Workingholidays are a new type of tourism, which is mostly popular among the young people. The study of tourists’ perceived risk and its motivation has some reference meaning to the development tendency of workingholiday in the future. This article empirically analyses the tourists’ perceived risk and its motivation through the means of questionnaires. By means of factor analysis, it extracts four factors of perceived risk: domestic environment, cultural differences, physical and mental safety and the working environment in the destination as well as three factors of tourism motivation: ability promotion, broadening horizon, and shaking off the status quo. Through correlation and multiple regression analysis, it finds out that the risk perception of the domestic environment, physical and mental safety and the working environment in the destination can significantly affect the tourism motivation of ability promotion and shaking off the status quo. Because of the peculiarity of workingholiday travel, the tourists’ perceived risk of cultural differences does not have a significant impact on tourists’ decisionmaking, while tourists’ motivation is more inclined to improve their ability and get rid of the current situation rather than open their horizons. Therefore, the development of workingholidays should pay more attention to the normativity of the domestic institutions and the destination company.

workingholiday; tourist perceived risk; tourist motivation; youth tourists