Social Psychological Theories of Tourist Motivation: Exploration, Debate, and Transition

The purpose of this article is to review and assess the dominant social psychological and related models of tourist motivation, reviewing the conceptual development of tourist motivation from the early 1970s to the present. Given the evolution of this debate, we argue that an integrated social psychological approach to tourist motivation has yet to be achieved. First, we provide a brief introduction to the social psychology of tourism. We then assess competing social psychological models of tourist motivation, concluding with implications for the development of an integrated social psychology of tourist motivation. Finally, we discuss lessons learned from the debates with implications for tourism theory and pedagogy.