The effect of glamping travel motivation on experience and behavioral intention: A research on glamper tourists

In this thesis, it is aimed to determine the demographic characteristics of glamper tourists staying in glamping establishments in Muğla and to examine the effects of travel motivations on experience and behavioral intention. For this purpose, a field study was conducted in which the glamper tourists in Muğla participated and the data were collected through a questionnaire. The data obtained from the research in which 697 domestic and foreign glamper tourists participated; It shows that more than half of the respondents are married, female and domestic tourists. The majority of the respondents are young adults, high-income and high-education individuals. The glamper tourists participating in the research are mostly traveling for recreation and entertainment purposes and usually with family, as a couple, or friends. The duration of the stay is usually one week or 3-5 days. More than half of the participants have never stayed at a glamping establishment before. In addition, it was determined that the COVID-19 epidemic was effective in the majority of the participants preferring glamping establishments. In the thesis study, T test and ANOVA tests were performed to determine whether travel motivation and experience differ significantly according to demographic variables. As a result of the analyzes, it was determined that the travel motivations of the glamper tourists differed significantly according to marital status, age, income level, education level and nationality, but did not differ significantly according to the gender variable. It was determined that the experiences of glamper tourists differed significantly according to marital status and nationality, but did not differ significantly according to age, gender, income level and educational status. In the study, the effect of travel motivation of glamper tourists on experience and behavioral intention was examined by simple and multiple regression analyzes. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that travel motivation has a significant and positive effect on both experience and behavioral intention. In addition, it has been determined that experience has a positive and significant effect on behavioral intention. Within the scope of the study, which sub-dimensions of travel motivation affect experience and behavioral intention were examined. According to the analysis results; It was determined that nature-based motivation and luxury-based motivation significantly affected the experience of the participants, but socialization motivation did not significantly affect the experience. In addition, it was determined that nature-based and socialization motivation significantly affected the behavioral intention of the participants, but luxury-based motivation did not affect behavioral intention. When examining which sub-dimensions of experience affect the behavioral intentions of the participants; It has been determined that hedonism, participation, refreshment and innovation dimensions affect behavioral intention significantly, but meaning and knowledge dimension and local culture dimension do not significantly affect behavioral intention. In the light of the information obtained from the research results, suggestions for practice and literature were presented.