Tourism Management Perspectives 11 (2014) 58–62

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Tourism Management Perspectives

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tmp

Case study

Motivational factors for educational tourism: A case study in

Northern Cyprus
Abubakar Mohammed Abubakar a,b,⁎, Belal Hamed Taher Shneikat a, Akile Oday b
a
Dept. of Economics and Business Administration, Eastern Mediterranean University, P.O. box 95, Famagusta North Cyprus via Mersin 10, Turkey
b
School of Computing and Technology, Eastern Mediterranean University, P.O. box 95, Famagusta North Cyprus via Mersin 10, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Recent trends and reverse innovations have led to a rapid growth in educational tourism (edu-tourism). North
Received 28 February 2014 Cyprus has emerged as an edu-tourism destination. The purpose of this study is to better understand the motives
Received in revised form 2 April 2014 of students seeking education in countries other than that of their normal residence. Equally the findings are
Accepted 8 April 2014
contextualized within this Mediterranean Island. The results of the study have generated a comprehensive list
Available online xxxx
of motives behind the demand for edu-tourism, and the managerial implications of edu-tourism and its conse-
Keywords:
quences are discussed.
North Cyprus © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Edu-tourism
Motives

1. Introduction education has enhanced the performance of tourism industry (Lam,

Tourism or voyage originally means movement with the intention of
trade and conquest. In the modern day this phenomenon has experi-
enced a drift toward pleasure which serves as a symbol of social status.
Influenced by hypermedia like social networks, web-based promotions,
and greater leisure awareness, tourism has become one of the fastest
growing industries in the world (Holden, 2000). Transformation of or-
ganizational structures from primordial to purposively constructed
ones (James, 1993) has led to an increase in disposable income, longer
free time, greater political freedom and the growth for mass tourism
(Mieczkowski, 1995). There are different forms of tourism; we intend
to focus on educational tourism (edu-tourism). Edu-tourism is any
type of program in which participants travel to a location either individ-
ually or in a group with the primary motive engaging in or having a
learning experience (Rodger, 1998). Educational tourists (edu-tourists)
are “individuals or groups who travel to and stay in places outside their
usual environment for more than 24 h and not more than one year” for
purposes including study, business, leisure and other activities (World
Tourism Organization, 2012). Research on the interplay between digital
equity, empowerment and flexible learning in an educational tourism
environment could yield greater understanding on how these factors
influence learners (Joyce, 2012). The combination of tourism and
⁎ Corresponding author at: Dept of Economics and Business Administration, Eastern
Mediterranean University, P.O. box 95, Famagusta North Cyprus via Mersin 10, Turkey.
Tel.: +90 5428766882; fax: +90 3923651574.
E-mail addresses: mohammed.abubakar@cc.emu.edu.tr (A.M. Abubakar),
belalshneikat@yahoo.com (B.H.T. Shneikat), akile.yuvka@emu.edu.tr (A. Oday).
Ariffin, & Ahmad, 2011) (Fig. 1).
1.1. Theoretical background and purpose
The notion of traveling for the purposes of acquiring knowledge is
not new (Gibson, 1998; Holdnak & Holland, 1996) but little research
has been done on this topic explaining why the literature appears inco-
herent and scattered. Similarly, Jason, Ahmad, and Azhar (2011) added
that educational tourism has been discussed by very few tourism acade-
micians and this is reflected in the lack of research and data in this area.
Paul (2010) added that there is limited understanding of educational
tourism constructs as well as an absence of research into the diverse in-
tellectual tourism market segments. Furthermore, this study attempts
to elaborate on one of the 4 L tourism (landscape, leisure, learning and
limit) elements.
The relevance of decision making is prevalence in management and
businesses; the phenomenon has led to the development of
consumer behavior theory (Felix & Steve, 2007). Kotler (2003)
proposed a five-stage process in decision making: the recognition of a
problem requiring a remedy, the search for information, an assessment
of alternatives, making the buying decision and finally assessing the
acquisition decision. Generally, the decision making concept is every-
where; hence consumer behavior theory can be applied to education
(Moogan, Baron, & Harris, 1999). Edu-tourism is intangible in nature;
as such it is bounded with risk, prosperity ambiguities and an unfore-
seen likelihood of success in the course, family disruption and missed
opportunities back home. Although a certain number of benefits are
associated with edu-tourism, high level of uncertainty exists. Felix &

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2014.04.002
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