Motivation and Expectations of Tourists the Burning Man

An Analysis of Motivation and Expectations of Tourists: A study of The Burning Man, Nevada

Teddy Alcheva Higher Diploma in International Hospitality and Tourism Management HTMi Switzerland

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Introduction Nowadays people have great variety of destinations and events to travel to, ut what motivates different mar!et segments and how the decision"ma!ing process is done# $hat do tourist e%pect when going to &The 'urning Man( in Nevada) As &The urning Man( is an event that started in *+- .'urning Man, /0*/1 is interesting to see see the influe influence nce of touris touristt e%pec e%pectat tation ionss on changi changing ng the event event itself itself## 2vents 2vents in Hosp Hospit ital ality ity and and tour touris ism m on a whol wholee is a wide wide conc concep eptt thou though ghtt ther theree are are many many motivators and determinants which helps the tourist ma!e a firm decision to visit certain certain event .Swarroo! .Swarroo!ee and Horner, /0**1# Motivators Motivators and determina determinants nts could affect the customers at any time# As tourists are all different and still they have something in common, it is very hard to give a proper classification of motivators that influence the decision ma!ing process# Nevertheless, events and festivals are vast topics# There are different theories, which help us to understand the role of the motivators and determinants# According to 3oodness .*++41 it is a driving force, which represents people5s aims# 6noth .*++71 concludes that motivators also have an influence on uilding e%pectations, which leads to certain perception of the service, and construct the consumer5s satisfaction .Authentic Holiday 3ilms, /0*/1# 8rompton .*+7+1 notes (it is possile to descrie the who, when, where and how of tourism, together with the social and economic characteristics of tourist, ut not to answer the 9uestion &why(, the most interesting 9uestion of all tourist ehaviour#( .3odness, *++41# Accordingly to previous research that has een done recently was descried the decision ma!ing process on attending and participating in a certain event or festival# Some of the most successful events annually are visited y great numer of returning







and their influence on the participation in a festival:event .;manitoa, /0*/1# Another point of view suggests y $eer# According to her research people are focusing on too narrow ideas and understanding of the importance of the consumer ehaviour and that is the reason for the wrong e%pectations e%pectations and perceptions# A common investigation that has een held in the last couple of years loo!s at mar!et segmentation as a tool to find out more aout consumer ehaviour ehaviour in events and festivals tourism# The author is intere intereste sted d in consum consumer er ehav ehaviou iourr and its develo developme pment nt and influe influenc ncee on events events tourism# However, what motivates a tourist to visit the same event:tourist destination is another topic on which the author will focus and will investigate, to get the given ideas more crystal#

Motivation and Expectations Motivation has een defined y $ester and oger D#' and ?aul $#M# .*++01 ehaviour is the outcome of motivation, where motive is the the inside force to stimulate a consumer to ehave, respond in a certain way, and gives directions on how to satisfy a need# According to >yan and Deci ./0001 a person is considered motivated if he:she has a stimulus to perform the steps of the decision" ma!ing process# 3odness .*++41 suggests that motivation can e viewed as dynamic process where needs, wants and goals lead to a certain level of tension within the consumers ody and mind, coming out as action to resolve that tension# $riting in *+@ 6runow" utte utterr says says Ba person personCs Cs dynam dynamic ic relati relations onship hip etwee etween n the real real and and the ideal ideal self, self,







want to achieve state of homeostasis, which appears when an individual recognises a gap etween real and desirale self, is called need deficiency# The initiate need of self"actualisation is the motive, which is highly influenced y the current situation and the environment around and with this the motivation stage egins .6noth *++71# $riting $riting in Tourism Tourism motivatio motivation n and e%pectat e%pectation ion formation, formation, 6noth suggeste suggested d that motivation could e divided into two approachesE ehaviourist and cognivist# In order to provid providee etter etter analy analyse se the author author will will provid providee a defin definiti ition on of event events:f s:fest estiva ivall touris tourism# m# >eferr >eferring ing to 6etz 6etz ./001 ./001 event eventss are consid considere ered d as a motiva motivator tor,, which which develops the description description given, earlier earlier y Hal .*++/1 and and >itchie .*+41# As tourism is a usiness highly influenced y the environment and technology development the terminology used in previous research is arguale# ?reviously events were considered as part of the destination and were used to complete the image for the tourists# Today we can suggest that festivals ecame a destination of their own# $hy sustainaility will play an important role in this research) As sustainaility is the factor that connects the host of an events and the tourists y giving the opportunity to develop a festival attractive enough to fulfil the demands of the attendees# A lot of theories were developed in order to help organizers predict consumer5s ehaviour, their perception of the destination, though ust several can e applied# Tourism is very rought usiness depending on the type of the destinations and the personality of the tourist the decision"ma!ing process will loo! differently# ?eople have different motives to travel# A lot of factors will e involved in the e%pectation formation and decision ma!ing process# $hy it is important to !now how the decision is made) As organizers need information to !now how to promote their product, on







e%plain how a consumer ma!es a decision# The traditional five step model, which is not that suitale for an individual decision according to the author as it is too asic and humans are complicated y nature so such a complicated process can not e e%plained y five steps, which is comparale to the Hierarchy of needs introduced to the audience y Maslow, those two theories are irrelevant and do not provide clarified answers answers for the topic# This model model is divided into three main sectorsE sectorsE input, input, process process and output# $here it is shown how a product should e introduced and what factors influence a person to choose an event to participate in and moreover it provides post" purc purcha hase se eha ehavi viou ourr e%am e%ampl ple# e# This This give givess us the the oppo opportu rtuni nity ty to pred predic ictt futu future re development of the destination and returning tourists, therefore growing usiness and industry# Tourism ehaviourE Motivators and Determinants# Segmentation#

Attendees will have different e%pectations, motives and ehaviour during a festival# IN the early years Murray .*+@1 came up with two levels of needs that would motivate differently a person to participate in a festival# According to him every person have the same motives ust that the levels are different therefore the different ehaviour and and

needs# needs# &A

need

is

a







pushing an individual in a certain direction or to ehave in a certain way( .Murray *+@ pp# */@1# */@1# The writer agrees with Murray s saying that needs are changea changeale# le# It ʼ

leads to &cycle of needs( meaning that there is needs more dominate than others ust until until they they are fulfil fulfilled led## Murray Murray also also sugges suggested ted that that needs needs wor! with with each each other other depending on the motivation of the person# The The author compares Maslow Maslow s Hierarchy ʼ

of needs and Murray Murray s theory and finds a lot of similarities, similarities, unfortuna unfortunately tely the author author ʼ

canno cannott provid providee empiri empirical cal prove prove to those those theori theories# es# Accord According ing to the writer writer these these theories are no longer relevant to the tourism event first of all due to the long period of time that passed since the development of these theories and secondly ecause of the new way of loo!ing at festivals and events tourism# Depending on the type of tourism tourism consume consumer5s r5s e%pectat e%pectations ions will vary# vary# According According to ?log .*+741 people can easily e divided into allocentrics and psychocentrics, in which allocentrics are people who are curious, ready to discover the world around them, and are adventurous# According to Iso"Ahola the main goal of a festival organizer is to maintain and enhance the needs of the visitors .*+01# In order to understand etter how to satisfy a touris touristt one should should ma!e ma!e the differ differenc encee etwee etween n need need want want and desire desire## Touris Touristt motivation is an interesting topic for the researchers in the last couple of years, therefore a lot of ideas have een discussed and models were introduced during the time# 2lements that play an important role in tourist motivation and part of the decision" ma!ing process could e split into two i#e# &push( and &pull( factors .8rompton, *+7+F Dann, *+77F ?earce, *++@F ;ysal and Hagan, *++@F ;ysal and =urows!i, *++41#









.Moscardo, et al *++-1F gives a etter image of the event .'eerli and Martin, /004F Trauer and >yan, /00G1 and last ut not least helps to post evaluate the level of satisfaction of the participants in order to gain returning tourists .
oomes and Sugden .*+/1 point out that emotions, mood, attitude, ethics and values will influence a level of satisfaction and therefore will design a disappointment or comfort from an event and this will affect further reaction as to return to the festival or not# The author finds this chapter very important, as it is directly connected with the







?ush factors are !nown as the one who refer to the asic needs of the consumer .'rownell /00+1, also seen y 6noth .*++71 as internal drivers# $hen an individual is aroused y the internal drivers he:she see!s for an oect to reduce the tension# In the end of this process a motive is developed# In his wor! 6noth .*++71 defines that emotional factors of decision"ma!ing wor! separately from the cognitivist approach, where where motive motivess are e%pres e%pressed sed and and the consum consumer er accou accounts nts previo previous us !nowle !nowledge dge## However, ?earce and ?arinello criti9ued this in *++@, as according to the push and pull pull factor factorss influe influence nce the consu consume merr togeth together er at the same same moment moment## 6noth 6noth .*++71 .*++71 realised determinants are in their nature pull factors, such as services and even5s attriutes, which attract the participants# These attriutes will therefore form certain level of e%pectation from the tourist# The outcome of this process will e satisfaction or disappointment, depending on the level of needs and wants that have een fulfilled during the e%perience in attending the event#

#lassification #lassification of Events






loo!ed at the image of South orea after the $orld 8up and how tourist5s perception and and e%pe e%pect ctat atio ions ns refl reflec ecte ted# d# Acco Accord rdin ing g to Sale Saleh h and and >yan >yan## who who loo! loo!ed ed at the the motivation of tourist to attend azz festivals, the same motives could e oserved as for the participants of all !inds of cultural events# The The same motives motives were e%pressed y people attending Movie 3estival in 'razil .Hyonggon #, 'orges M# and 8hon =# /00G1# /00G1# According According to the author events can e divided divided into sport, sport, cultural cultural etc#, where their attendees will show similar motives and e%pectation# &The 'urning Man( is considered new type type of event .Harvey /0*/1 where it is not ust a place for interacting with people with similar ideas, views and understanding, ut also a place to e uni9ue, crea creati tive ve and and show showss your your tale talent nts# s# This This is a prov provee that that &The &The 'urn 'urnin ing g Man5 Man5s( s( participants will show all !ind of motivation as the event offers uni9ue e%periences and opportunities#

Background: $The Burning Man% The urning man first started in a small each in San 3rancisco on /*st of =une *+.urningman#com1# The inventors of the event arry Harvey and =erry =ames were he one not only to invent this festival ut also for the fist time the term &radical self"







nowhe where ust ust for for a wee! every very year us ust efore fore aour our Day Day in Ame America rica .touristmontheedge#com1# .touristmontheedge#com1# 2very year &The 'urning Man( invests around G00#000J on art proec proects# ts# .urni .urningm ngman an#co #com1# m1# The tic!et tic!etss for the event event vary vary from from /*0"@/*0"@-0J# 0J# .drdrestartedurningman#tumlr#com1# 'ull ./0*/1 descries the event as place that you have to visit in order to understand# He suggests four reasons to return to the festival# The first one is &to amaze your eyes(# A participant will e amazed aout the outloo! of the &urners( and the art and the decoration of the desert for this one"wee!# Secondly &to e inspired# As it appears to e self"e%pression event, everyone gets the chance to show his:her talent with no udgements from the rest# And simultaneously with this party all night# night# $hat etter etter way to understan understand d the &urners( &urners( then ecomes ecomes one of them) In his wor! 'ull ./0*/1 defined the ways that one could get involved in &The urning man(#

#onclusion In the end of this research paper the author would li!e to conclude that consumer ehaviour is a very e%citing topic for researchers, therefore it has een in the lights for the last couple of years# Nevertheless, it is still a road issue that is applicale in a variety of fields and is changeale depending on the environment, the personality of the consumers consumers and providers providers A lot of models models were introduced introduced in order to get ett







&eco""endations The author would li!e to ta!e this opportunity to suggest further investigation and development of the topic, where paying more attention in the post"purchase stage of the decision"ma!ing process, where participants evaluate the level of satisfaction and criti9ue criti9ue the 9uality 9uality of the service service and e%perienc e%periencee received received during the festival:e festival:event vent## This will give the population interested in the phenomena etter view of the motives and forces influencing the attendee to return r eturn and recommend the event#

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Motivation and Expectations of Tourists the Burning Man

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