An Analysis of the Push and Pull Motives for Choosing Mauritius as “the” Wedding Destination

AbstractWedding Tourism, as an authentic and looming part of the tourism industry, are sensations that have taken off universally in recent years and which is becoming prevalent, especially for small islands that highly depend on the tourism sector as a lucrative economic activity. Tourism motivations are important factors in understanding tourist behaviour in relation to destination's choice, especially for the wedding market. Extensive research work on tourism motivation factors has been documented in the tourism literature. However, it was found that very little research has been conducted regarding the travel behaviour of wedding tourism for island destinations. The purpose of the study was to delineate the various travel motivations of wedding tourism to Mauritius. A mixed method approach was used comprising questionnaires, that were distributed to tourist who visited Mauritius to tie the knot and interviews were conducted with different hotels in relation to assess their marketing strategies for the promotion of wedding tourism. The findings revealed that wedding tourists are primarily attracted by the destination's attributes such as the famous “sea, sun and sand” which forms part of the characteristics of small tropical islands, followed by other pull attributes. At the same time, push factors like destination marketing and promotion also encouraged tourists to marry in Mauritius. Thus, in order to encourage wedding tourism, increasing marketing efforts can prove to be a powerful tool. The study also confirms that destination managers should better understand travel motivations of tourists before developing and marketing product and services