Given the limited, if any, choice open to business people when travelling to a country as compared to leisure travellers who could choose anywhere, it was expected that the purposes of trip would relate variously with consumption values of respondents. To examine the possible relationship between purposes of trip and consumption values, H2 proposed that tourists with different purposes for their trip will have different patterns in the consumption values. The values were compared among those travelling for leisure, business/conference, VFR, and other purposes (study, medical treatment, etc.).
As illustrated in Table 6-7, ANOVA results showed that purposes of trip yielded
significant mean differences in the cases of functional, emotional(p < 0.01), and epistemic values (p < 0.05). Regarding functional value, a Scheffé post hoc test indicated that those respondents whose purpose was for leisure or for business/conference scored higher on functional value than respondents whose purpose was to VFR. When considering the two individual items that were comprised of functional value, the leisure group rated the item “Beautiful scenery is an essential requirement when choosing my travel destination” higher as the main reason for travelling abroad as compared to the VFR group. The business and conference group indicated a higher mean score on the item “A destination with a great reputation for tourism appeals to me” than did VFR group.
Table 6-7 ANOVA of consumption values by purposes of trip
Group f Functional Emotional Social Conditional Epistemic Leisure
Business/conference VFR
Others (e.g. study, medical treatment, etc.) Total
Levene’s test (Sig.)
F-value p-value
Scheffé post hoc test
1 2 3 4 1,113 385 126 67 1,691 4.02 4.05 3.83 3.90 4.00 0.513 4.071 0.007 1,2>3 4.05 3.82 3.87 3.95 3.98 0.081 21.195 0.000 1>2,3 3.65 3.70 3.69 3.74 3.67 0.178 0.605 0.612 3.54 3.51 3.43 3.49 3.52 0.131 0.859 0.462 3.05 3.18 3.10 3.28 3.09 0.462 3.552 0.014
Note: 1) Respondents rated items where 1 = Strongly disagree to 5 = Strongly agree 2) Mean differences indicated by Scheffé post hoc test are in bold.
The Scheffé post hoc test also indicated that leisure respondents reported higher emotional value than those whose purposes were business/conference, or VFR. When considering individual items, leisure respondents indicated higher scores on “I travel because it is an important source of relaxation”, “Travel makes me happy”, “A primary reason for travel is
to find excitement”, and “When choosing a destination, I seek a variety of activity choices”, than did the other groups. This fits the idea that leisure travellers were more interested in stress relief and getting away from the routine of their lives.
In the case of epistemic value, the Scheffé post hoc test did not identify significant differences between these groups, despite indicating the test as statistically significant overall (p ≤ 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences for social and
conditional values among the trip purposes reported by ANOVA and Scheffé post hoc test. All respondent groups reported that social and conditional values were somewhat
important factors driving them to travel abroad. When considering the combined items that comprised social value; personal safety and activities with family and friends were the most influential reasons for all groups, while recommendations from friends and relatives moderately influenced them in their travel decisions. With regard to conditional value, only one factor; value for money, was an important factor influencing all purposes of trip, while a destination with different climate and discounted fares were somewhat important in their travel decisions.
These results moderately supported H2. Tourists with different purposes for their trip have differences in only two values of consumption; functional and emotional values. Although there were statistically significant differences between the means of these two consumption values among respondents’ purposes of trip, they were all arithmetically small differences. The interesting finding was that all respondent groups, based on purposes of trip, reported similar patterns of consumption values. Emotional value was the most important factor for all groups except the business and conference group, followed by functional value, in influencing their travel abroad (mean scores approximately 4.00). On the other hand, business and conference respondents identified functional value more than emotional value when travelling. This fits the idea that these respondents are travelling out of practical necessity rather than personal gratification.
Three similar studies compared purposes of trip with the values or benefits sought from travel. Kaynak and Yavas (1981) found that travellers with all purposes of trip; leisure, business, and visiting relatives, reported low cost and good weather conditions as the important factors in choosing a vacation spot. In the current study, these two factors were grouped as a conditional value, and there were no significant differences in the conditional
value associated with the purpose of trip (leisure, business/conference, VFR, and other purposes).
Another study, Cai et al. (2001) found that Chinese leisure travellers tended to participate in various tourism activities, including shopping, sightseeing, visiting historical places and parks, and touring in cruises in the USA more than did Chinese business travellers. With similarity to the current study, leisure travellers indicated higher levels of emotional value, specifically seeking a wider variety of activity choices than did business/conference and VFR travellers. In terms of functional value, one aspect relates to the utility of tourism attributes. This finding is consistent with the research result by Suh and Gartner (2004), who revealed that both pleasure and business travellers from Japan, North America, and Europe preferred similarly urban tourism activities on a trip package in Korea. Japanese leisure and business travellers preferred shopping, while North American and European leisure and business travellers preferred local culture for urban activities.
In the current study, statistical significant differences were found, but these were
arithmetically small. The differences therefore do not seem to indicate anything useable in determining marketing activities to promote a country with regard to different trip
purposes. For example, there is no evidence that different promotional approaches for distinctive groups would be suitable marketing strategies. This suggests that tourism marketers should take into consideration the consumption values related to travelling abroad when promoting tourism attributes to tourists as a mass market, regardless of the purposes of trip. Additionally, from the ranking of consumption values, tourism marketers should design tourism messages with emphasis on functional, emotional, and social values if they wish appeal to meet tourists’ expectations and more effectively influence their purchase decisions.