The role of motivation in international tourism in Finland: A case study about a cultural festival - the Bear Festival

Abstract

Objectives The main objectives of this study were firstly to find out what kind of advantages does Finland have in the sense of travel tourism and which parts could be improved. Secondly, I wanted to explore the ways motivation affects tourists in Finland and lastly how to utilize niche events in Finnish environment in the sense of motivational drivers. Summary A literature review was constructed to examine push and pull motivation, and extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. In addition, tourism trends in Finland were established, which followed to a conceptual framework to be designed. The framework and literature review acted as the base for primary research: a quantitative online questionnaire for Finnish and international participants. Information about the respondent’s push and pull motivations and general travel behavior were collected and then later analyzed with a statistics program. Conclusions It was found out that Finland has advantages in tourism marketing: nature, security and cleanliness. They are the most distinguishable characteristics about Finland which brings tourists there. Push and pull factors both have an effect on tourists and should be utilized in marketing events to international participants. In addition, the marketing should not be focused on shopping aspect, since the findings show contradicting results about using this motivator to motivate people coming to Finland.