses. Cronbach's Alpha.

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5.4. Variations of vacation factors by sociodemographic and travelling characteristics The results illustrated in Table 6 indicated that there was a relationship between vacation factors and the sociodemographic and travelling groups of gender, age, times to Hong Kong, length of stay, and sources of information. No signi"cant di!erences were found between the vacation factors and occupation and income level, and the &cosmopolitan city' factor was also found not to vary with any of sociodemographic and trip characteristics.

The only signi"cant di!erence between gender groups was in the case of &bene"ts sought'. Female leisure travellers rated this factor signi"cantly higher than did their male counterparts. Age groups were also found to vary signi"cantly on the &exploration' factor only. The age groups of 18}24, 35}44 and 45}54 rated the &exploration' factor signi"cantly higher than the 55}64 group. As far as the number of visits to Hong Kong was concerned, significant di!erences were noticed in the &exploration' and &attractions & climate' factors. First-time travellers rated the &exploration' and &attractions & climate' factors signi"cantly higher than did those who had visited

Table 6 One-way ANOVA results of mean di!erence of vacation factors by socio-demographic and travelling characteristics of Japanese leisure travellers Socio-demographic variables

N

Gender Male Female

F1 Exploration

F2 Dream ful"llment

F3 Bene"ts sought

F4 Cosmopolitan city

F5 Attractions & climate

102 304

F"2.126 3.73 3.84

F"0.009 2.76 2.74

F"8.944HH 3.90 4.11

F"0.128 3.12 3.09

F"0.292 3.68 3.74

Age 18}24 years old 25}34 years old 35}44 years old 45}54 years old 55}64 years old 65 years old or above

117 170 67 37 12 2

F"2.724H 3.82 3.90 3.67 3.90 3.29 3.50

F"1.509 2.72 2.70 2.72 3.04 2.64 3.60

F"0.998 4.02 4.11 4.03 4.08 3.75 4.08

F"1.538 3.03 3.04 3.17 3.26 3.38 4.13

F"0.988 3.77 3.74 3.53 3.80 3.71 4.50

Occupation Professionals Self employed White collar worker Blue collar worker Student Retired/not in workforce Others

162 12 89 13 63 21 46

F"1.241 3.84 3.81 3.69 3.90 3.95 3.62 3.85

F"0.566 2.75 2.92 2.64 2.72 2.87 2.80 2.72

F"1.402 4.03 4.04 3.95 4.12 4.08 4.28 4.21

F"1.634 3.04 3.77 3.06 3.13 3.09 3.21 3.13

F"0.840 3.76 3.75 3.66 3.62 3.83 3.36 3.76

Annual Income US$20,000 US$20,001}$40,000 US$40,001}$60,000 US$60,001}$80,000 US$80,001

106 117 75 44 44

F"0.806 3.77 3.87 3.78 3.91 3.71

F"1.171 2.79 2.79 2.56 2.72 2.80

F"0.143 4.05 4.09 4.08 4.05 4.02

F"0.544 3.09 3.08 3.09 3.07 3.28

F"1.386 3.58 3.83 3.73 3.82 3.59

Times to Hong Kong First time Second}third time Fourth time or above

241 106 62

F"4.890HH 3.89 3.81 3.58

F"2.166 2.81 2.72 2.56

F"0.858 4.06 4.10 3.97

F"0.812 3.06 3.19 3.09

F"8.015HH 3.87 3.60 3.40

Length of stay 4 Days or below 5 Days or above

315 94

F"0.012 3.82 3.83

F"5.145H 2.70 2.92

F"0.311 4.07 4.03

F"1.172 3.08 3.18

F"1.752 3.76 3.62

120 219

F"0.653 3.80 3.81

F"4.384HH 2.82 2.62

F"2.768H 4.01 4.11

F"1.247 3.12 3.07

F"0.778 3.64 3.72

3.96 3.73 3.75

3.12 2.85 2.80

4.11 3.56 3.92

3.27 2.77 3.25

3.88 3.92 3.75

Sources of information Travel agencies/airlines Media (travel brochures/magazines/ TV/radio/internet) Friends/relatives/business associates National tourist organizations Others

53 13 2

Mean scale: 5 * extremely important, 1 * extremely unimportant. Means with di!erent letters are statistically signi"cant based on the duncan multiple range test P)0.05. *P)0.05. **P)0.01.


Hong Kong four times or more. The length of stay varied signi"cantly with the &dream ful"llment' factor. Those travellers who stayed in Hong Kong for "ve days or more rated the &dream ful"llment' factor as more important than did those who stayed for less than "ve days. With regard to the sources of information, signi"cant di!erences were found in the &dream ful"llment' and &bene"ts sought' factors. Travellers who acquired travel information through referrals (friends, relatives and business associates) rated the &dream ful"llment' factor as more important than did those who sought travel information from travel agencies and airlines. And travellers who acquired information from the media and personal referrals rated the &bene"ts sought' factor as more important to them than did those obtaining travel information from travel agencies/airlines and the national tourist organization.

6. Conclusions and implications This study has identi"ed the vacation motives perceived by Japanese leisure travellers. Of the 25 vacation motives, &enjoying holidays', &food', &safety', &exploring di!erent culture', &seeking fun', &touristic attractions' appear to be important to Japanese travellers. Factor analysis has helped to identify "ve vacation factors, which summarize the correlated vacation motives into a more meaningful factor. The "ve vacation factors held by the Japanese leisure travellers are: &exploration', &dream ful"llment', &bene"ts sought', &cosmopolitan city', and &attractions & climate'. In order of perceived importance, Japanese travellers rate the &bene"ts sought' factor as the most important, followed by exploration, &attractions & climate', &cosmopolitan city' and lastly &dream ful"llment'. That is, Japanese leisure travellers are seeking bene"ts o!ered by the destination, including discounted fares and tour packages, personal referrals, shopping, a safe place to go, and food. Regarding the one-way ANOVA results, four out of the "ve vacation factors were found to relate signi"cantly with sociodemographic and trip characteristics of the Japanese travellers. The &exploration' factor varies with age and the number of visits to Hong Kong; the &dream ful"llment' factor varies with the length of stay and the source of travel information; the &bene"ts sought' factor varies with the gender and source of travel information; and the &attractions & climate' factor varies with the number of visits to Hong Kong. Regarding the perceived importance of vacation motives, the results of this study show that &enjoying holidays' is the most important vacation motive for Japanese leisure travellers, followed by &enjoying a great variety of food', &travelling to a safe destination', &exploring a di!erent culture', &seeking fun' and &sightseeing of tourist spots'. The results support previous tourism studies, that suggest that enjoyment, exploration, food, at-

267

tractions, and safety are some of the common motives for leisure travellers (Gitelson & Kerstetter, 1990; Goodrich, 1978; Mok & Armstrong, 1995; Mok et al., 1995; Siu et al., 1987; Van Raaij, 1986). The attribute with the lowest mean score was &visiting friends and relatives'. This is consistent with Mok and Armstrong's study (1995), which showed that meeting friends and relatives did not seem to be a priority during a vacation. As there is only a small population of Japanese resident in Hong Kong, this "nding could be destination-speci"c. The openended question, which asked the Japanese leisure travellers to indicate their most important reason for choosing a destination, does signal a message to tourism marketers. The three most frequent reasons given for leisure travel were: sightseeing, have not been there, and experiencing natural attractions. In order to attract more travellers, tourism marketers should develop new attractions in Hong Kong, e.g. the new airport at Chek Lap Kok and the development of attractions on Lantau Island could be advantageous in terms of creating a new image for Hong Kong. The "ve vacation factors derived from the original 25 motives can be divided into &push' and &pull' categories. The &bene"ts sought', &attractions & climate' and &cosmopolitan city' can be regarded as the &pull' factors whereas &exploration' and &dream ful"llment' are &push' factors. The pull factors such as &bene"ts sought' and &attractions & climate' are rated by the Japanese travellers as the most important and third-most important vacation factors. Tourism marketers can capitalize on their understanding of these factors (and the motives incorporated in these factors), which are perceived to have vacationpulling capabilities for the target customers. For example, the HKTA could consider o!ering the concept of &value' to customers in terms of air fares, tour packages, food and shopping; and could look for new attractions to attract travellers and to promote Hong Kong as a high-tech multinational city. Zimmer et al. (1995) pointed out that a tourist's attitude towards a destination may be a measure a destination's ability to attract tourists. Thus, the three pull factors are thought to be an indication of the &attractiveness' of a destination, pushing travellers' drives to satisfy the needs of exploration and dreams for travel. Although socio-demographic and trip variables have not been considered as the most important segmentation variables in the consumer behaviour literature (Assael, 1984; Shi!man & Kanuk, 1987), this study has indicated that a signi"cant relationship exists between some of the vacation factors and travellers' sociodemographic and trip variables. Promotional schemes could be developed to cater for di!erent types of travellers, based on their di!erent vacation motives (Gitelson & Kerstetter, 1990). For example, tourism marketers should enhance existing attractions and develop new attractions to attract young, "rst-time travellers. As shown in this study, female

268


travellers are bene"t seekers, and this segment could be attracted through special tour packages tailor-made for them, e.g. all-inclusive package tours, and special theme tours (shopping and food). To promote these package tours, e!ective advertizing and communication strategies that highlight the bene"ts and value of travelling to Hong Kong should be developed. Sources of information are in#uential in terms of destination image and selection (Goodall & Ashworth, 1988). As travellers who believe that personal referrals are as important as the mass media when seeking bene"ts from a travel destination, a satisfactory travel experience may lead to favourable word-of-mouth publicity. Golledge and Stimson (1987) found that media and personal communication do a!ect the image of a destination. A satisfactory travel experience is nothing but the combination of several elements: value for money (trip and accommodation), sightseeing and attractions, food and entertainment, safety, and excellent service quality. More importantly, referrals from friends/relatives/business associates may be more e!ective than referrals from travel agencies and airlines. Ahmed et al. (1998) stated that travellers who have had good travel experiences are likely to generate more potential tourists through word-of-mouth publicity. Therefore, satis"ed travellers may spread favourable word-ofmouth by telling their friends and relatives how &good' this destination is, particularly for those who want to ful"ll their dreams of travelling. Those staying in Hong Kong for "ve days or more rate &dream ful"llment' as more important than those staying in Hong Kong for four days or less. Those longer stayers can be considered as a!ordable stayers, making use of their holidays to visit friends and relatives, or to bypass Hong Kong to go to other destinations. Travellers nowadays are more demanding, and they are looking for more and more. It is suggested that tour packages could be developed that include trips to Shenzhen (China) and Macau in a prolonged tour. To conclude, in order to create e!ective marketing strategies for products and services in the market, a better understanding of consumers is necessary. Van Raaij (1986) suggested that consumer preferences are partly dependent on what is available in the market, and partly on what consumers consider to be the &ideal' vacation. This study has helped to identify the importance of vacation factors as perceived by Japanese leisure travellers, based on their sociodemographic and trip characteristics. It is hoped that the results of this study will provide some insights that will help tourism marketers to develop speci"c, tailor-made promotional strategies to target such travellers. Acknowledgements This research project was supported by a research grant from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

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