An analysis of push and pull factors of foreign tourists travelling to the Maltese islands

Abstract

The importance of inbound tourism market to Malta has intrigued local researchers to try to understand tourists’ motivational patterns and decision-making processes to travel overseas. The researcher was inspired by “The Social Psychology of Tourist Behaviour” (Volume 3) part of the International Series in Experimental Social Psychology (1982) by P.L. Pearce. This study was primarily aimed at trying to assess what are the major push-pull factors, which are likely to come into play, when it comes for a potential traveller tourist to choose Malta as a destination and reveal those which ultimately have a weight in their decision making process. Given that this decision-making process is often very complex and combines an intricate change of processes, some of which may take consideration economic and financial constraints, the main motivation was to try to extract those psychological and social factors, including latent ones, with the view of comprehending what is attractive and what is not in the product that Malta offers. Using qualitative research techniques, this study explored the relationship between the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors of a destination and the motivation of tourists on these factors. These relationships were examined for a sample of 181 international tourists (male: female ratio= 50:50, age bracket = 19-72 years) travelling to Malta during the peak season in summer 2014 and of course keeping in mind that the results are just an indication and not representative. A model based on push and pull factors within a conceptual framework comprising 5 major categories, namely ‘scenery & natural assets’, ‘culture & entertainment’, ‘welfare, safety & mobility’, ‘amenities & tourist support’, and ‘economic’ grouping was adopted. The analyses conducted during the course of this study and the presentation of the results obtained afforded invaluable insights and clues about the motivational characteristics of our inbound tourist market. The results indicated relationships between specific motives, cognitive and affective images and it was also found that nationality, age and purpose of visit has a strong influence on these variables. Such information would undoubtedly be required by policy makers and professionals active in marketing.