Motivational profile of satisfied tourists in La Costa del Sol

Abstract

Title: Motivational profile of satisfied tourists in La Costa del Sol. Objective: The present study aimed to analyze the motivational profile of tourists who visit La Costa del Sol. Methods: The sample comprised 144 tourists in the province of Málaga. Two questionnaires were administered: A questionnaire of Tourist Motivation (Devesa Fernández, M., Laguna García, M., & Palacios Picos, A. (1997) and the Questionnaire of Satisfaction (Devesa-Fernández, Laguna-García and Palacios-Picos, 1997). Both questionnaires were adapted to our destiny: La Costa del Sol, by adding specific items related to La Costa del Sol. Analyses of moderation were done to study the interaction between motivational dimensions and overall satisfaction. Results: We found interaction between social and hedonistic motivation. Among tourists with low hedonistic motivation, those with high social motivation to visit the Costa del Sol were less satisfied that those who did not come for social reasons. Interaction between utilitarian and hedonistic motivation was also found. Among tourists with low motivation hedonistic, those who visited us for utilitarian reasons, obtained higher levels of satisfaction. Among tourists with high hedonistic motivation, those who did not come for utilitarian reasons, were more satisfied with the visit.