Study on New Zealand’s Adventure Travel

The paper presents the drives of tourists across the world, most especially the international university leaners towards New Zealand's adventure tourism. Lou discovered that the market for international education has registered a remarkable progress and growth in the past decades across the world (2014). For instance, the largest portion of international learners in New Zealand is represented by the Chinese and therefore, their increased student populace in the country contributes a lot towards the sector of New Zealand education, as well as enhancing the gravity of economic benefits in the tourism domain within the country. In this regard, the significance borne of these learners is an aspect that necessitates substantial considerations from the operators and administrators of the country’s tourism. According to Bentley, Page, and Macky, New Zealand is famous in the spectrum of tourism and has continued to enjoy the popularity for ages because of her variety of activities of adventure recreation and this has attracted plenty of international and domestic tourists in the region (2007).

The paper's purpose of studying the enthusiasms of various international tourists such as the international students in their engagements in various activities of adventure recreation, the paper conveys invaluable information that presents essence to the management of New Zealand's adventure tourism since they substantially impact the sector of New Zealand's tourism. This follows a study that confirmed that the Chinese international learners along with their heightened population in New Zealand have influenced the sector to a reasonable extent (Zhang & Brunton, 2007). In this respect, the paper focuses on the characteristics of the participant's travel with regards to their motivations behind participating in the activities of adventure tourism. Therefore, narrowing the study to its specific of investigating the Chinese international university leaners in New Zealand provides the opportunity of presenting the principal role played by these students in tourism, as well as disseminating necessary information to the operators in the departments in inducing different types of tourism activities. Furthermore, it aids the country's tourism administrators in employing efficient and effective strategies for marketing with respect to tourist terminuses.

The New Zealand's adventure tourism is a response variable that depends on numerous predictor elements. The paper presents the motivation variable that takes quite a lot in illuminating the behaviors of tourists and as one of the supreme elements that militate the sphere of adventure tourism across the world (Berkman & Gilson, 1978). Based on the problem of Chinese international leaners in New Zealand engaging in perilous activities of recreation, the paper, therefore, provides operators of the sector in comprehending the insights and motives behind such tourist behavior. In this regard, the efforts of the study in outlining the problem, the industry gains an advantage of initiating plans of marketing surrounding the Chinese students in the country and further improving its service delivery in this specific section of tourism.

With respect to the aforementioned problem, the study concentrates on the discernment of travel enthusiasms of the Chinese varsity learners in New Zealand by looking at the information sources surrounding the tourist travel that enable in formulating decisions leading them in adventure trips in New Zealand. Secondly, the paper focuses on activities of recreation adventure and their ranks and their relationship with Chinese varsity learners’ mean scores and their respective motivations towards the activities of New Zealand’s recreational adventure. Finally, the paper analyses the distinctions existing between the motivations of Chinese international varsity learners and various demographic characteristics, as well as adventure travel variables.

The populace of the Chinese international learners in New Zealand continues to rise since the 2001 and therefore, their position in the market of New Zealand tourism is remarkable and recognizable (Cao & Zhang, 2012). In this literature review, the study discloses other studies and sources that analyze the motivations of travel leaners, as well as their areas of adventure tourism. Due to negligence in examining the motivations of Chinese students in New Zealand, the paper finds it imperative to convey such a significant segment in the tourism sector in the country. In this respect, the literature review introduces the constructs of the motivation of adventure recreation, adventure tourism, travel motivation of Chinese students, and motivations of student travels. The four principal areas of the literature review are purposed to establish an exhaustive understanding of behavior and demands of their motivation, as well as providing the opportunity of anticipating procedures of making decisions with respect to student tourists.

Motivation is described in various ways based on individuals’ psychology and Goodall affirms that the term describes person's internal drive, in which they evade the routines and work, as a respite to worries of every day (1988). Therefore, the internal drive is meant to create satisfaction of a person's need and therefore, providing an individual with the opportunity to examine information surrounding relevant objects. This coincides with the discovery of Yousefi and Marzuki, who affirm that travel motivations are the key tourism study areas (2012). The travel motives can be either cultural or socio-psychological and exhibit some degree of imbalance due to the inner feelings of a person that is more psychological in distinguishing needs from wants. According to Yoon and Uysal, tourist motivation is believed to be an essential technique of comprehending both behaviors and demands of tourists, as well as creating a formidable ground for anticipating their procedures of making decisions (2005). Numerous elements have been cited with respect to motives that are socio-psychological such as regression, social interaction, kinship enhancement, prestige, self-exploration, relaxation, and escape, as well as cultural motives that are majorly centered at education and novelty.

Lou mentions that certain approaches that outline both pull and push of motivation have been used and verified in plenty of studies of tourism and thereby, establishing a theory in the analysis of travel motivation (2014). Lou further confirms that such a representative theory surrounding pull and push motivations is essential in the understanding and assessing a variety of tourist motives regarding different groups of travelers (2014). In this regard, the pull factors include friendly locals, natural attractions, cultural attractions, and recreation facilities that provide attractiveness. On the other hand, push factors emanate from internal forces such as self-esteem, novelty, and escape desires. Therefore, the push factors could be created based on an individual's need to get away, social interaction, and tourism education.

Based on the socio-psychological framework, both interpersonal and personal lenses of tourists are considered and outlined in the model under four extents. The first facet underscores the desire of a person to get away from their personal environment, which could troublesome and secondly, the dimension outlines the escape of a person from their interpersonal atmosphere, which could involve family, friends, or colleagues. The third dimension looks at the personal rewards that are intrinsic such as mind and body relaxation and the fourth dimension focuses on the intrinsic rewards that are interpersonal such as encountering new faces within the destination (Iso-Ahola, 1982).

The traveling of students and youths at large has grown globally and Biederman iterates that there is the need for an in-depth understanding of the trend to establish clarity with respect to the behavior of tourists (2008). In this context, it is imperative to recognize and comprehend the activities of recreation that students and youths take part in and their selections of various tourist sites. Most students tour various destinations in order to reach out to historic sites, access certain culture, and entertainment. Others have been identified as participating in travel because of motivations such as enjoyment of daily environment of certain areas, for sporting activities, for recreation, hospitality and services of the local population, drinking opportunities, and convenience. Klenosky discovered that students are motivated by the desire to relax, learn and gain various kinds of knowledge, interact with other persons, and also the need to get away from their daily routines (2002).

Therefore, it is important to point out that students differ in their travel motivation predicate to their countries of origin. For instance, the students from the United States differ from the Japanese students in their travel motivations, because they exhibit different culture, as well as travel preferences (Sakakida, Cole, & Card, 2004). According to Wand and Walker, Canadian students' motivations are centered at the need to be different, desire for risk-taking, and self-achievement, whilst their Chinese counterparts are motivated by the need to get away from physical and social pressure, as well as learning (2010).

With regards to the Chinese students in New Zealand, their major motivations surround seven principal reasons, which include family reasons, knowledge seeking, travel bragging, relaxation, leisure, entertainment, and sports (Kim & Jogaratnam, 2002). In this regard, comparing the Chinese students with their American counterparts with respect to the aforementioned seven motivations presented sports and knowledge seeking dimensions as the main contributing factors of the Chinese students. Whereas, family, relaxation, sports, travel bragging, and entertainment as the major preferences of the American students and therefore, this seven motivation among students play different roles based on the students' origins.

Adventure tourism continues to register a rapid growth in the tourism spectrum across the world and is majorly feature by competence and risk. Lou posits that the concept of adventure tourism has been advanced beyond competence and risk to constitute other tourist elements of recreational activities, even though they still convey the risky perception since their outcomes are associated with some degree of uncertainty (2014). Therefore, this form of tourism is an array of events which include bungee jumping, rafting, climbing, and paragliding. All these physical activities have their consequences on the participant tourists since those taking part in them carry out these activities that are deemed dangerous and risky and therefore, making them subject to uncertain consequences.

With regards to this form of tourism, the adventure tourism ideology can be categorized into different sub-classes or forms such as mountain hiking, skydiving, scuba diving, bungee jumping, hang gliding, climbing, paragliding, and caving (Lou, 2014). In order to regard adventure tourism as independent type of tourism with unique features, Priest postulated a four criteria mechanism that helps in the justification of a particular activity with respect to adventure tourism (1992). The first criterion ensures that the participation of an individual in the activity is voluntary. The second principle emphasizes the environment of the activity which must be a natural one. The third one explains the attachment of danger to the natural environment, where the event takes place. The fourth criterion asserts that the event must depict some uncertainty in its process.

Social contact, self-actualization, stimulation, stimulation, and nature need to be attuned to the fundamental motivations with regards to the activities of recreation in adventure tourism. Adventure recreation is based on the primary motivation of an individual’s desire to adventure and creating contact with sociability, as well as nature (Costa & Chalip, 2005).

Motivations of adventurers are significant, since they contribute to economic development and growth, as well as aiding in the classification of behaviors of different tourists. For instance, there are three main categories of themes surrounding the adventure motivations. The first theme constitutes risk, fitness, achievement, expertise, control, anxiety, and excitement and they form the internal environment with regards to activity performance. The second cuts between internal and external theme made up of three constituent elements of spirit, art, and nature. The third facet entails the external, but a social position that surrounds elements such as competence, escape, image, and friends (Buckley, 2012). Excitement, fear, and risk continue to maintain their level as the basic motivators towards adventure tourism.

The consequences borne of motivation contributes to an exhaustive comprehension of tourists, as well as providing invaluable information with regards to the tourist destinations. Irrespective of plenty researches on the exploration of tourist motivation surrounding the Chinese, little has been done that connects them to New Zealand. Different cultures have been the principal precursors towards student travel motives, as well as decision-making. Due to scanty information regarding the Chinese and their travel motivations in the country of New Zealand, it is essential to research and examine the motives that inspire and encourage Chinese college learners in their engagement of activities of New Zealand’s adventure recreation.