Autonomous/controlled travel motivations and their effect on travel intentions of Indian Millennials: a mixed method approach

With the self-determination theory (SDT) as grounding, the current study uses qualitative investigation with twenty-five respondents and a two-stage quantitative validation with 782 respondents, to propose seven travel motivations for Indian millennials. These motivations are knowledge-seeking, escape, sense of accomplishment, experience stimulation, social relationships, destination rewards, and social media compulsion. These motivations are mapped to specific regulations in the SDT and organized into autonomous and controlled motivations. Both autonomous and controlled motivations have a significant impact on travel intentions. A judgemental sample of Indian millennials is drawn from the eligible client-list of a prominent tourism agency used as the sampling frame. The study guides destination managers to position their destinations aligned with the motivations that drive Indian millennials to travel.