The development of long haul tourism destinations with Maltese outbound tourism : the analysis of motivational factors for Maltese tourists who travel to long haul destinations taking Japan, Singapore and Bali as a case study

Abstract

Long haul travel has not always been a popular concept amongst Maltese travellers. The idea of travelling on an aircraft for more than 6 hours can alter people’s decision to travel to faraway destinations especially if people have no idea of what to expect, as was the case in previous generations. Furthermore the advance in modern technology brought a change in the way people think, and opened up new opportunities for potential tourists who love to travel. This change brought around more awareness on different destinations, creating a higher demand for long haul travel in order to experience different exotic places. With larger airlines and more developed routes, the Maltese have become much more intrigued to travel to faraway destinations because it has become a lot easier than it was in the past. Furthermore, this study aims to analyse the change in the ideology of long haul travel by Maltese travellers in the past to their current perspectives in the present. More importantly, the approach of this research will be based on long haul travel to the continent of Asia focusing particularly on Japan, Singapore and Bali as test destinations. In addition to this, an analysis on the motivational factors of what pushes Maltese tourists to travel to these destinations will be evaluated in order to elaborate the different aspects which effect the holiday decision making process of the potential travellers.