UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies Business School
MOTIVATIONS FOR SILENCE TOURISM
Master's Thesis, Tourism Marketing and Management Tuulia Pelkonen (269457) Supervisor: Juho Pesonen 15.6.2020
ABSTRACT
UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies
Department
Business School
Author
Tuulia Pelkonen
Supervisor
Juho Pesonen
Title
Motivations for silence tourism.
Main subject
Tourism Marketing and Management
Level
Master’s thesis
Date
15.6.2020
Number of pages
66+8
Abstract
Nowadays’ busy lifestyle and noisy living environments have caused a growing phenomenon of seeking places for quietness and relaxation also on holidays. Silence and silence tourism as con- cepts are challenging as those can be understood differently depending on the background of the person. Theory part of the study focuses on silence, tranquility, silence tourism and travel moti- vation. This is a quantitative study and regardless of it, has an explorative purpose aiming to find something new regarding the meaning of silence tourism and what distinguishes silence tourists from the other tourists, especially in terms of motivations. For data collection was used online survey through which 471 responses were gained. Responses for the survey were collected in social media using convenience sampling methodology. Collected data was analyzed by using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 -program. At first, all the responses were analyzed by descriptive statis- tics for getting an overall image of the respondents, which after segmentation was made by using K-means clustering forming three clusters: “Silence tourists”, “Potential silence tourists” and
“Not interested in silence tourism”. Responses of each cluster were analyzed by using different analysis methods. Responses were analyzed by using either crosstabulation, comparing means or multinomial logistic regression analysis. Findings of this study pointed out the clear asso- ciation between silence tourism and nature tourism, which is in a line with prior studies. ”Silence tourists” had notably more experience of nature tourism holidays compared to other clusters.
”Silence tourists” had also more experience of nature tourism holidays with silence tourism ex- periences and they were most interested in buying nature tourism services that are based on silence experiences. ”Silence tourists” were more interested in travelling rural or nature desti- nations than the other segments. Almost every respondent in the study expected silence tourism being relaxing. ”Silence tourists” expected silence tourism being also enjoyable, exciting, fa- vourable and fun notably more than the other segments. Both ”Silence tourists” and ”Potential silence tourists” were very motivated to spend time in nature and increase knowledge whereas their motivation to get away was statistically significantly lower compared to those who were
”Not interested in silence tourism”. Findings of the study clarified the position of silence tourism among other tourism types and contributed new insights both theoretically and managerially into silence tourism literature, which is yet scarce.
Key words
silence, tranquility, silence tourism, travel motivation
TIIVISTELMÄ
ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO Tiedekunta
Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja kauppatieteiden tiedekunta
Yksikkö
Kauppatieteiden laitos
Tekijä
Tuulia Pelkonen
Ohjaaja
Juho Pesonen
Työn nimi (suomeksi ja englanniksi)
Motivaatiot hiljaisuusmatkailuun. Motivations for silence tourism.
Pääaine
Tourism Marketing and Management
Työn laji
Pro Gradu -Tut- kielma
Aika
15.6.2020
Sivuja
66+8
Abstract
Nykypäivän kiireinen elämäntyyli ja meluisat asuinympäristöt ovat johtaneet kasvavaan ilmiöön, jossa myös lomilta haetaan hiljaisia, rauhallisia ja rentouttavia paikkoja. Hiljaisuus ja hiljaisuusmatkailu ovat käsitteinä haastavia, sillä ne voidaan ymmärtää eri tavoin riippuen esi- merkiksi kultuurisesta taustasta. Tutkimuksen teoriaosa keskittyy hiljaisuuden, hiljaisuusmat- kailun ja matkustusmotivaation tarkasteluun. Tutkimus on kvantitatiivinen, mutta sillä on silti eksploratiivinen tarkoitus löytää jotakin uutta liittyen hiljaisuusmatkailun käsitteeseen ja tekijöihin, jotka erottavat hiljaisuusmatkailijat muista matkailijoista erityisesti matkustusmoti- vaatioiden osalta. Aineistonkeruumenetelmänä käytettiin kyselyä, johon saatiin mukavuusotan- nalla 471 vastausta sosiaalisen median kautta. Aineisto analysoitiin IBM SPSS Statistics 25 - ohjelmalla. Aluksi vastaajista muodostettiin yleiskäsitys, minkä jälkeen vastaajat jaoteltiin kol- meen ryhmään klusterianalyysin avulla. Ryhmien eli klustereiden nimeksi annettiin “Hiljaisuus- matkailijat”, “Potentiaaliset hiljaisuusmatkailijat” ja “Eivät kiinnostuneita hiljaisuusmat- kailusta”. Klustereiden vastaukset analysoitiin ristiintaulukoinnin, keskiarvovertailun ja multi- nomiaalisen regressioanalyysin avulla. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittivat selvän yhteyden hiljaisuusmatkailun ja luontomatkailun välillä, mikä on linjassa aiempien tutkimusten kanssa.
“Hiljaisuusmatkailijoilla” oli huomattavasti enemmän kokemusta luontomatkailusta verrattuna muihin segmentteihin. Heillä oli myös huomattavasti enemmän kokemusta hiljaisuusmatkailu- elämyksistä osana luontomatkailua, ja he olivat kiinnostuneimpia ostamaan luontomat- kailupalveluita, jotka pohjautuvat hiljaisuuselämyksiin. “Hiljaisuusmatkailijat” olivat kaikista kiinnostuneimpia matkustamaan luontokohteisiin sekä kohteisiin, jotka ovat harvaanasutuilla alueilla. Lähes kaikki vastaajat odottivat hiljaisuusmatkailun olevan rentouttavaa. “Hiljaisuus- matkailijat” odottivat sen olevan myös nautinnollista, jännittävää, myönteistä ja hauskaa. Sekä
“Hiljaisuusmatkailijat” että “Potentiaaliset hiljaisuusmatkailijat” olivat todella motivoituneita viettämään aikaa luonnossa sekä lisäämään tietoaan, kun taas pois pääseminen ei ollut heille merkittävä matkustusmotivaatio. Tulokset selventävät hiljaisuusmatkailun asemaa ja tarjoavat sekä teoreettisia että johtamiseen liittyviä näkökulmia hiljaisuusmatkailuun.
Avainsanat
hiljaisuus, hiljaisuusmatkailu, matkustusmotivaatio
ABSTRACT TIIVISTELMÄ
TABLE OF CONTENT
1.1 Background ...6
1.2 Objectives and research questions ...8
1.3 Approach, context and delineations ...9
1.4 Key concepts ...9
1.5 Structure ... 10
2. SILENCE AND SILENCE TOURISM ... 11
2.1 Silence and tranquility ... 11
2.1.1 Silence in relation to nature... 11
2.1.2 Silence as a multisensory phenomenon ... 12
2.1.3 Different forms of silence ... 12
2.1.5 Silence tourism related health benefits ... 15
2.2 Silence tourism and related concepts ... 16
2.2.1 Silence tourism ... 16
2.2.2 Concepts related to silence tourism ... 19
2.2.3 Activities related to silence tourism ... 25
3. MOTIVATIONS ... 27
3.1 Travel motivation ... 27
3.2Silence tourism related motivations ... 29
4. METHODOLOGY... 32
4.1 Research approach ... 32
4.2 Data collection and method ... 32
4.3 Data analysis ... 33
4.3.1 Descriptive statistics and K-Means Cluster Analysis ... 33
4.3.2 Crosstabulation ... 34
4.3.3 Comparison of means ... 35
4.3.4 Multinomial logistic regression analysis ... 35
5. RESULTS ... 37
5.1. Respondents’ background information – Descriptive statistics ... 37
5.2. Formed clusters – K-Means Cluster Analysis ... 41
5.3 Comparison of clusters’ background information – Crosstabulation ... 41
5.3 Interest toward silence tourism – Crosstabulation ... 47
5.4 Travel behaviour – Comparison of means ... 49
5.4 Motivations for silence tourism - Multinomial logistic regression analysis ... 51
6. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ... 53
6.1Theoretical contribution, managerial implications and future study suggestions ... 53
6.1.1 Meaning of silence tourism ... 53
6.1.3. Interest toward silence tourism ... 55
6.1.5 Travel behavior... 57
6.1.4. Silence tourism motivations... 57
6.2 Conclusions ... 59
6.3 Reliability and validity ... 60
SOURCES ... 62
APPENDICES...1 Appendix 1. Survey used in this study.
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Aspects of silence and their relations to tranquility.
Figure 2. Concepts closely related to silence tourism (framed) and their relations
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Silence tourism related motivations in previous studies.
Table 2. Forming of clusters using two selected questions.
Table 3. Division of respondents’ country of residence.
Table 4. Overview of respondents’ sociodemographic factors.
Table 5. Overview of respondents’ background information and travel behaviour.
Table 6. Number of cases in each cluster.
Table 7. Comparison of clusters’ sociodemographic variables.
Table 8. Comparison of clusters’ background information and travel behaviour 1.
Table 9. Comparison of clusters’ background information and travel behaviour 2.
Table 10. Comparison of clusters’ country of residence.
Table 11. Comparison of division of clusters’ country of residence.
Table 12. Comparison of clusters’ interest toward silence tourism.
Table 13. Comparison of clusters’ travel behaviour.
Table 14. Motivations for silence tourism. Note: Nagelkerke 0,218.
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background
Nowadays people live more in urban areas than in the past. There are not many silent places in the world due to the industrial revolution, urbanization and increased amount of the cars. Tour- ist flows, utilization of natural resources such as mining, deforestation, and oil drilling, as well as air traffic and heavy freight transport, cause technological sounds almost everywhere. Be- cause of technological inventions and Earth’s population, the sounds of human activity extend beyond, last longer and are noisier than before. The underwater soundscape of the oceans has also changed. In general, soundscape has become more one-sided, as technological sounds in- clude the sound of engines, which do not vary significantly across continents, cultures, or sea- sons. Natural sounds, in turn, vary with seasons and vegetation zones as before, but the engine sound is always the same, and it usually blanket weak sounds of nature such as snow raining on the ground. (Ampuja, 2014, pp. 38-39.)
Travelling is often linked with spare time, which is for relaxing and getting away from daily routines. On their freetime, people are looking for events and occasions to get new and pleasant experiences. Different kind of sounds are often needed to create those experiences. (Jokitulppo, 2014, p. 226.) So, in addition to the time spent working or studying, we hear a lot of sounds during our freetime. There are many people whose daily life is busy, as it is full of action, meetings, hobbies and work (Angeria, Jokela & Leinonen 2006, p. 38). So, living environments are noisier than before, lifestyles are busier, and the feeling of rush is common for many people all over the world. All this together causes a stress. Nurmi (in Angeria et. al. 2006, p. 38) states that humans tend to stress in unpleasant soundscape which may be harmful.
Simultaneously, the peace and silence of nature are seeked to balance hectic life (Jokitulppo, 2014, p. 226; Erken, Ataner & Tanriöver, 2019.) There are many visitors seeking tranquility (Grenier, 2007). Also, meditation, yoga and many kinds of pampering treatments have in- creased. It can be expected that more and more travellers are looking for relaxation, silence and nature experiences without distractions. (Angeria et. al. 2006, p. 38. Own translation.) Travel- lers may seek silence and invigorating sensory landscapes to balance busy and exhausting
weekdays (Jokela, Leinonen, Tukiainen, & Vahteri, 2006, p. 62) Tranquility is mentioned as one of the motivations for increased visits at religious sites (Choe, Blazey & Mitas, 2015).
The topic of this thesis, silence tourism, is globally interesting, reasonable and relevant due to the growing phenomenon of seeking places for quietness and relaxation. As Han (2019) appo- sitely points out, “it seems to imply that tranquility may not be just an emerging concept, but it can be the phenomenon that has existed ubiquitously without being properly recognized (p.
301).” Wide amount of different kind of tourism fields related to silence tourism support the argument that tranquility is “everywhere”, so it is related to many other forms of tourism, for example to rural tourism. So, it is time to aim to get new knowledge of this phenomenon.
Finland as a country, in turn, is a great destination to take advantage of this study. A country known about silent culture and people – what would be a better destination for silence tourism?
Visit Finland used to have silence as one of the themes for marketing Finland as a destination.
On Visit Finland’s website, silence was presented as an attractive and positive thing which is easy to reach (Silvennoinen & Veijola, 2012). Silence is an important aspect in tourism in Fin- land and as it has suggested, could even be used as an attraction in itself (Komppula, Konu &
Vikman, 2017). However, Visit Finland do not have the silence theme anymore in their mar- keting, which can be seen as a sign about ambiguous meaning of the terms silence and silence tourism. Silence and silence tourism as concepts are challenging, as those can be understood differently depending on the background of the person. Same word means different things for different people. For example, for Finns silence is usually something positive, but this is not the case with every nationality. The culture a person belongs to, has an influence on how sound- scapes are evaluated (Ren, Kang, Zhu & Wang, 2018, p. 376). Similarly, Dann (1981) talks about the same kind of phenomenon regarding tourist motivation when it is seen as auto-defi- nition and meaning, which refers to an idea that everyone defines the same situation differently.
Using silence tourism product as an example, as Silvennoinen and Veijola (2012) states, infor- mation about the different kind of travelers, and travelers with different cultural backgrounds as well as their understanding and needs for silence are needed (p. 37. Own translation). Simi- larly, Han (2019) suggests that “the tranquility searched by tourists may differ in forms and vary in importance due to the individually [!] differences and one’s society home (p. 301).” So, it is crucial to have shared understanding about silence tourism and market it accordingly to reach a right target group.
In Finland, term silence tourism has been used in tourism marketing but not much in scientific studies. Outside of Finland a term tranquility has been used more to describe the same kind of motivation for travelling in scientific literature. Even though both concepts have the same pur- pose, to describe this specific type of traveling, the concepts differ from each other. Silence as a word refers usually only to what we hear, whereas tranquility is more than silence, including the whole atmosphere of silent moment. However, for example in Finnish language both can be translated into “hiljaisuus”, which many associates more with silence than tranquility. Tran- quility is probably what marketers of silence tourism mean by talking about silence. Differences of the words silence, and tranquility are discussed later in this study. To conclude, there is no consensus whether the correct term is silence tourism, silence travel, tranquility tourism, or something else. What matters, is how to sell the product for customers. Selling silence and tranquility is often described as difficult or at least challenging (Grenier, 2007).
1.2 Objectives and research questions
Purpose of this study is to increase understanding of silence tourism and to figure out who are those tourists interested in silence tourism and to clarify what distinguishes them from the other tourists. The reason for choosing this kind of aim for the study is based on the fact that silence tourism is not much studied and there is no established concept in international scientific liter- ature about what is silence tourism and who are silence tourists. As silence tourism is not an established concept in the literature, it is needed to perceive what it is and how tourists inter- ested in it differ from the other tourists. So, what are their expectations and motivations for silence tourism, what type of destinations silence tourists are interested and so on? Regardless of being a quantitative study, this study has an explorative purpose aiming to find something new but not to explain the earlier information. Exact research questions of this study are follo- wing:
1. What is the meaning of silence tourism?
2. How silence tourists differ from the other tourists in terms of a) sociodemographic characteristics
b) interest toward silence tourism
c) travel behavior
d) motivations for silence tourism?
Research question one regarding the meaning of silence tourism will be discussed in the theory part through formal concept analysis. Regarding research question two, the focus is on the mo- tivations for silence tourism. Writer of this thesis has personal passion for the topic, as she has experienced a lot of enjoyable, silent nature moments, which she thinks would be worth of sharing with tourists who has not experienced anything similar before.
1.3 Approach, context and delineations
Even though the aim of this study is to increase understanding of silence tourism and silence tourists, therefore referring to a qualitative study, the approach of this study is quantitative.
Quantitative study enables studying interrelationships and is therefore a reasonable approach for the study. In this study, Finland is used as a context being one of the rare destinations in the world where silence tourism experiences are possible to produce. In addition, the position of silence tourism in the context of different kind of tourism types in literature is studied.
This study has delineations regarding the selected articles of previous studies related to silence tourism motivations. There are only first fifteen (15) articles presented in Table 1, which is later used for comparing the results of this study to those previous studies. The articles were selected randomly, nevertheless, using suitable keywords which makes sure all of them are somehow related to silence tourism and motivations. Obviously, more articles would offer better picture of motivations found in previous studies related to silence tourism.
1.4 Key concepts
Key concepts used in this study and their meanings in this study are explained below. In this study, following key concepts are used in the meanings as follow:
Silence does not necessarily refer to a lack of sounds, rather, spending time in the silent sur- roundings is an opportunity to relax, to listen and hear more clearly in a quiet slow-paced envi- ronment. There are no man-made sounds, only nature sounds such as wind in the leaves of
plants, raindrops, waves on a lake hitting the shore and birds chirping and other animal sounds.
It is an outer silence which enables experiencing inner silence.
By silence tourism is meant a type of tourism, in which a tourist is encouraged for listening silence in a silent environment, and, through it, experiencing an inner silence or silence of mind.
Travel motivation refers to a tourist’s inner motivation, also known as push motivation, for traveling to a certain destination.
1.5 Structure
This study consists of six sections. In the introduction part, background of the phenomenon is presented. Second and third chapters cover earlier literature about silence tourism and motiva- tions. After literature part, methodology section tell about how the study is conducted. In the findings, analysis of the results is presented. In the sixth chapter, findings, theoretical contribu- tion and managerial implementations are discussed and future study suggestions presented, which after conclusions of the study are presented.
2. SILENCE AND SILENCE TOURISM 2.1 Silence and tranquility
2.1.1 Silence in relation to nature
To be able to discuss about silence tourism, it is needed to define what is silence. Many re- searchers have emphasized that silence does not mean a lack of sounds but rather the sounds of nature (e.g. Saastamoinen in Haanpää & Veijola 2006; Alhojärvi, 2016; Venäläinen, 2016).
According to Ampuja’s (2014) study, the most common definition of silence is a peaceful soundscape of nature, which lacks all the sounds related to human action (p. 262. Own transla- tion.). Therefore, when talking about silence tourism, it cannot be fully separated from nature tourism since there is a connection between silence and nature in many studies (Komppula et.
al., 2017). Nature tourism is opened up in more detailed in the chapter 2.2.2.
There is a difference between the silence of nature and soundlessness. The silence of nature includes natural sounds such as bird song, whereas a noise come from people or machines.
Silence is a state of nature, where is no disturbing sounds and where the sounds of nature are attenuated. (Saastamoinen in Haanpää & Veijola 2006, p. 37. Own translation). In a study about soundscape expectations of rural tourism, participants’ attitude towards natural sounds were positive (Ren et. al., 2018). Silence is not clearly delimited soundscape of nature (Alhojärvi, 2016.) Silence is not soundless, however, sounds regarded as noise cannot belong to it (Veijola in Silvennoinen & Veijola, 2012, p. 24). Similarly, Vikman (in Silvennoinen & Veijola 2012, p. 35) states silence is not too loud sound, but meaningful sound, and sound which is waited and hoped. Silence is pleasant (Komppula et. al., 2017).
In Tuomo Alhojärvi’s interview to entrepreneurs who took part to the silence tourism network as a part of ESR-initiative executed by University of Eastern Finland in years 2013 -2015, it is agreed among tourism entrepreneurs that silence is related to the nature broader than just in the sense of sound environment. Silence can be related to the rhythm and tempo of nature. Settling down to the tempo of nature means taking the rhythm of natural light, which often means a change to sleeping habits, usually going to bed earlier and waking up earlier. Tempo of nature is unhurried and peaceful and getting into it requires calming down. (Alhojärvi, 2016.) There is also an evidence that forests, representing here a nature, helped tourists to get silent mood
(Komppula et. al., 2017). Silvennoinen and Veijola (2012) highlight the benefits that silence bring for the human by stating that balance and harmony related to silence are clearly seen in the relationship between human and nature (p. 37).
2.1.2 Silence as a multisensory phenomenon
On the other hand, silence is often defined as a multisensory phenomenon including also the other senses, not just sense of sight (e.g Haanpää, Hänninen & Veijola 2006, Silvennoinen &
Veijola 2012). Haanpää et. al. (2006) talk about sensory landscape, by which they mean one’s experience of surroundings based on the senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste, but also one’s previous experiences and cultural background (p. 10). Also, one’s feelings and im- ages create the sensory landscape (Raivo, and Tani in Angeria et. al., 2006). Silence is defined as a multisensual experience in Silvennoinen’s & Veijola’s (2012) study, where were found five semiotic signs of silence: the acoustic, physical, temporal and social dimensions in addition to the dimension of place function. It has stated being especially important to pay attention to sensory stimulus’ which cause reactions, which, in turn, form the experience of silence in si- lence tourism. For example, blinking lamp in the sauna could destroy the perfect experience of silence even though it would not make any noise. (Tormilainen in Angeria et. al. 2006, p. 39.) Aesthetics is closely related to the silence since unpleasant view can break the silence. (Silven- noinen & Veijola 2012, p. 37).
2.1.3 Different forms of silence
Silence can be divided into outer and inner silence. Outer silence refers to sounds or soundless- ness of the environment, whereas inner silence is the state of one’s mind, and it can include for example peacefulness and calmness of the mind. (Jokela in Moilanen, Seppinen & Tukiainen, 2006, p. 48). Inner silence is possible to achieve when external environment is silent (Silven- noinen & Veijola, 2012), again referring to rather silence of nature than total soundlessness (Moilanen et. al. 2006). Inner silence is rather openness toward the sounds that come from nature instead of distinguishing oneself from the sounds that come from surrounding environ- ment (Silvennoinen & Veijola, 2012).
Venäläinen has separated silence into three part, named as silence of mind, silence of nature, and silence of listening. Silence of mind is similar to just presented inner silence, as it is related to balancing life, focusing, and escaping rush and everyday worries. Yoga and meditation camps as well as spiritual retreats are good examples of places for people pursuing the silence of mind. Silence of nature, in turn, highlights authentic and pristine sound environments, in which human does not affect a lot. As the nature is not always silent, silence here does not refer to soundlessness, but the loudness of nature makes experiencing the silence of nature real and natural. (Venäläinen, 2016, pp. 36-37.) Similarly, respondents of Ampuja’s (2014) study stated that loud noises of nature are part of silence but noise such music and traffic disturb experienc- ing the silence (p. 265). Silence of nature is similar to previously presented outer silence by Jokela. Third form of silence, the silence of listening, enables listening experiences that are hoped. The idea behind this is that some sounds are to be heard only in the environments where is no or not much background noise. Therefore, surrounding sounds are closely linked with experiencing the silence of listening. (Venäläinen, 2016, p. 38.) Silent environment is needed to make experiencing the silence of listening possible.
Silvennoinen and Veijola (2012) divide silence to traditional silence and functional silence.
Traditional silence is stopping, and it can be reached by doing nothing and just being, whereas functional silence is about doing voluntarily something relaxing (Silvennoinen & Veijola, 2012, p. 37). In the survey used in this study, it is opened up that silence does not necessarily refer to a lack of sounds, rather, spending time in the silent surroundings is an opportunity to relax, to listen and hear more clearly in a quiet slow-paced environment. There are no man-made sounds, only nature sounds such as wind in the leaves of plants, raindrops, waves on a lake hitting the shore and birds chirping and other animal sounds.
2.1.4 Tranquility
As noted earlier, silence may not be the best concept for describing a content of silence tourism products due to a high risk of misunderstanding the concept of silence, especially without ex- plaining it through. However, it is the one most often used by Finnish researchers, both in Finn- ish (“hiljaisuus”) and in English (“silence”) in scientific literature. As mentioned in the intro- duction part of this study, a word tranquility is more used in international scientific texts instead
of silence, when used in tourism context. Vocabulary.com dictionary gives different explana- tions for the word depending on its spelling, whether it is tranquility (American English) or tranquillity (British English). However, as can be noted below, the definitions mean more or less the same.
“The noun tranquility means "a state of peace and quiet," like the tranquility you feel at the shore of a quiet lake or inside a beautiful cathedral. Tranquility can also describe a person's disposition. How do you reach tranquility? Make peace with yourself, your life, and the people who drive you crazy. Tranquility can also come from spending time alone, like read- ing in front of the fireplace on a snowy afternoon. Meditation and yoga can help bring tran- quility, by clearing your mind of constant worries.” (Vocabulary.com, 2020a.)
“Tranquillity is a sense of peace and quiet. It is the feeling you have while sitting under a starry sky, listening to the crickets. The aura of tranquility comes from the calm in the world, which makes you feel you are without a care in the world.” (Vocabulary.com, 2020b.) Both spellings, tranquility and tranquillity, refer to a moment in which silence is experienced in a positive way, making one feel worry-free and peaceful, including both inner and outer silence. Therefore, it can be argued that both words mean the same, and hence after this chapter, a word tranquility, with one l, is used in this study to mean this meaning. It is noteworthy that both term tranquility and tranquillity have something common with earlier presented different definitions of silence, hence supporting the notion that regardless of being different concepts, both silence and tranquility have been used in the literature in the same purpose – to describe specific type of tourism often called silence tourism or silence travel. For example, the first explanation of tranquility clearly refers to inner silence and silence of mind, both presented in the chapter 2.1.3. A second explanation (tranquillity with two l’s) highlights an outer/external silence when mentioning “listening to the crickets”, and it includes an earlier mentioned idea of reaching inner silence when the surrounding environment is quiet enough. Figure 1 below combines earlier mentioned three different aspects of silence by Jokela (in Moilanen et. al.
2006), Venäläinen (2016) and Silvennoinen and Veijola (2012) and presents their relations to tranquility. Soundlessness is in the core of the figure, and the easiest spot to start reading the figure. As can be seen, tranquility is more than just silence or soundlessness – it includes both.
Figure 1. Aspects of silence and their relations to tranquility.
2.1.5 Silence tourism related health benefits
Silence tourism related health benefits are mainly related to silence and nature. Scientific lite- rature lacks the studies about health benefits of silence. However, it is generally known silence is good for brain and mind. Instead, more studies are found about noise affecting to health negatively, for example causing stress, hearing harm, and difficulty to fall asleep or rest (Vuo- rinen & Heinonen-Guzejev, 2014). Humans tend to stress in unpleasant soundscape which may be harmful both physically and mentally (Nurmi in Angeria et.al., 2006). Lately, benefits of natural environments have been more highlighted against stress (Ochiai et. al., 2015).
”Spending time regularly in the forest is proven to lower blood pressure, detox your body, and improve your overall mood” (Visit Finland, 2020). Forests and forest environment have proved to have calming effect and giving positive experiences for silence tourism customers. Feeling the silence in the nature may be a refreshing experience for those who are not get used to silence
in their daily life. (Komppula et. al., 2017.) One of the silence tourism related activities, forest therapy, is known as ”a relaxation and stress management activity” with demonstrated clinical efficacy.” (Ochiai et. al., 2015, 15222.) Physiological and psychological effects of a forest therapy program were studied on middle-aged Japanese females. They measured salivary cor- tisol level, pulse rate, and psychological indices during the forest therapy day and day before, and found significant physiological and psychological benefits of forest therapy. Participants had significant decrease in salivary cortisol levels, pulse rate and in negative feelings in addition to increase in positive feelings. (Ochiai et. al., 2015.) Results of another forest therapy study proves relaxation effects being physiological and psychological and lasting up to five days after forest therapy (Ohe, Ikei, Song & Miyazaki, 2017).
2.2 Silence tourism and related concepts 2.2.1 Silence tourism
Silence tourism is defined as a tourism concept, in which silent soundscapes, and experiences that encourage for listening, are made out tourism products and services (Alhojärvi, 2016, p.
99. Own translation.) In the survey used in this study, silence tourism was clarified to the re- spondents as follow: Silence tourism services could include, for example, a guided tour around a national park with a focus on listening to the sounds of the nature or a camping trip to a remote location in the middle of forest. It could also be a floating experience on a lake with a warm floating suit, a sauna or a moonlight kayaking trip. Silence tourism is suggested being not only escaping or resting but something that test the travelers, including the idea travelers should not get off too easily. This means that tourism entrepreneurs should not offer prepared activities but let their customers seek what they want and need both physically and mentally and figure out what is their way to be and experience. Silence tourism entrepreneurs’ task, therefore, is suggested to create that kind of space where these experiences are possible. (Alhojärvi, 2016.) Silence tourism is seen as a solution to develop and extend tourism in-between seasons in Finnish Lapland (Grenier, 2007).
Challenges related to the concept
In general, concept of silence tourism is neither much used in the scientific literature, nor it is an established concept. The concept of tranquility is used more, especially outside of Finland.
The concept of silence is challenging due to its various interpretations in different cultures,
hence people from different backgrounds understand the concept differently. The same is true with term silence tourism, and there are not many definitions for silence tourism to be found.
As stated earlier, tranquility is what marketers usually mean by silence in the context of silence tourism. Even without definitions for this type of tourism, the phenomenon exists: there are people who travel for tranquility (Han, 2019). It has been argued that tranquility has been a ubiquitous phenomenon even though it has not been recognized (Han, 2019). A good example of this is Finland, where tranquility is a central part of wellbeing – it relates to almost everything but at the same time, it is not easy to recognize, especially for Finns as they have got so used to it. Visit Finland used to have silence as one of their three marketing themes but currently it is only mentioned as a part of wellbeing tourism on their website. (Visit Finland, 2020.) A reason for not having silence as a separate marketing theme anymore is not known, but it can be said that marketing the silence may be difficult (Grenier, 2007). It is challenging to market silence in that way the potential customers get the message right, regardless of their cultural back- ground.
Silence tourism in Finland
Silence and tranquility are strongly connected with Finnish wellbeing, which, in turn, is a broad concept. A program called FinRelax was established by Ministry of Economic Affairs and Em- ployment of Finland and it operated in years 2015-2017, aiming to make Finland a leading country of wellbeing tourism in the Nordic countries. Even though the program is not operating anymore, a mark of ”Authentic Finrelax Experience” is still in use of Visit Finland’s marketing indicating a high-quality wellbeing product. (Business Finland, 2020.) In more detailed: ”Re- laxing like a Finn, or ‘Finrelaxing’, means engaging in plenty of peace, quiet and time. Finre- laxing the local way means hiking in the summer, cross-country skiing in winter, simply enjo- ying the wild woods – and sauna, of course” (Visit Finland, 2020). As can be noted from the definition, quietness is a central part of FinRelax-experience. Silence have been named into one of Visit Finland’s products or categories included to the FinRelax-program, in addition to sauna experience, pampering treatments, spending time in the nature, wellbeing cottage and water as a wellbeing element. In product recommendations regarding the silence product, it is suggested that customer have a chance and suitable environment for listening and calming down, alone or in a group. Silence refers rather to the absence of human made sounds than absolute silence, and it is supposed to be as a part of the primary service, for example silent moment in skiing trip or in the forest or making sauna experience tranquil. Also digital detox is part of the recom- mendations of Visit Finland guidelines for silence products. (Business Finland, 2020.) In
addition to FinRelax products, forest and healthy food are marketed as central factors for Fin- nish wellbeing. Finnish wellbeing is hence seen consisting of sauna, water, nature and espe- cially forest, pampering treatments, wellbeing cottage holiday, silence, space and light, food, peace, quiet and time. What ties these elements together is slow travel, also mentioned in Visit Finland’s website (Visit Finland, 2020). Slow tourism is opened up more in the next chapter, shortly meaning taking time to do things with emphasis on wellbeing and sustainability issues.
Even though silence is mentioned separately within the wellbeing theme, it actually belongs to almost every element, from Finnish sauna experience and cottage holiday to forests and waters, not forgetting the pampering treatments, which all offer peace and tranquility.
Silence tourism in North Karelia, Finland
In Finland, there are silence tourism products available especially in North Karelia region. The region is rural, silence being one of its strengths. Visit Karelia is a destination marketing organ- ization for the North Karelia region. Hence, it is not a surprise Visit Karelia have been working on with silence theme in tourism field in the area. Visit Karelia use word silence travel instead of silence tourism and describes it as follows in their webpage.
” A silent environment offers a respite from our increasingly noisy and intense everyday surroundings. Silence travel provides the opportunity to linger, be silent and calm down – to listen to and concentrate on the rich nuances of silence, and to hear one’s own mind.
Anyone can be quiet. In silence, we can learn to be present and listen to ourselves, our feel- ings and our needs. Silence is a source of health, vitality and well-being. Living in constant noise has been proven harmful to the health. Outer silence helps us to discover our inner peace. Silence is a state that can permanently change our attitude to life.” (Visit Karelia, 2020.)
What can be inferred from the description, is that Visit Karelia understand silence tourism sim- ilarly with prior studies, emphasizing nuances of silence and benefits of silence, relating it to health and wellbeing. In addition, inner silence and outer silence are discussed. Outer silence is seen as an enabler for the inner silence, which in turn, enables bigger things such as finding oneself or making even permanent changes to one’s attitude.
Visit Karelia have even guidelines for silence tourism products. “The entrepreneurs of the Si- lence Travel are committed to:
1. Offering and sharing experiences of silence while respecting individual and cultural differ- ences
2. Maintaining a balance in the soundscape: producing human and machine-induced noise that disturb as little as possible
3. Taking account of and planning the atmosphere of the landscape, the architecture and the overall feel
4. Helping people to feel able to relax without the need to hurry 5. Guiding their visitors to create silence on their own
6. Abiding by the principles of sustainable tourism.” (Visit Karelia, 2020.)
Based on Visit Karelia’s guidelines, it can be concluded that recognizing customers’ differences in their backgrounds is seen as important, similarly to prior studies. Silence tourism experience is seen as a multisensory experience, admitting that different factors affect to the experience, which is again in a line with prior studies of silence. Moreover, silence tourism products are associated with relaxation and slow pace, as well as with sustainable tourism. According to Visit Karelia, customers’ have a possibility to learn to create silence by themselves.
2.2.2 Concepts related to silence tourism
Many concepts closely related to silence tourism are used in the literature. According to Han (2019), tranquility can be seen as a part of nature-based tourism, slow tourism, health and med- ical tourism, spiritual tourism and religious tourism (p. 299). Also, rural tourism and well-being tourism are often related to silence tourism. Digital-free tourism and even adventure tourism have a connection to silence tourism. Next, mentioned types of tourism are shortly presented.
Figure 2 below describes the position of silence tourism in the context of different kind of tourism types. Concepts closely related to silence tourism are framed and the lines between the concepts show relations between the concepts. By relations here is meant sub concepts, inter- changeable use of the concepts in the literature, or that the concepts often have some kind of connection to each other in practice.
Figure 2. Concepts closely related to silence tourism (framed) and their relations
Nature tourism, also called nature-based tourism, is a broad concept and hence difficult to define exactly (Tangeland & Aas, 2011). Nature tourism is usually defined as travelling to “nat- ural areas with the main motivation being to enjoy the scenery and appreciate nature”
(Sæþórsdóttir, 2010, p. 28). However, in many studies, nature-based tourism is used synony- mously with terms rural tourism, adventure tourism (Tangeland & Aas, 2011; Sahebalzamani
& Bertella, 2018), sustainable tourism, responsible tourism, green tourism, and alternative tour- ism (Tangeland & Aas, 2011, 823). In addition, wildlife tourism can be understood belonging to a nature tourism concept (Sahebalzamani & Bertella, 2018). Nature-based tourism is con- nected with activities such as hiking (Huhta & Sulkava, 2014; Tangeland & Aas, 2011), horse riding, canoeing, cycling, wildlife viewing (Huhta & Sulkava, 2014), wildlife safaris, camping in natural areas, climbing, rafting, and nature photography (Tangeland & Aas, 2011).
Rural tourism means usually tourism in sparsely populated areas and can be understood as synonym for nature tourism, and in some countries even as synonym for farm tourism. Rural tourism is connected with quietness and peace, and rural holiday includes also landscape, re- laxed atmosphere, and nature as well as activities related to it. (Pesonen & Komppula, 2010.) Many studies see rural tourism and rurality as opposite to urban life, representing “peacefulness, simplicity and authenticity, relaxation, tranquility, greenery, and pure air” (Dong, Wang, Mo- rais & Brooks, 2013, 182). There is a lot in common with rural tourism and wellbeing tourism
regarding tourist motivation (Pesonen & Komppula, 2010). Sharpley and Jepson (2011) connect rural tourism with spirituality by arguing that tourists have a potential to contact with natural or rural places also in a deeper level as there is a correlation in many studies between “the natural environment and a deep sense of belonging, a sense of place, a profound connection with the world and harmonious feelings” (Sharpley & Jepson, 2011, 58).
Slow tourism, according to its name, is mainly based on tourists “seeking slowness whilst on vacation” (Weiermair & Mathies in Özdemir & Celebi, 2018, p. 1). Originally, slow tourism was often connected with speed and mobility, mostly focusing on tourists’ concern about envi- ronmental pollution when moving to and from the destination. The original idea of slow tourism hence referred a lot to a sustainable tourism (Oh, Assaf & Baloglu, 2016), sustainability being still strongly emphasized in this recent tourism trend (Özdemir & Celebi, 2018). However, per- sonal wellbeing of slow tourists has been emphasized lately as well (Oh et. al., 2016). Weier- mair & Mathies describe slow tourists: “In an environmentally manner, such tourists seek to relax and enjoy the actual tourism experience itself, often enjoying interaction with local pop- ulations” (in Özdemir & Celebi, 2018, p. 1). Regarding tourism product and tourism experience, the concept is more about quality than quantity (Weiermair & Mathies in Özdemir & Celebi, 2018; Caffyn, 2012). Concepts of slow food and slow city are part of slow tourism. Finding a connection to silence tourism, Cosar and Kozak (2014) noticed that many of the slow destina- tions are connected with calm and silence. Similarly, slow tourists are suggested to seek peace and tranquility during their travels (Caffyn, 2012). In general, being in the destination is relaxed and favor locality, as Caffyn (2012) explain: “Slow visitors will find out more about the natural and built heritage, local cuisine, traditions, and some of the special qualities of their destination, in contrast to those who rush through and move on quickly. They are likely to have a more authentic experience, taking time to browse the local market, absorb the atmosphere, people watch, buy something from a craftsperson, chat to local people, linger over a meal at a typical restaurant, take a guided tour of an archaeological site with a local expert, walk or cycle into the surrounding countryside, watch wildlife, or whatever takes their fancy.” (Caffyn, 2012, 77.)
Health tourism is understood as services offered to tourists to maintain, improve or regain their physical or mental health state (Baltaretu & Mihaescu, 2016). Wellness tourism and medical tourism are often seen as subsegments to a health tourism (Smith and Puzckó, 2009; Voigt, Brown & Howat, 2011; Baltaretu & Mihaescu, 2016). Baltaretu and Mihaescu talk on behalf
of wellness as a part of health tourism, stating that ”it also refers to services or natural elements that can provide the tourist wellness, relaxation or revitalization” (Baltaretu & Mihaescu, 2016, p. 130), therefore having also something shared with silence tourism. Medical tourism, in turn, is travelling for medical treatments outside of one’s home city (Baltaretu & Mihaescu, 2016).
It is widely accepted that natural healing resources such as climate-, fossil- or sea-resources, are strongly connected with therapeutic tourism destinations, which, in turn, can also be seen as subsegment to a health tourism (Dryglas & Salamaga, 2018, p. 235). Similarly, Smith and Puzckó (2009) see healing treatments as part of health tourism, in addition to for example spi- ritual tourism, yoga and meditation tourism, occupational wellness tourism (includes e.g. stress management and work-life balance), spa tourism, sport and fitness tourism, as well as nutriti- onal and detox programmes.
Spiritual tourism relates closely to religional tourism but is still not necessarily related to it, meaning that tourists seeking and experiencing spirituality while traveling may not be religious at all (Norman & Pokorny, 2017; Singleton, 2017). A crucial part of spiritual tourism is trav- eler’s wellbeing and is hence linked with wellbeing tourism. Spiritual tourists have often some issue in their daily life for which they want to give a space and attention by travelling, and in that way to get time to think, seek answers, fix the problem or find a purpose or meaning in life.
(Norman & Pokorny, 2017.) It is stated that spiritual tourists travel for achieving spiritual growth (Singleton, 2017, 49). Spirituality can be understood as ”a connection between the self and the ‘this world’, implying that a spiritual or emotional relationship exists or is sought bet- ween people, ‘this world’ and specific places” (Sharpley & Jepson, 2011, 55). Spiritual seeking in tourism has been said to increased when religions seem not to be so popular anymore in these days (Singleton, 2017).
Religious tourism is one of the oldest tourism types (Rinschede, 1992) and belongs to the concept of spiritual tourism, which involve both religious and nonreligious tourists. Religious tourism can be roughly divided into dark tourism, which motivations can be religious or nonre- ligious, and on the other hand, ”uplifting and bright retreats connected more with wellness tou- rism” (Rashid, 2018, 153). In general, tourists belonging to religional tourism type have strongly or only religious or recreational reasons or needs for travelling (Rinschede, 1992).
However, tourists travelling to religious sites or events do not always have religional reasons
or motivations, even though they would be religious people. Due to the same reason, a term pilgrim cannot be used anymore only in the meaning of religious tourist as some of them may be travelling for spiritual or other reasons. (Rashid, 2018.) Rinschede (1992) made a division into short-term and long-term religious tourism. Short-term religious tourism refers for example to day trips to nearby religious sites while long-term religious tourism consists of longer, even several weeks of visits to some religious place or for example pilgrimage. (Rinschede, 1992.) Religious tourism may give an opportunity to become closer to God or the Saint which a tourist venerates (Aktas & Ekin, 2007, p. 171). Religious tourism is a combination of tangibles (e.g. a church) and intangibles (e.g. religion). Religions are generally seen as part of culture leading to an idea religious tourism being a subset of cultural tourism. Religious tourism is also related to heritage tourism. (Rashid, 2018.)
Wellbeing tourism is often understood as a part of health tourism, and, similar to health tour- ism, has the purpose to “prevent illness” (Konu, 2015, 5) or “maintain one's health and wellbe- ing” (Konu, 2015, 5; Grénman & Räikkönen, 2015) and is usually understood as a holistic wellbeing including social, mental and physical aspects (Grénman & Räikkönen, 2015). The concept of wellbeing is sometimes used interchangeably with the concept of wellness (Konu, 2010) as are the concepts of wellbeing tourism, wellness tourism, medical tourism, health tour- ism, health‐care tourism, holistic tourism and spa tourism mixed with each other (Voigt, Brown
& Howat, 2011). Wellbeing tourism is sometimes understood as part of wellness tourism (Shel- don & Bushell in Pesonen & Komppula, 2010, p. 150), which, in turn, is part of health tourism (Smith and Puzckó, 2009; Voigt et. al. 2011; Baltaretu & Mihaescu, 2016). However, more often it is understood other way around – wellness tourism being a subset to wellbeing tourism (Grénman & Räikkönen, 2015), as it is presented for example in Finland by Finnish Tourist Board. High-quality and luxury products can be part of wellbeing tourism but are usually con- nected with wellness tourism hence making wellbeing tourism for a wider concept than well- ness tourism (Grénman & Räikkönen, 2015; Pesonen & Komppula, 2010). Similarly, Konu (2015) argues on behalf of wellbeing tourists’ desire for both wellbeing and wellness services:
”Wellbeing tourists travel to destinations that provide wide selections of wellbeing and wellness facilities and services, which can range from physical activities to services enhancing mental wellbeing, such as pampering, refreshment of the body and mind, spiritual awareness, exercise and experiences of luxury” (Konu, 2015, p.5). Sheldon and Bushell continue the list by sug- gesting that “wellbeing refers to a connection with community or nature, inner and outer beauty
therapy, massage, spas, sauna, relaxation, energy balancing, art, music and diverse treatments”
(in Pesonen & Komppula, 2010, p. 150) while Grénman & Räikkönen (2015) state wellbeing tourism focusing on “activities that offer pleasure, enjoyment, and pampering” (p. 13) and being associated with active enjoyment, for example professional training and physical activity. Well- being tourism is linked on the one hand with economic and material factors, for example edu- cation and the standard of living, and on the other hand with more subjective factors, for exam- ple life satisfaction, happiness and quality of life. (Grénman & Räikkönen, 2015.) In many countries, wellbeing tourism destinations are found in rural areas (Pesonen & Komppula, 2010).
”Digital-free tourism (DFT) describes tourism spaces where internet and mobile signals are either absent or digital technology usage is controlled” (Li, Pearce & Low 2018, 317). Li et. al.
studied over 450 media texts and managed to get the conceptual understanding of digital-free tourism. Virtual world may influence harmfully to interpersonal relationships, cause mental stress and be a barrier to present tasks and activities as well as interfere being present. Growing interest on limiting technology usage during holidays has been noted and different kind of tou- rism products have been created based on the demand. Digital-free tourism providers are usu- ally hotels, resorts, retreat centres or coastal destinations and they market for example digital downtime, black hole resorts, digital detoxing, or lifestyle-oriented retreat programs. Digital- free destinations are often nature-based in remote or rural areas, close to wild animals. Digital- free travellers appreciate wonderful sceneries, exotic places and engaging culture. Privacy and tranquility are central parts of the experience. There are numerous activities for substituting digital use, for example safaris, hiking, bike riding, wild camping, fishing, kayaking, star-ga- zing, wildlife watching, reindeer sledding, tree planting, art classes, cooking, yoga, fitness clas- ses, meditation, Tai-Chi, Finnish sauna, board games, conversation, city tours, visiting mu- seums and heritage sites, shopping and organic fresh farm meals, just to mention a few. DFT has developed in about ten years from kind of luxury tourism to current nature-based form, which emphasizes the essence of life and reconnecting with friends and families. Digital-free tourism these days is usually consciously designed and includes a lot mindfulness, retreat and wellness related content. (Li et. al., 2018.) DFT offers many experiental benefits such as com- municating with unfamiliar others and exploring unfamiliar environments in addition to lear- ning about settings first-hand and maintaining self-discipline (Li et. al. 2018, 327).
2.2.3 Activities related to silence tourism
As silence tourism relates to several other tourism types just presented, it can be inferred there are numerous activities related to silence tourism, at least when their potential is found. Many tourism products could be transformed into silence tourism activities by adding there a silent moment to the activity with advice to help for achieving inner silence. Certain activities are closely linked with silence tourism, such as digital detox holidays and many kinds of sauna experiences and sauna yoga, which are also a part of earlier mentioned FinRelax program. Two best known silence tourism activities worldwide are probably different kinds of retreats and forest-based activities, which are clarified now.
Retreat is ”a peaceful and private place where you can go in order to rest” (Macmillandicti- onary.com, 2020). Retreat may include for instance full board of healthy food, and different optional activities such as spa treatments, massage, counceling sessions, nature walks, pilates, yoga, meditation, gym, and selection of high-energy physical activities. Hence attending to ret- reats give often great possibilities for eating healthy and regularly, for example organic food without alcohol, caffeine, red meat and added salt or sugar. During retreat, sleep patterns may be changed for better and participants have an opportunity for recovery, relaxation and reflec- tion in addition to enhancing a connection with nature. People attending to retreats are usually like-minded which enables enhancing social connections. Travelers’ connection with nature may get better as well. Retreat may be related to digital-free tourism as the use of digital tech- nology is often limited or even avoided as a part of retreat. (Cohen, Elliott, Oates, Schembri &
Mantri, 2017.)
Several terms related to forest-based activities are used in the literature. Forest bathing was established in Japan in the 1980s and it means “taking in the forest atmosphere”. Forest bathing is advised to do as follow: ”Walk into a forest, find a cozy looking place to rest on, lay yourself down, and rest your head on some soft moss. Take it all in and breathe. You will feel lighter and lighter by the minute.” (Visit Finland, 2020.) In Japanese, forest bathing is called ”Shinrin- yoku” and it has been proved decreasing blood glucose levels (Ohtsuka, Yabunaka, & Ta- kayama, 1998). In addition, forest yoga is mentioned in some of the silence tourism related holidays. Both forest bathing and forest yoga have been mentioned as FinRelax experiences
(Visit Finland, 2020). Forest therapy is often used interchangeably with forest bathing even though they are not considered being exactly the same activities. Forest therapy tourism is de- fined being ”a type of rural health tourism in forest areas to achieve mental and physical re- laxation based on evidence of its effects psychologically and physiologically”. (Ohe, Ikei, Song
& Miyazaki, 2017, p. 323.)
3. MOTIVATIONS
3.1 Travel motivation
“Motivation is the need that drives an individual to act in a certain way to achieve the desired satisfaction” (Beerli & Martı´n in Correia et. al., 2007, p. 46). Motivation should not be used as synonym for intention or reason (Dann, 1981.) One of the best-known definitions for tourist motivation is defined by Dann (1981): “A meaningful state of mind which adequately disposes an actor or group of actors to travel, and which is subsequently interpretable by others as a valid explanation for such a decision” (p. 205). In general, people have several different reasons and motives to travel (Correia et. al., 2007, p. 46). To study tourist motivation, it is needed to iden- tify different kind of needs and pressures that tourists have as reasons for going on a vacation, and secondly, analyze how the destination area response to these needs and pressures (Dann 1981, p. 189). So, destination attractiveness and therefore destination attractions are closely related to the travel motivations of tourists.
Dann (1981) identified seven approaches for tourist motivation, one of them presenting push and pull factors. Push is a motivational factor, for example prestige, escape from mundane environment and relaxation, whereas pull factor refers to “the specific attractions of the desti- nation” (Dann, 1981, p. 191). Özdemir and Celebi (2018) name push and pull approach being the most common motivation theory, in which push refers to internal and pull external motives (p. 2). For example, Yuan, Cai, Morrison & Lee (in Özdemir & Celebi, 2018, p. 1) talk about internal motives, or more specifically, internal needs, when stating that it is an ”underlying assumption” in the studies that “travellers choose destinations or types of vacation to most op- timally satisfy their internal needs”. As Klenosky (in Özdemir & Celebi, 2018, p. 2) illuminates:
“push factors define whether a tourist goes a vacation or not, whereas pull factors define where the tourist chooses to go”. So, at first a person has a reason, need, desire, purpose, pressure - some kind of internal motivation i.e. push motivation to travel or not to travel. At the end, how tourists perceive the destination is based on their own push and pull motives (Correia et. al., 2007). So, push and pull factors are both treated as motives (Dann, 1981, p. 193), one regarding personal motives and the other factors from destinations’ point of view. In this study, the inter- est is on the push motives for silence tourism.
Regarding the needs, pressures and desires for travelling, it has been suggested that tourists’
home setting does not respond to cultural and human needs they may have, whereupon traveling can fulfill the needs and desires. Therefore, the identified desires for something different can be seen as motivations for travelling. Dann (1981) presents that motivation and purpose are often used as synonyms when connected with a tourist (p. 192). Dann’s approach presents mo- tivation as classified purpose, stating that purpose can be ”the purpose of leisure (recreation, holiday, health, study, religion, sport) or business (family, mission, meeting)” referring to a reason to visit a country, or general purpose (pleasure), specific purpose (novelty and change) or rationalized purpose (health, education, and culture) regarding the purpose of tourist travel (Cohen in Dann 1981, pp. 192-193).
Tourist motivation can be seen also as a fantasy, based on the idea that tourists can free them- selves when traveling, as destination lacks the normative controls which may limit tourists at home environment (Dann, 1981, pp. 191-192). For example, a person having societally a high position and living in a small municipality or village, may feel a pressure to behave in a certain and predetermined way even when not working, but because being a well-known person among the other residents. So, for such a person, traveling can indeed be something that liberate and makes one feel free and able to holiday without the feeling of limitations. Motivation can also be seen as ideal types or typologies which ”provide a simple classificatory scheme within a complex phenomenon”. Ideal types, for example tourist roles, are mental constructs and repre- sent features of a phenomenon so that they are comparable with the other ideal types. (Dann, 1981, p. 194.) In a same way, when motivations are seen as mental constructs, they can be compared to other tourists’ motivations, as it is done in this study.
Referring to tourist motivation, it is stated that ”tourists seek the meaningful and authentic”
(MacCannel in Dann, 1981, p. 195). Later on, Cohen in Dann (1981, p. 195) talks about moti- vation and tourist experience, and he divides tourist experience into three modes: experiental, experimental and existential modes, which are close to meaning and authenticy suggested by MacCannel. Experiental mode is about passively observing and looking for alternative mean- ings of others’ life, for example as a tourist in certain ceremony of aboriginal people. In exper- imental mode, tourists try different lifestyles to find the one which match with their desires and needs. Tourists under existential mode pursue their own, alternative culture, for example some- one searching his roots belongs to this type of tourist experience. (Dann, 1981, p. 195.) Same
person may represent more than one mode of tourist experience in different times when having seeking of the meaningful and authentic as a tourist motivation.
It has been argued that motivation relates to satisfaction (Iso-Ahola, 1982; Özdemir & Celebi, 2018). “Motives are aroused when individuals think of certain activities they could, should or might do in the future, activities that are potentially satisfaction-producing” (Iso-Ahola, 1982, p. 258.) Iso-Ahola (1982) presents his well-known escape-seek dichotomy in which it is ex- pected that individuals have two motivational forces called approach (seeking) and avoidance (escape) for any leisure activity. Seeking refers to seeking intrinsic rewards and by avoidance is meant escaping the everyday environments, both of which being potential satisfaction-pro- ducers. (Iso-Ahola, 1982.) Satisfaction being related to motivation highlights the importance of understanding traveller’s decision-making processes. There is a strong consensus that future travel patterns are easier to predict when travel motivations are recognized and understood. In addition, “understanding the motivations of tourists is key to designing better products and ser- vices”. (Özdemir & Celebi, 2018, p. 1.)
Leisure motivation scale is an instrument for assessing the sociological and psychological rea- sons for participation in leisure activities. The instrument is formed of four subscales: Intellec- tual, Social, Competence-Mastery, and Stimulus-Avoidance. Each of them have 12 items, sum- ming to 48 items altogether. (Beard & Ragheb, 1983.)
As can be noted, there are several different perspectives for understanding the concept of travel motivation. In this study, leisure motivation scale was utilized in answer options of the survey.
3.2 Silence tourism related motivations
As the literature lacks the studies related to silence tourism motivations (Özdemir & Celebi, 2018), the motivation factors were searched from selected articles closely related to silence tourism. The selected articles were related to rural tourism (6 articles), nature tourism (3 arti- cles), wellbeing tourism (2 articles), as well as slow tourism, eco-tourism, adventure tourism and spiritual tourism (1 article from each).
Table 1. Silence tourism related motivations in previous studies
Push factor
Özdemir
& Celebi, 2018
Han, 2019
Pesonen &
Komppula, 2010
Rid et.
al., 2014
Kim et.
al., 2003
Chikuta et. al., 2017
Park &
Yoon, 2009
Carvache- Franco et.
al., 2019
Pesonen et. al., 2011
Farma ki, 2012
Kim et.
al., 2015
Dong et. al., 2013
Fuchs et. al., 2016
Moscar do, 2015
Choe et. al., 2012
Relaxation x x x x x x x x x x x x
Self-reflection & Discovery x x x x x x
Escape (desire to get away) x x x x x x x x x x x
Novelty-seeking / adventure x x x x x
Environmental concern x
Meet new people and/or
people with similar interests x x x x x x
Spending time with
family/friends x x x x x x x x
Nature seeking (a need of natural quietness in rural areas)
x
Rurality seeking (seeking peaceful and harmony in rural locality)
x x
Reclusiveness (searching for
mental peace) x x
Hassle-free vacation x x
Getting refreshed x x x
Having a sense of comfort x x
Heritage & nature x x x
Authentic rural experience x
Learning x x x x x x
Sun & beach x
Ego-enhancement x x
Healing effect of nature x
Enjoying the nature x x x x x
Reward (eg. have fun, create
good memories) x x x
Doing sth I really like to do x x
Pursuing new type of travel x
Pursuing a healthy life x x
Silence and serenity x
Fulfilling a dream x
