How young tourists are motivated: The role of destination personality

This study explores the travel motivation and behavioral intention of Hong Kong's young markettowards Japan, as well as investigates the moderating effect of the destination personality of Japan.The results found that the travel intention of young Hong Kong tourists towards Japan is affected bymotivation factors, such as Japanese foods, reputation, tourist attractions, escape, perceived value,and culture. Furthermore, destination personality in terms of "ruggedness" has a moderating effecton the relationship between motivation and behavioral intention. However, "success and upper class"and "sincerity" have no moderating effect on such relationship. This study draws some implicationsto support the effective marketing and positioning strategies for tourism in Japan.