ABSTRACT
Tourism scholars have produced many explanations as to why holidays are seen as significant periods for people: ‘the need to escape’ (Dann 1977); ‘for well-being and recurperation’ (Wickens 2002); ‘for having fun’ (Bakir and Baxter 2011); ‘anticipation’ (Parinello 1993); ‘having something to look forward to’ (Sharpley 2003); and ‘necessary part of life’ (Gibson and Yiannakis 2002). The literature reveals competing accounts of motivation and, often, conflicting interpretations (see Bakir and Baxter 2011) of what motivates tourists. Others draw our attention to the difficulties in investigating why people are motivated to visit coastal destinations, such as Alanya in Turkey. For instance, scholars stress that holiday makers may not be willing to reveal to the researcher their travel motives, or what the tourists say may be only reflections of deeper needs of which they are not fully aware (Dann 1981; Lundberg 1971).
