Determinant factors of Tourists Motivations in Kullu and Manli Hill Destination: A Structural Equation Model

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the tourists motivations with special reference to Kullu-Manali (Himachal Pradesh). 200 tourists completed self administered surveys regarding their motivations toward visited Kullu-Manali hill destination. The paper first uses both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of these items. The tourists behavior of the hill destination were identified by 45 items and captured in six dimensions by conducting exploratory factor analyses. This research study reveals tourists motivations: climate attraction, maintenance factors, adventure attraction, general tour attraction, religion attraction and culture attraction. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using AMOS version 16 was utilized for measurement model testing and to verify the six dimensions of tourists motivations in hill destination. Confirmatory factor analyses successfully validated the items used to measure six dimensions of tourists motivations. This study will help the tourist operator to understand the tourists behavior and help them to make their marketing strategies accordingly. However, these findings suggest that tourism sector should develop a better management of tourist destinations so as to develop a stronger attraction of tourism, better amenities, a better accessibility and an appropriate image in the mind of the tourists.

Keywords: Climate Attraction, Maintenance Factors, Adventure Attraction, General Tour Attraction, Religion Attraction and Culture Attraction

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