Long-stay tourists: Developing a theory of intercultural integration into the destination neighbourhood
Author(s)
Anantamongkolkul, Chidchanok
Butcher, Ken
Wang, Ying
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2019
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This study is the first to investigate intercultural behavioural patterns of long-stay tourists in a culturally unfamiliar leisure holiday destination. Information was collected on-site from forty-four tourists from Europe, the U.S and Australia visiting an internationally popular beach destination in Thailand. A novel approach to data collection involved one-to-one interviews triangulated with a set of dyadic interviews to better understand shared travel experiences. Onsite travel behaviour reflected neighbourhood activities rather than tourist behaviour. Four distinct levels of intercultural adaptation strategies were ...
View more >This study is the first to investigate intercultural behavioural patterns of long-stay tourists in a culturally unfamiliar leisure holiday destination. Information was collected on-site from forty-four tourists from Europe, the U.S and Australia visiting an internationally popular beach destination in Thailand. A novel approach to data collection involved one-to-one interviews triangulated with a set of dyadic interviews to better understand shared travel experiences. Onsite travel behaviour reflected neighbourhood activities rather than tourist behaviour. Four distinct levels of intercultural adaptation strategies were categorised, ranging from staying in a home comfort zone to adopting the destination as a second home. Classic transaction based marketing strategies for long-stay tourists are inadequate and more attention is needed on destination hospitableness and relationship building.
View less >
View more >This study is the first to investigate intercultural behavioural patterns of long-stay tourists in a culturally unfamiliar leisure holiday destination. Information was collected on-site from forty-four tourists from Europe, the U.S and Australia visiting an internationally popular beach destination in Thailand. A novel approach to data collection involved one-to-one interviews triangulated with a set of dyadic interviews to better understand shared travel experiences. Onsite travel behaviour reflected neighbourhood activities rather than tourist behaviour. Four distinct levels of intercultural adaptation strategies were categorised, ranging from staying in a home comfort zone to adopting the destination as a second home. Classic transaction based marketing strategies for long-stay tourists are inadequate and more attention is needed on destination hospitableness and relationship building.
View less >
Journal Title
TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Volume
74
Subject
Commercial services
Marketing
Tourism