ABSTRACT
It is important to understand why individuals undertake certain activities, for if we are able to understand that, we are far better able to plan for their needs and to manage their actions. ‘Psychologists agree that a motive is an internal factor that arouses and directs human behaviour’ (Iso-Ahola, 1989: 248). Discovering people’s motivations is, of course, extremely difficult. Motivations cannot be observed, they can only be inferred from observing behaviour. To discover motivation, subjects must be asked for their reasons for actions, and these are usually complex and are seldom fully understood by the actors themselves, so even asking people about their motivations is problematic. Despite this, the concept of motivation for recreation or leisure has been widely explored in the literature (Ewert, 1989) and a wide variety of theory has been developed. There is not, however, one theory or a set of theories which adequately explains why humans do what they do. Nevertheless, a number of these theories are worthwhile reviewing as they have relevance to marine recreation and tourism.
