Sample Tourism Motivation Assignment

Introduction

Tourism is a traveling event for people who have deep interest in visiting new places, enjoying every moment of fun in their life, experiencing different adventures and expeditions. People have different motives for the tour. Some people go for tour for business purposes, some for making them relaxed and others in exploring places and gaining practical knowledge about the historic, cultural and contemporary state of the places. Tourists are the people who visit and stay in different countries for not more than one year for different purposes.

Cambridge is typically known by the name as the home of the Cambridge University and is situated at the heart of Silicon Valley. Cambridge is a place most appreciated by tourists because among the top five universities, University of Cambridge is one of them. People visit this place to enjoy and experience different historic and cultural buildings like King’s College Chapel and Choir, Peckover House and Garden, Houghton Mill and many more interesting places. Some of these places give a beautiful landscape scenario which attracts more tourists to visit Cambridge. Tourist mostly enjoys the nightlife wherein they enjoy going to pubs, bars and clubs. Also some tourist likes to experience punting and boating (Cees,2000).

The present theoretical study focuses on the characteristics of Cambridge tourism and tourist motivation and experience in Cambridge. Tourist visiting Cambridge are more likely to attract with the day and nightlife of the people. The morning and evening landscapes are also appreciated by the tourists. Tourists who come for spending holidays prefer to stay in the very famous four star hotel namely Felix Hotel. This study mainly focuses on interviewing different tourists about their experience and travel to different places. The interview was conducted from approximately 500-600 tourists. This interview emphasis was on some basic aspects of tourism like they were meant to answer some questions about what they like most about Cambridge, the famous places which they prefer to visit, famous churches, special cuisines, activities and events they like to participate and the places they like to visit most (Roger,2007). It was also questioned from the tourists about the duration of the stay of the tourists depending upon the number of days like one month, fifteen days, or a week only along with the purpose of their stay in the Cambridge City. After conducting the survey and interviewing many people, it was analyzed that approximately 30 % of tourists were enjoying seeing the landscapes and the night life of music and theatre events in the city, 26 % tourists came to visit the religious places and the Buddhist Center in the city, 18 % tourists liked the architecture and the heritage centers in the city, 15 % enjoyed the sporting events that occur throughout the year with great enthusiasm and 11 % people visited the Cambridge city only for business and education purposes. Of the tourists surveyed and interviewed for the duration of their stay in the city, 51 % tourists were staying in the city for approximately for one month or more, 25 % tourists were staying for a period of 15 to 30 days, 16 % tourists were staying for a period of less than fifteen days or one week and remaining 8% tourists were visiting the Cambridge city for the first time only for business purposes.

Literature Review

People from various places like to visit new places all around the world. Tourism is such a good option for them to explore places with enjoyable places and enthusiastic events occurring in that area which motivates people to explore some more places of their interest. Most of the tourist places are now well developed according to the needs of people coming from far off places. The tourist places have all necessary things at the place like the hotels to reside, good and healthy food to eat and even continental food is also available at most places (Roger,2007).

Cambridge is a place where tourism is well appreciated by the tourists. Cambridge is also known as the home of Cambridge University which is situated at the heart of high technology center called as Silicon Valley. Its economy gets most of the strength by the use of the technology and tourist visits. Most of the tourists visit Cambridge to have a look to the university and the other things like the culture, literary festivals, events like theatre, music and movie events, churches, etc. These things form the beautiful view of landscapes in Cambridge. Apart from the churches, a Buddhist Centre and an Indian Bharat Bhawan is also present which are in the list of tourists to visit there (Roger,2007).

The present study completely focuses on the tourist motivation and their experience and also describes the characteristics of the Cambridge relating to the places to visit, transport, landscapes, events, festivals and other fun places. Most of the scholars have tried to explore various places and descriptions about the tourist experiences and their motivation level after exploring places in Cambridge (Philip, 2004).

George Hughes (2011) has studied about the tourism and the geographical imagination. He illustrated that there are various strategies to visit the places like tourism, in which people travel long distances and explores various places to visit. As the tourism industries get a booming height, the marketing strategies also increases to present the various things in a creative manner. There comes a boom in all industries linked to that place like the theatres, music and art galleries, sports, cultural events, folk events, general shopping centers, etc. The paintings, architecture, heritage places also get on to the list of tourists to visit. He concluded that the tourism is the thing which motivates the person to travel more and this can help in making the tourist maps, which becomes easy for another person to locate the places.

Another scholar, Robert Maitland, studies on the management of the tourist city of Cambridge. His studies give details about the long term effects of the strategies used to enhance the tourism and the planning in the tourism industry to motivate more and more travelers from all corners of the world. The study focus primarily on the policies and the methods of implementing the policies related to increase the tourism through the regulation in the city. This study figures out that since 1978, there are five strategies (Philip,2004).

That is continuously having a consistent objective. The objectives were strongly influenced by the locality of the Cambridge city. The objectives were focused and balanced between the internal and external factors. The study also describes about the implementation of the policies as a developmental procedures. The study describes that the internal factors and the community policies are more influencing on the tourism industry and its development, instead of the governmental inference in promoting the policies of tourism. The conflicts between such internal and external factors have not been resolved yet but the management of tourism is completely required (Philip, 2004).

Another team of scholars, Roger C. Mannell and Seppo E. Iso-Ahola, studied the tourism experience and related it with the free usable time for enjoyment. They did studies taking three perspectives into account. They stated that the relationship between the free time and the tourism experience generate from the interaction of the two motivational energies. These are first, wish to escape from the routine work in office or at home and stressful environment and second, to find the opportunities for recreational activities. The study reveals a psychological behavior behind the tourist experiences. This relates to the immediate action plan taken to travel long distances and engage in real time experiencing the real nature of the tourism. The complete study revealed that it may not be possible to interlink the free available time with the tourist experiences as revealed by the scientific studies (Philip, 2004).

Juergen Gnoth, scholar from New Zealand, studied the tourism motivation and the expectations formed from the tourism. The study based on the psychological factors that reveal the relationship between the behavior and the cognitive values related to attitudes and values. The satisfaction of the outer values depends on only some specific objects, while the satisfaction of the inner values depends on the motivation and various classes of objects. The motivation that resides behind the tourists' expectations is expressed in the planners need to follow the specific parameters to meet the outer values. To meet the inner values planners can choose from various choices of product configurations to meet the expectations. The study clearly explains the difference between the expectations and motivation of the tourists (Philip, 2004).

Similar other theory is conducted by Cees Goossens on the choice of destination for tourists depending upon the motivation and emotional characteristics. A study model is prepared by the scholar using three factors of pull, push and hedonic factors to provide the destination attributes. This model states that the tourists are pushed by their emotional needs and pulled by the benefits. Emotions and experience of tourists are the key players in the choosing the destination for travel. From the studies it is revealed that the cognitive forces and the need to travel experiences acts as the motivating agents that supports the emotions, evaluations and the behavior of the person. This model also helps the tourism industry to know about the effective and motivational techniques, which attract the tourists to visit places (Philip,2004).

Many similar articles were present which clearly mentioned about the tourist activities and the motivating agent, which helped the person psychologically and physically to explore new places and enjoy the exciting travelling at various places.

Method of Study

The method of the study was chosen to be the mixed type, that is, by the use of questionnaires and interviews. The population for the study was chosen from the Cambridge City. The Cambridge city was the oldest place built from the period of the Roman Empire. The oldest remains in the city were found as early as 3500 years of its discovery. As the time passes the city has shown great developmental processes in technology and tourism. People from various places visit the Cambridge to see its eternal beauty and the various festivals celebrated in the city. The city’s architecture also influences the tourists mostly because it is about the time of the Roman emperor and also had the great role in the history of the English Civil war.

For this study, a total of approximately 500 to 600 people were surveyed and interviewed about the characteristics of Cambridge and the motivation and experience in the Cambridge. Cambridge is also known to be the heart of Silicon Valley because it is highly developed in the technology and biosciences study. People from various places come to Cambridge not only for educational purposes but there are other things too that motivates the person to visit the Cambridge city.

The people who were surveyed and interviewed were asked certain questions about the places they visited most and the duration of their stay at one place according to their likings. They were asked about the landscaping and the architecture of the City. They were also asked about the types of hotels and the facilities provided in the hotels in which they stayed, the regional places like the churches and other centers and the special cuisines they liked most either continental or intercontinental.

It was also noted about the people who were tourists in Cambridge for one month or one week or for 15 days duration. And which places they like most till the period they stayed in Cambridge. Which sport was the favorite and their likings about the music and art galleries in the Cambridge. There were people who visited many museums to know the history of the area and the concerned activities of earlier times.

The survey questionnaire was prepared with the help of great intellectuals who surveyed the tourists for several times. Under the guidance of the supervisor and the head, the interview questions were also framed before taking the interview. The survey and interview questions also included the attractive places to visit and the transport facilities for them from the hotels and nearby areas.

There were 10 questions framed in the survey which were objective and subjective as well. The interview questions were also ranged from 8 to 10 depending upon the tourist time with the team. The survey was completely voluntarily based and there was no compulsion over the tourists for the filling of the survey questionnaire. Similarly the interview was not a compulsion to the tourists. The interview was taken only from those tourists who were comfortable in talking and sharing their experiences with the team.

Case Study

Cambridge is one of the most visiting and an appreciating place in Canada, UK. It is also one of the most cherished historic cities in England and is considered as the home to the second oldest university in the English-speaking world. Tourists who plan a tour of Cambridge are more attracted by the lifestyle of people, different landscape scenarios which look more beautiful during sunrise and sunset (Robert, 2006).

The size of the state has been increased since 1980. After the Romans left the Saxons took over the land around Castle Hill and renamed it as ‘Grantebrycge’. Tourism in Cambridge city has increased its value from the historic time. The various events and the historic architecture attract the tourists to visit the place several times (Robert, 2006).

Cambridge has been in the list of popular cities from the ancient times, but it also gained the popularity after declaring it as the heart of the Silicon Valley. This became famous in the technology and the Biosciences field for students. The University campus has been the great attraction for the students from all around the world. The landscaping of the city also attracts the tourists in many ways. The green spacious fields are spread all around the city and the University areas. Tourists go and relax in the beautiful gardens in the city (Durbarry, 2004).

There is the availability of the guides on a phone call. These guides can be arranged for an hour or two depending upon the requirement for the day ( Gnoth ,1997). They will explain every place that can be visited and the events in which a tourist can take part. Guides can also provide information about the libraries, museums, old architecture on the buildings, sporting events, musical shows, etc.

While walking with the guides, they may play a game resembling to the treasure hunt. In that game, one has to give answers to the questions that were around 15 to 20. The answers to the questions were hidden in the streets of the city. The tourists have to find all the hidden answers and each single answer will be the clue to the next question. This way the guides make the tour of the city interesting and knowledgeful.

Findings

Cambridge City is regarded as the country’s most graceful and lively historic place ever. It’s beautiful center is arranged by the architectures who were the masters of that time period. The complete architecture was surrounded by pure green areas. The Cambridge city is a well known home of the world famous colleges in the City.

Cambridge’s present is the complete and pure vision of its past. The wide streets of the city are beautiful to walk around and have a look to the whole area. One can surely look forward for the City’s great personalities that are still alive including Charles Darwin, Alfred Tennyson and Sylvia Plath. There are the beautiful and successful memories of great poets, scientists, philosophers, doctors, engineers, prime ministers and Nobel Peace Prize winners who were still remembered with deep hearts by everyone (Byrne,2005).

The tourists at Cambridge City admire the calm water of the Cam river and gaze at the bridge sights at St John’s and the Mathematical Bridge at Queens’. Following the river water upstream, it leads to the Orchard Tea Garden at Grandchester. This is the picture of the perfect English village of which, the poet Rupert Brooke mentioned in his poem ‘The Old Vicarage, Grandchester in 1912.

Tourists also gave a description of the Fitzwilliam Museum which has the world-class collections of art and shows the beauty of Kettle’s area and also the museum has the complete mixture of contemporary and 20th century art. Tourist visits the beautiful garden of blossoming fruit trees. The people sit and relax there.

Apart from the architecture and the landscaping of the Cambridge City, people like the night life of Cambridge the most (Gnoth,1997). The people who are interested in the theatre and the music and arts, they usually gather at night hours in the city to have fun and entertainment. The daily shows of music, art and theatre make the city the liveliest place in the country. The theatre plays are a good combination of dance, drama, music and comedy. Among the arts theatre, The Cambridge Corn Exchange, is the most favorite theatre among the tourists. This theatre is owned by Cambridge City Council and is considered as one of the most entertaining venues in the city. This theatre presents the performances up to 300 shows per year. Among the musical choices, Opera and Ballet dances on orchestra are performed by great artists. It also presents concerts annually and a Christmas show (Ranis, 2004).

For few hours people also enjoy the music sitting in the club or any pub taking the sips of the drinks served there. There are also many clubs and bars for the tourists to sit and relax for certain time. People who love sports also have choices in the Cambridge City. Swimming is one of the most popular sporting events that encourage tourists to feel the freshness and to make a warming up exercise. Cycling is another sport that many of the cyclers want to enjoy. The Cambridge City has many tracks for the cyclers. The tourists are encouraged by the local people to take part in the sporting events that occur throughout the year (Durbarry, 2004).

About the transport systems in the Cambridge city, tourists shared their experiences with the team about it. They told the team that there are some difficulties in travelling in the city but can be managed with any alternative. The contact details for every department were shared in the city with the tourists. If any tourist had any problem in travelling, he/she can contact the department for any kind of assistance. Sign boards were placed at every spot for clearing the direction of the destination points. Directions by cars, public transport or by walking were clearly mentioned on the streets with the help of sign boards and direction signs (Ranis,2004).

There are many things to do for a tourist as well as for the local people in the Cambridge city. The tourists were encouraged and motivated by the local people for taking part in various events and other entertaining activities (Byrne, 2005). On the basis of the interviews and the survey taken by the team following analysis has been done:

It was found that after conducting a survey of around 500 to 600 tourists in the Cambridge City, 30 % of tourists were enjoyed seeing the landscapes and the night life of music and theatre events in the city, 26 % tourists came to visit the religious places and the Buddhist Center in the city, 18 % tourists liked architecture and the heritage centers in the city, 15 % enjoyed the sporting events that occur throughout the year with great enthusiasm and 11 % people visited the Cambridge city only for business and education purposes (Byrne,2005). Of the tourists surveyed and interviewed for the duration of their stay in the city, 51 % tourists were staying in the city for approximately for one month or more, 25 % tourists were staying for a period of 15 to 30 days, 16 % tourists were staying for a period of less than fifteen days or one week and remaining 8% tourists were visiting the Cambridge city for the first time only for business purposes (Durbarry,2004).

The above findings are also shown with the help of Pie Charts below.

Figure 1: Pie chart depicting the percentage of the tourist’s favorite visiting spots in the city.

Figure 2: Pie chart depicting the percentage of the stay period of the tourists in the city.

Discussion and Conclusion

There are few articles presents which study the tourism pattern in the Cambridge city, but many research studies was done in the tourist spots of other places to visit. The Cambridge city being very famous these days become an attraction to the tourists and their interest about travelling such long distances. There were many tourists who were surveyed visited the city for the first time, but as they shared their experiences with the team, it can be concluded that they may come again in the near future to visit the city again. The tourists were excited about the night life in the city. During the night many musical events were arranged for the tourists. Those tourists, who love to watch the Opera and Ballet dances, can easily enjoy and have fun during the night.

The tourists who have the habit of studying day and night apart from their course books can also have several opportunities in the city as there are many libraries to visit and are especially open for the tourists. The art lovers also have great facilities in the city to enjoy and have fun. The sports loving persons have good opportunities in the city, as the sporting events occur throughout the year in the city. The sporting events keep the person fit and enthusiastic. Walking along the riverside gives an amazing feeling during dawn and dusk.

Tourists who have interest in the old architecture and seeing the heritage sites may also have excellent opportunities to visit the Cambridge city. This city has been bricked over 1000 years ago during the empire estate of Romans. Most of the architecture and the building setup were done during their time period. After advancing with the technology and the sciences field, the City was coming to be known as the heart of the Silicon Valley (Cees, 2000).

Every tourist coming for a longer stay or for short time durations would never feel dissatisfaction. There are many hotel and restaurant facilities in the city that even the rooms will not be any issue for the travelers. Taking a good look of the landscapes and feeling lively at every second is the thing that a tourist would find in the city only. There are many things that every tourist can find for himself/herself as per their interests and satisfaction. Either it will be the University, the museums, art and music events, sports, architecture, literary view or any other event of the tourist’s choice, Everything is available for them and according to their needs.

References:
1. Cees Goossens (2000), Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism information and pleasure motivation, Volume 27, Issue 2, April, Pages 301–321
2. Byrne, N. (2005). Customer Satisfaction Monitoring, National Parks Service, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (Victoria).
3. David Herbert (2001), Literary places, tourism and the heritage experience, Annals of Tourism Research, Volume 28, Issue 2, , Pages 312–333
4. Durbarry, R., (2004), “Tourism and Economic Growth: The Case of Mauritius,” Tourism Economics, 10, (3): 389-401.
5. George Hughes (1992), Tourism and the geographical imagination, Leisure Studies, Volume 11, Issue 1, pages 31-42
6. Gnoth (1997), Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism motivation and expectation formation, Volume 24, Issue 2, Pages 283–304
7. Philip L, et.al. (2004), Psychology and tourism, Annals of Tourism Research, Volume 18, Issue 1, 1991, Pages 136–154
8. Ranis, G. (2004), Human Development and Economic Growth, Economic Growth Center, Yale University, Center Discussion Paper, NO. 887.
9. Robert Maitland (2006), How can we manage the tourist-historic city? Tourism strategy in Cambridge, UK, 1978–2003, Tourism Management, Volume 27, Issue 6, Pages 1262–1273
10. Roger C. Mannell, et.al. (2007), Annals of Tourism Research, Psychological nature of leisure and tourism experience, Volume 14, Issue 3, , Pages 314–331