Travel Motivation, Satisfaction and Destination Loyalty: Taiwanese Group Package Tourists Visiting Australia

The aim of this research was to explore the travel motivations of Taiwanese tourists who visited Australia, their satisfactions, and destination loyalty, as well as examining the relationship between customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty. This study is important because of the fact that the number of Taiwanese tourists to Australia has decreased since 1999; however, there have not been any academic studies to ascertain the travel motivations of Taiwanese group package tourists who visited Australia, their need satisfaction, and future intentions. Furthermore, the literature on tourist need satisfaction, customer satisfaction and loyalty has been categorised into discrete areas of study, with little integration of these three concepts in the tourism literature. Thus, the relationship between these concepts is an area of theoretical interest that has been examined in this study. To achieve the aims of the research, one research question and 11 hypotheses were developed. The research question specifically explored the travel motivations of the Taiwanese when visiting Australia. Two hypotheses were designed to test the differences between Taiwanese travel motivations and their need satisfaction, and the differences between travel motivation groups. In addition, nine hypotheses were used to examine the relationships between customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty. A four-stage research methodology was used. Firstly, the study adopted a qualitative approach using focus group interviews of 33 participants to explore the motivations of Taiwanese group package tourists to Australia. Following the qualitative study, two pre tests including a pre and post survey were conducted in order to develop the scales for travel motivations, customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty of Taiwanese tourists. Finally, a formal pre and post survey was administered. A pre and post survey design was used to consider the potential changes in tourist motivations after the trip. Cluster sampling was used to select the travel agencies, and five travel agencies agreed to participate in this research. The collection of data for the formal survey began in September 2005 and was completed at the end of February 2006. A total of 547 questionnaires were fully completed with a response rate of 72.9%. The validity and reliability of the various scales for push and pull motivations, destination attributes/services, group package tour services, perceived value, equity, emotion, overall need satisfaction, overall satisfaction, and destination loyalty were examined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, as well as Cronbachs alpha, and all scales were found to be satisfactory. A total of 17 push and 18 pull motivation items were also determined. Taiwanese tourists had the highest travel motivation scores for travelling around the world, and having a comfortable trip, and were attracted by certain attributes of Australia, such as the sunshine and scenery, and a place to go for good value. The differences between travel motivations and motivation satisfaction were examined using a paired sample t-test, and the hypothesis was partially supported. Based on the results of these t-tests, importance-performance analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the motivation satisfaction levels, and the results showed that the main travel motivations of Taiwanese travellers to Australia were generally satisfied after the trip, with the push motivation factor having a comfortable trip and the pull motivation factor sunshine and scenery scoring highest on the satisfaction scale. Factor-cluster analysis was further used to segment tourists in regard to their travel motivations. The results revealed that there were four different travel motivation groups. These groups were significantly different in terms of their customer satisfaction and destination loyalty. The importance level of travel motivations of high motivation travellers before the trip was high compared to other groups and the customer satisfaction and destination loyalty were also high after the trip. Taiwanese tourists were generally satisfied with their trip to Australia; however, only two tourist groups: the high motivation travellers and the comfort/attraction seekers showed any interest in revisiting Australia in the future. The relationship between customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty was also examined using multiple regression analysis. The results confirmed the hypotheses that customer satisfaction had a positive impact on need satisfaction; need satisfaction positively influenced overall need satisfaction; and overall need satisfaction and overall satisfaction both had a positive relationship with destination loyalty. This shows that tourist need satisfaction and customer satisfaction are related, and customer satisfaction is the antecedent of tourist need satisfaction. Furthermore, tourist need satisfaction is influenced by travel experiences, and destination loyalty is influenced by overall need satisfaction and overall satisfaction. This research has contributed to theory, methodology and to practice. A relationship between customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty was found. As a result, this study has also successfully integrated the concepts of travel motivation, customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty. A pre and post survey methodology was used in this research to obtain Taiwanese travellers original motivations and their satisfaction levels. Finally, the findings concerning the motivations of Taiwanese tourists to Australia, their need satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and destination loyalty have been found to be useful for tourism managers to assist them in making successful business decisions, improving services, and developing new promotional strategies to encourage Taiwanese visitors to travel to Australia