Does Nationality, Gender, and Age Affect Travel Motivation? a Case of Visitors to The Caribbean Island of Barbados

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The study represents an exploratory attempt to capture the underlying reasons for tourists' decisions to visit a destination. The main objective of this study is to examine the specific case of a tourism destination, investigating first whether there are differences between motivations of those who are from different countries traveling to the destination of Barbados. Secondly, the study examines whether there are any differences in the motivations between male and female tourists, and among tourists of different age groups. Thus, it is a comparative study of differences in motives between specific groups. As a result, it attempts to incorporate the experiential view into a construct such as the image of the tourism destination. This article seeks to propose an integrated approach to understand tourist motivations based on origins and how these contribute to the tourists' perception of a destination.

Keywords:

• Travel motivation
• attitudes
• travel patterns
• Caribbean