Travel Intention of Brazilian Students: Are They Ready to Discover New Places and Things?

Abstract

This article explores the holiday motives of Brazilian student travelers. It tests whether relaxation, feel-good experience, and socialization impact their preferences to link with natural experiences and therefore provide them with reasons to travel. The authors propose a conceptual model with four hypotheses to test the importance of relaxation, feel-good experience, and socialization towards natural experience and its impact on intention to discover new places and things. Structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood method is used to test all relationships simultaneously (Amos 20.0). The analysis of 327 respondents suggests a negative correlation between "exploring for relaxation" and Brazilian students' perception of New Zealand as a place to "explore for natural experience." The results indicated that "feel-good" experiences and exploring socialization have a positive impact on the way respondents perceive destinations such as New Zealand as a place to explore for natural experience. The results also indicate a positive relationship between perceived natural experience and the intention to discover new places. Due to the paucity of tourism literature written in English, about Latin American markets, findings from the current study have significant implications for both academics and destination managers.