An investigation of motivational factors influencing consumer decisions to travel for events.

This research investigates motivational factors that influence consumer decisions to travel to other cities for events. A review of existing literature shows that the importance of understanding what motivates individuals to attend events has been acknowledged. However, little research has been conducted to understand the links between event motivations and travel intentions. The objectives of this research include identifying motivations for attending events and establishing key reasons why individuals travel to other cities for events. The research adopted a mixed methods approach, which combines a quantitative and qualitative study. An online questionnaire was conducted to gather initial data of participants’ motivations, followed by six semi-structured interviews that allowed more in-depth understanding of the topic. The emphasis of the research is on the qualitative study. The participants of this research include young adults who live in Scotland and have attended events in cities outside their hometown. Some of the key findings of this research include event motivations such as “socialization” and “fan motivation”. The factors that influence individuals’ travel decisions include travel costs and venue quality. Furthermore, it was revealed that individuals are likely to attend events in destinations where their distant family and friends reside in. The final chapter concludes the research and provides recommendations for future research. Furthermore, recommendations are given for event organisers and destination marketers