اندازه گیری انگیزش های سفر خانوادگی ریونیون

The study developed a Family Reunion Travel Motivation Scale (FRTMS) measuring family reunion travelers’ motivations. Through a rigorous scale development process, the final model of the scale exhibits excellent levels of psychometric properties. Details of each step are described in this paper. The 15-items scale contains four dimensions labeled as: (a) family history and togetherness, (b) immediate family cohesion, (c) family communication, and (d) family adaptability. Furthermore, canonical correlation analysis was conducted to empirically test the associations between travel motivation and family leisure activity choice. The finding suggested that family reunion tourists’ selection of activities correlated with their travel motivations. Both practical and theoretical implications were discussed.

There is increasing emphasis on the basic values of family togetherness in contemporary society. Celebrating family togetherness and enjoying family friendly activities have been regarded as an important usage of time. Coupled with this trend is the emergence of a larger percentage of multigenerational households. Studies have shown that multigenerational households tend to have higher levels of emotional closeness and social bonding (Dellmann-Jenkins et al., 2005 and Generations United, 2009). Not only does the intergenerational connection provide positive learning for children, but elders also learn to understand the lifestyles of the young (Harrel-Smith, 2006). Family travel patterns have reflected these social changes; diverse family members are increasingly traveling together (Gardyn, 2001 and Nayyar, 2001). For instance, grandparents vacationing with their grandchildren account for 7% of U.S. adult leisure tourists (U.S. Travel Association, 2009). Senior travelers as a market segment have received ample research attention. Topics range from motivations and behavioral patterns to factors affecting seniors’ decision-making (Boksberger and Laesser, 2009, Hsu et al., 2007, Huang and Tsai, 2003 and Jang and Wu, 2006). Along with the emerging trends in family travel, many statistical facts and figures have attested to increasing interest in family reunion travel market. According to the U.S. (2009), for example, one third of U.S. adults have traveled to attend a family reunion in the past three years. This translates into nearly 72 million U.S. adults. Consequently, many Convention and Visitor Bureaus are launching family reunion specific websites, not just a mention within their website. Practitioners in the hospitality industry view family reunion travel as an emerging vehicle for economic gains. Expressions, such as “New egg for hospitality to crack,” and “Conventions which no city is trying not to attract,” are how hospitality experts currently describe family reunions in the media. While the benefits of intergenerational travel has, to some extent, already been investigated by researchers (Kang et al., 2003 and Levere, 1997), the need for further research in family reunion travel is apparent given its more nuanced and complex decision-making process involving multiple family units and multiple generations of travelers. Family reunion refers to gatherings of multiple family units composed of at least three generations on a recurring basis, not for special events such as weddings or funerals (Farber, 1974 and Yun and Lehto, 2009). The main goal of such an event is getting together with extended family. Family reunions may involve travel for the participants geographically dispersed. Family reunions appear to have been embraced as an effective means of creating an “altogether atmosphere” among extended family members and fostering the feeling of being close to each other both emotionally and physically (Yun & Lehto, 2009). Researchers have started paying attention to this emerging segment by focusing on reasons of holding family reunions. However, the few initial explorations have largely relied on qualitative approaches such as informal interviews or personal observations. While qualitative approaches lend much needed holistic insights into family reunion travel, much remains to be empirically tested using quantitative methods to be balanced in tourism research (Walle, 1997). Hence, this study sought to explore the unique characteristics and patterns of the family reunion travel market, especially focusing on travel motivations. Given the lack of quantifiable measures for such motivations, this research primarily attempted to develop measurement items for a family reunion motivation measurement scale (FRTMS). A secondary goal was to assess whether and how family reunion travel motivations may be correlated to reunion travelers’ leisure activities.

Family reunion travel deserves special attention because it is a unique type of travel closely related to family structure and well-being. It is one form of multigenerational travel, and it occurs across a variety of family compositions. Of particular interest to this study was identifying what roles family reunion travel serves in fulfilling an extended family’s needs. To accomplish the goal, this study developed, administered, and validated an instrument for measuring family reunion travel motivations. As a result of the Family Reunion Travel Motivation Scale (FRTMS), a four-dimensional scale with 15 measurement items was developed after conducting rigorous scale development process. The results support the scale’s validity and reliability with adequate psychometric properties. The final scale consists of four factors: family history and togetherness, immediate family cohesion, family communication, and family adaptability. In contemporary society, family ties are maintained less through economic constraints but more by personal and social bonds. The voluntary nature of family relations leads to a stronger need for family rituals (Cheal, 1988); conceptually, family reunions are a form of family traditions or rituals sustaining kinships. Attendees of family reunions acknowledge that achieving family solidarity is an important factor when deciding whether to attend a family reunion. Family reunions also allow members of an extended family to be directly connected with each other for a short time as well as allowing individual family members to spend quality time together. Attending family reunions improves family members’ understanding of each other and their family history. This is particularly true when family members are highly scattered; in this case, the desire to strengthen family connections seems to get stronger. It is interesting to note that the activities and programs family members valued the most are related to remembering and maintaining family history, such as sharing family photos or making a family tree. For industry practitioners and destination marketers, determining how to portray a destination, as an ideal place for family reunions, is a challenging problem, but one with many opportunities. Clearly, the venue and its surrounding environment must be places where multiple generations can effectively interact with each other in an intimate yet leisurely manner. Providing opportunities for socialization, relaxation, and fun for multiple generations of an extended family will take careful planning and configuration of space. Motivations influence behavioral preferences, so it is important to understand each family’s unique needs at a family reunion event. The motivations of family reunion tourists are, as discovered by this research, more complex than those of general tourists, particularly because of the deeper meaning of family reunions. As a result, marketers interested in the family reunion market need to develop targeted programs, activities, and other offerings geared towards fulfilling the needs of multiple family cultures and generations. The motivations behind family reunions empirically assessed by this study will allow marketers to glean insights into the needs of this dynamic group. One very important observation is that family reunion tourists, especially attendees, appear to weigh emotional factors more heavily than ‘rational’ factors. This tendency could be related to reunion attendees’ voluntary suppression of personal preferences and interests for the sake of the group. Furthermore, the empirical results of this study shows that those with similar motivations tended to prefer similar activities. By understanding what activities family reunion tourists do in relation to their motivations, destination marketers can better provide activities to facilitate those needs. This paper focused on identifying the primary factors that motivate families to hold and attend reunions. Defined dimensions and the scale will aid future researchers’ investigation on multidimensional factors on family travel motivation. Ideas for future research emerged during this study. Clearly, decision-making processes involved with family reunions are of great interest. It would be valuable to further compare patterns of family reunion travel with those of general family travel. While this research focused on family reunion attendees, exploration of the differences in organizer and attendee perspectives would be a logical extension, as well as further investigating differences between demographic factors such as genders, ethnicity, and so on. Additionally, family reunions resemble conventions in some important ways: (a) attendance is voluntary, (b) the events are precisely organized and planned, and (c) organizers desire to increase the attendance rate and attendees’ satisfaction. An empirical study to further explore these points may yield interesting insights. This study has paved the way for tourism researchers to look into tourist motivation in a family context as a group, and it has provided insights for hospitality practitioners to better target this market segment. However, as is with all research, this study is not without limitations. One issue is that due to the voluntary nature of the participants, researchers were unable to control respondents’ gender and ethnicity balances. As a result, there were more female respondents than male respondents. While females could be traditionally more involved in the family reunion planning, this assumption cannot be empirically ascertained due to sampling limitation, so do differences in motivations by ethnicity or cultural setting. Further empirical research based on systematic sampling is needed for instrument validation and theory refinement.