Religious obligations to travel: first-generation Pakistani migrants from Newcastle-upon-Tyne

This article analyses the religious travel experiences of members of the first generation of the Muslim Pakistani diaspora living in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK drawing upon qualitative interpretations collected from semi-structured interviews. Religious travel for first-generation Muslim Pakistanis is influenced by Islamic principles and practices associated with obligations to travel to meet with friends and relatives. Religious obligations to travel are considered as a key factor influencing visiting friends and relatives (VFR) mobilities at a local and national level. The religious obligation associated with VFR travel is examined in view of one of the five pillars of Islam, which is salah (prayer), which stimulates various mobilities. Central to the analysis of religious-orientated (VFR) journeys are the conceptual underpinnings of obligations situated in the mobilities paradigm, which give rise to understandings of spiritualities of place. Religious obligations to travel unite the Muslim diaspora in various local (in Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and national (UK) settings. The contribution of this paper is, therefore, to advance the understanding of the relationship between Islam and travel, and add to existing knowledge of the journeys of Muslim travellers in the context of VFR travel. We conclude by suggesting further avenues of research concerning religious obligations to travel.     

International Students in Asia: Travel Behaviors and Destination Perceptions

This study investigates the incidence of international student travel in Taiwan. It was found that Chinese, Asian and other international students behave somewhat differently from respondents in prior studies conducted in Western settings. Cultural background influenced the travel behaviors of international students as well as their perceptions of Taiwan as a tourism destination. The visiting friends and relatives (VFR) market induced by Asian respondents offers greater tourism-related potential than the travel activity that students themselves undertake. The contrary was found for non-Asian students where the student-induced VFR market is small and prospectively less attractive than the student market. The Chinese international student travel market and induced VFR market showed less potential than anticipated, perhaps because of the embryonic stage of diplomatic and commercial relations between Taiwan and mainland China.     

论纳兰性德词中雨的意象

纳兰词中雨意象出现频率颇高,统计起来,在纳兰性德的三百四十三首词中,雨出现了八十七次之多。可将雨意象归纳为四类,分别是思妻之雨、悼亡之雨、思友之雨和怀乡之雨。雨的意象的形成,与词人个人独特的感伤性格、词人自己一生的遭遇、词人的伤感的审美观以及传统的婉约词尤其是北宋词的影响有关。     

Hosting as social practice: Gendered insights into contemporary tourism mobilities

By giving voice to highly-skilled mobile professional women who have relocated to Switzerland from various European countries, representing different nationalities, duration of migration and family circumstances, we shed light on the experiences of hosting – an under-researched segment of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) mobilities. Our findings reveal a threefold investigation to sociality, tourism and mobility, by drawing on empirical insights to three angles: that of, culture, intimacy and identity as pathways to transformative social practices among hosts and guests. Highly-skilled mobile professional women’s hosting practices reflect a laboratory of sociality whereupon relations of closeness and proximity are tested under new conditions of social and private life in the new destination country.     

郑板桥论处世哲学及其文友之交

郑板桥是历史上为人称道的好官,也是清代极为重要的人文画家。郑板桥认为人的德与福是辩证统一的,多德多福,所以他强调在处世方面要以德接人。郑板桥对自己的作品有足够的自信,但他自信而不自大,喜欢自谦,也喜欢赞人,对他人及其作品都非常尊重。郑板桥的报恩情节较重,凡是对他有恩的人都力图报答。郑板桥主张广泛交友,因为交友可以合作,可以相互学习和影响。同时,郑板桥强调交友必须至诚,人与人之间应该讲真实,讲信用,真诚相处。     

Conceptual and theoretical implications of tourism between partitioned states

Recent history regarding the partition or separation of single states is not new. The ramifications caused by these divisions are numerous. All too often, the problems associated with crossing the “new” border, visiting family and friends separated by the newly imposed border, or trying to establish or re‐establish business ties with past acquaintances are overlooked. Once a country is partitioned, there are several levels or stages which the newly partitioned states go through in a “maturing'’ process to build new identities and levels of trust. At the macro level, there are social, economic, and political differences which must be resolved before open dialogues can occur. Often, by allowing family members, in the two or more partitioned states, to visit each other, the governments begin a long process of reconciliation. The fact that travel and tourism is one of the fundamental aspects of this process is significant.     

VFR travel: It is underestimated

Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel is a substantial form of tourism worldwide. In Australia, official data measure VFR in one of two ways - purpose of visit or type of accommodation. However, this is only a measurement of those factors; it is not a measure of the size by volume of VFR travel. Yet tourism practitioners often mistakenly use these data to state the size of VFR travel in their destination. Based on quantitative research undertaken in three contrasting destinations in Australia, estimates for the size of VFR travel in those destinations is provided. These results highlight that using official data for measuring VFR travel will underestimate this segment in any Australian destination. Using the VFR definitional model as a conceptual model, this research has estimated that VFR travel represents 48% of Australia’s total overnight tourism market.     

The role of social ties and communication technologies in visiting friends tourism- A GMM simultaneous equations approach

This study has two objectives: to examine the interplay between communication technologies, social ties, attractiveness of destination and distance, focusing on the visiting friends tourism; and to further distinguish the visiting friends sub-segment from the visiting relatives' one. We pursue a quantitative approach by analyzing survey data among 300 respondents who maintain connections with friends overseas, while accounting for endogeneity and simultaneity concerns. We find further justification of the need to study visiting relatives and visiting friends separately. We demonstrate that the use of different communication channels is not monolithic; some media are negatively correlated with travel to meet in person, while other media and meetings in person are mutually reinforcing. Yet, the ongoing advances in communication technologies, on the one hand, and in transportation, on the other, entails that the interplay between communication technologies and face-to-face meeting will evolve, hence, it should continue to be explored in future research.     

Visiting friends or relatives?

Visiting friends and relatives (VFR) contributes significantly to tourism activity and revenues, accounting for about 48 percent of domestic travel in Australia. Implicit in most discussions of VFR travel is that it represents one homogeneous market. This paper examines this assumption and demonstrates – based on data from 67,024 domestic and international tourists to Australia – that this is not the case. The profile of people visiting friends (VFs) differs significantly from that of people visiting relatives (VRs). This finding has major implications for tourism marketing which need to target VFs or VRs in distinctly different ways, rather than generically marketing to VFR travellers.     

The Situational Influence of Travel Group Composition

Abstract

A substantial amount of statistics and articles in travel magazines indicated that family vacation travel is one of the major worldwide trends. However, very limited empirical research has been dedicated to this special market segment. This study examined Japanese family travelers to Taiwan by comparing and contrasting them with other travel companionship groups including traveling with friends and traveling alone. The importance of travel group composition segmentation was explained and conceptualized through the understanding of the value of social groups from sociology perspective. The results indicated that Japanese family travelers exhibited unique characteristics when traveling. Family travelers tended to be more motivated by learning oriented themes and participated enthusiastically in activities that facilitated experiential learning as well as total physical relaxation. The “traveling with friends” and “traveling solo” segments tended to be seeking more of activities that had strong entertaining and socializing undertones. The traveling solo group appeared to be the most evasive or the least understood in what their needs and preferences were. Marketing implications were discussed.