Push and Pull Factors for Destinations

Key Terms
Push and Pull factors Aspirational group Attitude Belief Cognitive dissonance (perceptive inconsistency) Culture Family life cycle Learning Lifestyle

Key Terms
Membership groups Motivations Opinion leaders Personality Reference groups Role Self-concept Social classes

To be a bullfighter, you must first learn to be a bull.

-Anonymous

Push and Pull Factors

Push and Pull factors are accepted as basic tourist motivations in tourism marketing. These two factors together affect tourist behaviors, decisions and they are important for destination selection. Push factors are independent and they force an individual to escape from usual place, while pull factors dictates or imposes a specific destination motivating potential visitors to the place.
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Push and Pull Factors

An early paradigm for understanding tourist motivation is the push-pull model. This is based on the distinction between factors which encourage individuals to move away from their home setting through tourism (push factors) and those attributes of a different place which attract or 'pull' them towards it. Push factors are evident at the individual or social level, or as a combination of both while pull factors refer to the qualities of the destination area
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Push and Pull Factors

Push factors have been considered as motivational factors or needs that arise due to a disequilibrium or tension in the motivational system. That is, as factors that motivate or create a desire to travel. Two basic motivational dimensions of leisure or tourism behaviour, escaping and seeking, which simultaneously influence people's leisure behaviour.
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Push Factors
A tourist may want to make a trip to escape from his/her personal or interpersonal environment (e.g., escape from routine everyday life) and to seek out psychological rewards in the personal or interpersonal dimensions (e.g., adventure or friendship building). Thus, these motivational factors explain why tourists make a trip and what type of experience, destination or activity they want.
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The common push factors found in most studies were found as ; escape from everyday environment, novelty, social interaction, relaxation, excitement , adventure, enjoyment , social interaction and prestige
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Pull Factors
Pull factors, in contrast to push factors, have been conceptualised as relating to the features, attractions, or attributes of the destination itself, such as; beaches and water/marine-based resources, mountains and beautiful scenery, historic and cultural resources,
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Pull Factors (cont d)

social opportunities and attractions, natural and cultural amenities, accommodations and transportation, infrastructure, foods, and friendly people, physical amenities and recreation activities and entertainment were found as main pull factors in most studies
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Relationship between push and pull factors Push and pull factors have generally been characterized as relating to two separate decisions made at two separate points in time one focusing on whether to go, what to see or what to do (relating to the specific destinations). In particular, while the internal forces push people to travel, the external forces of the destination itself simultaneously pull them to choose that particular destination.
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Relationship between push and pull factors

Potential tourists in deciding where to go may also take into consideration various pull factors which correspond adequately to their motivational push. For analytical purposes, push factors precede pull factors both logically and temporally, since the decision whether or not to travel is prior to a specific choice of destination. In practice, however, such decision making may be virtually simultaneous.
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Relationship between push and pull factors

It follows from the above that the most effective forms of tourism promotion are those which attempt to match the pull factors of the destination with the push factors in the client (matching supply and demand, including target marketing). Thus the urge to satisfy curiosity in the potential tourist, for instance, can be matched with novel and exotic experiences in far away places
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Push and Pull Factors

In this lecture both motivations are examined in detailed under two different headings; 1. Tourist behaviors and related individual motivations 2. Tourism attractions that pull the visitors to specific places and destinations. There is an intense competitions among the destinations to attract more tourist in tourism markets using effective marketing tools
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A Typology of Motivators in International Tourism Push Factors

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Push and Pull Factors

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Pushes

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Motivations

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Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

Self Actualization

Esteem Needs (self-esteem)

(sense of belonging, love)

Social Needs

(security, protection)

Safety Needs

Physiological Needs
(hunger, thirst)

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Psychological Factors

Perception
Selective Attention
Consumers are constantly bombarded with information and will screen out stimuli

Selective Distortion (arptma)

Messages to do not always come across in the same way the sender indented.

Selective Retention (alkoyma)

People will forget much that they learn but will tend to retain information that supports their attitudes and beliefs
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Types of Hospitality Customers

Business travelers Pleasure travelers Package market Mature travelers International travelers Free independent travelers (FIT) Members of private clubs
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Business Travelers
A customer who purchases hospitality products or services because of a need to conduct business in a particular area One of the most desirable market segments for the hospitality marketer The largest major segment and least price sensitive Business traveler needs
Convenience, reputation, price
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Group Business Markets

Conventions Association Meetings Corporate Meetings Incentive Travel SMERFs Social, Military, Educational, Religious, and Fraternal organizations

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The Organizational Markets

Market Structure and Demand

Organizational demand is derived demand; it comes ultimately from the demand for consumer goods or services

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The Organizational Markets

Organizational buying decisions tend to be more complex than consumer decisions

The organizational push factors tends to be more formal than the consumer process
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Organizational Buying Process

Users
DecisionMaking Unit of a Buying Organization is Called Its Buying Center. Attitudes

Influencers Deciders

Roles Include

Unexpected Situational Factors of Others

Ethical

Approvers

Gatekeepers

Buyers

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Pleasure Travelers

Customer who purchases hospitality products or services for leisure or other non-business purposes Business and pleasure travelers combine both in one trip More relaxed and casual Eat and socialize High growth potential market Major part is family travelers People traveling to visit friends
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Package Market
Customers who purchase a combination of services for an allinclusive price Normally packages designed to boost occupancy during low-demand periods Not the same as discounting Need to provide all aspects of the promised package
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Mature Travelers

Hospitality customer who is older than 55 Is increasing as people are living longer, have resources and interest in travel Like to visit new places and visit friends and family Not homogenous; age and physical limitations play a role in needs Some hotel chains aggressively pursue this market Restaurants cater to this segment
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International Travelers

A person who travels and visits outside his or her own country for business, personal or pleasure purposes Most tourism to/from Europe is from/to the same destination 48 % in total 950 million travel outside their home country every year Marketing to this group is expensive and risky; usually done via an intermediary Overall marketing goals are the same for this group as for other groups
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Free Independent Travelers

Traveler not affiliated with an organized travel group and does not fit into other defined market segments Includes wholesalers and retail agents Normally willing to pay higher rates than the group customers
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Members of Private Clubs

Includes
Country City Yacht Tennis Military

Rely on word-of-mouth Look for customization of their experience

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Discussion Questions
Go to the internet site of a travel organisation. Do they have a separate section for group or organisational purchases? If so, how does the information in this section differ from their consumer site? If they do not have a separate site, go to another organisation until you find one that has a separate site for group or organisational purchases.
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End of Chapter Slides..

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