Abstract

This study attempts to explore the motives of visitors attending a sport tourist event in Lake Kenyir, Malaysia. Using a quantitative research approach, data were collected from 400 subjects using the Leisure Motivation Scale developed by Ragheb and Beard (1983). This study examined the motives of tourists in terms of the following dimensions : intellectual (the extent to which an individual is motivated to travel to be involved in activities such as exploring, discovering or creating), social ( the extent to which an individual travels because of the need for friendship and interpersonal relationships), competence-mastery ( the extent to which an individual engages in tourism activities that is challenging, achievement-oriented or competitive in nature), and stimulus-avoidance (the extent to which an individual needs to escape and get away form over-stimulating situations).The results indicate that visitors are comprised of two groups of individuals : active and passive sport tourists. Factors such as competence mastery and intellectual factors were discovered to be significant variables which motivate people to seek active sport-oriented vacations. On the other hand, passive sport tourists are motivated by social factors and the need to escape from over stimulating situations. Implications of the findings for researchers and tourist managers are presented.