Final report on Travel Research Paper

Introduction

Travelling can be described as the movement of people or conveyance objects from one geographical location to another. The rapid technological development has facilitated faster and efficient movement of people to and from various destinations around the globe.

Different forms of transport are used depending on the distance and personal preference or socio-economic status. Air transport is the most efficient form of conveyance for people travelling to distant areas. Road and rail transport are preferred when travelling on shorter distances. People travel for various reasons.

Common forms of travel may include the following: Business travel, whereby individuals travel to various destinations for reasons that are related to their work; recreation travels, whereby people travel for leisure purposes (Hjalager, 2000). Recreational activities are usually performed for enjoyment, amusement and are often considered to be fun.

Recreation forms an important element in an individual’s development and wellbeing (Kelessidis & Kalonaki, 2009). Tourism and/or vacation can be considered as forms of holiday travel. There are other reasons why people travel and this may include travelling for charity work; mission services; and for research or gathering information (Sigala, 2007).

Previous research indicates that people travel for different motives such as relaxation, exploration, pleasure and getting to know other cultures or for social development (Kelessidis & Kalonaki, 2009).

This qualitative research paper reports on the investigation of various factors relating to travel. The paper has utilized data collected via questionnaires administered online.

The questionnaires were specifically designed to collect data on the frequency of travelling; importance of travelling in relation to other activities; preferred travel destinations; motives for travelling; memorable travel destinations; advice/recommendation for a travel destination, among other factors.

Methods

The research utilized online interviews to collect various data on travel. The interviews were administered in the form of semi structured questionnaires that were voluntarily completed by the participants. Questionnaires were used for this research due to their advantages over other forms of collecting data.

The advantages include the fact that questionnaires are practical; they allow a researcher to collect large amounts of data from a large number of people in a short period and at a cheaper cost; the uniformity leads to limited effect on the validity and reliability of the responses; data collected can be quantified easily using a software package; they lead to a more scientific and objective analysis as compared to other forms of research (Sigala, 2007).

However, there are various challenges that accompany the use of questionnaires and they have been properly addressed in this paper. These challenges include; likelihood of information being influenced by feelings or emotions; truthfulness of the responses cannot be verified; different respondents may interpret the questions differently and therefore give inconsistent responses; questionnaires can also limit the scope of the study in one way or another (Sigala, 2007).

The questions that were included for this particular study were formulated in regard to the different aspects relating to travel. The questions specifically sought to establish why, when and for what reason participants indulged in travel activities. Each aspect was addressed via different questions reflecting different themes. The participants were additionally requested to state their gender so as to establish the travelling patterns between the different genders.

The methods used in this study were reviewed by the university’s ethical board in consistent with the requirements for any research that involves human subjects. Additionally, the respondents were provided with a description of the purpose of the study, privacy statement, and a description of their freedom to choose whether to participate or not to.

Sample Description and process Analysis and Findings

The data generated from this study was categorized in tables according to the identified themes and face information.

Table 1: Description of the participant’s gender, travel frequency, date of recent travel, travel satisfaction and perceived travel importance in relation to other activities.

Table2: Description of the specific findings on various themes (Recommendation for travel destination, recent travel experience, memorable travel destination, undesired travel experience, Travel expectations, and satisfaction with the survey).

Table3: Summary of the findings of the study categorized according to face data and identified themes

The study sample consisted of a total of 26 participants who were selected on random basis. Twenty of the participants were female, accounting for 76% of the sample. Only 6 participants or 24% were male. Eight of the participants went on vacation once a year while the rest went more than once.

Twenty four out of the 26 participants had traveled in the past year, most to destinations within North America, preferably the United States and Canada. There was a particular liking for California and Hawaii among various participants. Most of the respondents who participated in the survey had travelled in the past year (98%).

In regard to the frequency of travelling, 11.5% of the respondents travelled less than once a year, 30% travelled at least once a year, while about 58% of them travelled more than once a year. Sixty five percent of the participants rated travelling as the most important leisure activity in their lives.

While 30% of them indicated that traveling was moderately important compared to other leisure activities. Up to 62.6% of the respondents were highly satisfied with their most recent travel activities, while 38.4% were moderately satisfied. Most of the respondents surveyed sourced destination recommendations from a variety of sources including family (61.5%), friends (69.2%), internet (57.6), and magazines/newspapers (19%).

Many of the responds surveyed showed that they indulge in travelling activities purely for entertainment value (65.3%), while only 34% travelled for learning purposes. The respondents posted varied responses in regard to what they believed was the most memorable experience of their travel.

Such memorable experiences revolved around bonding with family members (26.9%), Bonding with friends (11%), Leisure (11%), touring attractive sites (23%) and experiencing the unique cultures offered by various destination 26.9%.

Many participants showed a marked dislike in regard to travelling to areas that were too familiar (19%), have little or no attractions (19%), have unfriendly people 15%). Thirty four percent of the participants had their own reasons for disliking a destination, mostly in relation to previous experiences with those they travelled with.

The questionnaire used for this study consisted of two main parts (PART A and PART B). The first part (PART A) required the participants to provide face sheet information that included: gender, frequency of travel per year, the approximate date of the most recent travel, the name of the recently traveled destination, the overall satisfaction with the most recent travel, and the overall importance of travel in relation to other activities. All the responses were coded and tabulated (see appendix 1)

The second part of the questionnaire (PART B) required the participant to respond to core questions that summarized various themes on travel. This section consisted of 7 questions, 6 of which were important to the immediate study. The first question in this section required the participant to identify the way in which he/she gets to know about a travel destination.

The theme generated by this question is Recommendation for travel and included four responses, namely family, friends, internet, guidebooks and magazines. These were coded as 1,2,3,4 respectively (See Appendix 1). The second question required the participants to state the recent travel experiences. And this was rated as poor, average or good (see Appendix 1).

The third question required the participants to state their most memorable destinations together with the most memorable experiences. The “Experience” theme is a nominal scale and the participant’s responses were evaluated against pre-determined categories such as bonding with family members, bonding with friends, leisure, among others as described in appendix 1 (Kelessidis & Kalonaki, 2009).

The fourth questions investigated on the factors that might be responsible for negative travel experiences attributed to certain travel destinations. The “negative experience” theme was investigated by factors such as “harsh climate, too familiar, few or no attractions, and unfriendly people among others” (Tsartas, 2000).

This questions attracted varied responses that facilitated the inclusion of another category, “Others” to take care of responses that did not fit into other major categories (Tsartas, 2000). The fifth question investigated whether the participants travelled on impulse or after careful planning.

The question additionally required them to state their expectations of travel i.e. to choose between entertainment and learning. All the respondents planned their travel and so only the expectations theme was included in the final data as the responses varied from entertainment to learning. The final important question investigated the level of satisfaction with the online survey.

Questions for part A and B were formulated in a friendly manner to encourage the participants to offer honest responses.

Discussion and conclusions

The study was carried out among students attending the University of British Columbia (UBC). The responses given reflect the typical traveling characteristics and patterns of young adults or youths. Most of the respondents who participated in this study were females accounting for 76% of the total number of participants.

This can be interpreted to mean females indulge more in travelling as compared to their male counterparts. The majority of the respondents had travelled in the recent past, indicating that travelling was a preferred way of breaking off from the daily work life. Indeed the recreational value of travelling is essential for the human body (Sigala, 2007).

Normally, human beings spent most of their time doing daily living activities such as working and sleeping. Recreational activities such as travelling have been shown to positively impact on the health of an individual. Travelling as a recreational activity mostly results into positive psychological impacts as opposed to physical, not unless it’s conducted on a very regular basis.

The results showed that most of the respondents travelled more than once a year. The frequency of travelling increased with the decrease in the travel distance, with some considering moving from college to home as a travelling activity.

The area where the study was conducted had a profound impact on the preferred travel destinations. Thus most participants travelled to areas within North America, particularly Canada and the United States. This partly reflects the financial and time constraints that prevent most people from travelling to distant countries (Sigala, 2007).

Additionally, most of the participants had their travels facilitated by their parents and therefore had little influence on the distance of their destinations. However, older respondents had traveled more to distant destinations due to the fact that they are in a better position to make their own decisions and meet the financial requirements of traveling.

When asked to state their most memorable destinations, the respondents tended to point to distant destinations such as Japan, Thailand and the UK. This indicates that they were more eager to experience the cultural diversity offered by such distant locations.

A particular liking was directed towards East Asian nations, notably Thailand and Japan, whose people were thought to be very kind and helpful. A notable number of the respondents consisted of student’s whose families had immigrated to Canada. Such students had fond memories regarding tours made to their countries of origin.

The findings of this study were consistent with findings from other studies in regard to the purpose and motivation for travelling. As confirmed by the study, most people travel for “recreation, tourism, holiday visitations, charity and business reasons (Sigala, 2007).

Business reason was not captured very well in this study as the study population consisted of college students who are yet to indulge in any meaningful business activities” (Kelessidis & Kalonaki, 2009, p. 4).

The motives of travel identified in this study are consistent with those established by studies conducted earlier. Such motives include “pleasure, relaxation, discovery and getting to know the cultures in other areas of the world” (Hjalager, 2000).

Established by this study, travelling activities are conducted on several levels which include national, regional and international basis (Tsartas, 2000). More resources are required for more distant travels and this requires proper planning. Decisions to travel on shorter distances are more often made impulsively. International travel normally requires one to be in possession of a visa and a passport.

The information provided by various sources such as friends, the web, magazines and newspapers in regard to travel destinations had a profound impact on the destination choice. For instance, the respondents surveyed in this study travelled to famous destinations within their regions. The decision to travel to such destinations is most frequently made following a recommendation from a friend or family member.

The respondents disliked destinations that were similar in one way or another to their home towns or countries. Other unpopular attributes of travel destinations revealed in this study include harsh climate, familiarity with the participant, unfriendly cultures, language barrier, disorganization and the lack of adequate attraction sites.

Therefore the respondents counterchecked for this with their families or friends to identify an ideal travel destination. Some dislikes were however based on personal prejudices, mostly based on previous experience. These findings go further to show how negative publicity affects tourism. For instance, none of the respondents had ever toured or showed the desire to tour areas that are prone to terrorist activities.

This paper investigated on various factors associated with travel. The study population consisted of students attending the University of British Columbia.

The study mainly established the gender of respondents; their most recent travel; their frequency of travelling; their satisfaction with the most recent travel; recommendations for travel destinations; the core reasons for travelling; their most memorable travel experience; and an account of their least preferred travel experience.

The survey was carried out in the form of an online interview whereby the respondents were voluntarily requested to feel the questionnaires. The study took note of the pros and cons of using questionnaires to conduct studies and the ethical issues that might arise.

The findings of the study were found to be consistent with findings of other studies but were a bit restricted due to the nature of the study population. The findings can however be applied to other populations with similar demographic factors.

Generally, they reflect the changing patterns of travel as a result of increased globalization, technological advancement and international security (Hjalager, 2000).

However, more research still needs to be done to identify pattern associated with the bigger population that includes other age groups, supplementary to patterns associated with the predominant college going age group addressed in this study.

References

Hjalager, A. (2000). Tourism destinations and the concept of industrial districts. Tourism and hospitality Research , (3): 199-213.

Kelessidis, V., & Kalonaki, E. (2009). Global Tourism Analysis. Crete: University of Crete.

Sigala, M. (2007). New product development processes in tourism clusters: a knowledge management approach. Dallas: CHRIE.

Tsartas, P. (2000). Tourist development: Multi-scientific approaches. Athens: Exandas.

Appendix. Coding

Part A. Variables

1. Gender: Nominal scale

• 1=Female
• 2=Male

2. Frequency of travel: Interval scale

• 1= once every year
• 2=twice every year
• 3= thrice every year
• 4= four times a year
• 5 = five times a year
• 0.5 once in every two years
• 0.3 once in every three years

3. Date of recent travel: Ordinal scale

• 1= within past year
• 2= within past two years
• 3=within past three years
• 4=within past for years
• 5=Within the past five years

4. Travel destination: Nominal scale( name of place)

5. Travel satisfaction: Ordinal scale

• 1 = low
• 2= moderate
• 3= High

6. Comparative Importance of travel: Ordinal scale

• 1 = low
• 2= moderate
• 3= High

Part B

1. Recommendation for Travel destination (RTD): Nominal scale

• 1=Family
• 2=Friends
• 3=Internet
• 4= Guide books
• 5=Magazines/Newspapers

2. Recent travel experience[Abbrev: Experience]: Ordinal scale

• 1=poor
• 2=Average
• 3=Good
• 4=Excellent

3.1 Memorable destination: Nominal Scale

• 1= China
• 2= Italy
• 3=Penticton
• 4= Florida
• 5= Thailand
• 6=Japan
• 7=Victoria, Canada
• 8=South Korea
• 9=Hawaii
• 10= United States
• 11=Tangalooma, Australia
• 12=London, UK
• 13=Mediterranean Coast
• 14=Berlin
• 15=Los Angels
• 16=Maldives
• 17=Himalayas
• 18=Peru
• 19=India
• Puerto Vallarta

3.2 Most memorable Travel experience: Nominal scale

• 1= Bonding with family
• 2= Bonding with friends
• 3= Leisure
• 4= Touring attractive sites
• 5= Unique culture

4. Undesired tour experience: Nominal scale

• 1= Harsh climate
• 2= Too familiar destination
• 3=Few or no attractions
• 4=Unfriendly people
• 5= Other

5. Preferred Tour Expectations

• 1= Entertainment
• 2=Learning
• 3=Other

6. Satisfaction with the survey

• 1= low
• 2= moderate
• 3= High