Advancing Theory for Understanding Travelers' Own Explanations of Discretionary Travel Behavior

Abstract

This article uses narrative, case study analysis to examine consumer leisure and travel behavior. Adopting an interpretive research paradigm, the article examines travel behavior using face-to-face interviews of traveler informants, applies the folk theory of the mind, ecological systems theory, and the fits-like-a-glove model. Findings from the investigation indicate that most individual and household leisure and travel-relating behavior results from a “causal historical wave” in which an array of events come together, interact, and cause individuals to participate in certain behaviors and that most travel behavior is the result of automatic thinking rather than a rational or constructive process.     

Bleisure: motivations and typologies

ABSTRACT

The theme of motivation in travel and tourism research has been largely dominated by a leisure focus and has consequently failed to reflect the changing landscape of business travel. This paper focuses on exploring the motivations of different types of “bleisure travelers”: individuals who combine leisure with professional business obligations when abroad. We employ a multi-disciplinary mixed-methods approach, using photo-elicitation to identify and describe five types of bleisure. As existing theories of tourist motivations have mainly been developed in a leisure context, they fail to fully capture the nuanced scope and subtle context of business and leisure motives. We therefore draw upon experiential learning, boundary-less career theory, expectancy theory, and social capital theory in order to put forward contemporary insights on the nexus between business and leisure tourism.     

The Impacts of Terrorism

Abstract

After the downturn spiral in travel resulting from the Gulf War, marketing professionals had to become extremely creative in trying to attract travelers back to the recreation and tourism markets of the world. However, the events of September 11 inflicted far greater damage to the domestic travel market in the United States than did the Gulf War. The purposes of the study were to examine the perceptions and attitudes of people toward (1) the awareness and acceptance of security measures in travel and tourism, (2) the effects of the September 11 attacks on the tourism industry and industry responses, and (3) the changes of people's travel and recreation behaviors such as destination and activity choices. The individuals surveyed were asked questions concerning their perceptions regarding the effects of the September 11 attacks on the tourism industry and government/business responses, the relative importance of safety in destination/activity choice, security measures at airports, and the changes of their spending patterns, travel decisions, and leisure pursuits. The results of the study indicated that faculty members were more likely to experience the changes of their life, travel decision, and activity choices than students.     

Contract Disputes in Travel and Tourism: When the Online Deal Goes Bad

Abstract

This article explores e-commerce contract liability and its impact on the travel and tourism industry. Topics such as, what constitutes a legally-binding contract, and the various methods of accepting contracts online, such as click wrap and electronic signatures, are discussed. Jurisdiction issues particularly pertinent when considering liability related to travel and tourism products are addressed. Numerous tourism related liability cases are cited. The article concludes with recommendations for travel and tourism e-commerce businesses for limiting contract liability.     

Baby boomers turning grey: European profiles

Globally, the senior or “grey” tourism segment is of increasing importance, reflecting a richer aging population with good health and a desire to travel. Though this niche is traditionally described as homogeneous, grey tourism comprises different subgroups. Identifying the profiles, preferences, and behaviors of these subgroups has become an important task for organizations competing to satisfy tourist demands. This study classifies the factors that most influence mature travelers' decisions. Using a database of 3458 respondents from 35 European countries, four new grey tourism market subgroups were identified. These were named “explorers”, “livewires”, “vacationers”, and “homebodies”, to reflect different preferences and behaviors. The implications for destination marketing and management are also discussed.     

What is Leisure Without Becoming? Assemblages of Active and Reactive Leisure

Abstract

In answering the question, “what is leisure without becoming?” this article revisits philosophical insights in Deleuze’s reading of Spinoza and Nietzsche. I investigate the relevance of these thinkers to Deleuze and Guattari’s collaboration to propose an understanding of leisure as not only becoming but also as negation of difference and possible repetition of the same in reactive leisure. Leisure as becoming is a vital realization of what a body can do that cannot entirely be conceived as a state of Being, a period of time, or necessarily an activity. Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of assemblage is used to understand becoming as a line of flight, a relational deterritorialization, that extends the capacities of a body.     

Marketing Strategies for Last-Minute Travel and Tourism

Abstract

Travel and tourism arranged at the “last minute” has become a growing trend among consumers today. Responding to this trend, more and more travel/tourism firms are offering services catering to consumers seeking last-minute travel and tourism opportunities. Yet, clearly, not all last-minute travellers are alike. Variability in last-minute consumer characteristics such as motivations, lifestyles, and benefits sought suggests opportunities for astute marketers and revenue managers to collaborate in further segmenting the last-minute market and developing more effective marketing and revenue management strategies to potentially increase the firms' revenues, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Toward this end, this article evaluates and discusses marketing strategies, marketing mix elements, and segmentation approaches that may be most appropriate for more effective marketing and revenue management in the last-minute travel and tourism market.     

Anatomy is not destiny: A feminist analysis of the scholarship on women's leisure

Abstract

The extent of the scholarship on women has accelerated over the past 20 years, yet many questions remain unanswered concerning what is known about women and their leisure behavior. Social science research about women and leisure that analyzes the interaction between the environment and biological sex has aided in understanding leisure behavior more completely and has enabled researchers to conclude that anatomy is not destiny. An analysis focusing on the critical corrective, and transformative aspects of feminist research provides a way to examine the trends in research on women specifically concerning women and leisure. The purpose of this article is to examine the foundations of the emerging scholarship on women and leisure, especially the research on gender differences, from a feminist perspective. The emerging trends in feminist research and the “state of the art” concerning scholarship on women as it is occurring in other disciplines is examined in light of how research in other fields may offer guidance for leisure research.     

De‐exoticizing Tourist Travel: Everyday Life and Sociality on the Move

Abstract

Tourism is traditionally treated as an escape from everyday life and tourism theory is concerned with extraordinary places. Tourism and everyday life are conceptualized as belonging to different ontological worlds. The former is the world of the extraordinary while the latter is one of the ordinary. This interdisciplinary review article argues that this separation is flawed by examining research that shows how leisure travel, tourism and everyday life intersect in complex ways. It begins with a conceptual discussion of the everyday, which works as the theoretical foundation for the article. Then the article outlines how everyday routines and conventions inform tourism performances: much traditional tourism revolves around socializing pleasantly with one’s co‐travelling family and friends, while more and more tourism concerns visiting friends and family members living elsewhere. The conclusion discusses what consequences an everyday life perspective has for future tourism research.     

Lifestyle Segmentation in Tourism and Leisure

ABSTRACT

This article examines three different approaches to lifestyle segmentation in improving the quality of tourism and leisure marketing decisions in three separate cases. Tourism and leisure products are prototypical lifestyle purchase yet in many tourism research studies visitors are described by demographics or tourism behaviour only. These cases illustrate different approaches to lifestyle segmentation. Firstly, there are segmentation schemes based on external logic that can be broadly applied across a range of markets, including tourism and leisure. Alternatively, there are schemes that are based on a 'conversation' with the data and which rely on an internal logic within that data that may not transfer to other market contexts. Between these two lie schemes that apply external paradigms to specific datasets. The cases selected illustrate points along this spectrum.

The first case study examines the use by government tourism organizations of lifestyle segmentation 'bought in' from an external source. Here lifestyle segmentation data is collected from a representative sample of the Australian population as part of a commercial “single source” data set. The second case is based on a regional tourism study, which has utilized prior theory to develop its own lifestyle segmentation and at the same time related this to boarder characteristics of tourists in Tropical North Queensland. The third case examines the development of tailored lifestyle segmentation among 'event' spectators based on purely internal criteria unrelated to the broader population. These cases provide insight into the appropriate development and application of lifestyle segmentation and the use of the data by tourism and leisure managers. Managers may think about the type of lifestyle segmentation approach required based on how the segmentation scheme results need to be related to the wider market or population.     

Playing in the Posthuman Band: Toward an Aesthetics of Intra-Action in Musical Leisure

Abstract

In this article we use ideas from theorists associated with the “new materialist” or “posthuman” turns in contemporary philosophy in order to challenge the conception of the musical subject posited in aesthetic contemplation advanced by what we term the “pedagogical music world,” and to pursue the possibilities afforded by an aesthetics of intra-action exemplified in practices of the musical “jam.” We return to ancient Greek conceptions of music and leisure (mousikē and scholē), mediated by posthuman theoretical concerns in an examination of the nature of musical affect to argue that an aesthetics of intra-action necessitates a distributed and immanent notion of musical agency rather than individual and transcendent one. Through this discussion, we attempt to trouble the ideas put forth by the pedagogical music world to illuminate leisure potential as imagined in the “posthuman band.”     

The Effect of Length of Stay on Travelers' Perceived Satisfaction with Service Quality

SUMMARY

Consumer satisfaction related to service quality during the vacation experience is of paramount importance to the travel and tourism industry. This study tests empirically the effects the number of nights spent on a vacation have on the levels of satisfaction recent travelers report for three service aspects of the travel destination: perceived satisfaction with tourism service providers; perceived “freedom from defects” of tourism services; and perceived reasonableness of the cost of tourism services. Differentiation in satisfaction scores between “short-term visitors” (i.e., those who stayed from one to six nights) and “long-term visitors” (i.e., those who stayed seven or more nights) were examined. Significant differences between the two groups of visitors were present for (1) perceived satisfaction with industry professionals delivering the service experience at the travel destination, (2) perceived satisfaction with “freedom from defects” of the actual services at the destination, and (3) perceived reasonableness of the cost of services at the travel destination. Suggestions for how tourism industry professionals can make use of this information are presented.     

The psychological process of travel destination choice

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews literature on travel destination choice and organizes these studies systematically. A “cell–system” structure is proposed to describe the psychological process of travel destination choice. When forming decisions on vacations, tourists gather information on potential destinations and evaluate visit intentions among potential destinations (“cell”). The visit intentions are successively compared while information is updated in the process (“system”). The “cell–system” structure provides a clear view of the psychological process of travel destination choice. Empirical studies based on the structure can provide further insights into why and how tourists choose travel destinations.     

Industrial Heritage Attractions: Types and Tourists

Abstract

Heritage tourism has become an important sector in the tourism industry. In fact, interest in heritage tourism among the American public increased 16% from 1991 to 1995. In spite of this surge in demand for heritage tourism little is known about tourists' visitation to “types” of heritage attractions and if their travel behavior characteristics are related to their patterns of visitation. This study examined both issues in the context of industrial heritage tourism. The results indicated that tourists were visiting “types” of industrial heritage attractions. In addition, there was a relationship between the type of trip they were on, the number of people in their travel party, when they made their decision to visit, and the total number of trips they had taken in the last 12 months and the “type” of industrial heritage attraction they visited.     

How do young Chinese friendship groups make travel decisions? A content and interaction process analysis

ABSTRACT

Young Chinese tourists form an increasingly important market and they tend to travel in small friendship or family groups. This study examines how young Chinese friendship groups (aged between 18 and 35 years) make travel decisions. Using the observation approach, this study observes the group travel decision-making process of 10 small groups. Issues such as activity, cost, travel timing, transportation, climate, safety, and distance, were found to determine destination choice. The role and function of verbal and non-verbal behaviors in influencing group decision-making were also investigated. This study contributes to both general group interaction literature and tourism literature.     

大陆赴台自由行游客地方认同与休闲效益关系研究

台湾是许多大陆游客向往的休闲胜地, 大陆游客赴台自由行热度的持续升温, 这既给台湾带来巨大的旅游经济效益, 更可增进海峡两岸的民间交流和人民情谊。文章通过实证研究探讨大陆赴台自由行游客对台湾的地方认同及其在台从事休闲活动所获得的休闲效益等程度表现的差异性, 并检验地方认同与休闲效益间的相关性。研究表明, 大陆赴台自由行游客对台湾的地方认同以环境认同程度最高, 依恋程度最低, 其在台湾从事休闲活动所获得的休闲效益以社会效益最高, 生理效益最低;不同个人背景与游程规划的大陆赴台自由行游客在地方认同与休闲效益程度方面有显著的差异;地方认同与休闲效益间呈显著正相关且彼此间存在典型相关关系。研究成果可作为海峡两岸旅游职能部门及旅游企业完善休闲法规、环境与产品组合的参考。     

The Problem of Motivation in Understanding the Demand for Leisure Day Visits

Abstract

Motivation for leisure travel has been an equivocal aspect of the study of leisure travel. Psychological theory has been useful providing conceptions of tourism motivation based on drives and needs, however, operational problems occur using attitude constructs which have varying degrees of predictive ability. This paper offers an alternative approach to the problems of motivation, taking a pheno-menological approach to the issues, using ethno-methodological techniques in a logical, sociologically grounded analysis of conversational interview data.     

EDITORS' NOTE

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the pre- and post-entry attitudes and expectations of university tourism students. A longitudinal study was conducted over three years to determine the degree of “fit” between employment and employee in the tourism industry, an industry often thought of as providing less than satisfactory working conditions. The study found that students are generally satisfied with their working conditions, but that students tend to have unrealistic expectations about the salary they will attract at graduation. In addition results show a significant increase before and after job entry between the importance given to intellectual challenge and the opportunities for promotion. There was also a significant decrease in the perceived importance of opportunities for travel, combining work and leisure, and outdoor work and an active lifestyle. Students' comments on their employment and educational experiences are included and the implications of this study for educators, researchers, students and industry are discussed.     

TOURISM SENSE‐MAKING: THE ROLE OF THE SENSES AND TRAVEL JOURNALISM

The tourist experience is corporeal and multisensory. Tourism organizations, therefore, need to pay attention to the sensual content of promotional messages conveyed to potential tourists to provide incentives for seeking enriched experiences of place. Together with other image formation agents, travelogues (travel articles published in newspapers and magazines) offer information on and prompt imagination about destinations that help frame visitors' expectations and influence their subsequent travel decisions and behaviors. This article content‐analyzed 199 travelogues about New Zealand to identify relationships between regions and perceptions based on sensory allusions. It was found that the reporting of New Zealand as a whole by visiting journalists tended to utilize an appeal to all senses, but this was not true of individual destinations. It is suggested that urban destinations such as Auckland and Wellington possess potential for a wider sense appeal than is currently used through products based on urban adventure tourism and culinary tourism. An “ideal” itinerary is proposed that would permit journalists to capture a sensory experience of New Zealand.