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purpose
Purpose of tourism normally refers to different
basic categories in the context of statistical surveys,
such as holiday, shopping, gambling and
business. It is also equated by some with motivation,
including physical �health, sport), cultural
�art, religion), interpersonal �visiting friends
and relatives) or status/prestige �ego enhancement)
reasons.
See also: motivation
push±pull factors
RICHARD SHARPLEY, UK
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. Anomie,
for instance, relates to a breakdown in society itself
and may be manifested in escalating crime,
increased drug addiction, decline in law and order
or, in general, high rates of social disintegration.
Those who perceive their own environment in such
negative terms become disposed to seeking out
alternative places where defects of this nature are
considered to be minimal or non-existent. Poor
health, on the other hand, is usually an individual
push factor which influences the decision to
relocate temporarily to more curative and benign
milieux, while feelings of nostalgia may be
experienced personally and collectively, inclining
people to look for alternatives to the unbearable
present and dreaded future in locations reminiscent
of the selective good times of the past. On the other
hand, pull factors refer to the qualities of the
destination area which are either natural �such as
the climate or topography), derived �the warmth of
the people) or contrived �theme parks or hotels).
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.
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
faraway places.
See also: promotion, place
Further reading
push±pull factors 477
Dann, G. �1977) Ànomie, ego-enhancement and
tourism', Annals of Tourism Research 4: 184±94.
ÐÐ �1981) `Tourist motivation: an appraisal',
Annals of Tourism Research 8: 187±219.
GRAHAM M.S. DANN, UK