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1. Introduction
The choice of destination for tourists has been regarded as a decisive factor influencing the competitiveness and life cycle of the destinations themselves (Plog, 1974). Tourists decide to which destinations they will travel based on their judgments regarding interactions of the internal and external influences. In other words, tourists’ decision-making process in terms of destination is influenced by their own internal characteristics (e.g. motivation, personality and attitude) and the external environment (e.g. travel distance, expense, accessibility and destination authenticity) (Belk, 1975).
A fundamental background regarding factors influencing travel behaviors as well as destination selections has long been discussed in association with motives that are generated by tourist needs. Within the disciplines of psychology and sociology, tourism as a social phenomenon prioritizes an understanding of an individual tourist’s mind set and behavior; therefore, an explanation of the tourists’ internal and external factors that lead them to engage in a mode of travel has been developed in theoretical and conceptual models (Woodside and Lysonski, 1989).
For instance, Goeldner and Ritchie (2006) examine the relationship of an individual’s propensity to travel and the resistance of the link between origin and destination areas, while also considering external (e.g. exotic place, strangeness and authenticity) and internal (e.g. novelty and relaxation) factors in determining demands.
On the other hand, Dann (1981) notes the difference between socio-psychological motives (or push factors) and the attributes of a destination (or pull factors) in shaping choices. More specifically, understanding the travel patterns and individual choices of tourists involves three major theoretical concepts linked to motivation: (a) the psychographic personality, evolved from Plog’s (1974) psychographic profile model; (b) modes of travel experiences as a type of social behavior, established by Cohen’s (1979) tourist typology; and (c) socio-psychological desires based on past experiences, as discussed in Pearce’s (1988) travel career ladder. These three distinct conceptual frameworks explaining the relationship between tourists and destinations have received the most attention from tourism researchers. Although the three models are all tourist-specific concepts and commonly rooted in changes in tourists’ psychology in regard to travel over time, these three models have only been tested independently. Furthermore, given the complex nature of the modern tourism environment, an investigation solely focused on the psychological factors in tourists’ decision-making process cannot precisely...