International Journal of Healthcare Sciences ISSN 2348-5728 (Online) Vol. 9, Issue 1, pp: (46-53), Month: April 2021 - September 2021, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
The psychological and cultural characteristics of the traveler Mathe Teodora1, Bartucz Monica2 1
Babes-Bolyai University 2Evidence-Based Assessment and Psychological Interventions Doctoral School, Babeș-Bolyai University, International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health, BabeșBolyai University 1,2
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Abstract: Travelling is a part of our life and history tells us that this isn’t something new. However, we wonder where this human desire comes from and why there are so many differences between people when it comes to travelling. This research tried to answer the question What makes people travel? We launched the hypotheses according to which our tourist choices are influenced by a series of stable personality traits and cultural values. The study involved 137 people from 42 countries and it has been made by completing an online survey with two scales, one for the measurement of the personality traits (the Big Five Inventory) and another one for the measurement of the cultural values at an individual level (the CVSCALE), along with a series of demographics and questions about travel frequency and choices. The regression analysis revealed that the world-wide travel frequency is predicted by the low level of uncertainty avoidance while the frequency of travels within the country of residence were predicted by the high levels of extraversion and collectivism. We believe that the results of this research have significant implications for the tourism industry and further research could confirm this statement by creating and testing products that combine the stable features of potential customers with the tourism potential of the area. Keywords: traveler profile, psychological traits, cultural values, personality factors, tourism industry.
1. INTRODUCTION The World Tourism Organization defines tourism as a form of movement of people to places that are different from their daily living environment and a phenomenon that is happening at a social, cultural and economic level for personal or professional purposes. The people that are moving from one place to another are called visitors and they classify in two categories – tourists (spending more than 24 hours in one place) or excursionists (that are only visiting a place for one day) [1]. The definition of travelling tells us that that traveling is not something related to the modern world as people had always moved from one place to another in order to be able to survive. With the time passing, traveling has become a way to satisfy other needs but the basic survival ones, needs that are situated in the upper side of the Maslow’s hierarchy pyramid [2] such as social belonging, self-esteem and self-actualization. Why do people travel? Accordingly to the behavior motivation theory written by Deci and Ryan in 1985 [3], people have two motivational insights that might influence someone’s leisure behavior. First reason is the change in daily routine and a way of stress management, it’s a way of escaping real life events and problems that might appear in both personal challenges and interpersonal interactions such as someone's family problems or co-workers. The second motivational factor that can influence our leisure behavior is our wish and psychological tendency to reward ourselves for all the work and stress we manage in our daily lives by participating in leisure activities. This theory is telling us that our leisure travelling motivation is linked to the benefits we get afterwards: personal rewarding and routine breaking [4] where the individual experiences were the starting point of psychology.
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