TAF PUBLISHING

This study was conducted to theoretically develop and empirically test to explore the best fit model of millennial tourist behavior towards tourism in Davao Region, Philippines. Structural equation was utilized in this study to test the causal relationship between variables. A total of 553 survey questionnaires was collected from selected millennial tourist in Davao Region. The data were obtained at the pre-departure area of Davao City Airport and selected major tourism destinations of Davao Region. Descriptive statistics, Pearson R, Stepwise Regression, and Goodness of Fit Test were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that tourist attitude, tourist motivation, social media, tourist visit intention, and tourist behavior were all rated as moderately high. Furthermore, tourist attitude, tourist motivation, social media, and tourist visit intention were highly correlated with tourist behavior. Meanwhile, tourist visit intention and tourist attitude were the best predictor of tourist behavior while tourist motivation and social media were the least predictors. Furthermore, the final model passed all the goodness-of- fit indices criteria. The implication of these findings can be applied to the enhancement of tourism destination competitiveness.