Understanding Tourist Motivations: Emirati Leisure Travel to Australia

Tourist motivation has become an important concept for study amongst academic researchers and tourism marketers. It embodies an amalgam of ideas and approaches, constituting what Cohen (1974, p. 528) refers to as a “fuzzy set” of definitions and descriptions. Besides other interrelated influences, it is a critical variable and driving force behind tourist behaviour (Crompton, 1979). To further understand the importance of the tourist motivation concept this study aimed to explore “how well do tourist motivation models using push and pull factors describe the motivation of tourists?” The target sample selected was Emiratis of Arab/Islamic origin from the United Arab Emirates who travelled to Australia for holiday purposes. De Ruyter and Scholl (1998, p. 8) point out that “a qualitative methodology provides an in-depth insight; it is flexible, small-scale and exploratory, and the results obtained are concrete, real-life and full of ideas”. Since Emirati society is very close-knit and conservative, a qualitative approach was taken as it allowed the researcher to get close to the participants and thereby gain a more detailed understanding of their motivation and tourist experience.