A new type of chartered holiday, fitness holiday, has evolved during the last years and has also been mentioned in different media channels. Despite this, fitness holiday is a relatively new and unexplored phenomenon, which caught our interest to further explore this. The desire to travel on a holiday of this type has also increased. Therefore, a study about this particular phenomenon with focus on the traveler’s motives behind the choice to go has been done.

It’s a qualitative study and most part of the data has been collected during a field study to Playitas Resort, Canary Islands. An observation and several qualitative interviews with visitors at the resort were done during the field study. The purpose of the study is to understand the motive people have for traveling on fitness holidays and the factors behind their choice of destination. The theoretical frame of reference the study has as starting point is a reworked version of Selbys theory Culture and experience in urban tourism to create an understanding of how the buying process happened. To get an understanding about the motive behind their choice of travel, Pearce model Tourist Career Pattern is combined with theories of internal and external forces as well as primary and secondary motives.

Lastly, the study show that those who travel on fitness holiday tend to have a similar motive when it comes to the primary motive, internal motivation and also similar reflections in decision-taking. The remaining motives vary depending on personality and identity. The result can to come extent be applied to other travelers since a pattern is found in the analysis.