Uncovering the Muslim leisure tourists’ motivation to travel domestically – do gender and generation matters?

Abstract

Purpose – Current study is an attempt to understand what motivates local Muslim Leisure Tourists to travel domestically. This study further investigates the impacts of gender differences and generation gaps towards the local Muslim Leisure Tourists’ tour motivation and the respective determinants. Design/Methodology/Approach – Muslim Leisure Tourists who have been on the domestic leisure tours were approached to participate in the self-administered survey. Upon processing the data, 371 sets of responses were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. Findings – Four motivational factors, i.e. bond of Silaturrahim, knowledge widening, relaxation, and Islamic facilities had significant influence on the local Muslim Leisure Tourists’ intention to travel. Multi-group Analysis (MGA) highlighted a homogeneous nature of local Muslim Leisure Tourists whose tour motivation was deemed to be identical despite gender differences and the generation gaps. Originality of the research – In line with the study’s key finding, i.e. homogeneity nature of local Muslim Leisure Tourists, “one for all strategy” is deemed appropriate instead of gender and generational specific marketing strategy.

Keywords

• travel motivation
• local tourists
• muslim leisure tourists
• gender
• generation
• malaysia