An Examination of the Effects of Motivation and Marketing Factors on Destination Choice of Taiwanese Island Tourists

The island tourism market is a major growth segment throughout the world. Tourism on Pacific islands has contributed significantly to the economies of the host communities. Penghu, Taiwan, and Phuket, Thailand have both become major island tourism destinations for Taiwanese travelers. Identifying Taiwanese island tourists’ motivations and their relationships to marketing factors(price and promotion) are vital to understanding their choice of destination. The principal objective of this study was to construct and validate a structural model of island tourists integrating traveling motivations, marketing factors, and destination choice. This study established a conceptual model in which seven hypotheses were constructed to test the model’s significance among constructs and variables. The study results showed that the model constructed herein supported five hypotheses, including the following: 1) push motivations positively influence pull motivations; 2) push motivations positively influence marketing factors; 3) pull motivations positively influence marketing factors; 4) marketing factors positively influence destination choice; and 5) previous experience positively influences destination choice. Theoretical and managerial implications were derived from the study findings for island tourism operators and marketers.