SUMMER EDITION 2007 - Faculty of Business and Law - Victoria ...

SCHOOL OF HOSPITALITY, TOURISM & MARKETING
What motivates tourists
Currently completing her PhD,
Marketing Lecturer Pandora Kay is
investigating tourists’ perceptions
about attending cultural attractions
and events while on holiday
in Melbourne. ‘I’m particularly
interested in what cultural
experiences they like, why they
go, what benefits they expect from
attending, and what benefits were
gained from cultural experience
attendance,’ explained Pandora.
As with many other destinations, Melbourne
is positioning itself as an event and cultural
capital, and Pandora’s research will have
implications for developing marketing
strategies to attract tourists to such events and
destinations.
Pandora explained that despite the crosscultural
nature of international tourism, cultural
research of tourists’ cultural experience,
attitudes and motivations is lacking. ‘Testing
for cultural differences between some of
Melbourne’s major tourist markets is a focus,
as is testing for differences between Englishspeaking
Western tourists and Asian tourists.’
The research will also test for differences
between different sub-samples of English-
speaking Western tourists from the
international tourist markets of New Zealand,
North America, United Kingdom and Ireland,
as well as domestic tourists from Melbourne’s
nearby states (SA, NSW and Qld). And within
the Asian tourist market, the research looks at
differences between Chinese-speaking tourists
and Japanese-speaking tourists.
‘The research involved primary data collection
at the Queen Victoria Market (QVM) over a
seven week period from December 2005
to February 2006,’ explained Pandora. ‘A
team of 12 bilingual data collection research
assistants was recruited and trained by me,
and assisted me with the data collection in
shifts throughout the 29 market trading days
during this period.’ The fact that the QVM
management gave permission for the data
collection to take place at the market itself was
quite a coup because it is one of Melbourne’s
top tourist attractions for international and
domestic tourists.
Although the research is yet to be finalised,
preliminary findings indicate tourists have
a liking for art and history-related cultural
experiences, traditional performing arts,
famous culture, and for social interaction at
cultural experiences, as well as for cultural
experiences that have been recommended by
others.
‘The main motives for tourists going to cultural
experiences are for the novelty, to learn about
local culture, for relaxation, to have social
consumption of refreshments, and shopping
for souvenirs in the ancillary facilities,’ said
Pandora. ‘Tourists’ expectations of cultural
experiences are edutainment (a combination
of education and entertainment), refreshments,
relaxation, and for clean facilities and clear
and helpful signs. The benefits gained came
from tourists who were emotionally involved,
relaxed mentally, escaped into another world,
gained knowledge and got a feeling of
accomplishment.’
Surprisingly, Pandora found that there were no
statistically significant cross-cultural differences
in these findings except for the different groups
of English-speaking Western tourists and their
motives for going to cultural experiences.
Final analysis for the completed PhD is expected
in early 2007.
For more information email
Pandora Kay at pandora.kay@
vu.edu.au
Top right: Queen Victoria Market, a tourist mecca
Above: Students collecting data from shoppers at QVM
14 VICTORIA UNIVERSITY