Do Attractions Attract Tourists to a Destination? Explaining Theory with Empirical Data Based on Three Source Markets and Three Destinations

Abstract

This investigation aims to understand tourists' motivation/attraction theories based on empirical data. It analyses tourists' basic profile, their key travel facts, needs and drivers/motivations, perceptions, top activities participated at the destinations, and places visited, along with destinations' promotional activities, which may trigger visitation/repeat visitation to destinations from source markets. In the current context, Britain, New Zealand, and Singapore are applied as destinations, whereas Australia, China, and India are source markets to analyse the empirical data made publicly available by Singapore Tourism Board, VisitBritain, and Tourism New Zealand. The empirical data supports that tourists' motivations and attractions are in line with Pearce's [1] model, and attraction and marketing appeals are in line with McKercher [2] and Leiper's [3] model. Singapore is specific needs satisfier for Indian and Chinese tourists, but it is a general need satisfier for substitutable attractions for Australians. Australians are attracted to particular attractions in Britain and New Zealand. Still, Indians travel with general needs, whereas appealing to Chinese visitors by Britain and New Zealand with specific and broad attractions do work. For New Zealand, to some extent, attractions become secondary. This paper provides implications for both inbound and outbound tourism stakeholders.