THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE CHARACTERISTICS AND MOTIVATION OF VISITORS: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF A CROATIAN TOURIST EVENT

1. INTRODUCTION

Knowing and understanding the motivations and characteristics of visitors to tourist events is evolving into one of the most important factors of successful event management. It is the outcome of new trends in the tourism market which have, due to globalization and the ever faster development of technology, brought about changes in the profile of tourism consumers. Today’s tourists are becoming increasingly better informed and more discerning, with new needs, interests and wants (Niininen et al, 2007) . Motivated by the desire for entertainment, learning and new experiences, tourists make decisions about visiting an event within the framework of tourism product consumption (Trošt Lesić et al, 2017) .

Stamboulis and Skayannis (2003) point out that tourism has principally been concerned with the tourist experience of visiting, seeing, learning, enjoying, and living in a different mode of life. In this sense, everything tourists go through at a destination can be experience, it can be behavioural or perceptual, cognitive or emotional, or expressed or implied.Visiting a particular tourist destination is typically motivated less by the elaborated physical characteristics of the site than by the mental and emotional image or “pre-experience” the tourist has for the expected experience at the destination (Manhas et al, 2016) . In essence, what tourists primarily seek at destinations is experience. Hence, entire tourist destinations are beginning to be positioned as “experiences” (Richards, 2001) . The benefit chain of causality’s view of tourism motivations tends to position tourist experience as a construct that transforms destination settings and activities into ultimate benefits and value that tourists obtain by visiting the destination ( Driver et al, 1987 ; Haas et al, 1980 ; Manning, 1986 ). Prentice (1998) discussed several cogent models of tourist motivations that are believed to shape the tourist’s experience and concluded that the tourist’s experience and motivations are as diverse as the characteristics of destinations and tourists. Indeed, tourist events should also be considered in that context– as complex phenomena that, through their content and specific form of organization, need to meet a wide spectrum of tourist demands, while providing a unique experience for each individual.

Many tourism organizations have made the organization of festivals and special events a part of their destination marketing and development strategies, recognizing that many events have the potential to attract visitors to the destination, generate media attention, build the destination’s brand, and boost the economy. Steps that precede these success factors include, among others, exploring the needs, motives and benefits of potential visitors with the purpose of designing events that meet both the needs of visitors and the requirements of event organizers. Interest in exploring the characteristics and motivations of event visitors continues to grow in academic circles, where motivation and characteristics are studied as elements of tourist behaviour (Kesic, 2006) . Understanding the characteristics and motivations of visitors is of the utmost importance to event managers, there being three basic reasons for this, according to Crompton and McKay (1997:426) . First of all, motivation is a key to designing a better event offering for visitors. Because event programmes can be designed according to different needs, this makes it essential to identify visitor characteristics and motivations to ensure the programme is adapted to visitor needs in the greatest possible extent. The second reason lies in the close relationship between motivation and satisfaction. Namely, when needs and motivations are met, the outcome is overall visitor satisfaction. Finally, identifying visitor characteristics and motivations is a key factor in understanding the decision process of visitors to attend a specific event. Accordingly, the identification of diverse motivations and characteristics will greatly facilitate target market segmentation and the development of effective promotion.

This study focuses on the socio-demographic characteristics and motivations of visitors to a tourist event. The following research objectives were developed:

To accomplish the research objectives, an empirical study was conducted to explore and analyse the characteristics and motivations of visitors to a cultural-tourism event held annually in Zagreb, Croatia.

This paper is organized as follows. An overview of fundamental concepts, based on previous studies, is provided after the introduction. Research methodology is explained in the third section and research results are interpreted in the fourth. The last section, Conclusion, synthesizes the entire paper from the theoretical and the applied perspective of the application of established findings.

2. OVERVIEW OF THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS OF THE RESEARCH SUBJECT

The characteristics and motivations of visitors to tourist events are increasingly becoming a topical issue of scientific debates. In a wide body of recent research, authors view characteristics and motivations as major drivers of tourist behaviour. Dann (1977) uses them to explain reasons for travelling and the deciding factors in choosing a destination. Dann’s study is based on push and pull motivational factors (Dann, 1977:185) , with push factors representing socio-psychological characteristics and motivations that stimulate tourists away from their permanent place of residence to travel for pleasure. On the other hand, pull factors are defined as motivations that attract tourists to a tourist destination. Building upon Dann’s model of push and pull factors, Crompton (1979:426) found that push motivational factors are influenced by additional individual characteristics, such as a desire for prestige, physical activity and spending time with the family. Crompton also provided a more in-depth review of push factors (1979:430) by defining key motivations: escape from the environment, self-searching and evaluation, relaxation, prestige, less restricted behaviour, enhancing family relationships, facilitating social interaction, novelty and education. Crompton’s comprehensive analysis became the groundwork for numerous later studies that took an integrated view of visitor characteristics and motivations as key factors in the decision process regarding visits to tourist events ( Crompton and McKay, 1997 ; Yolal et al., 2012 ; Chang and Yuan, 2007 ; Yu andYen, 2012 ; Saayman, 2011 ; Çakiciand Es Yilmaz, 2017 ; Mohammad, 2014 ; Egresi and Kara, 2014) .To address the complexity of the research subject, the authors developed conceptual frameworks as methodological instruments in studying the characteristics and motivations of tourist event visitors. The below table illustrates the key variables (domains) of the conceptual frameworks.

The starting point of almost every conceptual framework is Crompton’s 1979 groundwork that includes seven socio-psychological motivation domains: novelty (a desire to seek new and different experiences and excitement), socialization (a desire to interact with groups and their members), prestige/status (a desire to have a good reputation and a high standing in the eyes of society), rest and relaxation (a desire to relieve daily stress through spiritual and physical rejuvenation of the body), education value/intellectual enrichment (a desire to acquire knowledge and broaden one’s intellectual horizon), enhancing kinship/family togetherness (a desire to improve family relationships), and regression (a desire to indulge in behaviour reminiscent of childhood). In addition to Crompton, Getz (1991) also contributed to the study of visitor characteristics and motivations. Getz classified the primary needs for visiting an event (festival) into three categories: physical, interpersonal or social, and personal motivation factors. Several years later, Crompton, in collaboration with McKay (1997), formulated a total of 31 motivation items, grouped into six motivation domains. In their study the authors asserted that different events are capable of satisfying a similar series of motivation domains. Building on Crompton and McKay’s work, Yolal et al. (2012) conducted a study using an adapted conceptual framework, with 18 motivation items divided into five basic domains. The authors concluded that significant differences emerged in the motivations of event visitors when different types of events were taken into consideration.

Chang and Yuan (2007) conducted an interesting study to explore festival visitor motivations and determine differences between the motivations and socio-demographic characteristics of visitors. They distributed a total of 35 items across six basic motivation domains. The authors found that there were multiple motivations for visits to an event, the primary being escape and novelty of an event, personal socialization and external socialization. The study also established that significant differences exist in motivation domains based on the socio-demographic characteristics of visitors. Saayman (2011) conducted a similar study which used 21 items within three main domains. He concluded that a combination of internal and external motivations is central in the process of deciding whether to visit an event, with escape from everyday life playing the most important role. Saayman also found significant differences in the motivations of visitors with regard to their socio-demographic profile.

In their study, Yu and Yen (2012) explored the characteristics of event visitors using 24 motivation items distributed across five motivation domains. Event novelty was found to be the main motivation to visit an event. When cluster analysis was applied to research results, two clusters emerged: a low-motivated cluster and a highly-motivated cluster. Visitors belonging to the highly-motivated cluster have higher annual household incomes, visited the fair in the company of someone else, and learned about the fair foremost from friends, and then from newspapers, the radio and posters.Visitors belonging to the low-motivated cluster have lower annual household incomes, learned about the fair from newspapers and from friends and tended to visit the fair alone.

The study carried out by Çakiciand Es Yilmaz (2017) used a conceptual framework made up of 17 motivational items in four motivation domains. The results of the study show that visitors were motivated the most by novelty, a desire to gain new experiences, and then by socialization, a desire to spend time with friends and meet new people. Çakici and Es Yilmaz also performed cluster analysis, resulting in a highly-motivated cluster and a low-motivated cluster of visitors. The results of their correlation analysis point to significant differences between the two clusters and cluster characteristics. One of the study’s key findings indicates that the highly-motivated cluster comprises better educated respondents, aged 30 to 49, with higher monthly incomes.

Mohammad (2014) also explored the relationship between the socio-demographic characteristics of visitors and motivation domains. In his study he used a total of 26 motivation items divided into four motivation domains. Yet again, the results of this study confirmed event novelty as being the most important motivation for visitors. Mohammad presented important findings with regard to the typification of event visitors and found significant differences when examining the relationship between individual socio-demographic characteristics and motivation domains. For example, he found that women tended to give higher average scores to all motivation items. With regard to age groups, the study showed that respondents aged 31 to 50 were motivated by a desire to expand their knowledge, while respondents in the 21-30 age group were more motivated by a desire to relax.

Unlike the above authors, Egresi and Kara (2014) carried out research from a different perspective, analysing the motivations of visitors to three smaller events to identify the different characteristics and motivations of visitors to different events. The results of the study indicate that the film festival and the jazz day were visited by visitors of the same profile: highly educated men and women, aged 25 to 44, employed, with good and satisfactory monthly incomes. Using Crompton’s conceptual framework, the authors classified motivation items into five main motivation domains. Results indicate that certain differences exist in the motivations of visitors to different events.

The primary purpose of study conducted by Maeng et al (2016) was to trace the origin of major motivational factors for festival attendance used in previous studies. The authors have conducted meta-analysis of 46 research articles and 70 motivational factors for festival attendance were extracted. These factors were divided into the following five categories: socialization, escape, excitement, learning, and shopping. This study contributed to the final conclusion that studies on festival attendance motivation should reflect the unique characteristics of festival motivation and should deal differently with tourism motivation.

All the studies outlined above have generated very important findings that underline the need to understand the characteristics and motivations of visitors to tourist events. Viewed from the perspective of event managers, the analysis and understanding of visitor characteristics and motivations, as an integrated phenomenon, is imperative to the organization of an event, the contents and quality of which must be capable of meeting the demands of visitors. Hence, a study of the characteristics and motivations of visitors to a tourist event in Croatia was conducted and is presented in the sections that follow.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

To accomplish the research objectives, a survey was conducted on a sample of 103 visitors to a tourist event called “ZmaJurjevo” in Croatia. It is a two-day event which is held in April (starting in 2015), and has attracted more than 25,000 visitors in recent years. The reason for increasing visitors’ interest is the diverse offer of this event that reviws the history of the Middle Ages. Additionally, through educational and entertainment programmes, interesting performances, interactive programmes and other interesting content, the event offers a mixture of learning, entertainment and relaxation for visitors of all ages.

A research instrument – questionnaire – was designed to carry out empirical research. The questionnaire consisted of two sets of questions. The first part of the questionnaire, dedicated to investigating visitor characteristics, included socio-demographic data (gender, age, education and occupation) as well as other characteristics of respondents regarding their visit to the event. The second part of the questionnaire, exploring the main motivations for visiting the event, contained a question providing 26 motivation items [V1 – V26] distributed across six motivation domains [M1 - M6]. The adapted conceptual framework applied was similar to Crompton’s (1979) . Crompton’s education domain, however, was substituted with a cultural enrichment domain and the regression domain and prestige domain, with the event characteristics domain. Accordingly, motivation items were distributed across six main motivation domains: relaxation, cultural enrichment, novelty, socialization, family togetherness and event characteristics. The respondents were asked to report their degree of agreement with the motivation items using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

Data were collected on field during the event, on April 22 and 23, 2017 using the survey method and were processed with the appropriate statistical procedures using the IBM SPSS Statistics 23 software. In addition to descriptive statistics, factor analysis was performed using Varimax rotation with Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin’s normalization coefficient. Correlation analysis was carried to test the interrelationship between visitors’ characteristics and their motivations for visiting the event. The following section presents the results of research.

4. RESEARCH RESULTS

Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents are presented and additional characteristics regarding the respondents’ visit to the event are analysed. The main motivations of visitors are then analysed, with special reference to differences in motivations between male and female respondents in the tested sample. The results of the analysis of motivation items are also presented and factor analysis is performed. Finally, correlation analysis between motivation domains and socio-demographic variables is carried out.

According to the obtained research results, the respondents in the tested sample are mostly female (63%) and belong to the young age group (with 31% of respondents falling into the 26-35 age group), while more than half of the respondents (61%) have a college education and are employed. Most of the respondents (47%) visited the event with friends/acquaintances and only 4% decided to attend the event alone. Fully 73% of visits were planned and prior to visiting the event, 80% of the respondents obtained information about it, largely through the Internet (43%) but also through recommendations from friends and/or relatives (35%).

Research results also present motivations to visit the event.

Figure 1. Main motivations to attend the event, by visitor gender

Source: Research results

With regard to visiting the event, the largest share of respondents (33%) was motivated by curiosity and a desire to gain new experiences. Cultural and historical attractions motivated 25% of respondents while 16% of respondents were motivated to visit the event by a desire to spend their free time with friends and family members. According to the obtained results, the smallest share of respondents was motivated by a desire for rest/escape from daily life (14%) and by the event’s entertainment and food offerings (12%).

From the perspective of female respondents, the largest share was motivated by cultural and historical attractions (34%) and by curiosity/desire to gain new experiences (26%). Curiosity/desire to gain new experiences was the strongest motivation among male respondents (45%) while 21% of male respondents reported they were motivated by a desire to spend their free time with friends and family members. The smallest share of respondents (11% of males and 12% of females) was motivated by the event’s entertainment/musical offering and food offering.

An overview of motivation items listed in motivation domains is presented below.

The obtained results point to certain differences in the motivations of respondents. The cultural enrichment domain (M=3.84) and novelty domain (M=3.71) received the highest average scores and the rest&relaxation domain, the lowest (M=2.99). Within the motivation domains, the motivation items that were given the highest scores are:V₂₄ (The event takes place in the open air/outdoors, M=4.75), V₈ (I like to visit cultural and entertainment events, M=4.43) andV₉ (I am visiting the event out of curiosity, M=4.27). The items with the lowest scores are V₂₂ (My family can take part in various programmes, M=2.29) andV₂₆ (I visit this event every year, M=1.79).

To confirm and further analyse the motivations of respondents with regard to event visitation, factor analysis was performed by which two common factors were extracted from the 26 original motivation items [V₁ – V₂₆]. Based on factor analysis and the content of items, two sub-scales were created: “Visit motivated by rest&relaxation in the company of family” and “Visit motivated by curiosity in the company of friends”. Factor saturation is presented in the table below.

The sub-scale “Visit motivated by rest&relaxation in the company of family” is characterised by variables that in the context of motivation to visit include escape from the obligations of daily life, a change in routine and relief from stress. This sub-scale also includes variables associated with the food and music offering, new knowledge and experiences, a chance to participate and a desire to expand knowledge of history and culture. In addition, the sub-scale is defined by variables linked to event visitation in the company of family (V₁₉-V₂₂) as well as the variables referring to the event’s closeness to home and its being held in the outdoors.

On the other hand, the sub-scale “Visit motivated by curiosity in the company of friends” is defined by variables that as motivations to attend the event include escape from boredom, curiosity, having fun with friends and meeting new people. The sub-scale is also defined by the variable referring to free entry to the event. These results point to the fact that an event needs to adjust to the differing and individual preferences of visitors, taking into account those people who plan event visitation with their families and those who attend an event together with friends.

To explore the interrelationship between the socio-demographic characteristics of visitors and their motivations to visit an event, the correlation was tested between motivation domains and the variables defining the socio-demographic profile of respondents (gender, age, education).Spearman’s correlation coefficient (rs) was used to analyse the correlation among variables.

The obtained correlations indicate that motivation to attend an event is determined also by the socio-demographic characteristics of visitors, considering that the obtained coefficient values are statistically significant and point to the correlation of the observed variables.

5. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

The primary value of this study is seen in the stronger conceptualization of visitor characteristics and motivations as an integrated research subject in the context of satisfying tourist needs. The aim of empirical research was to establish the characteristics of visitors to cultural-historical tourist events in Croatia and identify the key motivations for attending a tourist event. The correlation between certain socio-demographic characteristics of visitors and basic event visitation motivations were also explored. Research questions were answered using the appropriate statistical procedures.

The findings of this research, consistent with those of previous studies ( Chang and Yuan, 2007 ; Yu and Yen, 2012 ; Mohammad, 2014 ; Egresi and Kara, 2014 ; Çakici and Es Yilmaz, 2017 ), indicate that the respondents were motivated the most by culture (M=3.84) and novelty (M=3.71). There are some discrepancies, however, with regard to the escape from daily life domain (in this study, the rest&relaxation domain) which, in the above mentioned studies, is considered to be as important as the domains of culture and novelty, while in the present study it is not a major attraction factor for visitation (M=2.99). When analysing the key motivations from the perspective of female respondents, it was clear that the largest share was motivated by the event’s cultural and historical attractions (34%) and by curiosity/desire to gain new experiences (26%). On the other hand, curiosity/desire to gain new experiences was the most important motivation for male respondents (45%). Only 11% and 12% of male and female respondents, respectively, reported entertainment/music and food offering as a motivation. In addition, the results of factor analysis suggest the event needs to adjust to the different and individual preferences of visitors, taking into account those who plan to attend with family members and those who will visit the event with friends.

The research results indicate that motivation to attend a cultural-historical tourist event is correlated to the socio-demographic characteristics of visitors. This suggests that studying visitor characteristics and motivations as an integrated phenomenon is a step forward in improving the organization of tourist events of that kind.

When considering the results of this study, some limitations should be noted. The study of the characteristics and motivations of visitors to a tourist event is spatially limited as it included only the visitors to a specific cultural-historical tourist event held in Zagreb. Accordingly, with regard to spatial coverage, future studies would need to include visitors to other tourist events both in Croatia and in the broader region. Another limitation refers to the specific programme of the cultural and tourist event. Research results cannot be generalized.

Based on the conducted study, suggestions can be made that could benefit tourist event managers. By understanding visitor characteristics and motivations, event organizers would be in a position to create better-designed offerings and programmes in the future, thus enhancing visitor satisfaction and improving the image of the event as well as of the tourist destination. Furthermore, a better understanding of visitor characteristics and motivations is a precondition to systematic event management, aimed at improving an event’s offerings to satisfy the needs and wants of different visitors.

Given the growing importance of events as elements enriching a tourism offering, this study can contribute to improving knowledge in this field. It can also serve as a starting point for further empirical research concerning this topic. Because tourist events help substantially in expanding the tourism offering and directly enhance the quality and competitiveness of a tourist destination by providing visitors with a unique experience, further research is recommended of visitor behaviour through the continuous study of visitor attitudes.