Comparing motivational patterns of e-mountain bike and common mountain bike tourists

Abstract

E-biking is a trend in tourism and everyday life, especially in the alpine context. It provides a broader field of activities and constitutes a mobility feature for subsequent activities. The trend raises the question whether tourists utilize e-mountain bikes for other reasons or have other motivational backgrounds than common mountain bikers, especially in a vacation setting. Thus, the main objective of the research letter was to explore tourists’ motives for participating in (e-) mountain bike activities. Therefore, the sport motivation scale (SMS-II) was applied with particular regard to possible differences between the mentioned groups. The results showed that e-mountain bike tourists (EMTs) and common mountain bike tourists (CMTs) do not differ in their motivational patters, but have different sociodemographic backgrounds; this might indicate different vacation patterns and thus allow interesting implications for the tourism industry and destination management organizations. Hence, we strive to encourage more researchers to analyse (e-)mountain bike activities in a touristic context.