Key Factors Influencing Tourism Participation Rates

Key Factors Influencing Tourism Participation

Determinants explain why some countries have a high propensity to participate in tourism, whereas other countries show a lower one. Determinants can be classified into the following categories:

• Economic: Disposable income, GNP per capita, private consumption, cost of living, tourism prices, exchange rate differentials, promotional expenditure, and prices of other destinations.
• Sociological: Motivations, travel preferences, perceptions of destinations, paid vacations, past experience, and images of destinations.
• Demographic: Life span, physical capacity, health and wellness, etc.
• Political: Political and social environment, barriers and obstacles, restrictions, rules and laws, war, terrorism, accessibility, and special events (e.g., Olympic Games, mega-events).
• Geographic: Distance is related to cost - physical distance, transport cost, etc.

Motivations

(Psychological factors): "Internal factors at work within individuals, expressed as needs, wants, and desires that influence tourists' choices" (MICRO). Buyer behavior refers to the internal physiological processes that influence individuals in choosing between different holiday destinations and particular types of products.

Geographic Determinants

• Fluxes of people traveling
• Geographic proximity (key element)
• Historic and trade relations
• Socio-cultural attitudes to tourism
• The feel of opposite sites (e.g., Mediterranean countries vs. Northern countries)
• Circles of travel blocks (e.g., same-day travel, weekend trips) - Miossec

Travel Propensity Metrics

• Net Travel Propensity: The percentage of the population that makes at least one tourist trip during a period of reference.
• Gross Travel Propensity: The total number of tourist trips made, expressed as a percentage of the population: (total tourist displacements / population) x 100.
• Travel Frequency: Gross Travel Propensity / Net Travel Propensity (average number of movements per traveler).
• Marginal Propensity to Travel (PMgTr): Measures the degree of penetration of tourist travel in a population (average number of trips per person or the number of persons who travel).

It allows us to analyze the travel behavior of different social groups, make predictions, and explain the given divergences between different social groups.