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Abstract—This study offers an attempt to understand green

event tourist motivation. The study suggests that the

conceptual framework of push, pull, and constraint factors in

the literature was generally supported. The study reconfirms

that green event tourists’ behavior is driven by internal and

external factors. In other words, they decide to go on a green

event because they want to fulfill their intrinsic desire, and at

the same time, their decisions on where to go are based on

destination attributes and constraints.

Index Terms—Green event tourism, tourist motivation push

and pull motive.

I. INTRODUCTION

In the past decades, the sustainable development of

tourism was received increased attention by both tourism

practitioners and travelers [1]. As the environmental

movement got underway and the environmental awareness

came into focus in the late twentieth century, the tourism

industry began incorporating environmentally responsible or

“green” innovations into their businesses. The travelers also

have become increasingly aware of the need for

environmental protection [2]. To help improve relations

with local communities, reduce costs, and attract green

conscious attendees, green events across the country are

making efforts to reduce tourists‟ footprint. According to a

recent study conducted in 2012 by the Center for

Sustainable Tourism and the Business School at East

Carolina University, 57.6% of festival attendees think it is

either very important or important for festival and events to

implement green practices. The same study found that

66.5% are more likely to attend a festival or event that had

implemented green practices, and 29.3% attendees would be

willing to pay more to attend an event that had implemented

green practices (abstract from www.agreenerfestival.com at

Given the complexity of the motivation construct, it is not

surprising that push and pull factors have been researched

either as separate [4], [5] or related constructs [6]-[9]. The

closer we move to appreciate what cause individuals to

value an organization‟s green efforts, the better marketers

will be able to develop strategies specifically targeted at

these tourists. To date there has little information has been

documented about motivations on green event tourists in

Taiwan. In recognizing the fact that knowing the importance

of both push and pull factors can help the destination meet

the desired needs of individual tourists from different

Manuscript received September 16, 2013; revised November 21, 2013.

Yu-Fen Chen is with the Chihlee Institute of Technology, Taiwan

(R.O.C) (e-mail: [email protected]).

markets, this study has carefully selected Taipei County

Sustainable Development Education Center, located at Bali

Zou-an Park, as the primary case study site. Bali Zou-an

Park is a famous scenic spot in New Taipei City, with the

number of visitor arrivals more than 2.6 millions in 2012

[10]. Thus, this paper attempts to identify motivation factors

of green event tourists to Taipei County Sustainable

Development Education Center as they demonstrate

different domains of behavior, which may have important

marketing implications to the country. At the same time,

knowledge of tourist‟s motivation is critical to predict future

travel patterns.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

The term event is used for describing different activities

designed for different purposes. These activities can be art,

sports, tourism and social activities, and can also be

activities organized by giant organizers more professional

and more formal [11]. The event is all about people-people

coming together to create, operate, and participate in an

experience [12]. It is an activity that gathers the target group

in time and room, a meeting where a message is

communicated and happening is created [13]. According to

A Survey of Push and Pull Motivations of Green Event

Tourists

Yu-Fen Chen and Huai-En Mo

International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 4, No. 3, June 2014

260DOI: 10.7763/IJIET.2014.V4.409

Nov. 15, 2012) [3].

Berridge [14], events are a unique moment in time and aside

from everyday occurrences. Public or private, commercial or

charitable, celebratory or commemorative-events bring

people together to share an experience and produce a

measurable outcome [12]. Civic events, conventions,

expositions, fairs and festivals, hallmark events, hospitality,

incentive travel, meetings and conferences, retail events,

reunions, social life-cycle events, sport events, and tourism

are the examples of subfields of events [15]. Events not only

bring people together but also can provide significant

economic benefits [16]. The event industry is one of the

world‟s largest employers and contributes major positive

economic impact [17].

In recent years, more attention has been given to behavior

and choices in relation to festivals and special events. The

study of Mohammad and Som [5] reconfirmed that tourists‟

travel behavior is driven by internal and external factors. In

other words, tourists decide to go on a holiday because they

want to fulfill their intrinsic desires, and at the same time,

their decisions on where to go are based on destination

attributes. Park and Yoon [18] conducted a survey to

segment and profile the motivations of tourists. The results

showed that six dimensions of motivation among the rural

tourists included relaxation, socialization, learning, family

togetherness, novelty, and excitement. They also suggest

that the market can be divided into four segments based on

tourists‟ motivation: family togetherness, passive tourists,

want-it-all, and learning and excitement. Prayag and Ryan

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261

[9] used qualitative research techniques to understand the

relationship between the push and pull factors of a tourist

destination and the influence of nationality on these factors.

The results indicated that different motives for visiting

Mauritius were found to exist between national groupings.

Overall, the contribution of the previous festival and

event motivation studies were descriptive in nature, and

contributed in two aspects: 1) a research framework for

surveying festival and event motivation was developed, and

2) the relationships between motivation and other variables

were investigated. In this study, the author developed a list

of motivation items and asked respondents to indicate the

importance of each item in their green event attending

motivations, and finally the results were then factor

analyzed into several dimensions.

III. METHODOLOGY

A. Survey Instrument

To explore the above mentioned variables, the

questionnaire-based interview was considered the most

suitable method. The design of the questionnaire has been

based on the study on event visitation motivation [19], and

the literature review combined with the own ideas of the

author of this study. The questionnaire includes 6 questions

and 29 statements divided into 4 sections.

B. Sampling

The interviews were basically conducted at one particular

spot in Taipei County Sustainable Development Education

Center, located at Bali Zou-an Park which is a famous

scenic spot in New Taipei City, at every Saturday and

Sunday during April to May 2013. The number of visitor

arrivals at Bali Zou-an Park was more than 2.6 millions in

2012 (Tourism Bureau, MOTC, 2013). Numerous tourists

usually sit around the building to eat and drink something. It

was found that this area was most suitable to accomplish the

interview because most people were having food or talking

so they had most likely interest and time to participate.

Approximately 300 tourists were asked to participate and

198 persons reacted positive on that (response rate was

66%). Reasons for non-participation were a lack of time or

no interest. The questions were asked in order as outlined in

the questionnaire.

IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS

The author started to set out the research objectives of this

study. The four main questions of this research are divided

into background, push factors, pull factors and constraints.

In order to demonstrate the relationship among these

research areas the author created a model, based on a

combination of literature, which shows the link between the

factors on influence.

A. Mean Values of Push Motives and Pull Motives

Table I and Table II respectively, rank the mean values of

push motive, pull motive, and constraint items from the

highest to the lowest. In Table I, seven items recorded mean

values above 4 while eight items were placed between the

ranges of 3.16 to 3.93. The item “By attending a green event

I visit a place that I have not visited before.” recorded the

highest mean value of 4.35, while item “By attending a

green event I could meet people with similar interests.

“ recorded the lowest mean value (2.60). In Table II, the

item “The beauty of the event location makes me want to

visit a green event.” obtained the highest mean value of 4.19

followed by item “I would like to learn something about the

destination where the green event is held. (4.14)”. The item

“The green event is the only reason I travelled towards the

destination.” were placed at the lower score (2.67).

TABLE I: MEAN VALUES OF PUSH MOTIVE ITEMS

Push Items Ranking Mean

1. By attending a green event I visit a place that I have not visited before.

1 4.35

3. Visiting a green event is for me a form of relaxation.

1 4.32

9. Attending a green event gives me an opportunity to meet new people.

1 4.24

8. I enjoy participating in the activity of the event while attending a green event.

1 4.18

14. By attending a green event I could increase my social status.

1 4.16

15. Attending a green event would impress my friends and family.

1 4.14

7. The atmosphere at a green event makes me want to visit.

1 4.09

2. By attending a green event I get away from daily life stress.

2 3.93

4. Attending a green event makes me feel relaxed.

2 3.86

12. I would like to experience a green event visit as being an earthman.

2 3.86

11. Attending a green event gives me an opportunity to enjoy a day out.

2 3.84

13. Attending a green event make me reconnect spirtual roots.

2 3.83

5. Attending a green event is for me a form of self-exploration.

2 3.58

6. Attending a green event makes me satisfy the desire to be somewhere else.

3 3.30

10. Attending a green event is for me a form of socialization.

3 3.16

16. By attending a green event I could meet people with similar interests.

4 2.60

Note: If the value of mean is > (or =) 4, the ranking is 1. If the value of

mean is > (or =) 3.5 and < 4, the ranking is 2. If the value of mean is > (or =)

3 and < 3.5, the ranking is 3. If the value of mean is < 3, the ranking is 4.

TABLE II: MEAN VALUES OF PULL MOTIVE ITEMS

Pull Items Ranking Mean

4. The beauty of the event location makes me want to visit a green event.

1 4.19

5. I would like to learn something about the destination where the green event is held.

1 4.14

6. I would like to learn more knowledge about the green event.

2 3.95

2. Attending a green event makes me realize to be an environmentalist.

2 3.89

8. I would like to experience the culture of the place/park where the green event is held.

2 3.88

10. The easy transportation makes me want to visit a green event.

2 3.73

9. The inexpensive price level makes me want to visit a green event.

2 3.65

1. Attending a green event has always been a dream for me.

3 3.26

3. To see some famous persons (actors or artists) makes me want to visit a green event.

3 3.07

7. The green event is the only reason I travelled towards the destination.

4 2.67

Note: If the value of mean is > (or =) 4, the ranking is 1. If the value of

mean is > (or =) 3.5 and < 4, the ranking is 2. If the value of mean is > (or =)

3 and < 3.5, the ranking is 3. If the value of mean is < 3, the ranking is 4.

International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 4, No. 3, June 2014

262

B. Factor Analysis of Push Motives and Pull Motives

TABLE III: FACTOR ANALYSIS OF PUSH MOTIVE ITEMS

Push Factors Factor loading Communality Eigen Value Variance Me-an S.D.

Socialization 1.90 11.19 2.68 0.73 16. By attending a green event I could meet people with

similar interests. 0.74 0.58

17. To attend a green event I can talk about when I get

home. 0.68 0.57

10. Attending a green event is for me a form of

socialization. 0.64 0.46

Prestige 1.66 9.76 4.15 0.68 15. Attending a green event would impress my friends

and family. 0.77 0.71

14. By attending a green event I could increase my social

status. 0.70 0.55

Entertainment 1.50 8.84 4.11 0.50 2. By attending a green event I get away from daily life

stress. 0.70 0.53

8. I enjoy participating in the activity of the event while

attending a green event. 0.62 0.48

7. The atmosphere at a green event makes me want to

visit. 0.48 0.41

9. Attending a green event gives me an opportunity to

meet new people. 0.39 0.47

Self-exploration 1.32 7.76 3.76 0.60 12. I would like to experience a green event visit as being

an earthman. 0.69 0.51

5. Attending a green event is for me a form of

self-exploration. 0.55 0.39

13. Attending a green event make me reconnect spiritual

roots. 0.49 0.51

Relaxation 1.13 6.64 4.09 0.58 3. Visiting a green event is for me a form of relaxation. -0.66 0.55 4. Attending a green event makes me feel relaxed. 0.62 0.52 Escapism 1.05 6.20 3.83 0.55 1. By attending a green event I visit a place that I have

not visited before. 0.67 0.55

11. Attending a green event gives me an opportunity to

enjoy a day out. 0.56 0.42

6. Attending a green event makes me satisfy the desire to

be somewhere else. -0.41 0.35

Total Variance explained 50.38 Total Scale Reliability Alpha 0.83 KMO 0.76

TABLE IV: FACTOR ANALYSIS OF PULL MOTIVE ITEMS

Pull Factors Factor loading Communality Eigen Value Variance Me-an S.D.

Novelty 2.09 20.95 3.00 0.86 1. Attending a green event has always been a dream

for me. 0.87 0.80

3. To see some famous persons (actors or artists)

makes me want to visit a green event. 0.79 0.71

7. The green event is the only reason I travelled

towards the destination. 0.75 0.66

Self-development 1.31 13.07 3.91 0.55 6. I would like to learn more knowledge about the

green event. 0.82 0.75

2. Attending a green event makes me realize to be an

environmentalist. 0.61 0.52

8. I would like to experience the culture of the

place/park where the green event is held. 0.52 0.41

Natural resources 1.21 12.10 4.16 0.62 5. I would like to learn something about the

destination where the green event is held. 0.71 0.55

4. The beauty of the event location makes me want to

visit a green event. 0.60 0.49

Easy access and affordable 1.03 10.34 3.69 0.67 9. The inexpensive price level makes me want to visit

a green event. 0.76 0.60

10. The easy transportation makes me want to visit a

green event. 0.54 0.51

Total Variance explained 56.46 Total Scale Reliability Alpha 0.79 KMO 0.73

To identify motivational dimensions, principal component

factor analysis was used to group the push and pull motive

items with characteristics. Six push motivational factors

were analyzed using Varimax Rotation procedure to

delineate the underlying dimensions associated with green

event tourists‟ motivations. The same procedure was also

applied to 10 pull motive items. All factors had an

eigenvalue greater than one. The composite reliability test

indicated that the reliability coefficients for push factors

stood at 0.83, 0.79 for pull factors, and 0.77 for constraints

Items.

Table III reports that the factor analysis of 17 push

attributes results in six factors grouping, which accounting

for 50.38 per cent of the variance. The factor groupings of

push factors are „socialization‟, „prestige‟, „entertainment‟,

„self-exploration‟, „relaxation‟, and „escapism‟.

„Socialization‟ is the most important push motivational

factor to attend a green event, and this explained 11.19 per

cent of variance (eigenvalue is 1.90). The second most

important factor is „prestige‟ with a variance score of 9.76.

These two factors reflect the respondents desire to socialize

with people and fulfill prestige by attending a green event.

Table IV reports that the factor analysis of 10 pull

attributes results in four factors grouping. They are „novelty‟,

„self-development‟, „natural resources‟, and „easy access

and affordable‟. These groupings accounted for 56.46 per

cent of the variance. „novelty‟ is the most important pull

motivational factor to green event visitors, and this

explained 20.95 per cent of the variance (eigenvalue is 2.09).

the second most important pull factor is „self-development‟

with a variance score of 13.07. these two factors

demonstrate that green event visitors are pulled by some

famous persons (actors or artists), green event itself, being

knowledgeable, or environmentalism, etc.

V. CONCLUSIONS

This study offers an attempt to understand green event

tourist motivation. The study suggests that the conceptual

framework of push, pull, and constraint factors in the

literature was generally supported. The study reconfirms

that green event tourists‟ behavior is driven by internal and

external factors. In other words, they decide to go on a green

event because they want to fulfill their intrinsic desire, and

at the same time, their decisions on where to go are based on

destination attributes and constraints.

Looking into factors identified as push attributes, the

study claimed that the needs for prestige, entertainment and

relaxation are among most important motives which trigger

the need to attend green events. The evidence is consistent

with Mohammad and Som‟s research results that people

travel with specific motives to fulfill prestige, attain

entertained and feel relaxed (2010). The pull attributes, on

the other hand, demonstrate that the factor of natural

resources is regarded as the most important one to promote

repeat visits. The country should capitalize on its heritage,

natural attractions, and culture. Nevertheless, the pull factor

of self-development is considered as second important

attribute to attract green event tourists. Obviously, majority

of green event tourists are willing to attend green events due

to achieve some kind of self-realization.

VI. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS

The findings of this study were based on one green event.

The geographic setting of the region and the event‟s location

limit the generalizability of the findings. The selected

method of questionnaire-based has several disadvantages.

The main shortcoming is the fact that it only considers

visitors of green events and not persons who decided not to

go. Furthermore the reliability and accuracy of the answers

on the questions was sometimes doubtful. This study does

not examine the interactions among the push and pull

factors.

Moreover, the author had difficulties finding appropriate

candidates. In the limited cases somebody was found,

people tended to be very reserved and have difficulties

expressing their attending motives sometimes. Time

constrains were the main reason not to participate.

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Yu-Fen Chen was born inTaipei, Taiwan, 1970. She got

Doctoral Degree in University of Missouri, USA. She

presents professional occupation is an associate professor

in Chihlee Institute of Technology, Taiwan. Her research

interests include Tourism related subjects, education

technology application, and so on.

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