Away from Home: A New Revelation of Young Tourist Behavior

Abstract

Although the economic and sociocultural significance of the youth tourism market highlights the importance of conducting research on the young tourist, there is a lack of in-depth exploration and understanding of young tourists' experiences on holiday. The aim of this article is to explore young beach-oriented tourists' behavior on holiday by employing a qualitative research method. Twenty-five young tourists in Ios, Greece were observed systematically over a 3-month period and then interviewed. The findings reveal that drug consumption (including alcohol) and unprotected sex were common activities among the young tourists on Ios. More interestingly, the results show that patterns of behavior on holiday were often discussed by the young tourists in relation to patterns of behavior in the home environment. This finding has important implications because it further advances our understanding of the relationship between the tourism experience and the leisure experience in the home environment.