PUSH AND PULL FACTORS AFFECTING DOMESTIC TOURISM IN THE ERONGO REGION, NAMIBIA

Despite being a well-established economic activity in numerous countries in the world, domestic tourism has received relatively little academic exploration, particularly in Namibia. While this study acknowledges the significance of work already done in this field, there remains a general lack of understanding of the factors motivating domestic tourists’ decisions to travel in the study area. As a result, this study aims to understand the key push and pull factors for domestic tourists, using the Erongo region of Namibia as a case study. The study adopts a quantitative research approach through a survey of 400 domestic tourists in the study area. Relaxation and escapism, seeking participatory experiences, and seeking enriching experiences emerged as the three main push factors, while destination attributes, events and activities, safety and familiarity, and variety of experiences were identified as dominant pull factors. The study recommends that tourism planners and marketers tailor tourism offerings to the asserted domestic tourists’ motivations to induce more domestic tourism demand and consumption among domestic tourists.