Abstract
This paper investigates the motivations of visitors undertaking a volcano tour at Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines. The study identifies push and pull motives for visiting a non-erupting active volcano; tests the influence of age, gender and prior experience of volcanic tourism on visitors; and examines differences in motivations for domestic versus international visitors. A total of 174 survey responses were collected and analysed. The results reveal four push motives, namely escape and relaxation, novelty-seeking, volcano knowledge-seeking and socialisation, and two pull motives, namely disaster and cultural heritage-induced and volcanic and geological attribute-driven. Novelty-seeking was found as the strongest motive for visiting volcanic sites. Domestic visitors display higher escape and relaxation and socialisation motives compared to international visitors. The findings provide implications for developing and marketing volcanobased geotourism and for diversifying the Philippines’ tourism products. This study makes a valuable contribution to the under-researched understanding of geotourism at volcanic sites.
