Sex tourism is one of the world's most controversial industries. While it generates tremendous revenue to the sex tourism destinations, the industry has been condemned as the two main reasons trafficking of women and children exist. Despite this, little research has examined the motivation of sex tourists. The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of the sex tourism phenomenon and, more specifically, motivation of tourists. This study is exploratory and qualitative in nature. Two key propositions are addressed (1) The person's level of perceived modernity relates to the perceived level of personal needs; and (2) The person's level of perceived personal needs relates to the person's desire of travel for sexual participation. A mixture of qualitative methods was utilized. The data was collected using semi-structured personal interviews with thirty-three male sex tourists who traveled to Pattaya, Thailand in 2005. The transcribed data was constantly compared and the interviews revealed four substantial themes with eight subsequent categories. It was discovered that sex tourists were pushed by two main motivational drives: physical and psychological needs which came together as personal needs. Physical needs consisted of "physical problems" and "unmet sexual needs." The psychological problems included "hedonistic drive" and "modernity." The physical gains (tangible attributes) and psychological gains (sense of belonging, freedom and excitement, and power reestablishment) attracted sex tourists to the sex tourism destinations. Therefore, modernity, one of three constructs in this study, was also supported as an important factor which indirectly affected the motivation of the sex tourists. The last chapter presents the study contribution, implementation, and suggestions for future research. For knowledge contribution to the academic field, this present study reinforces the reliability of Iso-Ahola's (1982) escaping-seeking motivation model. It provides both academic and tourism practitioners a better idea of what sex tourist motivational factors are. The knowledge of sex tourist motivation can assist tourism practitioners at the sex tourism destinations to improve positioning their destinations in the world tourism market. For the tourism academics, this study offers an exploratory ground for future research to build on both qualitatively and quantitatively in order to form a more rigorous sex tourist motivation model. / Ph. D.

China has been one of the most important markets for Abisko tourism. The significant growth of Chinese tourists raised academia interests in understanding what motivates them to this remote town. As little information has been documented about Chinese tourists' travel motivations to Abisko, this study attempts to identify the factors that influence Chinese tourists' choice of travel destination.  Based on the push-pull theoretical framework in tourism, the authors conducted qualitative research and created a model. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 Chinese tourists living both in Sweden and China. The problems were identified related to both psychological factors as "push factors" and destination factors as "pull factors". The analysis delineated 5 push factors (physical factors, emotional factors, cultural factors, interpersonal factors, and prestige factors) items and 7 (transportation, accommodation, food & beverage, recreation activities, natural environment, public safety, and technology) pull factors. The finding revealed what push and pull motives were the determinant factors of Chinese tourists in deciding to select Abisko as their destination choice. Discussion and suggestions were also made for the tourism industry of Abisko.

This thesis aims to examine the motivational factors and to explore possible typologies of groundhoppers. Groundhopping as a special form of sports tourism which has grown rapidly over the last couple of decades. Given the fact, that there has been a lot of research in the field of sports tourism it is quite interesting to see that up to this day, there is hardly any in-depth research about groundhopping in particular. Groundhoppers are a very interesting group to both sport and tourism industry. For the latter, groundhoppers might be a potential target group especially when it comes to the promotion and marketing of certain destinations. Just like other types of tourists, groundhoppers bring money to the destinations, spend it at different occasions and hence contribute to the destinations’ development. Having an exploratory character, this quantitative research wants to contribute to the lack in current literature, focussing on a German groundhopper online community and its members. A web-based questionnaire has been conducted which had a total number of 909 respondents. Demonstrating the outcomes of the survey, this thesis looks into the individual statistics of the questionnaire and visualises the answers with descriptive tables. Furthermore, with the use of an exploratory factor analysis and a two-step cluster analysis, three potential groups of groundhoppers could be explored. The findings from this study should be seen as a starting point, an inspiration for further research, as groundhopping is likely to keep growing in numbers. While quantitative studies like this thesis can contribute to get an overall picture, qualitative research will also be required to get an insight on the more individual and personal level of groundhopping. This again could lead to new ideas and concepts for advanced quantitative research. Until then, groundhopping will remain a mostly unknown niche in the field of sports tourism.

Between 1991 and 1996 the number of German second home owners in Sweden increased from about 1,500 to more than 5,500. The purpose of this thesis is to give a comprehensive description and analysis of the German cottage purchases in Sweden, 1991-96. In detail, the motives of the cottage buyers, the circumstances, the geographical patterns of cottage ownership, its diffusion, the integration of the cottage owners, and their expenses in the receiving areas are investigated. The analysis is based on two main sources; (a) an unique database UMCOBASE covering all second homes in Sweden; (b) a survey among 91 German second home owners. Second home ownership is considered as touriste product and as semi-permanent migration to the countryside. These perspectives have in common the importance of the role of the positive image of the countryside. Differences in property prices and climate may also attract second home owners to a specific area. It is argued that changes in the German society form a considerable driving force. Stress and life in the large metropolitan areas as well as the political situation after German reunification contribute not only to this interest for second home living, for the countryside, but also for Sweden, often seen as a shining example. Many German images of Sweden are based on popular writings and movies of the Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren. Sweden provides the German cottagers with the requested environments and the availability of housing, cheap property prices, and rather short distances make the interior parts of southern Sweden an ideal destination for the mixture of households with different individual motivations and preferences mainly from Hamburg and Berlin. The internationalization of the economy and the globalization of culture make it easier to purchase a second home abroad. In this case, the growth of German second home ownership in Sweden can be considered as a colonization of the Swedish countryside. The diffusion of cottage ownership is enhanced and directed by the innovators who due to their social networks attract new cottagers to the same area. A very important precondition for the increased German interest in Swedish cottages was the decline of the Swedish currency in 1992 allowing purchases at a cheaper price. The fact that the real estate agencies focused on the German market may be another reason for the increase, and also for the distribution of German cottage ownership within Sweden. The German second home patterns are also analyzed employing multiple regression analysis. It is shown that the distance between ferry harbors and second homes is a major restriction for the distribution of German cottage ownership in Sweden. Even future growth will take place in areas where German cottage owners are present today. The multi-functionality of the countryside caused competition regarding land-use and decision-making power between rural residents, tourists, and agents of other interests. Even if second home tourists and the permanent residents share a lot of interests, integration into the local community can be difficult. It is argued that the German cottagers are leisure gentrifiers consuming the countryside as a leisure resource only. Second home owners are faithful tourists who visit the second home area frequently and stay for a long time. This entails that they also spend a considerable amount of money in the host community. Hence, some jobs in the research area are more or less dependent on the expenditures of the German cottage owners. Despite being motivated, most German cottagers have problems integrating into the host community. The German cottagers seem to adapt to this situation by meeting with each other and by applying a conservative eco-strategy, thus converting their surroundings into their imaginary Swedish countryside. The post-war societies in the western world are characterized by rapid changes. The recent interest in second homes can be read as a rejection of modern life, because the cottage might be the continuous place in life. It is argued, however, that the second home is attractive because it blurs the strict separation of everyday life and tourism. / digitalisering@umu

The diploma thesis is focused on gamification and possibility of using gamification elements in the field of tourism. The aim of this work is to present gamification as a tool for influencing tourist behavior and to design an own product with gamification elements. In the theoretical part of the thesis a definition of gamification is analyzed alongside with the game elements and game thinking, which constitute the essence of this phenomenon, and the types of motivation of players and travelers are presented. Subsequently, a framework for gamification design is described. The fifth chapter defines the basic notions of tourism and introduces ways of using gamification in tourism. The theoretical part ends by chapters six and seven, where possible risks of using gamification as well as the most successful examples of its implementation are described. The practical part is devoted to the description of a new gamified product including graphic design and the timetable of introduction of the application to the market.

Competitiveness in the tourism market signals the need to create unique identities, capable of differentiating tourist destinations among themselves and attracting consumers. Despite this, most destinations around the world are "sold" in a very similar way; Highlighting generic features such as landscapes, friendly people and fun. Nowadays, this way of presenting or promoting destinations has become ineffective, since such characteristics do not constitute differentiators and a successful destination brand should be able to reduce substitutability. In addition, the literature pointed to the lack of adequate instruments to measure constructs and phenomena of this theme, which indicates the use of distorted or incorrect information by the market and compromising the analyzes performed. Thus, this thesis aimed to investigate aspects that are part of the core of the target brand (personality, positioning and market). The study of the personality of destination aimed to explore the theme and propose a national measurement that would allow to present the most authentic features of the Brazilian destinations to the consumer. The positioning and the market were analyzed considering the importance of the recognition of the profile of the consumer and their motivations of travel, translated in this thesis by means of a tourist motivation scale, able to provide information about the reasons of trip and the necessities associated with the tourism of recreation. For this, the methodology chosen included a preliminary phase of secondary data collection and qualitative analysis, followed by quantitative collection and analysis techniques such as exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis. The initial stage of research aimed at constructing and validating destination personality scales and tourism motivation through the application of a survey with 899 self-declared tourism consumers. The destination personality scale was organized with 23 traits, grouped in six dimensions (experiential, organization, fun, status, spirituality and hospitality) and the scale of tourist motivation presented 18 reasons arranged in five dimensions (recreation, cultural, social, Prestige and escape). For the final stage of the research, a new survey was conducted with 769 tourism consumers and aimed to verify the relationship between the constructs studied (personality and tourism motivation of the consumer, destination personality and intention to travel). These relationships were tested through the analysis of structural equations and the construction of a model. In addition to the construction of the scales, the findings related to the relationships found, unprecedented in national surveys, stand out as results. It was found that the personality of the consumer influences both the motivation to visit certain tourist destinations and the selection of a destination considering their personality. Tourist motivation influences the choice of a certain type of destination personality and also the intention of visiting a tourist destination. Finally, it was found that the destination personality influences the intention of the consumer to visit a tourist destination. These findings represent a contribution based on the knowledge presented and the proposal, which includes the construction and validation of destination personality scales and tourism motivation, as well as a conceptual model on the theme. / A competitividade no mercado de turismo sinaliza para a necessidade de criar identidades únicas, capazes de diferenciar os destinos turísticos entre si e atrair o consumidor. Apesar disso, a maior parte dos destinos ao redor do mundo ―vende-se‖ de forma muito semelhante; destacando características genéricas, como paisagens, pessoas amigáveis e divertimento. Atualmente, essa maneira de apresentar ou promover destinos tornou-se inefetiva, já que tais características não se constituem como diferenciadoras e uma marca de destino bem-sucedida deve ser capaz de reduzir a substituibilidade. Além disso, a literatura apontou para a falta de instrumentos adequados para mensuração de construtos e fenômenos desta temática, o que indica o uso de informações distorcidas ou incorretas pelo mercado e comprometendo as análises realizadas. Desta forma, esta tese se propôs a investigar aspectos que fazem parte do núcleo da marca de destino (personalidade, posicionamento e mercado). O estudo da personalidade de destino visou explorar o tema e propor uma mensuração nacional que possibilitasse apresentar os traços mais autênticos dos destinos brasileiros ao consumidor. O posicionamento e o mercado foram analisados considerando a importância do reconhecimento do perfil do consumidor e suas motivações de viagem, traduzidas nesta tese por meio de uma escala de motivação turística, capaz de fornecer informações sobre os motivos de viagem e as necessidades associadas ao turismo de lazer. Para isso, a metodologia escolhida incluiu uma fase preliminar de coleta de dados secundários e análise qualitativa e em seguida adotou-se técnicas de coleta e análise quantitativa, tais como análise fatorial exploratória e confirmatória. A etapa inicial de pesquisa objetivou construir e validar as escalas de personalidade de destino e motivação turística por meio da aplicação de uma survey com 899 consumidores de turismo auto declarados. A escala de personalidade de destino organizou-se com 23 traços, agrupados em seis dimensões (experiencial, organização, diversão, status, espiritualidade e hospitalidade) e a escala de motivação turística apresentou 18 motivos dispostos em cinco dimensões (recreação, cultural, social, prestígio e fuga). Para a etapa final da pesquisa foi realizada nova survey com 769 consumidores de turismo e visou verificar o relacionamento entre os construtos estudados (personalidade e motivação turística do consumidor, personalidade de destino e intenção de viajar). Essas relações foram testadas por meio da análise de equações estruturais e a construção de um modelo. Além da construção das escalas, destacam-se como resultados os achados referentes as relações encontradas, inéditas em pesquisas nacionais. Constatou-se que a personalidade do consumidor influencia tanto na motivação para visitar determinados destinos turísticos quanto na seleção de um destino considerando sua personalidade. A motivação turística influencia na escolha de determinado tipo de personalidade de destino e também na intenção de visitar um destino turístico. Por fim, foi constatado que a personalidade de destino influencia na intenção do consumidor para visitar um destino turístico. Tais achados representam contribuição em função do conhecimento apresentado e da proposta, que inclui a construção e validação de escalas de personalidade de destino e motivação turística, além de um modelo conceitual sobre o tema.