City Break Motivation

Why do people take city break for a travel getaway? What does a city break means and what are the motivations associated with taking the trip?

Some characteristics of city break travel determine the meaning and why people take the trip. City break travel is usually a short trip of minimum of three nights or maximum of five nights stay. City break travel is considered as a secondary to the main vacation trip. A city break trip is easier to plan than other types of vacations because it is a short time/distance getaway. It depends on where a person lives, and which cities they want travel to if they are driving. This being said, one of the other characteristic of city break is the time frame. The time frame to travel is during low cost airline fares for domestic urban trips. Usually, during the off peak seasons, many airline companies have a great promotional deals to take advantage of secondary city trips.

I want to explain about city break trip as one type of adventure seeking through travel. What are the motivations for people taking a city break ravel? According to some travel psychologists, the main factors why people travel, in particular city break trips are these: “Motivation and city break travel- “tourism researchers have been tackling the questions of why people travel for many years. However the approach that is probably most commonly agreed upon and used in relation to travel motivations is the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ concept.” (Dunne, Buckley, & Flanagan, 2007)

The push motives explain the desire for travel and the pull motives explain the actual destination choice. The push motives for city break trips are escape, social, gift giving and fun excitement. The pull motives are cultural and educational whether it may be historical sites or cultural entertainment. These two motives, including low cost to travel and the easy access to find information through the internet helps to manage a city trip getaway.

I learned from reading this article that the majority people take a city break trip for escape. It does not matter if the city is a crowded and busy or reserved and quiet as long as they are away from their day to day living place and tasks. Most family or couples with children choose to get away by themselves to have a break from day to day activities at home.

Most weekends when I am off from work, I spend some time with my boyfriend and our friends in Washington D.C. The capital city where there are so many things to do, see diverse group of people and have an active social life. Here in Richmond, Va. Where I live now there are not so many things to do or see, as it is in Washington D.C. or Alexandria, Va. The drive is only two hours from Richmond so it makes it convenient for a weekend trip. I have been to Washington D.C. and surrounding areas many times.

Overall, it is an amazing experience to learn and explore whether it is for shopping, going to eat ethnic food at international restaurants and going out to night clubs. It is important to refresh our body and mind by taking a city break without any elaborated big vacation plans just to get away from once own environment.

Work Cited
Dunne, G., Buckley, J., & Flanagan, S. city break motivation: The case of Dublin- A successful national capital. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 22.3/4 (2007): 95-107. Retrieved November 4, 2010, from the Academic Search Complete Database.

Image, (n.d.), National Geographic.com. Retrieved November 4, 2010, from: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/018/cache/dc-ww2-memorial_1853_600x450.jpg
Image, (n.d.), National Geographic.com. Retrieved November 4, 2010, from: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/018/cache/dc-key-bridge_1844_600x450.jpg
Image, (n.d.), National Geographic.com. Retrieved November 4, 2010, from: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/018/cache/dc-dupont-circle_1841_600x450.jpg
Image, (n.d.), National Geographic.com. Retrieved November 4, 2010, from: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/267/cache/empire-state-building-night-new-york_26741_600x450.jpg