Modeling motivations and perceptions of Portuguese tourists

The present paper focuses on the study of the Portuguese tourist demand motivations in exotic places. This study offers an integrated approach to understanding tourist motivation and attempts to extend the empirical evidence on the relationships between the push and pull motivations in order to determine to what extent these motivating factors will contribute to the overall perception of the destination. For this purpose, we use a detailed survey, conducted in 2004, on a sample of 1097 individuals. The performed analyses find six motivators' factors influencing the formation of the perceptions, and the choice of a tourist destination. (C) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.