THMICROTOUR: Microperspective of the Tourism

# THMICROTOUR: Microperspective of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry ## Chapter 1: The Psychology of Tourism ### Motivation for Travel * Escape * Relaxation * Relief of tension * Sunlust * Physical * Health * Family togetherness * Interpersonal relations * Roots or Ethnic * Maintaining social co...

# THMICROTOUR: Microperspective of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry ## Chapter 1: The Psychology of Tourism ### Motivation for Travel * Escape * Relaxation * Relief of tension * Sunlust * Physical * Health * Family togetherness * Interpersonal relations * Roots or Ethnic * Maintaining social contacts * Convincing oneself of one's achievements * Showing one's importance to others * Status and Prestige * Self-discovery * Cultural * Education * Professional/Business * Wanderlust * Interest in foreign areas * Scenery ### Basic Travel Motivations * **Physical Motivators** - include those related to physical rest, sports participation, beach recreation, relaxing entertainment, and other motivations directly connected with health. * **Cultural Motivators** - include the desire to know about other countries - their music, art, folklore, dances, paintings, and religion. * **Interpersonal Motivators** - pertains to the desire to meet other people, visit friends or relatives, escape from routine, from family, and neighbors. * **Status and Prestige Motivators** - concern ego needs and personal development. Included in this group are trips related to business, conventions, study and pursuit of hobbies and education. Travel would enhance one's recognition and good reputation. ### Travel as a Means to Satisfy a Need and Want * The key to understanding tourist motivation is to view vacation travel as a vehicle to satisfy one's needs and wants. * Tourists do not go on vacations just to relax and have fun, to experience another culture, or to educate themselves and their children; they take vacations in the belief that these vacations will satisfy, either completely or partially, various needs and wants. ### Relationship of Needs, Wants and Motives * The difference between a need and a want is awareness. * It is the duty of people involved in marketing to convert needs into wants by making the individual aware of his need deficiencies. * A motive enables a person to do something while motivation occurs when an individual wants to satisfy a need. * An individual will be motivated to buy a product or service if he perceives that the purchase of that product or service will be beneficial in satisfying the need of which he is now aware. * It is the role of marketing to suggest objectives such as vacations, cruises, or flights to satisfy needs, an awareness of which has already been created. ### Push/Pull Model * The push/pull model explains the push and pull forces in human motivations. * Internal factors or personal needs “push” people to travel, while external forces or attractions “pull” them to certain destinations. * Travel is motivated by both push and pull factors. * Push factors are the intangible desires that generate within the person. Examples are: need to escape, self-discovery, rest and relaxation, prestige, challenge, and adventure. * Pull factors are external travel stimulators such as: scenic beauty, historical areas, cultural events, and sporting events. ### Maslow's Theory of Motivation and Travel Motivations * A study found that these travel motivations fit into the hierarchy of needs model of Abraham Maslow, a famous psychologist. * Maslow proposed the following hierarchy of needs as determinants of behavior: * **Self-Actualization** (realizing one's potential) * **Self-Esteem** (self-confidence, recognition) * **Social Needs** (love, belongingness, acceptance) * **Safety Needs** (protection against physical or metal danger) * **Physiological Needs** (food, drink, rest, shelter) * This hierarchy suggests that lower needs demand more immediate satisfaction than the satisfaction of higher demands. * The first need is physical; the other four are psychological. * To this original list, two intellectual needs were added. There are: * **To know and understand** – acquiring knowledge; and * **Aesthetics** – appreciation of beauty * The relationship between needs, motives and references from tourism and literature are shown in Table 1. | Need | Motive | Tourism Literature References | |:---|:---|:---| | Physiological | Relaxation | Escape Relaxation Relief of tension Sunlust Physical Mental relaxation of tension Health Recreation | |Safety | Security | Keep oneself active and healthy for the future Family togetherness Enhance of kinship relationships Companionship Facilitation of social interaction Maintenance of personalities Interpersonal relations Ethnic roots | |Social | Love and Affection | Show one's affection for family members Maintain social contacts | | Self-Esteem | Achievement Status | Convince oneself of one's achievement Show one's importance to others Prestige Social recognition Ego enhancement Professional/business Personal fulfilment | | Self-Actualization || | * **Source:** Mill, R.C. and Alastair Morrison. The Tourism System Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 1998 * Tourists who travel “to escape” or “to relieve tension” are satisfying the basic physiological needs. * Passive vacationers are relieved from tension by submitting to the surrounding environment. * Active vacationers achieve tension reduction through physical activity. * Traveling for health and recreation attempts to satisfy one's safety needs. * The organized tour is a method of encouraging and satisfying one's need for interpersonal relations and social interaction. This motivation is commonly referred to as the “VFR” market or “visiting friends and relatives.” * Maslow's concept of need for esteem has two components: * The need for **self-esteem** is shown in the desire to exhibit achievement, competence, and independence. * **Esteem from others** is explained by the concepts of prestige, status, and recognition. * Self-actualization can be regarded as a goal of leisure. * Leisure is the state of being free from the urgent demands of the lower-level needs. * Vacations offer an opportunity to reevaluate and discover more about oneself. The need to know and understand is motivated by the desire for knowledge. * The need for **aesthetics** is shown in those who travel for environmental reasons - to view the scenery. * Relating travel motivations with Maslow's need theory will produce two tangible benefits: * The first benefit is that the traveler is better understood and better motivated if he or she is recognized as a person consuming products and services. * The second tangible benefit is that we would expect that products and services, including vacations, which are aimed to satisfy lower-level needs, would be regarded as a necessity rather than a luxury. ### Tourist Motivations * **The Need for Escape or Change** * The greatest reason for travel can be summed up in one word, “escape” – escape from the dull daily routine. * “Everyone is searching for change.” – Russ Johnston * Travel can provide diversity and remove a person from familiar surroundings to something that is new and exciting. * **Travel for Health** * Majority of people think of vacationing as a means of regaining one's energy, interest, and enthusiasm for the job. * The search for health and long life has popularized spas, seaside resorts, as well as sun resorts. * **Sports** * Interest in sports, either as a participant or a spectator, is attracting large segments of the population. * People demand activity and excitement during their leisure hours to relieve them from boredom of their work. * **Social Contact** * Much travel grows out of the social nature of people considering that humans are social beings. * In groups, the traveler may develop friendships that may last for years and some tour groups have reunions after the tour took place. * Travel increases the “sociability resources” of individuals. – Charles Metelka * **Status and Prestige** * Travel provides the means for ego and self-enhancement. * Being well-traveled enhances one's status in society. * **Travel for Education** * The search for knowledge and truth is inherent in every individual. * Once an interest has been developed in a destination area, the urge to see that area emerges and the interest grows as knowledge increases. * **Personal Values** * The notion of personal values is an important travel motivator because many people are urged to travel to satisfy personal values, such as the search for spiritual experiences, patriotism, and wholesomeness. * **Cultural Experience** * Cross-cultural exchanges, experiencing how other people live, and fostering international understanding are some of the reasons to satisfy curiosity about other cultures, lifestyles and places. * **Shopping and Bargain Hunting** * To many people, the joys derived from buying certain goods may be the major reason for travel. * **Professional and Business Motives** * A great number of people travel for professional and business motives. * Conferences and conventions about education, commerce, and industry increase annually. * **Search for Natural Beauty** * Travel can satisfy one's search for beauty in the environment and in the scenery. * The trips of city dwellers to the rural areas on weekends show man's need to see beautiful scenery. ### The Learning Process of a Tourist * In Figure 3, the tourist compares various alternatives with a list of criteria to determine which alternatives will most likely satisfy a particular motive. * A destination will be included as an alternative if the destination has previously satisfied the traveler. * The level of satisfaction depends on one's expectation of a situation, as well as one's perception of an actual situation. * If the level of expectations is higher than the actual experience, the tourist will be dissatisfied. * For the travelers to be satisfies with a product, service, or situation, the level of actual experience must be equal to or greater than the level of expectation; hence, the level of service given to the vacationer must be given great importance. * Serving as bridge between the motives of an individual and the perceived alternatives are the criteria used for making decision among these alternatives. * Decision criteria are developed or modified from actual experiences. * Information * Commercial * Social * Inclination * Motives * Combined * Combined * Same Vacation * Previous Vacation/Purchase * Alternatives * Similar Vacation * **Source:** Mill, R.C. and Alastair Morrison. The Tourism System Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 1998 ### Effect of Consistency and Complexity on Leisure Travel * According to The Psychology of Leisure Travel by Edward J. Mayo and Lance Jervis, individuals differ in the amount of psychological tension they can handle. * Too much repetition or consistency results in boredom and a corresponding amount of psychological tension greater than he could handle. * This explains why a tourist, who for many years spent his vacation in a particular vacation spot, will either change the destination or the method of reaching it. * Too much complexity may result in more tension than a person can endure. To reduce the level of tension, he will introduce consistency into that experience. * Example: A Filipino tourist in Europe may find the different language and culture (complexity) need to be balance by staying in a hotel chain with which he is familiar (consistency). * The traveler who experiences a great deal of consistency in everyday life may compensate by seeking vacations which offer variety. The opposite is also true. ### Classification of Travelers Based on Personality * Stanley C. Plog, a biological researcher, classified travelers based on their different personalities as psychocentrics and allocentrics. * **Psychocentrics** * Are people centered on self, are inhibited and un-adventuresome. * They have a strong desire for consistency and familiarity. * When traveling they prefer to visit “safe” destinations. * The low-energy psychocentric and quite content to stay home while the high-energy psychocentric will take a tour that is completely arranged. * At the destination they prefer activities with low activity level such as golf and they prefer to drive to a destination rather than fly. * **Allocentrics** * They are highly curious and thrive on stimulation and change. * They have a strong need for variety and new experiences. * They seek destinations that offer them an opportunity to experience totally different cultures and environments. * The low-energy allocentric is still curious and adventuresome but forgoes the more demanding schedules while the high-energy allocentric is like the hiker, the biker, the driver; he/she prefers activity with high activity level. * **Midcentrics** * They are between the psychocentrics and the allocentrics. * Persons with midcentric personality are not particularly adventurous, yet they are not afraid to try new experiences as long as these are neither too odd nor too challenging. * They constitute the mass market or the bulk of the population. ### Classification of Travelers Based on Purpose of Travel * The two major classifications of travelers based on travel purpose are the business travelers and the pleasure/personal travelers. * **Business Travelers** * Majority of travelers in most developed countries such as the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom are business travelers. * They are divided into three categories, namely: * Regular business travelers; * Business travelers attending meetings, conventions, and congresses; and * Incentive travelers. * **Regular Business Travelers** * The cost of the trip is shouldered by a company; hence, travel is not influenced by personal income. * The rate of growth of business travel is not greatly affected by the cost of travel. * According to studies, regular business travelers are well-educated, rich, have high-level jobs, and tend to fly often. * Recent surveys have shown that the ratio of women business travelers to men business travelers have grown rapidly. * **Some major differences between male and female business travelers are:** * Women business travelers are slightly younger. * They tend to stay longer at their destination. * They are more apt to be unmarried than males. * They are more likely to attend a meeting or convection. * They are more likely to book through a travel agent. * They have a greater preference for downtown accommodation facilities closer to work. * They are more concerned with security aspects of accommodation facilities. * Airlines have been offering first-class seat service and first-class passenger lounges in airport terminals, and more recent innovations include check-in arrangements, bigger seats, and sleeper seats to these travelers. * Many hotel chains have begun to allocate whole floors or wings of their buildings for business travelers seeking greater luxury in their accommodations. * The rooms or suites are more spacious, contain more personel “giveaways”, and they provide their guests with complimentary drinks and express check-in and checkout service. * Normally, airline and hotel companies add a surcharge to their regular prices for business executive travelers and they achieved great marketing successes in doing so. * **Business Travelers Attending Meetings, Conventions, Congresses** * 20% of all business travel trips are for the purpose of attending meetings, conventions, and congresses according to Travel Pulse. * A congress, convention, or conference is a regular formalized meeting of associations or body or a meeting sponsored by an association or body on a regular or ad hoc basis. * **Conventions are classified into four kinds:** * **International Conventions** – usually involve members and nonmembers from more than two foreign countries, and they take place in different countries every year and generally nonprofit and attract persons with common fields of interest. * **Continental Conventions** – have delegates coming from a continent. * **National Conventions** are meetings organized by associations at the state, provincial, or regional level. * **Regional Conventions** – normally, these organizations hold their conventions within their own regions. * **Incentive Travelers** * A special type of business travel given by firms to employees as a reward for some accomplishment or to encourage employees to achieve more than what is required. * Experts say that these incentive trips last for five days and usually include spouses. * Prize trips are often combined with business and sales meetings, especially those to foreign destinations in order to be eligible for tax deduction. * The increasing popularity of incentive travel has led to the establishment of incentive travel organizations. * They negotiate with suppliers such as hotels and airlines to determine the cost of incentive travel tips, they also act as specialized types of tour wholesalers. * Corporations usually have the following objectives in buying incentive travel trips: * Increase overall sales volumes. * Sell new accounts. * Improve morale and good will. * Introduce new products. * Offset competitive promotions. * Bolster slow seasons. * Help in sales training. * Sell slow items. * Obtain more store displays and support consumer promotions. * Companies who buy incentive travel trips are usually those involved in: * Insurance * Sales * Electronics/radio/television manufacturing * Automobile and truck manufacturing * Farm equipment manufacturing * Auto parts/accessories/tires * Heating/air-conditioning * Electrical appliances manufacturing * Office equipment manufacturing * Building materials manufacturing * **Pleasure/Personal Travelers** * A group of people traveling for vacation or pleasure and also called nonbusiness travelers. * The demand for travel services by nonbusiness travelers is elastic with respect to prices. * Nonbusiness travelers are very much concerned with the increase in the price travel services since the cost of travel is usually shouldered by the traveler himself/herself and he/she chooses the vacation area. * Traveling for pleasure is the largest segment of the international market and the fastest growing. * The reasons for the growth are the rising income levels in developed countries, urbanization, higher educational levels, increase in leisure time, and the length of paid holidays. * **Pleasure/personal travelers are classified into the following categories:** * **Resort Travelers** - surveys have shown that resort travelers are better educated, have higher household incomes, and are more likely to have professional and managerial positions. And majority of resort travelers have families with children. * **Family Pleasure Travelers** – it can be divided into three groups and defined according to the ages of the husband and wife and the educational stages of their children as follows: * **Junior Families* - with parents aged 20-34 having preschool and/or grade school children only. * **Midrange Families** - with parents aged 35-44 with grade school and/or high school children only. * **Mature Families** - with parents aged 45 or over with children who are of high school age and older. * **The Elderly** An examination of population trends in developed countries clearly indicates that the population is aging. These population shifts have made the elderly persons a lucrative target for tourism destination areas. Persons in the “50 plus” age bracket are called active affluent or people with the money and the desire to travel extensively. Active affluent generally search for learning experiences, cultural enrichment, socialization, and activities which lead to self-fulfillment. * **Singles and Couples** Singles and couples are another important segment of pleasure travel because they take their vacations to fulfill their psychological, intellectual, and physical needs by giving them the opportunity to rest, relax, escape the routine pressures of daily living, enjoy the naturalness of life and to express total freedom. ### Travel Constraints * **The main constraints to travel are:** * **Lack of money** - A major travel constraints. Less money means less travel. People with more disposable income will be able to travel more. * **Lack of time** - the desire to travel and the financial ability to travel are insufficient if one does not have the time to travel. A combination of time and money must be present for travel and tourism to take place. * **Lack of safety and security** - lack of security in public places, hotels, and travel centers cause people to prefer to remain in the security of their neighborhood and home. Areas may acquire the reputation of being dangerous and thus become less desirable travel destinations. Tourists will not go to destinations that they consider unsafe. * **Physical disability** - physical disability in the form of bad health or physical handicap may keep people at home. Elderly who are more susceptible to illnesses, very few travel because for most of them, long trips are tiring changes in food are upsetting, and a strange bed may cause sleeplessness. * **Family commitments** - family commitments inhibit travel. Parents with young children find it inconvenient and expensive to go on holiday. Other reasons such as taking care of the sick or looking after older people really affects travel. * **Lack of interest in travel** - this is mainly due to a preference to simply stay at home because of some factors such as dislike to travel, shyness in meeting people, dislike of changing routine and many more. * **Fears of travel** - some people do not want to travel because of fears of travel such as fear of flying (boarding a plane), fear of the unknown, language barriers, and unfamiliarity in making decisions in a new place. ## Chapter 2: The Sociology of Tourism ### The Social Nature of Travel * Travel is brought about by the social nature of man; they feel comfortable in a tour group. * They feel that their trip is more enjoyable and free from anxiety if they join a group tour. * Camaraderie often develops friendships that last for years. * Travel is also accepted in some subcultures as a way of spending one's vacation, Sabbatical leaves and foreign assignments make it possible for university faculty members and employees to travel and develop a passion for it. * Tourism evolves a mutual trust and respect for one another and the dignity of life on earth. * “The world is becoming a global village in which people from different continents are made to feel like next-door neighbors. In facilitating more authentic and social relationships between individuals, tourism can help overcome many real prejudices and foster new bonds of fraternity.” - Pope John Paul II ### The Social Effects of Tourism * Tourism is concerned with the movement and contact between people in different geographical locations. * In sociological terms, this involves: * Social relations between people who would not normally meet. * The confrontation of different cultures, ethnic groups, lifestyles, language, levels of prosperity, and the like. * The behavior of people released from many of the social and economic constraints of everyday life. * The behavior of the host population which has to reconcile economic gain and benefits with the costs of living with strangers. * The degree to which conflict will occur between host and guest depends upon the similarity in their standards of living, the number of tourists at any time, and the extent to which the tourists adapt to local norms. ### Socioeconomic Variables and Their Effect on Travel * **Age** * There are several differences between patterns of travel based on age. * Younger people tend to select more active recreational activities than older people. * The elderly (those in the late sixties and upward) prefer more passive forms of recreation, such as visiting friends and relatives, fishing, sightseeing, and playing golf. * Older tourists tend to travel to farther destinations, prefer ship travel, travel more in spring than younger tourists do, and spend less than middle aged tourists but more than younger tourists. * **Income and Social Status** * Income and social status have a great influence on travel. * Rich persons, as well as persons with higher social status, travel more than those with lower income and social class status. * Higher income tourists stay longer and spend more per day than those with lower incomes. * **Education** * There is a strong correlation between education and travel. * The better educated members of the population have a greater desire to travel. * According to researchers, the more educated the travelers are, they tend to be more sophisticated in their tastes, they prefer activities that require the development of interpretative and expressive skills, such as attending plays, concerts, art museums, reading books, playing golf, and skiing. * **Life Stages of the Family** * The presence of children in the family limits travel, more leisure time is spent at home. As the children grow up and leave home, the married couples renew interest in travel. Couples in this life stage usually have more discretionary income and are more financially capable to travel. ### The Rise of New Travel Patterns * **Travel Clubs** * The most significant development in group travel consists of travel clubs. * A very good example of this is the Club Mediterranee which started in Western Europe and spread to North America and other areas of the world. * In this group, a club member enjoys travel opportunities and vacation destination facilities at a much cheaper price than that paid by a nonmember. * The accommodations offered by the club range from deluxe to very modest. * There is also a wide choice of locations, climate and other vacation features. * **Airline Group and Arrangements** * Another development in group travel is the introduction of different types of tour fares promoted by airlines. These are the following: * Groups of 15 or more are given reduced fares. * Charter service is given by some airlines to affinity groups tours which are intended for those affiliated to a legitimate group for a period of six months or longer. * Public charter in which an entire airplane is made available to a group of persons who travel to the same destination. * Incentive tours which are given by firms to employees as a reward for a special achievement or as a motivation for achievement. * **Special Interest Tours** * Special interest group travel is becoming more popular at present. * These are tours arranged for those who are interested in a particular activity such as bird watching, festivals, fishing, hunting, scuba diving, photography, flower arrangement, golf, skiing, mountain climbing, and the like. ### Preferences of the International Tourist * The preferences of the international tourist are divided into four categories, namely: * Complete relaxation to constant activity. * Traveling requires one's home environment to be a totally strange environment. * Complete dependence on group travel to traveling alone. * Order to disorder. ### Relaxation Versus Activity * Before, most people including the middle class demanded holidays that offered relaxation and rest because of the long and exhausting workweek. * At present, the workweek has been shortened and the annual holiday leave has been lengthened, work has become less tiresome and people have become used to greater leisure and relaxation has become possible throughout the year. * Accordingly, people have started to use their no-holiday time leisure to exercise new activity skills, such as sailing, climbing, horse riding, and sports. * The demand for activity-oriented travel has greatly increased. ### Familiarity Versus Novelty * Most tourists on their first trip tend to seek familiarity rather than novelty. * They search for something that will remind them of home, whether it is food, newspaper, living quarters, or another person from their own country. * As soon as they find a place where they feel at home, these tourists will go back to the same place for a number of times. * Not until they have gained more experience in travelling will they want to go to a new environment – to see customs and cultures different from their own, and to mix with people who speak differently, eat differently, and dress differently. * At present, there is an increasing positive attitude for novelty and for change. * People accept innovations in industry, education, family life, the arts, and social relationships, among others. * Tourists move away from traditional resorts to new tourist destinations. ### Dependence Versus Autonomy * In the past, tourists joined package tours in which transportation, lodging, food, sightseeing, and entertainment were fixed in advance by the tour agency. * At present, there is the emergence of a group of tourists who would like to acquire a sense of personal autonomy regarding their leisure time and they would like to travel on their own and not part of a group. * They would like to feel independent-in complete control of what they do and how they do it. ### Order Versus Disorder * In the past, tourists sought holidays which enforced the traditional concept of conformity -set meals at fixed times, guidebooks, which told them the fight places to visit, and resorts where their fellow tourists were tidy, well behaved and properly dressed. * They avoided situations where their adult-imposed sense of orderliness might be offended. * Now, the new generation of tourists is not very much concerned about what to wear and how to behave when on holiday. * Informality in behavior, a great tolerance toward the differences of others, and freedom from institutionalized regulations are now the characteristics of the modern traveler. * Because of social and economic changes in modern society, the demand for travel will be based less on familiarity, relaxation, dependence, and order, but more on novelty, activity, autonomy, and informality. ### Types of Tourist Roles * The continuous combination of novelty and familiarity forms the basic variable for the sociological analysis of the phenomenon of modern tourism. * This combination leads to the four types of tourist roles. * Each type represents a characteristic form of tourist behavior. * The first two types, the organized mass tourist and the individual mass tourist, are called institutionalized tourist roles because they are dealt within a routine way by the tourist establishment, such as travel agencies and hotel chains which cater to the tourist trade. * The last two types, the explorer and the drifter, are called non-institutionalized tourist roles because they are loosely attached to the tourist establishment. * **The Organized Mass Tourist** * This type of tourist is less adventurous. * The organized mass tourist buys a package tour in which the itinerary of the trip is fixed in advance and the stops are well-prepared and guided. * The organized mass tourist makes decisions for himself/herself and prefers a familiar environment rather than a new environment. * **The Individual Mass Tourist** * It is similar to organized mass tourism, except that the individual mass tourist has a certain degree of control over time and itinerary and is not bound to a group. * All the major arrangements of the tour are still made through a travel agency. * Like the organized mass tourist, the individual mass tourist also travels within his/her own country and goes out of it occasionally. * Familiarity is still dominant, but less than the organized mass tourist. * The desire for novelty is greater for the individual mass tourist. * **The Explorer** * This type of tourist arranges his/her trip by him/herself and looks for comfortable accommodations and reliable means of transportation. * The explorer tries to associate with the people he/she visits and to speak their language. * The explorer dares to leave his/her country much more than the previous two types, but goes back to it when the experience becomes too rough. * Although novelty dominates, the explorer does not adopt completely the lifestyle of the host country and still retains some of the basic practices and comforts of his native way of life. * **The Drifter** * The drifter goes the farthest away from the accustomed ways of life of his/her own country. * Almost totally immersed in the host country culture. * Tries to live the way the people he/she visits live and to share their shelter, food, and habits. * Retains only the most basic of his/her native customs. * Arranges own trip and does not seek the help of a tour agency and does not have a fixed itinerary. * Novelty is at its highest; familiarity disappears almost completely. ### Social Tourism * Social tourism is a subsidized system of travel through the intervention of the government, employer or labor union to achieve social goals and purposes. * In the late 1930's, when many European countries passed laws in paid holidays, it was recognized that the right to legal holiday could not only be meaningful if the ordinary worker will be able to afford travel for recreation and rest. Thus, a number of voluntary associations in the field of social tourism worked to obtain reduced fares and to create a network of holiday centers for tourists of limited means. * In 1963, the International Bureau of Social Tourism (BITS) was founded in Brussels to encourage the development of social tourism on an international scale. * The BITS is promoting tourism to achieve social objectives by studying such issues as youth and senior citizen travel, the staggering of holidays, camping and caravanning, building and financing moderate cost tourist facilities, and preservation of local culture and environment. * A number of European governments subsidized tourism in several ways. * Belgium grants subsidies for the modernization and construction of family hotels. * Spain has provided money for winter sports, camping sites, as well as rural and mountain recreational facilities. The state owns a chain of 82 inns called paradores. * France gives assistance to holiday villages and camping grounds. It also gives loans and grants for rural lodging rented to tourists for at least three months a year for a minimum of 10 years. * Ireland subsidizes inland cruising. * Norway and Sweden grant loans for less expensive accommodations: * In the United States, more than 100 different major programs of the federal government provide for recreation, tourism, travel, and environmental conservation. Activities range from assigning approximately one billion acres of public lands for recreation to the operation of historic sites, national parks, and forests. ## Chapter 3: Tourism and Culture ### The Effects of Culture on Travel * Culture can be defined as “set of beliefs, values, attitude, habits, and form of behavior that are shared by a society and are transmitted from generation to generation.” * The knowledge of the culture of a country is important to understand how individuals within that country will behave. * Lack of understanding and inability to communicate to the host culture might result in a culture shock for the tourist. Examples: * A Filipino traveler who visits the United States for the first time may experience culture shock in the open display of love and emotions, the frankness in conversation, the permissive way children interact with their parents, and the practice of allowing aged parents to stay in home for the aged. * An American tourist in the Philippines might be repelled by balut (cooked duck egg with embryo) and the bagoong (preserved salted fish/shrimp paste) or may feel exasperated by the Filipinos' lack of time concept, and the use of euphemism (understatement) and circumlocution (indirectness) in contrast to American frankness. * Culture patterns are changed by internal forces. * Within a group, there are people who are willing than others to try new things, since these innovators are better educated, have high income, and more achievement-oriented than others, they tend to be opinion leaders and to be highly sought-after by marketing people. * “Mass follow class” suggests that a destination first attracts a small number of high-status individuals whose actions are eventually copied by a large number of persons with lower social status. * Culture patterns are also changed by external forces. * Contact with other environments may change previous attitude and behavior. * A visit to a foreign country may result in change in attitude toward the people of that country and may also stimulate the sales of products in the destination visited. * In order to understand a traveler, it is necessary to understand why visitors act the way they do and be in a better position to anticipate and satisfy their needs and wants. ### The Importance of Cultural Tourism * Cultural tourism includes all aspects of travel in which people learn about each other's way of life. Thus, tourism is an important means of promoting cultural relations and international cooperation. * “These millions of daily person-to-person encounters are potentially a powerful force for improved relations among the people and nations of the world, relations which emphasize a sharing and appreciation of cultures rather than the lack of trust bred by isolation.” – Louise D' Amore, the past president of the Canadian Travel Research Association. ### Cultural Factors with Tourist Appeal * In tourism, there are cultural factors that appeal greatly to tourists. These are: * **Art** * The arts include performing arts and fine arts. * The performing arts refer to live theater, music and dance. * Examples: Pangkat Kawayan (bamboo orchestra) and the rondalla group * The fine arts refer to paintings, sculptures, graphic arts, and architecture. * Examples: Amorsolo's and Francisco's paintings, and the sculptural works of Michelangelo * **Music and Dance** * In several countries, music is a major source of enjoyment and satisfaction to tourists. * Resort hotels, in particular, can give visitors many opportunities to enjoy the best local music. * Evening entertainment, programs, concerts, recordings, and sound reproduction systems are greatly appreciated by tourists. * Records and tape recordings, which the guests can buy to use in their homes provide another effective means of keeping in touch with the culture of a particular country and a reminder of the country's music. * Example: Hawaii is using its musical presentation “Hawaii Calls” to promote their tourism. * Dancing, in its native or ethnic forms, is one of the most appealing aspects of a country's culture and can be presented as a tourist attraction. * The colors, costumes, music, setting, and kill of form and execution add to the attraction. * Almost all countries have native dancing or ethnic dancing. * Ethnic music and dancing are a part of the culture and can be used to entertain tourists and share the local culture to the visitors. * The best place for such entertainment are resort hotels likewise, local shows, nightclubs, and community programs present added opportunities. * Example of dance as a cultural expression: the Bayanihan Dance Troupe of the Philippines, the Ballet Folklorico of Mexico, the Russian Bolshoi Ballet, the folk dances of European countries, the African dances, Thai dancing, and the Kabuki dancers of Japan. * **Handicraft** * To satisfy tourists, gifts and souvenirs for sale should be manufactured in the country where the purchase is made. * A tourist is usually dissatisfied when he/she bought a particular souvenir and ended up knowing