Ch. 11- Sociology of Tourism

The Extremes of International Travel Preferences

1. Relaxation versus Activity 2. Familiarity versus Novelty 3. Dependence versus Autonomy 4. Order versus Disorder

SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL SOCIAL EFFECTS OF TOURISM

1. The vacation and special business trips a person takes are often among life's most vivid memories. 2. For families, vacation trips taken together are among the highlights of the year's activities. 3. The presence of visitors in a particular area can affect the living patterns of local people. The extent to which a local population is affected depends on the diversity of the mixing groups, including factors such as obvious differences in wealth, habits, appearance, and behavior. 4. On a national basis, people of a particular country can have their lives changed by tourism, particularly if there are large numbers of tourists in proportion to the indigenous population. Visitors may influence ways of dressing, consumption patterns, desire for products used by tourists, sexual freedoms, and a broadening outlook on the world. 5. For both hosts and guests, the most satisfying relationships are formed when they can meet and interact socially at a gathering such as a reception, a tea, or a cultural event; in ''people-to- people'' programs (home visitation); or in life-seeing tourism (a structured learning-leisure program). 6. Tourism's effects on crime are negligible, but tourists can become easy victims of crime. Hosts must help them avoid dangerous places and areas. 7. Resentmentof visitors by local (indigenous) people can occur. There may be conflicts over the use (or abuse) of local facilities and resources. Consumer prices may rise during the ''tourist season.'' 8. Extensive tourism development can bring about undesirable social effects such as increased prostitution, gambling, drunkenness, rowdyism, unwanted noise, congestion, and other excesses. 9. Domestic and international tourism increases for people in a country that has a rising standard of living, a population age distribution favoring young adults or young marrieds with no children, and an increasing population of older, affluent adults. 10. People living in cities are more interested in travel than those living in small towns or rural areas. 11. Wealthy people and those in higher social classes are greatly inclined to travel. 12. Increase in the educational level in a population brings about an increase in travel. 13. Catering to people with disabilities substantially increases markets. 14. Group travel and tours are popular ways to travel. 15. Social tourism is a form of travel wherein the cost is subsidized by the traveler's trade union, government, public carrier, hotel, or association. 16. Travelers thus assisted are in low-income groups or older age groups, or they are workers in organizations authorized to receive such subsidies or vacation bonuses.

Barriers to Travel

= Cost = Lack of Discretionary Time = Health Limitations = Family Stage = Lack of Interest = Fear & Safety

The Sociology of Tourism Examines

=Tourist-host relationships =Ultimate effects of tourism on: Tourists, Residents

Negative Social Effects on a Host Society

=Undesirable activities: (Gambling prostitution, drunkenness) =Demonstration effect =Racial tensions =Servant attitude of tourist business employees =Tinketization of crafts and arts =Standardization =Loss of cultural pride =Rapid Change =Host employed in low-paid, menial jobs

Gay and Lesbian Tourism

A growing market that is getting a lot of attention is the gay and lesbian market. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) tourism is a highly profitable segment. It is also referred to as pink tourism. Gay tourism has moved from being almost invisible to something that is studied by academics for its social impact and counted by tourism suppliers for its considerable dollar impact. In 2010, ITB Berlin, the world's largest trade fair, introduced Gay and Lesbian Travel in its own hall as a new segment of the trade fair and provided a workshop on the subject. The Gay and Lesbian Pavilion presented the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA), members, and individual exhibitors to this market from all over the world. Books such as Gay Tourism Culture and Context, Pink Tourism: Holidays of Gay Men and Lesbians, and Gay and Lesbian Tourism: The Essential Guide to Marketing provide insight on this travel segment. For the past 15 years, Community Marketing, Inc. (CMI) has been conducting an annual gay and lesbian tourism study. Its comprehensive study covers such factors as booking patterns, pride events, top travel brands, top destinations, and estimates of LGBT travelers' economic impact. The economic impact estimate is $63 billion for the United States alone. Their research shows that gay men and lesbians travel more, spend more, and have the largest amount of disposable income. The LGBT market is served by travel agencies, tour operators, suppliers, and associations. The previously mentioned IGLTA is an excellent source to find LGBT travel businesses and destinations. Its resources provide information on welcoming hotels, cities, countries, travel agents, and tour operators around the world.

Senior Citizen Market

A major trend is the growth of the over-65 senior citizen market and the semi-senior citizen market — that is, those over 55 years old. Many have dubbed this the mature market, senior market, retirement market, or elderly market. Others look at it as the 50-plus market because 50 is the age for membership in AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons). Whatever this market is called, it is an important and growing market. The over-65 group totaled 25.5 million in 1980, 31.2 million in 1990, and 34.8 million in 2000. Because of the small number of births duringthe Great Depression, the group will grow more slowly to 39.7million in 2010. After that, it is expected to grow rapidly to 70.3 million in 2030 as the baby boomers reach this age (see Figure 11.1). This massive growth of seniors is worldwide. The segment has been targeted both domestically and internationally by tourism managers because they have a lifestyle that is experienced, discerning, and likes to travel. In addition, they have the freedom to travel, are more active and healthy than previous generations, are media and Internet aware, and have discretionary income. They will continue to become a more important market group.

Dependence versus Autonomy

A widely accepted analysis of modern industrial society is based on the concept of alienation in work. Briefly, this view states that most people are inevitably employed in work that, though perhaps well paid, is not intrinsically rewarding and satisfying and that from this frustration results in, among other things, a general sense of powerlessness, a withdrawal from political and social activities, and the pursuit of status symbols. In the field of leisure, this work alienation should lead to a demand for passive, time-killing holidays or for holidays where the main gratification is the achievement of easily recognized status. Fundamental absence of significance in work, in other words, would lead to holidays during which the same sense of powerlessness and dependence would prevail —organized holiday camps, organized package trips, mass entertainment, and so forth. In fact, very little empirical research has substantiated this description of an industrialized society. Indeed, the data available suggest the contrary —that many industrial workers, backed by strong trade unions and state-created full employment, feel that as workers, they wield considerable power. Certainly industry and social organization is moving in the direction of providing work that is intrinsically rewarding and satisfying, which should enhance life for today's workers, leading to a sense of personal autonomy in all aspects of their lives, including their leisure time. They are likely to seek holidays during which they feel independent and in control of what they do and how they do it. One would expect that for some time ahead, economic and social circumstances should generate a greater proportion of autonomous participants in the total demand for travel.

Public Carrier Group Rates and Arrangements

Airlines and other public carriers make special rates available for groups; a common number is 10 or 15 at discounted rates. A free ticket is issued to the group's escort or leader. Chartering all or part of a public transportation vehicle, aircraft, or ship is also a special effort on the part of the carrier to accommodate travel groups.

SOCIAL (SUBSIDIZED) TOURISM

Although there is as yet no agreed definition of social tourism, there has been considerable study of the question. W. Hunziker at the Second Congress of Social Tourism held at Vienna and Salzburg in 1959 proposed the following definition: ''Social tourism is a type of tourism practiced by low income groups, and which is rendered possible and facilitated by entirely separate and therefore easily recognizable services.'' Another definition, that of M. Andre Poplimont, is as follows: ''Social tourism is a type of tourism practiced by those who would not be able to meet the cost without social intervention, that is, without the assistance of an association to which the individual belongs.'' From these definitions and from the reports of the three International Congresses on Social Tourism, itis clear thatcertain elements may be described. First is the idea of ''limited means.'' Second, social tourism is subsidized by the states, local authorities, employers, trade unions, clubs, or other associations to which the worker belongs. Third, it involves travel outside the normal place of residence, preferably to a different environment that is usually within the tourist's own country or sometimes to a country nearby.

Education

Another factor deserving attention from tourism managers is education, because it tends to broaden people's interests and, thus, stimulate travel. People with college educations take more pleasure trips than do those with high school educations, and those with high school educations take more trips than do those with grade school educations. Educators are forecasting continued increases in the average educational level, which would result in a continued positive impact on pleasure travel. Studies uniformly show that well-educated individuals account for the most travel and the most dollars spent for vacation and pleasure trips. Only about 50 percent of the homes where the household head did not earn a high school diploma report an expenditure for vacation trips. Where the head holds a high school diploma, about 65 percent report vacation expenditures; where the head has some college, 75 percent spend on vacations; and where the head has a degree, 85 percent report vacation expenditures. Income accompanies education as an important factor. In the approximately 35 percent of the homes where the head of the household has had some college, approximately 55 percent of the expenditures for vacation travel are made. Where the head has more than four years of college, vacation expenditures run two to three times the U.S. average. There appears to be no question that increased education levels heighten the propensity to travel, and with expanding higher education levels within the population, air travel should also expand. The nation's educational level continues to rise. Fifty years ago, a high school diploma was nearly as rare a credential as a four-year college degree is today. In 2005, the proportion of the U.S. population having finished high school and the percentage of those receiving bachelor's degrees remained at an all-time high. A large majority of the population, 85.2 percent, graduated from high school and 27.2 percent earned a bachelor's degree. In 1960, only 9.7 percent of men and 5.8 percent of women had completed college. Today, the majority of college students (56.6 percent) are women.5 Education is closely correlated with income and occupation, so the rising level of education should help to increase the demand for travel.

Effects on the Family

As a family is growing and the children are maturing, the trips taken as a family are highlights of any year. The excitement of preparation and anticipation and the actual travel experience are memorable occasions of family life. Travels with a measure of adventure are likely to be the most memorable. Family travel may also be educational. The more purposeful and educational a trip becomes, the more beneficial it is. Study before taking the trip and expert travel counseling greatly add to a maximization of the trip's benefits.

Income

Buying power is another factor for the tourism manager to consider. People must have buying power to create a market. There is no question that a large and increasing percentage of the population today has sufficient discretionary income to finance business and pleasure travel, although some families may be limited to inexpensive trips. The frequency of travel and the magnitude of travel expenditures increase rapidly as income increases. All travel surveys, whether conducted by the Census Bureau, the U.S. Travel Association, market research firms, or the media, show a direct relationship between family income and the incidence of travel. The greater the income, the more likely a household will travel. The affluent spend more on just about everything, but spending on travel is particularly strong. The value placed on time increases with household income, which is one of the reasons air travel attracts the higher-income consumer. How the travel dollar is spent obviously depends on income. When the income of the population is divided into fifths, less than 33 percent of the lowest fifth report an expenditure for travel, whereas 85 percent of those in the top fifth report a travel expenditure. Almost half of all consumer spending for vacation and pleasure trips comes from households in the top fifth of the income scale. The affluent spend more on lodging, all-expense-paid tours, food, and shopping, but transportation expenditures are a smaller share of their total travel outlays than with those at the bottom of the income scale — 32 percent versus 43 percent. This results from the fact that it is more difficult to economize on transportation than on food, lodging, and miscellaneous expenses.3 If current long-term trends continue, the U.S. population will become wealthier. However, the recession put a dent in the current trend. The Bureau of Census reports that real median household income in the United States fell between the 2008 and 2009 American Community Survey, decreasing by 2.9 percent from $51,726 to $50,221. An exceedingly important factor in household income is dual wage earners. The increase in the number of women who work outside the home has been dramatic and has boosted household income. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that 59.2 percent of wives worked in 2009, compared with less than 45 percent in 1975. Married-couple families with both parents employed were just over 51 percent in 2008. As incomes increase, it bodes well for travel, but with husbands and wives both working, it may be more difficult to find time for travel and vacation. It is believed that this is one of the reasons for the trend toward shorter and more frequent vacations.4 Travel expenditures historically have been income elastic; consequently, as per capita real incomes continue to rise, consumers should spend an increasing proportion of their incomes on travel. Besides making more trips in the future, increasing numbers of consumers can be expected to choose air travel over other modes of travel. Income and education are closely correlated.

Dark Tourism (from book)

D ark tourism is a rather perverse view of the world in the eyes of many. Based on the defining book by John Lennon and Malcolm Foley,9 the term dark tourism refers to the ''attraction of death and disaster''—or more specifically perhaps, those sites where death and disaster have occurred and that attract tourists. Auschwitz, the German death camp, is probably the most infamous of all dark tourism sites. Despite its reputation, Dachau, near Munich, is the most important in terms of visitation, with more than 900,000 visitors per year. Both Auschwitz and Dachau have spawned a number of memorial sites associated with Nazism and the Jewish Holocaust. While many sites are located behind the former Iron Curtain, there is a growing effort by the Jewish community and others to build parallel memorials in many other countries. Just as the Holocaust museums are highly popular in tourism terms, they are followed closely by remnants of the Berlin Wall and, more recently, Ground Zero in New York. The definition of dark tourism may also be expanded to include sites where killing wars are currently being conducted. Iraq and Afghanistan are such examples, where both worldwide media and the truly adventurous tourists are drawn to the ''action.'' Lesser-known dark attractions include sites where hangings or executions are to occur, are occurring, or have occurred. As emphasized by the Tourism Society, the area of dark tourism has become a fascinating and important subject for research regarding its implications for the tourism industry and its fundamental relationships within the cultural condition of society as a whole. Despite this elevation to academic status, dark tourism must still be viewed as perverse by nature.

EMERGENCE OF GROUP TRAVEL PATTERNS

Group travel involves a group combining both transportation and ground services into tours. Chapter 7 discusses retail travel agents and tour wholesalers who organize group tours (group inclusive tours or GITs) that they sell to travelers. Travel clubs, incentive travel companies, airlines, cruise lines, educational institutions, religious groups, and associations are examples of other organizations developing group travel arrangements.

Relaxation versus Activity

Historically, the first wave of mass international travel occurred at a time when there was a sharp differentiation between work and leisure and when the workweek for most people, including the middle class, was long and exhausting. Under these circumstances, it was not surprising that the demand concentrated on holidays that offered relaxation, recuperation, and rest. Essentially, they provided an opportunity for winding down and getting fit for the next 49 weeks of arduous activity. Since then, the balance between work and leisure has shifted sharply in favor of the latter. Usually the weekend is free, and the annual holiday leave for some workers has been lengthened. In other words, over the past decades, people have become used to greater slices of leisure time. Relaxation is possible throughout the year, and there is less need to use a holiday exclusively for this purpose. With the arrival of year-round leisure, there seems to be a surfeit of opportunities for relaxation, so that increasingly people have started to use their nonholiday leisure time to acquire and exercise new activity skills: sailing, climbing, biking, sports, horseback riding. It is reasonable to forecast that the balance between leisure and work will continue to move in the direction of leisure and that the relative demand for activity-oriented travel will increase.

Travel for People with Disabilities

In the United States alone, there are about 50 million people with disabilities—more than twice the total population of Australia.6 This group constitutes an excellent potential market for travel if the facilities and arrangements are suitable for their use and enjoyment. Woodside and Etzel made a study of the degree to which physical and mental conditions restricted travel activities by households and how households with one or more handicapped persons were likely to adjust their vacation travel behavior.7 Findings in Table 11.1 indicate that many of the physical or mental conditions that limit travel (such as heart condition or diabetes) are unobservable by other travelers or by employees of tourist facilities. But this high percentage of disabled persons creates a substantial potential for emergency situations, and the planning and management of travel equipment and facilities must aim for a major reduction or elimination of such possibilities. The effect of the presence of disabled persons in a family on lengths of stay is summarized in Table 11.2. The number of nights away from home differed considerably between those traveling with persons with a disability and those traveling without persons with a disability. Many households reported little difficulty in using accommodations, because of careful planning before making the trip. The majority of difficulties encountered seemed to be at recreational facilities. In a later study, Burnett and Baker found that people with disabilities represent the largest and fastest-growing market segment. These consumers, while not wealthy, have adequate resources to travel several times per year, especially for the purpose of vacations, family visits, and medical care. It is necessary to recognize that as is the case with any consumer group, much is to be learned if the group is considered as being made up of segments rather than being homogeneous. Historically, individuals with disabilities have been categorized by either their medical conditions or their level of self-sufficiency. Severe, moderate, or minor are the common disability classifications. Of the three subgroups, the more severe the mobility disability, the more special attention is needed. The severely disabled are seeking a quiet and peaceful destination that allows them to be independent and that provides easy access. Travel suppliers should know that the moderately and severely disabled use only two modes of transportation: car or van and air. Mobility-disabled consumers are very loyal to destination hotels, motels, and resorts that are sensitive to their needs while not being patronizing.

Provision of Information

In the development of social tourism, other problems arise, but these are largely common to tourism in general. The provision of information, however, deserves brief mention here, because many of the beneficiaries of social tourism will have little knowledge of the special attractions of different resorts. In some countries, government authorities, trade unions, national tourist organizations, and other bodies have given attention to this question. In the United States, for example, there are tourist information offices in the large cities, and publications are issued advising workers how they can spend their holidays. In Canada, bulletins are sent to the trade union offices and other organizations. To date, most progress has been made in domestic tourism only; and although many workers are already traveling abroad, there is great opportunity for joint action between the official travel organizations of different states. Proposals have been made in some regions regarding how best to promote foreign travel by lower-income groups, and the Argentine national tourist organization has invited corresponding bodies in other South American states to arrange programs on a reciprocal basis.

THE INTERNATIONAL TOURIST

International travel largely emanates from countries with a comparatively high standard of living, with high rates of economic growth, and with social systems characterized by declining inequality of incomes and a sizable urban population. In addition, these international travelers come from countries where large-scale industry and commerce comprise the foundations of the economy and where the communications and information environment is dominated by the mass media. The international market is largely made up of middle-income people, including the more prosperous minority of the working class, who normally live in large cities and earn their living in managerial, professional, white- collar, supervisory, and skilled occupations. There are four extremes relating to the travel preferences of international tourists: (1) complete relaxation to constant activity, (2) traveling close to one's home environment to a totally strange environment, (3) complete dependence on group travel to traveling alone, and (4) order to disorder. These extremes are not completely separate, and most travelers may have any number of combinations on any given trip. For example, a traveler may take a peaceful river cruise and then enjoy a strenuous swim.

Examples of Social Tourism

Leysin, in Switzerland, is one of the best-known examples of holiday centers for social tourism. Originally a famous health resort, advances in medicine meant that its clientele would gradually diminish; but with the cooperation of certain organizations, including the Caisse Suisse de Voyage, the resort was adapted to attract a new type of tourist. A small golf course, a swimming pool, tennis courts, and arrangements for skiing were established, and sanatoria and hotels were converted tomeet the new demands. A publicity campaign was begun, and in its first year, over two thousand tourists arrived and spent more than fifty thousand bed-nights in the resort. Camping and staying at hostels are popular with younger tourists and also with families. In recent years, there has been a considerable development of recreation vehicle (RV) camps, particularly in Great Britain. Camping has the advantage of being one of the least expensive forms of holiday and makes possible more mobility. Financial aid is given to camps by the state in France and other countries. In Greece, camps are operated by some large industrial firms for the benefit of their employees, and in most countries, they are run by camping clubs and youth associations. In 1999, the French government set up an official state-funded agency to help French tourist resorts fill vacant beds with up to one thousand unemployed or otherwise struggling citizens. Supporters claim that the right to leisure is as important a human value as the right to housing, education, and medical care.

Low-Priced Group Travel

Many tour companies cater to common-interest groups, such as the members of a religious group or professional or work group. A tour is arranged, often at reasonable cost, and is promoted to members of the group.

Familiarity versus Novelty

Most people, when they make their first venture abroad, tend to seek familiarity rather than novelty: people speaking the visitors' language, providing the meals and beverages they are accustomed to, using the same traffic conventions, and so on. Having found a destination where he or she feels at home, this sort of tourist, at least for the first few ventures abroad, will be a ''repeater,'' going back time and again to the same place. Not until more experience is gained will the traveler want to get away from a normal environment—to mix with people who speak differently, eat differently, and dress differently. In the Western world, the general change in social conditions seems to be in the direction of speeding up the readiness for novelty. Where pre- viously the social climate and rigid structure of society had reinforced a negative attitude to change, we now find increasingly a positive attitude to change. People accept and seek innovation in industry, education, family life, the arts, social relationships, and the like. In particular, in countries with high living standards, manufacturers faced with quickly saturated markets concentrate on developing new products and encouraging the consumer to show greater psychological flexibility. More and more markets are dependent on the systematic organization of rapid change in fashion to sustain and expand. With the blurring of class differences and rising standards of living, travel demand will likely reflect this climate and express fragmentation of the total market as people move away from the traditional resorts to a succession of new places.

Incentive Tours

One of the fastest-growing group arrangements is that of incentive tours provided by a company to members who are successful in achieving some objective, usually a sales goal. Spouses are often included on these tours. At the destination, the group is sometimes asked to review new products and receive some company indoctrination.

Holidays with Pay

Paid holidays are now established all over the world, and in most countries a minimum duration (one, two, or three weeks) is specified either by law or by collective agreement. Some, however, consider this institution only a first stage, and they believe that attention should now be turned to the way in which these holidays are used. Great subjects of discussion by twenty-first-century sociologists are: (1) the use of the increased leisure time now available to workers, and (2) the cultural and educational development that such leisure time makes possible. Large numbers of workers are obliged to spend their holidays at home, partly because of their lack of means or tourist experience and partly because of lack of information, transport difficulties, or shortage of suitable accommodation. Organized social tourism, if efficiently managed, can overcome most of these problems: finance through subsidies and savings schemes, experience and information through contacts elsewhere in the country concerned or abroad, transportation through package deals with carriers, and accommodation through contracts with resorts. Thus, organizations can bring tourism within the reach of many who would otherwise be unable to travel. There will be some, however, who for reasons of age, health, family responsibility, or disinclination are unwilling to join in such holidays even when all arrangements are made for them.

Changing Population and Travel Interests

People change, group attitudes change, and populations change. All these factors affect travel interests. Travel interests also change. Some countries grow in travel popularity; others wane. World events tend to focus public attention on particular countries or regions of the world. Examples are the emergence of Japan and Korea as travel destinations following World War II and the Korean War, and interest in visiting the Caribbean area, as well as Israel, Spain, Morocco, and east Africa. Currently, travel to China and Australia is of great interest. There is an old saying among travel promoters that ''mass follows class.'' This has been proven beyond a doubt. Travel-page publicity concerning prominent persons visiting a particular area inevitably produces a growth of interest in the area and subsequent increases in demand for travel to such well-publicized places. The growth of communication systems, particularly network and cable television, has broadened thescope of people's interests in other lands and other peoples. To be able to see, as well as hear, has a powerful impact on the viewer's mind and provides acquaintanceship with conditions in another country, and this viewer may develop a desire for a visit. As communications resources grow, awareness and interest also grow.

Resentments

Resentment by local people toward tourists can be generated by the apparent gap in economic circumstances, behavioral patterns, appearance, and economic effects. Such resentment of visitors is not uncommoninareaswherethereisconflictofinterestsbecauseoftourists.Forexample,inNorthAmerica, local people may resent visiting sports enthusiasts because they are ''shooting our deer'' or ''catching our fish.'' The demand by tourists for goods may also tend to increase prices and cause bad feelings. Another form of resentment can result in a feeling of inferiority among indigenous groups because of unfavorable contrasts with foreign visitors. Local persons employed in the service industries catering to visitors may be better paid and, thus, exhibit feelings of superiority toward their less fortunate fellow citizens. This creates a poor attitude toward the entire visitor industry. Financial dislocations can also occur. While a tourist may give a young bellhop a dollar tip for delivering bags, the bellhop's father may be working out in the fields as a farm laborer for a total daily wage of only a dollar or two. As a rule, both hosts and guests in any society can learn from one another. Beneficial social contact and planned visits to observe local life and culture do much to build appreciation for the indigenous culture. At the same time, the visitors' interest in indigenous ways of life increases the local people's respect for the visitors and gives them a feeling of pride in their own accomplish- ments. Tourism often facilitates a transition from rigid authoritarian social structure to one that is more sensitive to the individual's needs. When societies are ''closed'' from outside influences, they tend to become rigid. By encouraging visitors, this policy is changed to a more moderate one, for the benefit of hosts and guests. The preservation of wildlife sanctuaries and parks as well as national monuments and other cultural resources is often encouraged when tourism begins to be a force in the society. One-to-one interaction between hosts and guests can break down stereotypes, or the act of categorizing groups of people based on a single dimension. By ''labeling'' people, often erroneously, individualism is lost. When a visitor gets to know people personally and is aware of their problems, hopes, and ways in which they are making life more pleasant, this visitor becomes much more sensitive to the universality of humankind. It is much easier to distrust and dislike indistinguishable groups of people than to distrust and dislike individuals one has come to know personally. Some problems are often rooted in economic problems, such as unemployment or underemploy- ment. The economic contributions of tourism can help to moderate such social difficulties. Nine negative social effects on a host society have been identified: 1. Introduction of undesirable activities, such as gambling, prostitution, drunkenness, and other excesses 2. The so-called demonstration effect of local people wanting the same luxuries and imported goods as those indulged in by tourists 3. Racial tension, particularly where there are very obvious racial differences between tourists and their hosts 4. Development of a servile attitude on the part of tourist business employees 5. Trinketization of crafts and art to produce volumes of souvenirs for the tourist trade 6. Standardization of employee roles such as the international waiter —the same type of person in every country 7. Loss of cultural pride, if the culture is viewed by the visitor as a quaint custom or as entertainment 8. Too-rapid change in local ways of life because of being overwhelmed by too many tourists 9. Disproportionate numbers of workers in low-paid, menial jobs characteristic of much hotel and restaurant employment Many, if not all, ofthese negative effects can be moderated or eliminated by intelligent planning and progressivemanagement methods. Tourismcan bedeveloped inwaysthatwillnotimposesuch a heavy social cost. Strict control of land use by zoning and building codes, enlightened policies on the part of the minister of tourism or similar official organization, and proper phasing of supply components, such as infrastructure and superstructure, to match supply with demand for orderly development are some of the measures needed. Education and good public relations programs can accomplish much. Enforcing proper standards of quality in the marketing of local arts and crafts can actually enhance and ''rescue'' such skills from oblivion. As cited in the book Hosts and Guests,2 the creative skills of America's Indians of the Southwest were kept alive, enhanced, encouraged, and ultimately expanded to provide tourists with authentic Indian rugs and turquoise jewelry particularly, but other crafts as well. Fred Harvey, founder of the Fred Harvey Company, is credited with encouraging Indians to continue these attractive crafts so that he could market them in his hotels, restaurants, and gift shops.

Life Characteristics and Travel

Rising standards of living, changes in the population age composition, the increasing levels of educational attainment, better communication, increased social consciousness of people relating to the welfare and activities of other people throughout the world, and the psychological shrinking of the world by the jet plane have combined to produce an interest among nations in all other nations.

Introduction

S ociology is the science of society, social institutions, and social relationships. Visitors to a community or area create social relationships that typically differ greatly from the affiliations among the indigenous population. In this chapter, we identify and evaluate tourist -host relationships and prescribe methods of managing these to create significant advantages for both groups. The ultimate effects of travel experiences on the population in areas of origin, as well as in places of destination, should determine to what extent societies encourage or discourage tourism.

Summary

Sociologists are interested in tourism because travel profoundly affects individuals and families who travel, inducing behavioral changes. The new insights, understandings, and appreciations that travel brings are enlightening and educational. A person who travels to a strange environment encounters problems that must be resolved. How well the traveler solves these problems will largely determine the degree of the trip's success. In planning a trip, the traveler must decide how much cultural distance (from the home environment) he or she desires. Tourists differ greatly in this regard. In this chapter we have described various social phenomena related to mass tourism. Included are social tourism, international travel behavior extremes, and barriers to travel. Your understanding of these can help to provide a basis for determining tourist volume policy. Consideration must be given to the likely influence that masses of tourists will have on their hosts. Furthermore, applying the procedures explained in this chapter should minimize the negative sociological influences and enhance the positive effects of large numbers of tourists on their host society. Although tourism expenditures have a negligible effect on crime, tourists are potential targets for crime. It is essential that they be protected as much as possible.

Determination of Needs

Some countries carry out research in this field. In Belgium, almost 60 percent of the respondents to an inquiry preferred a continuous stay to moving from place to place, but this preference was more marked among older people than among younger ones. In the Netherlands, another inquiry revealed that about a million holidaymakers preferred not to rely on the hospitality of relatives if other facilities within their means were provided. It was evident that existing facilities of this kind were inadequate. It was also found that the tendency to take holidays away from home was increasing and that more attention should be given to the educational and cultural aspects of tourism. Studies in France and Italy have found orders of preference among the countryside, the seaside, the mountains, health resorts, and other places; and in Sweden and Italy, inquiries have been carried out into the types of accommodations favored.

Effects on the Individual

Someone who travels, particularly to a strange location, often finds an environment that is unfamiliar, not only geographically but also personally, socially, and culturally. Thus, the traveler faces problems for which a solution must be found if the trip is to be fully enjoyable and rewarding. Travelers must manage their resources of money and time in situations much different from those at home. They also must manage their social interactions and social relations to obtain sustenance, shelter, and other needs and possibly to find companionship. Determining the extent of the cultural distance, they may wish to maintain results in decisions as to just how unfamiliar the traveler wants his or her environment away from home base to be. People who travel do so with different degrees of contact with the new cultures in which they may find themselves. Life-seeing tourism, for example, is a structured method for those who wish deeper immersion in local ways of life to acquire such enrichment. Some travelers prefer a more selective contact experience, such as might be arranged by a tour company. Tours designed around cultural subjects and experiences such as an anthropological study tour or participation in an arts and crafts festival are examples. Regardless of the degree of local participation, the individual traveler must at least superficially study the country to be visited and reach some level of decision on how these problems in environmental differences are to be resolved. Advance preparation is an intelligent approach. The effects of travel experiences are profound —on the host society as well as on the traveler, particularly because travel experiences often are among the most outstanding memories in the traveler's life.

Special-Interest Tours

Special-interest group travel is another segment growing in importance. Tours are arranged for those interested in agriculture, archaeology, architecture, art, bird-watching, business, castles and palaces, ethnic studies, fall foliage, festivals, fishing, flower arranging, gardening, gems and minerals, golf, health and wellness, history, hunting, industry, literature, music, nature, opera, photography, professional interests, psychic research, safaris, skiing, scuba diving, social studies, sports, study, theater, and wine, to name a few examples. Social and fraternal organizations also are traveling more in groups. Some private clubs are taking group trips. Some are extensive trips around the world or trips lasting up to 60 days. Women's groups, social groups, youth groups, alumni, and professional societies commonly take extended trips together as a group. Preconvention and postconvention trips are also popular.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Substantial improvements have been made by the tourist industry to serve this segment of the market over the years. Activity accelerated with the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990. ADA contains five titles, or sections: Employment, Public Services, Public Accommodations and Services Operated by Private Entities, Telecommunications, and Miscellaneous Provisions. Included in these titles are mandates for accessible public transit and complementary paratransit; accessible intercity (Amtrak) and commuter rail; accessible stations; accessible public accommodation (private entities), including inns, hotels, motels, restaurants, bars, theaters, concert halls, auditoriums, convention centers, all kinds of stores, service establishments, offices, terminals and depots, museums, libraries, galleries, schools, and so on; and telecommu- nications relay services for hearing- and speech-impaired persons. Although the act is not specifically a travel law, travel agencies, lodging establishments, motorcoach operators, museums, and restaurants fall into the broad category of public accom- modations that are required to make their facilities accessible to disabled persons. As the U.S. Justice Department and Transporta- tion Department issue final regulations and firms comply, easier travel for the disabled will result.

The Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality

The Society of Accessible Travel and Hospitality (SATH), founded in 1976 as the Society for Advancement of Travel for the Handicapped, is an educational, nonprofit membership orga- nization whose mission is to raise awareness of the needs of all travelers with disabilities, remove physical and attitudinal barriers to free access, and expand travel opportunities in the United States and abroad. Members include travel professionals, consumers with disabilities, and other individuals and corpora- tions who support this mission. SATH has a well-established record in representing the interests of persons with disabilities. SATH participated in the writing of the regulations for the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Air Carriers Access Act, as well as Resolutions 700 and 1700 of the International Air Transport Association. A Code of Conduct toward travelers with disabilities written by SATH was adopted by the World Tourism Organization in 1991. SATH has also lobbied for legislative change in the European Community and assisted numerous governments to develop national access guidelines. To raise awareness and provide detailed training on how to serve and market to travelers with disabilities, SATH organizes conferences and provides speakers and panels for other industry associations such as American Society of Travel Agents, National Tourism Association, International Institute for Peace Through Tourism, and Travel Industry Association of America. SATH has sponsored the World Congress for Travelers with Disabilities and the Mature since 1977. It also sponsors Travelers with Disabilities Awareness Week, created in 1990 by SATH founder Murray Vidockler, CTC, to commemorate the ADA. Since its inception, SATH has served as a clearinghouse for access information. SATH's travel magazine, Open World, features inspiring articles by travelers with disabilities and updates on destinations, cruises, Web sites, legislation, and more.

Travel Clubs

Travel clubs are groups of people, sometimes with a common interest (if only in travel), who have formed travel organizations for their mutual benefit. For example, some purchase an aircraft and then arrange trips for their members. Others join international membership clubs such as Club Mediterranee, which owns resort properties in many countries and provides package-type holidays at usually modest cost.

Effects on Society

Travel has a significant influence on national understanding and appreciation of other people. Government policies in progressive and enlightened nations encourage travel, particularly domestic travel, as a means of acquainting citizens with other parts of their country and building appreciation for the homeland. The presence of visitors in a country affects the living patterns of indigenous peoples. The way visitors conduct themselves and their personal relationships with citizens of the host country often has a profound effect on the mode of life and attitudes of local people. Probably the most pronounced effects of this phenomenon are noted when visitors from North America or Europe travel in an emerging country that has a primitive culture or a culture characterized by a low (economic) standard of living and an unsophisticated population. The visitor is influenced by the contrast in culture. Generally, however, this brings about an increased appreciation for qualities of life in the society visited that may not be present at home. A favorable situation exists when visitors and residents of the host country mingle socially and become better acquainted. This greatly increases the awareness of one another's character and qualities, building appreciation and respect in both groups.

Tourism: Security and Crime

Unfortunately, tourists can be easy prey for criminals. Tourists do not know about dangerous areas or local situations in which they might be very vulnerable to violent crimes. They become easy marks for robbers and other offenders because they are readily identified and are usually not very well equipped to ward off an attack. Sometimes popular tourist attractions such as parks or beaches are within walking distance from hotel areas. However, a walking tour from the hotel may bring the tourist into a high-crime area lying directly in the path taken to reach this attraction. If such high-crime areas exist, active efforts must be made to inform visitors and guests. Hotels and others that publish maps of walking tours should route such tours into safe areas only. Also, they should warn guests of the danger that could arise if the visitor undertakes certain activities. Crimes against tourists result in bad publicity and create a negative image in the minds of prospective visitors. Thus, tour companies tend to avoid destinations that have the reputation for crimes against tourists. Eventually, no matter how much effort is applied to publicize the area's benefits and visitor rewards, failure to minimize crime will result in decreasing popularity and destination failure. Pizam, Reichel, and Shieh found that tourism expenditures had a negligible effect on crime.1 However, they suggested that tourism could be considered a potential determinant of crime, negatively affecting the quality of the environment. The tourist industry cannot be held responsible for the occurrence of crime. But one must be aware that tourists are a potential target of crime. Protecting them from offenders is essential to the survival and growth of the industry.

Order versus Disorder

Until recently in most Western societies, the training of children has been based on control and conformity, defined and enforced by an all-embracing circle of adult authority figures: parents, teachers, police officers, clergy, employers, civil authorities. With such a background, it is not surprising that most tourists sought holidays that reinforced this indoctrination: set meals at fixed times, guidebooks that told them the ''right'' places to visit, and resorts where their fellow tourists were tidy, well behaved, ''properly'' dressed, and so on. They avoided situations where their sense of orderliness might be embarrassed or offended. More recently, child-rearing practices have changed in the direction of greater permissiveness, and the traditional incarnations of authority have lost much of their Victorian impressiveness. The newer generation of tourists no longer feels inhibited about what to wear and how to behave when on holiday; differences of others, opportunities for unplanned action, and freedom from institutionalized regulations are distinctive characteristics of the contemporary traveler. Summing up, then, one would predict that because of deep and persisting social and economic changes in modern Western society, the demand for travel will be based less on the goals of relaxation, familiarity, dependence, and order and increasingly on activity, novelty, autonomy, and informality. One should not, of course, ignore the fact that, since international travel is a rapidly growing market, each year's total consumers will always include a minority who value familiarity, dependency, and order.

BARRIERS TO TRAVEL

While travel has become a popular social phenomenon, there are a number of reasons why people do not travel extensively or do not travel at all. The reasons, products of psychological analysis, are not meant to be ultimate answers as to why people travel where they do. We can, however, look at the more concrete reasons why those studied did not go on a trip during a certain period of time. For most of these studies, barriers to travel fall into six broad categories: 1. Cost. Consumers operate within monetary constraints, and travel must compete with other allocations of funds. Saying that travel is too expensive is an indirect way of saying that travel is not important, but, even allowing this interpretation, costs are a principal reason for staying home. 2. Lack of time. Many people cannot leave their businesses, jobs, or professions for vacation purposes. 3. Health limitations. Poor health and physical limitations keep many persons at home. Also, the fear of contracting AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), malaria, Norwalk flu, bird flu, Legionnaire's disease, food poisoning, and so on keeps people from traveling. For many, health has become a major tourism safety issue. 4. Family stage. Parents of young children often do not travel because of family obligations and inconveniences in traveling with children. Widows and singles sometimes do not travel because of the lack of a traveling companion. 5. Lack of interest. Unawareness of travel destinations that would bring pleasurable satisfaction is a major barrier. 6. Fear and safety. Things unknown are often feared, and in travel, much is often not familiar to the would-be traveler. Wars, unrest, and negative publicity about an area will create doubt and fear in the mind of the prospective traveler. Terrorism has reared its ugly head in the last decade and is a deterrent to travel. When motivation to travel is sufficiently powerful, the barriers may be overcome, but these forces may still influence means of travel and destinations selected. Although travelers may be able to overcome the first four variables listed, tourism marketers need to modify the fifth barrier —lack of interest. This is a challenge for tourism marketing managers. To illustrate just how widespread this barrier is, the following approach was taken where the cost barrier was eliminated. The respondents were asked this incomplete sentence: ''Mr. and Mrs. Brown were offered an expense-free tour of the United States, but they didn't want to go because . . . '' Forty-two percent of the respondents said that the Browns wanted to go on the trip but couldn't because of job reasons, poor health, age, or responsibilities for children. However, 26 percent indicated that the Browns did not want to go on the trip at all; they would rather stay home, or they did not like to travel, or they were afraid to travel. It is evident that in spite of widespread desires to travel, some people would rather stay home. For others, a weak desire to travel is compounded by nervousness or fear of what the experience might bring. Such a reluctance to travel runs counter to the tide, but this segment is too large a group to be overlooked. With the proper motivational tools, a significant percentage of this untapped group of potential travelers might be convinced that there are places or things of interest outside the world in which they now exist. When analyzing some of the psychological reasons contributing to the lack of interest in travel, at least some are related to conflicts between exploration and safety needs. A person's home is safe and is a place thoroughly known, and he or she is not required to maintain a facade there. On the other hand, the familiarity of home can also produce boredom and the need to explore. A person is, thus, possessed of two very strong drives, safety and exploration, and he or she needs to reduce this conflict. One way to do this is by traveling in areas that the person knows well. He or she may go to the same cottage at the same lake with the same people that he or she has known for years. This meets the safety needs because the person enjoys a new experience in a comfortable (safe-feeling) environment. At the same time, it meets the exploration need because the person leaves home and travels to a different place, albeit a familiar one.

Travel Patterns Related to Age

With age (late seventies and upward), the traveler may become more passive. Family travel patterns are associated with life stages of the family. The presence of young children tends to reduce the number of trips taken, whereas married couples with no children are among the best travel prospects. As the children mature, however, families increase their travel activities, and families with children between the ages of 15 and 17 have a much higher family travel pattern than do those with younger children. As the children grow up and leave home, the married couple (again without children) renews interest in travel. Also, couples in this life stage are more likely to have more discretionary income and are financially able to afford more travel. Persons living in urban centers are more travel inclined than are those in rural areas.

Sociology

is the science of society, social institutions, and social relationships