1. Contemporary Tourists, Tourist Behavior and Flows
Chapter Four
Contemporary Tourists, Tourist Behavior and Flows
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2. 4/4/2022 By Mohammed Jemal (PhD)
Tourist Behavior
Tourists are not alike.
In fact, they are staggeringly diverse in age, motivation, level of affluence and preferred activities.”
Understanding tourist behavior will help to avoid the sin of homogenization, of treating all travellers as the same.
4/4/2022 By Mohammed Jemal (PhD)

3. The Etic–Emic Distinction
Emic Approach
One that takes the perspective of the participant/ person engaging in the behavior.
Involves finding out from the participant how they see the world, how they look at the setting and the value of their experience
Etic Approach
Contrast to an emic approach whereby an observer or an outsider, classifies or describes the tourist behavior according to pre-judged categories
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4. Tourist Behaviour: To Whom Does It Matter?
tends to matter to tourists. People are concerned with their life experience – what they do – and they like to understand it.
So, one answer to the question is that tourists themselves are very concerned with their own experiences and how to maximize each one, whether it be a short regional visit or an extended international holiday.
A second answer to the question is that tourist behavior matters to people who are making decisions about tourists.
There is a whole array of such decision-makers. They may be people in the public sector who provide permits for tour operators; they may be managers or tour guide.
All sorts of people are concerned with tourist behavior because their job involves making an enabling decision or policy choice about tourist activities.
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5. Phases of Tourist Activities:
1. Anticipation or Pre-purchase Phase
Many tourist plan for their forthcoming travel. In the first anticipation phase, many tourists plan for and fantasize about their forthcoming travel for months, sometimes years ahead.
2. Travel to the site segment Anticipatory element of tourist experience by the need to access the location.
3. On-site experience
The intangible experience and opportunity to view, absorb, feel, hear and sense the place visited
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6. Phases of Tourist Activities…
4. Return Travel Component ▪ Deep personal reaction and sometimes socio-environmental consequences of the tourist on-site experience 5. The extended recall and recollection Stage
The reflection phase of the tourist experience
From a business perspective, the pre- and post-travel phases are important subcomponents of the total expenditure that travellers must make to access the on-site experience.
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7. Tourist activities
tourist roles changed over time for any given destination.
the early tourists to an area were explorers, next were the adventurers, and these in turn were followed by the drifters. With expanding numbers the roles were then those of the mass and charter tourists.
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8. Role-related behaviors of Tourists
Five traditional role-related behaviors for tourists were:
goes to famous places
takes photos,
buys souvenirs,
stays briefly in one place, and
does not understand the local people.
Five contemporary role-related behaviors for a tourists are:
stays briefly in one place,
experiments with local food,
goes to famous places,
takes photos, and
explores places privately.
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9. Role and responsibilities of tourists
Tourists in general
Sustainable tourists
• to obey local laws • not to participate in widely condemned, albeit legal, activities • not to offend religious beliefs • not to damage the physical environment • not to overuse resources
And additionally • not to visit a place with a poor human rights record • be responsible to learn about the visited place including some language • meet and form friendships with local people • boycott local businesses which pay staff poor wages • not to spread disease • contribute to the local economy
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10. Individual variables describing tourist Behaviors
Demographic factors
Travelling style distinctions
Product and activity classifications
Age Gender Nationality Additional demographic factors: • expenditure • occupation • education
Accommodation used Activity participation Destination patterns Length of stay Trip purpose Distance travelled Travel party composition Seasonality/travel time Travel arrangements: • independent • package • mixed Transport mode
Cultural tourists: • heritage tourists • ethnic tourists Nature oriented tourists: • wildlife tourists • ecotourists Adventure tourists Educational tourists: • science tourists • volunteers Theme park tourists Casino tourists Urban tourists Agricultural tourists: • wine tourists • farm tourists Sex tourists: • romance tourists • companionship tourists Business tourists: • conference tourists • events tourists
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11. Age Age is both an observable and a universal demographic descriptor.
Children
Importantly the participation of children in demonstrations, games, events and rides may galvanise adult interest, extend the time of the visit and have commercial implications in terms of souvenir and food purchases.
adults’ satisfaction may largely depend on the satisfaction of their children in some tourism settings.
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12. Experience WWII in Adulthood
Generation
Sub Generation
Time-Table
Notable Occurrences
Greatest Generation
G.I Generation
Experience WWII in Adulthood
Silent Generation
Experience WWII in Childhood
Baby Boomers
Boom Generation
Space Exploration
Generation X
Baby Busters
Experience Vietnam/ Cold War
MTV Generation/ Boomerang Gen
Rise of Mass Media/ End of Cold War
Generation Y
Echo Boom
Rise of the information age, war on terror, rising gas and food prices
Generation Z
New silent generation
Internet, dot coms, digital globalization
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13. Teenagers
Studies of the tourism experiences of teenagers are limited, and mostly come under the umbrella of educational tourism such as school study tours or are investigated as a part of the lower bounds of the independent youth market
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14. the backpacker
The age range of key interest here is the 18–35 segment.
backpackers are identifiable by independently organised and flexible travel schedules, a social orientation, long (from four weeks to a year) rather than brief holidays, and a preference for participatory activities.
Many of them work for some portion of their time while travelling
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15. Baby boomers
Another age-based segment is that referred to as the ‘baby boomers’.
The term refers specifically to the cohort of people born between 1945 and 1966
The expression baby boomers applies best to the countries of Canada, the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand where economic conditions after the Second World War were sound and families were encouraged.
Baby boomers are now settled and mostly comfortable with their place in the world.
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16. older travellers stay away from home longer.
As baby boomers are on the cusp of entering the senior-travellers category, they do so with the richest array of previous travel experiences and the highest expectations of any cohort in human history.
Existing studies of senior travellers note a balance of forces influencing their tourist behaviour.
On the one hand there is the view that contemporary seniors are becoming more active, more adventurous and remain healthier for longer
an over-55 group was more likely to undertake cruises, go touring and visit relatives or friends but less likely to visit cities, theme parks and resorts.
older travellers stay away from home longer.
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17. Nationality
Nationality is a widely used demographic descriptor in tourism studies.
It is sometimes an observable characteristic with physical appearance, clothing styles, and tour party characteristics providing identifiable markers of nationality.
It is often used as an indicator of the cultural allegiance or roots of the tourist.
Nationality, it appears, matters in the treatment of tourists.
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18. Nationality…
Studies conducted on Japanese and Americans, British and German, Korean and Australian, French and English E.g. Japanese were seen to be the least social, highly interested in shopping and more satisfied with staged or set-up tourist experiences. The Americans and Italians were the most social and, despite some communication difficulties,
the Italians were the most adept at and enthusiastic about bargaining.
The French and Italians shared the designation of being the most adventurous,
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19. Gender
Gender is another ubiquitous demographic descriptor in tourism studies.
Even more than age and nationality, it is an immediately observable and relatively unambiguous characteristic.
Women travellers have sought and in many places have effected changes in décor, better facilities for managing their appearance, and more flexible spaces for working and for being alone.
Security issues also concern female travellers.
There are a number of other widely used demographic descriptors, including education, occupation, household composition and income.
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20. Travelling Styles
In tourism study there are some distinctive variables that apply to travel behaviour. These variables are sometimes labelled ‘tripographics’
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21. tripographic
Some of the suggested tripographic or travelling style variables are:
type of accommodation used, activity participation,
multiple or single destination,
length of stay,
expenditure pattern,
trip purpose (e.g. business or pleasure as distinct from traveller motivation),
transportation mode,
travel arrangements (such as package tour or independent travel or a combination of the two),
travel distance,
travel party and the season of travel.
The list is extensive and has been used in part in many tourist behaviour studies.
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22. Motivation of Tourists
Motivation is then an initial point in studying tourist behavior and beyond that for understanding systems of tourism
The four common and main travel motivations (
escape/relax,
novelty/ stimulation,
relationship and
self-development
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23. Motivation… Escape/relax resting and relaxing
getting away from everyday psychological stress/pressure
being away from daily routine
getting away from the usual demands of life
giving my mind a rest
not worrying about time getting away from everyday physical stress/pressure
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24. Motivation... Novelty having fun
experiencing something different feeling the special atmosphere of the vacation destination
visiting places related to my personal interests
Autonomy
being independent
being obligated to no one
doing things my own way
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25. Nature Viewing the scenery being close to nature
getting a better appreciation of nature
being harmonious with nature
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26. Motivation… Self-development (host–site involvement)
learning new things
experiencing different cultures
meeting new and varied people
developing my knowledge of the area
meeting the locals
observing other people in the area
following current events
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27. Plog classifies tourists into three categories as described below:
Allocentric (The Wanderers) −
A tourist who seeks new experiences and adventure in a wide range of activities.
This person is outgoing and self-confident in behavior. An allocentric person prefers to fly and to explore new and unusual areas before others do so.
Allocentrics enjoy meeting people from foreign or different cultures.
They prefer good hotels and food, but not necessarily modern or chain-type hotels.
For a tour package, an allocentric would like to have the basics such as transportation and hotels, but not be committed to a structured itinerary.
They would rather have the freedom to explore an area, make their own arrangements and choose a variety of activities and tourist attractions
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28. Psychocentric (The Repeater)
A tourist falling in this category is usually non-adventuresome.
They prefer to return to familiar travel destinations where they can relax and know what types of food and activity to expect.
Such tourists prefer to drive to destinations, stay in typical accommodations, and eat at family-type restaurants.
Midcentric (Combination) − This category of tourists covers the ones who swing between the above said two types.
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29. Henley Center has divided the tourists into four phases
Phase I- Bubble Travelers − They do not have much money as well as knowledge. They prefer packaged tours. They long to observe different cultures without being a part of it. They travel mostly out of curiosity.
Phase II- Idealized Experience Seekers − They are confident tourists with the experience of foreign tours. They are flexible and comfortable. They prefer tour offers made for individuals.
Phase III- Seasoned Travelers − These tourists are more affluent than the idealized-experience seekers. They are more confident to experiment and experience different places and environments. They are more adventurous and prefer individualistic tours.
Phase IV- Complete Immersers − These tourists have an intention of immersing completely into the foreign culture, heritage, culinary experience, and language. Their holidaying is well-planned but not well-structured.
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30. Social Contact for the Tourist
Tourists and Other Tourists
Tourists can have multiple perspectives on other tourists.
The multiple perspectives tourists may have of other tourists
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31. Potential close friend friendly contact – intimacy
Other tourist seen as
Behaviors
Positive views
Potential close friend
friendly contact – intimacy
learn about and from them
learn about other culture
Travel companion
• partner for activities • socialize, someone to be with
Helper
• source of information
• share costs
• lend a hand
Security guard
• look after possessions
• prevent unwanted contacts
Neutral perspective
Background scenery
• just there • no impact
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32. • minor discomfort • something unfamiliar
Other tourist seen as
Behaviors
Negative views
Stranger
• minor discomfort • something unfamiliar
Disturber
• noise source • adds to crowd • invades privacy • causes conflict, contributes to culture shock
Competitor
• competitor for accommodation, tickets, space, access to people and setting
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33. Tourists’ Relationships with Hosts
The term ‘hosts’ as a convenient integrating expression for two groups of locals with whom visitors come in contact: service personnel and local citizens.
Much attention has been directed towards understanding the characteristics and performance of tourist service personnel.
The relationships and social contact that the tourist has with the service personnel are rarely examined.
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34. Tourists’ Relationships….
There is a view that tourists can be disturbingly rude towards the people looking after them.
It seems worthwhile to explore under what circumstances, how frequently and by whom, these negative tourist behaviors are generated.
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35. Negative encounters Tourists themselves can be the victims of
organized criminal stings and
Assault as well as
being subject to disease and financial exploitation
stealing, snatching handbags and wallets)
blackmail and assault.
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36. Travelling with family and friends
Many travel parties are composed not of couples, friends and assorted family groupings.
Arabs
Students
Gays
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37. Culture Contact and Culture Shock
Culture shock refers to feelings of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety that people may experience when moving to a new country or experiencing a new culture or surroundings
Cross-cultural contact is a part of many on-site tourist experiences.
It usually occurs internationally but can develop in domestic tourism situations.
‘Culture shock’ is now a term in popular use that describes the difficulties of operating in a foreign culture.
The difficulty in dealing with people whose value system and communication style may be markedly different is a major contributor to culture shock.
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38. Authenticity and Tourist Behavior
A major tradition in assessing and understanding tourists’ on-site experiences has developed around the concept of authenticity.
Authenticity has an openness, an unexpected gift-like quality.
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39. Distance as a determinant of the flows and patterns of contemporary tourism
Hall (2005a) focused on the importance of distance as an explanatory variable for the distribution of tourists and tourism production.
He argues that the distribution of travel behaviour in space and time reflects an ordered adjustment to the factor of distance, whether it be in the form of space–time, economic, network, cognitive, social or cultural distance.
According to Tobler (1970, 2004), the first law of geography is that everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things.
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40. Time distance which is the time taken to travel between locations.
The distribution of travel behaviour in space and time reflects an ordered adjustment to the factor of distance. Types of distance that influence tourism include:
Euclidean distance which is the direct physical distance between locations.
Time distance which is the time taken to travel between locations.
Economic distance (cost distance) which is the monetary cost incurred in overcoming physical distance between two locations.
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41. Distance…
● Network distance which is the distance between locations via intermediate points, as in a transport network or telecommunication network. This can also sometimes be referred to as route or ‘Manhattan’ distance. ● Cognitive distance (perceived distance) which are judgements regarding the spatial separation of locations. Cognitive distance is particularly important for example to the ways that actual or potential travellers to collect, structure and recall information with respect to locations in physical space and establish mental maps. ● Social distance which is a distance component associated with differences between social classes (which possess different socioeconomic characteristics) which may be expressed in terms of the locational characteristics of class or status. ● Cultural distance related to the above but refers more specifically to differences between cultures and how that is expressed in perceptions of distance.
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42. Global Consumer Trends
The C-Consumers
A new type of consumer was born as a result of the technological evolutions of the late 20th century as well as a consequence of globalisation.
Today’s consumers are increasingly connected; they are in fact always connected. This generation of consumers may be called the ‘C-generation’ or the connected generation
People of all ages have adopted a new connected lifestyle with their electronic devices.
Mobile devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones have made it possible for people to always be connected, at the office and at home, on the road, and in destinations.
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43. C-Comsumer
This connected consumer has earlier been called the e-consumer (electronic consumer).
More recently, connected mobile tourists have been called m-tourists: they use mobile electronic devices such as smartphones or tablets.
Even on vacations, they are connected to their devices and, as a result, to networks and to work.
Not only are consumers constantly checking their smartphones, they will soon be wearing connected watches that carry multi-purpose applications from way-finding to hotel room keys.
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44. C-Consumer
Travellers are connected to keep in touch with Contacts, but also to get Content anytime.
This is the Google generation that is constantly looking for information, news, photos or videos.
Not only are people consuming content, they are also creating and posting content.
Thanks to web 2.0 technologies, tourists post pictures and videos, write blogs, share ideas and experiences, write evaluations and recommendations.
They can do this anytime and faster than any business or destination could do it.
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45. C-Customer…
The connected traveller evolves from being a passive consumer (I read and consume information) to an active one (I produce information, I share it, and I persuade others).
It is therefore important for organizations to learn how to use such consumers.
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46. The Green Consumers
Sustainable development has grown since the late 1980s as a new approach for tourism planning and management.
The basic tenet of sustainable development is that natural resources are limited and should be managed so that they can still be enjoyed by and continue to provide economic benefits for future generations.
the late 20th century has witnessed a growing consumer concern for the environment.
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47. Green Customer
The emerging ‘green consumer’ is mindful of the environment and is supportive of environmental causes.
Such consumers change their purchase behaviour and may even switch brands or products to have a lesser impact on the environment. They are:
Environmentally friendly
Socially responsible
Educated
In response to the greening trends, governments, destinations, and companies are increasingly implementing sustainable development strategies and numerous ‘green’ labels and certifications have been established
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48. Green Consumers
Companies are increasingly focusing on sustainability because of government regulations, competitive pressure and customer demand.
From a tourist behavior perspective, companies believe that visitors look for green companies and might choose green companies as opposed to ‘non-green’ ones.
For example, hotel group Accor has invested resources and made strong efforts to become the leading hotel group with respect to sustainability.
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49. Contemporary Tourists flow
Changes have been also observed in terms of worldwide representation of the industry.
Geographically, unlike the earlier centuries, tourism does not confine only to the traditional destination countries.
Nowadays new tourism destinations and generating countries are also represented on the global maps of tourism
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50. Tourists flow…
Nowadays, however, millions of people travel to different countries all around the world for seeking rest, enjoying a new experience, impressions, engaging in various business, and partaking governmental, religious or other missions
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51. Trends of Tourist flow
The movement of tourists with respect to both the number of people travelling and the geographic spread of where people travel has continued almost unabated since the end of World War II.
Multiple reasons exist for the growth in international and domestic travel. However, critical are increasing disposal incomes and available time for travel.
Yet there are also a number of other factors that determine both the generation of tourists from countries and their reception at destinations.
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52. Trends…
It is reported that tourism, as a global industry, was a generator of large numbers of international arrivals, with 600 million recorded in 2000 and ascended to1.4 billion in 2018 (UNWTO, 2019).
Travel and tourism play a key role in economic development, foreign currency generation and job creation throughout the world.
From the suppliers' perspective, the raison d’être of tourism and the justification for its promotion in any area is its alleged economic contribution to the development.
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53. Trends…
According to the UNTWO report of 2019 worldwide international tourist arrival reached 1.4 billion that surpass the two years UNTWO projections thereof.
According to this report, international tourist arrivals grew 5% in 2018.
In the same year, tourism contributed 1.7 trillion to the world economy.
These figures have been attained two years ahead of the UNWTO forecast (UNWTO, 2019). These figures expressly reveal the trend and the role of the sector in the world economy has been increasing.
The relatively strong global economy, a growing middle class in emerging economies, technological advancement, new business models, affordable travel costs and the ease of visa facilitation have proved the main factors for these achievements.
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54. Trends…
The gradual increment of discretionary time and income are also among the most important factors that enable more people to engage in tourism (Weaver & Lawton, 2014).
Tourism serves as the main export item and generates hard currency for many least developed countries.
In addition to the direct economic contribution, it has also secondary effects on the host communities. Secondary effects include indirect and induced economic effects.
There is no doubt that in the tourism business, each dollar of direct sales generates another dollar in secondary sales in the destinations.
On top of that, since tourism is a labor-intensive industry, it creates job opportunities for locals (Brida et al., 2013).
Furthermore, tourism naturally has backward and forward linkages with other sectors therefore it serves as a catalyst for the growth of other industries. It brings about income distribution through an economic multiplier (Gnanapala & Sandaruwani, 2016).
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55. Trend… The movement of tourists is not evenly spread around the globe.
Tourism is subject to a range of influences and factors that determine its relative distribution.
Flows are not random but are patterned.
One of the immediate results of an analysis of international tourism in terms of patterns of movement is that international tourism has historically been concentrated in North America and Europe.
However, there is change over time as the Asia-Pacific region is experiencing significant growth relative to Europe and the Americas.
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56. Trends…
In fact, the only events which have had affects on the entire global tourism system since modern tourism began in the 1850s are: ● World wars or major international conflicts. ● Serious economic depression or periods of severe recession over a large number of countries. ● Rapid increase in the price of a major energy source that is used for transportation, particularly oil. ● Outbreaks of contagious disease like tsunami, COVID19
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57. specifically pleasure tourism was limited only for the affluent elites.
Nowadays, however, millions of people travel to different countries all around the world for seeking rest, enjoying a new experience, impressions, engaging in various business, and partaking governmental, religious or other missions
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58. Trends of Tourist flows…
The relatively strong global economy,
a growing middle class in emerging economies,
Technological advancement in transport and communication,
affordable travel costs and
the ease of visa facilitation
The gradual increment of time and discretionary/disposal income and free time are also among the most important factors that enable more people to engage in tourism
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