An Analysis of Push and Pull Travel Motivations of Local Tourists to

Salatiga: A Case Study

Grace Putlia

Universitas Bunda Mulia, Jakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Motivation, Push-pull Factor, Salatiga, Tourist, Travel.

Abstract: The importance of the destination market for the destination area has attracted the interest of researchers in

understanding the motivation of local tourists who prefer to travel across the island and cities in Indonesia

rather than abroad. The success of the marketing objectives should be guided by an in-depth analysis of the

motivation of the traveller and for that reason the study adopts a model based on push and pull factors as a

conceptual framework. As little information has been documented about travel motivations to Salatiga, this

study attempts to identify motivation factors of the local tourist. Because different tourist markets show

different behaviour domains this may have important marketing implications for countries especially in

terms of inspection of motives in market segmentation, designing promotional programs and making

decisions about destinations. Analysis of 21 informants' answers using qualitative research methods and

case study research design, it is expected that Salatiga can become more attractive as a destination for local

tourists.

1 INTRODUCTION

Travel motivation has been investigated by many

researchers from different fields such as sociology,

anthropology, and psychology (Cohen, 1972; Dann,

1977; Crompton, 1979; Gnoth, 1997). Maslow’s

hierarchical theory of motivation was one of the

most applied in the tourism literature (1970). The

theory was modeled as a pyramid whose base

consists of the physiological needs, followed by

higher levels of psychological needs and the need

for self-actualization. Numerous tourism scholars

have attempted to modify the model empirically,

with notable success by Pearce (1982), who

proposed a tourism motivation model that mirrors

the model of Maslow, but free of prepotency

assumption.

A review of the past literature on tourist

motivation indicates that the analysis of motivations

based on the two dimensions of push and pull factors

have been generally accepted (Yuan and McDonald,

1990; Uysal and Hagan, 1993). Sri Maryati (2009),

states that the movement towards a place of learning

has two reasons, namely: (1) internal factors, derived

from the community itself which is referred to as a

driving factor and (2) external factors, which have

learning place referred to as attracting factors. If it is

adapted to the topic of this research, the concept

behind the dimension of push and pull is that people

travel because they are driven by their own internal

forces and drawn by external forces from the goal

attribute.

Most of the push factors which are origin-related

are intangible or intrinsic desires of the individual

travelers. Pull factors, on the contrary, are those that

emerge as a result of the attractiveness of a

destination as it is perceived by the travelers. They

include tangible resources and travelers’ perception

and expectation such as novelty, benefit and

marketed image of the destination (Baloglu and

Uysal, 1996).

Crompton (1979) first sought to draw seven

socio-psychological, or push motives (escape, self-

exploratory, relaxation, prestige, regression, kinship-

enhancement, and social interaction) and two

cultural, or pull motives (novelty and education).

The conceptual framework that he developed would

influence the selection of a destination, and this

approach implies that the destination can have some

degree of influence on vacation behavior in meeting

an aroused need.

Since Crompton’s initial empirical effort, many

studies have attempted to identify push and pull

Putlia, G.

An Analysis of Push and Pull Travel Motivations of Local Tourists to Salatiga: A Case Study.

DOI: 10.5220/0008490101750179

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Management (ICEBM Untar 2018), pages 175-179

ISBN: 978-989-758-363-6

175

motivational factors in different settings such as

nationalities, destinations and events (Jang and Wu,

2006).

Thus, as mentioned earlier, this study attempts to

identify travel motivation factors of local tourists to

Salatiga as they demonstrate different domains of

behavior, which may have important marketing

implications to the country. Salatiga is a city in

Central Java Province, Indonesia. It has a strategic

location, which is located 49 km south of Semarang

City, 52 km north of Surakarta City. As it is located

on the eastern slope of Mount Merbabu, Salatiga city

is quite cool.

The city of Salatiga has minimal potential of

nature tourism and does not have a luxury shopping

center like malls that exist in big cities of Indonesia,

but this does not in fact reduce the interest of local

tourists who come to visit this 'transit' city

(http://salatiga.go.id/tentang-salatiga/sejarah-kota/).

Thus, it is also important to recognize the fact

that knowing the importance of both factors can help

destinations meet the desired needs of individual

travelers from different markets. At the same time,

knowledge of traveler’s motivation is critical to

predict future travel patterns.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The push and pull factors in general can be

explained by Sadirman (2007), that the push factor is

motivation that comes from motives. Motives can be

interpreted as efforts that encourage someone to do

something. Even the motive can be said to be an

internal condition. Starting from the motive, then

motivation can be interpreted as the driving force

that has become active. Pull factors can be

interpreted otherwise. This is in line with what was

stated by Sri Maryati (2009) which was mentioned

earlier.

Baloglu and Uysal (1996) argue that the concept

of product bundles is used to refer to the perceived

importance of the interaction between push and pull

items of motivations. This implies that certain

reasons for travel may correspond to certain benefits

that are to be valued and obtained at the destination

site. Thus, marketers and destination promoters in

tourism should keep in mind that most successful

products are those which respond best to a bundle of

needs within a given market segment, and should

give more marketing efforts to matching a

destination’s major attributes towards the tourists’

diverse psychological needs.

Based on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations,

as discussed above, the individual tourist builds his

or her perceptions, and the perceptions can be

different from the true attributes of the product

depending on how the individual receives and

processes information (Gartner, 1993; Dann, 1996;

Baloglu and Brinberg, 1997). A general conclusion

can be drawn that the personal motives (push

motives) and the view of the characteristics of the

tourism destination (pull motives) determine

perceptions. These motives interact in a dynamic

and evolving context (Correia, 2000), and the tourist

motivation is seen as a multidimensional concept

that explains tourist decision (McCabe, 2000).

As tourism paradigm is related to human beings

and human nature, it is always a complex

proposition to investigate why people travel and

what they want to enjoy (Yoon and Uysal, 2005). In

major studies, it is generally accepted that push and

pull motivations have been primarily utilized in

studies of tourist behavior. The discoveries and

issues undoubtedly play a useful role in attempting

to understand a wide variety of needs and wants that

can motivate and influence tourist behavior.

Nevertheless, Yoon and Uysal (2005) argue that the

results and effects of the motivation studies of

tourist behavior require more than an understanding

of their needs and wants.

In tourism destination management, it is

commonly agreed that maximizing travel

satisfaction is crucial for a successful business. The

evaluation of the physical products of destination

(instrumental performance) as well as the

psychological interpretation of a destination product

(expressive attributes) are necessary for human

actions (Swan and Combs, 1976), which could be

further represented as travel satisfaction and

destination loyalty. Both concepts can be examined

within the context of a tourism system representing

two major components of the market place, namely,

demand (tourist) and supply (tourism attractions)

(Jurowski et al., 1996). In travel motivation study,

demand refers to motives (push factors) that sustain

tourists’ desire while supply relates to destination’s

characteristics (pull factors).

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This study used qualitative research methods. The

research design used in this research is case study.

According to Creswell (2015), case study research is

a qualitative approach whose researchers explore

real-life contemporary and limited systems (cases)

through detailed and in-depth data collection

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involving multiple sources of information and report

case descriptions and case themes.

According to Sugiyono (2010), in qualitative

research, the main criteria for research data are

valid, reliable and objective. So, to determine if the

data is valid, reliable and objective, a triangulation

approach is needed. As Mathison (1988) said,

triangulation has become an important

methodological problem in naturalistic and

qualitative research to assess and avoid custom.

The instruments of this study are:

1. Interview

According to Ghony and Almanshur (2012), in-

depth interviews are conducted to understand the

meaning, perception, feelings, and knowledge of

people to get a holistic picture of change and

development at the research site.

2. Observation

Observations are made by repeatedly observing

at different times, by not engaging in the

activities of the research subject, and by not

interacting with the customer directly.

3. Documentation

Qualitative research data can be obtained from

non-human sources in the form of documents

(diaries, letters, rules, memos) and photos. The

document is available on the internet, which can

be used to add and complete the necessary data.

Triangulation is attempted by conducting in-depth

interviews of key informants, participant or passive

observations in different times (Creswell and Miller,

2000; McMillan, 2004).

The number of informants for this study follows

Charmaz’ (2014) criteria where for small and simple

research data, it can be considered saturated by

interviewing 20 informants.

4 RESEARCH FINDINGS

4.1 Informants’ Profile

Informants who were interviewed in-depth in this

study came from various regions, 7 people came

from Central Java region, specifically: 2 people from

Pekalongan; 2 people from Magelang; 1 person from

Kudus; 1 person from Semarang and 1 person from

Tegal, 11 people from outside of Central Java region

specifically: 3 people from Surabaya; 2 people from

Bandung; 1 person from Jakarta; 3 people from

Papua; 1 person from Lampung; and 1 person from

Medan, then the last 2 informants came from

Salatiga. There is a total of 20 informants, and 6 of

them are students who study at Satya Wacana

Christian University (SWCU), and the remaining 14

informants are people who have worked and settled

in Salatiga.

4.2 Analysis of Push and Pull Travel

Motivations

Based on data from in-depth interviews with 21

informants, it can be seen that there are 4 push travel

motivation factors for local tourists to visit Salatiga.

The 4 push travel motivation factors are: high

interest in education (there is Satya Wacana

Christian University (SWCU)), city atmosphere,

lack of traffic jams, and motivation.

Satya Wacana Christian University (SWCU) is

the oldest private university and one of the best in

Indonesia, located in Salatiga, Central Java. "Satya

Wacana" is derived from Sanskrit, which means

"Faithful to the Word / Word of God"

(http://uksw.edu)

The serene atmosphere of Salatiga became one

of the push travel motivations, as what the 15th

informant said: "I love Salatiga because the city

atmosphere is very quiet and away from the crowd.

It can reduce fatigue."

This factor is supported by the next push travel

motivations which are no traffic jam, as the 18th

informant stated, "Salatiga is a city that is rarely

encountered today in terms of the atmosphere of the

city. There is no such thing as congestion, and this

brings a calm and relaxed city atmosphere. It's a

dream city to rest and run away for a moment from

the reality of life."

The last push factor is motivation factors.

Actually, motivation factor is the basic foundation

for the three other push factors. Motivation,

according to Uno (2008), is an impulse found in a

person to try to make changes in behavior to fulfill

the needs. This is reinforced by the words of the 21st

informant: "if you want to speak honestly, the

driving factors must be based on motivation. Is that

not so?"

Based on data from in-depth interviews with 21

informants, it can be seen that there are 5 pull travel

motivation factors for local tourists to visit Salatiga.

The 5 pull travel motivation factors are: location,

clean and cool air, low cost of living, safe city

(demo free), and city high tolerance among religious

people.

The first pull travel motivation factors on the

location of the informants as a whole says the same

thing as mentioned above that the location of

An Analysis of Push and Pull Travel Motivations of Local Tourists to Salatiga: A Case Study

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Salatiga city became a drag because the transit city

is located between Jogja-Solo-Semarang and better

known as Joglosemar.

The second pull travel motivation factors is clean

and cool air like the statement of the 12th informant:

"Because there is no traffic jams and no automatic

noise it results in less traffic jams, less pollution that

brings clean and cool air."

Aside from the answers of informants, the

nominal salary of Salatiga city minimum wage of Rp

1,735,930, - in 2018 can be proof that the cost of

living in Salatiga is cheap. It is also one of the local

tourist attraction factors (http://tribunnews.com).

Away from the capital with its political frenzy is

one of the favorable things for the city of Salatiga.

This becomes an added value as well as the

attraction of local tourists to visit or even to settle in

this city. Like what the 10th informant said: "besides

the friendly people, Salatiga is generally a safe city.

During my stay here for about two years, I rarely see

any demos. The smallest demo, like that time the

taxi drivers who protest the entry into the city of

Salatiga Gojek. But it's just about ten people and

safe because there's a police officer in charge of

securing the condition."

Setara Institute released Tolerant Index in 2015.

As a result Salatiga city occupies second warning

after Pematangsiantar. Salatiga is the only city in

Central Java that enters the top 10 most tolerant city

indexes (https://regional.kompas.com).

“Alhamdulillah, our city is considered

the most tolerant because it is the

second time we won the title, the first in

2015 and now re-defend as the most

tolerant city in Indonesia,” said Muh

Haris when contacted on Monday

(20/11/2017).

5 CONCLUSION

Both research issues are answered, that the first is

the presence of 4 push travel motivation factors for

local tourists to visit Salatiga: high interest in

education, city atmosphere, no traffic jams, and

motivation. The second research problem is the

existence of 5 pull travel motivation factors of

attraction for local tourists to visit Salatiga, namely:

clean and cool air, quiet city atmosphere, low cost

living, safe city (free demo), and city high tolerance

among religious people.

Seeing the results of this study proved that

Salatiga became a tourist destination of local tourists

more lead to interest factors in higher education and

demographic factors. However, the actual supporting

factors of natural tourism have not been mentioned.

Therefore, the government should pay more

attention to it, so that local tourists who have come

can jump the number if there are attractions that can

be a destination when arriving in the city of Salatiga.

Government efforts can be made by making new

and environmentally friendly and "cheap" tourist

attractions so that they can be reached by all

communities, for example: artificial lakes with

bridges or city parks. Besides adding tourist

destinations can also beautify the city. With the

development of tourism in Salatiga, of course also

will help the city's economy.

Actually Salatiga already has several tourist

destinations that can be enjoyed, call it: Atlantic

Dreamland, Kopeng, Umbul Songo Waterfall, Bukit

Cinta, Alam Muncul Baths, and so on,

(http://salatiga.go.id), but the attraction is still

lacking so that more extensive information is needed

to become attraction for local tourists.

6 LIMITATION

This study has limitations, including:

 Distance of data collection.

The limited distance between the researcher and

the informant causes the interview to not be

carried out face to face directly. Overcoming

this, interview guidelines in the form of open

questions are sent directly to informants via e-

mail. However, to anticipate the answers that are

less clear, the researcher has made an agreement

with the informant to be contacted directly by

telephone if there are still questions related to

research within a certain period of time that have

been agreed upon in order to smooth this

research to completion.

 Time of Data Collection.

The limitations of the time of data collection

caused the questions asked all to be conveyed but

the answers were felt to be lacking in

information even though all research problems

were answered.

7 SUGGESTION

Finally, it can be scheduled for future research that it

can continue research by selecting several dominant

ICEBM Untar 2018 - International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Management (ICEBM) Untar

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factors more specifically to get more in-depth

results. Can also continue this research but it is done

using a quantitative approach.

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http://salatiga.go.id/tentang-salatiga/sejarah-kota/

http://uksw.edu

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