Research On Tourism Motivations And Behavior Characteristics Of Internet Companion Independent Travelers

Independent tourism is an important trend of the tourism development in China.With the popularity of the Internet,many tourism virtual communities emerge,more and more independent travelers are gathering in the tourism virtual community to obtain tourism information,share tourism experience and find travelling companions.Internet companion independent travel has gradually become a popular new kind of independent travel.However,at present,the research on Internet companion independent travel is still in the preliminary exploration stage.In order to deeply understand Internet companion independent travel,it is particularly necessary to research the travel motivations and behavior characteristics of Internet companion independent travelers.In this paper,the travelers in Tian Ya Community and Hornet's Nest Companion Community,as well as QQ groups with the theme of companion travel who had ever participated in Internet companion independent travel were taken as research objects.This paper used methods of semi-structured interview and questionnaire survey to collect data.Factor analysis method was used to construct and analyze the tourism motivation measurement model of Internet companion independent travelers.Besides,tourism behavior characteristics of Internet companion independent travelers,the relationship between Internet companion independent travelers' tourism motivations and behavior characteristics were explored.The results of research show that the tourism motivations of Internet companion independent travelers consist in accompany motivations and independent travel motivations.Accompany motivations include emotional trust,social attribution,safety and economy.Independent travel motivations include self value enhancement,relaxation and innovation.Both of them are related to each other and can arouse the Internet companion independent travel behavior.Internet companion independent travelers not only have similar tourism behavior characteristics with ordinary tourists,but also have their own unique tourism behavior characteristics.Internet companion independent travelers with different tourism motivations have different characteristics in decision-making behavior,consumption behavior and post-tour behavior.Finally,based on the results of empirical research,suggestions on the development of Internet companion independent travel were put forward from three aspects:improving the management mechanism of tourism virtual community,subdividing Internet companion independent travelers and standardizing the forms of Internet companion independent travel.This study attempted to subdivide the Internet companion independent travelers'motivations into accompany motivations and independent travel motivations,which could provide the research of Internet companion independent travelers' motivations with a new idea.This study can help to understand the psychology and behavior pattern of Internet companion independent travelers and has certain reference significance for the operation of companion tourism platform and the development and standardization of Internet companion independent travel.